Southern Middle TN Today News with Tom Price 4-24-25

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Southern Middle Tennessee Today

News Copy for April 24, 2025

All news stories are aggregated from various sources and modified for time and content. Original sources are cited.

We start with local news…

Cepicky’s Recess Bill Passes (MSM)

The General Assembly last week approved legislation sponsored by State Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, that seeks to improve academic outcomes and student wellbeing in Tennessee public schools by increasing time for physical activity.

House Bill 85 will require school districts to provide at least 40 minutes of recess to elementary students each day, an increase from the current mandate of a minimum of 15 minutes per day and 130 minutes a week. 

“Republicans are working hard to ensure Tennessee students receive the highest quality education in the nation, and providing adequate time for physical activity is essential to delivering on this priority,” Cepicky said. “The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that increasing access to unstructured, screen-free recess improves academic outcomes, physical health and mental wellbeing. This common-sense legislation is an important step in giving children in the Volunteer State a more balanced and productive school day.”

Recess under Cepicky’s legislation includes unstructured outdoor play for students, with an exception for dangerous weather. It does not include physical education courses or time when students are permitted to use electronic devices. House Bill 85 prohibits withholding physical activity as a form of punishment for students. 

More than 40 percent of Tennessee students were overweight or obese in the 2022-23 academic year, according to a report from the Tennessee Department of Health and the Tennessee Department of Education.

Expanding recess time improves a student’s physical health, academic performance and behavior. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that recess can enhance memory, attention span, concentration, and social and emotional development. Access to recess can also reduce disruptive classroom behavior.

House Bill 85 now heads to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. If signed into law, it will take effect July 1, 2025, to be implemented in the 2025-26 academic year.

Cepicky represents House District 64, which includes part of Maury County. He is chairman of the House Education Instruction Subcommittee.

County Commission Supports Dam (CDH)

The Maury County Commission has voted unanimously in support of the recent push to revitalize the Columbia Dam project as a potential long-term solution to the county's increasing water needs.

On Monday, several members of Columbia Dam Now, a grassroots group spearheading the effort, shared arguments with commissioners as to why Maury County could benefit from the defunct project, which ceased construction in 1983.

"It is very exciting to be a part of it, and there are other options being discussed that can all work together, but this is, in my opinion, the 100-year solution that will provide water to this county and the surrounding counties for years to come," District 9 Commissioner Jerry Bridenbaugh, one of the group's founders, said. "We can make this happen."

Jason Gilliam, another of the group's leaders, shared facts and data collected from the Maury County Archives, such as the size of the lake if constructed being 12,600 acres and about 50 miles long extending into Marshall County.

The Columbia Dam would create a reservoir that would have a volume of 294,000-acre feet of water, enough water to sustain the region for the next 100 years, Gilliam said.

"The benefits of this lake would far extend [out of] Columbia. It would help Marshall County, Lawrence County, Giles County, all of those areas would be able to get water from our reservoir," he said.

Gilliam added that certain misconceptions have been discussed, such as the lake being too shallow or too hot for aquatic life. He said this would not be the case based on research data.

"Less than 5% of the lake would actually be considered shallow, three feet or less," Gilliam said. "In the studies I have found from the [Tennessee Valley Authority], this lake would actually improve water quality of the Duck River. It would also sustain over .5 parts per million of oxygen in the water, which is necessary for aquatic life."

Flood control is another issue, which the lake could provide potential benefits not just in preventing flooding but also saving on expenses due to damage and flood recovery. It could also generate an estimated $38 million per year in revenue, Gilliam said.

"The TVA has said that the area between the dam and Hickman County, and this is 1972 numbers, that the annual cost savings from flood damage ... was $35,000 annually," Gilliam said. "Today, that would equate to approximately $268,000 just in flood damage savings for agriculture."

When discussion was brought back to commissioners, Bridenbaugh shared that while the project is gaining support, there have been concerns whether the dam could suffer the same pitfalls as it did in 1983.

"We have heard cynicism and pessimism, and I don't say that in a negative sense," Bridenbaugh said. "People should come to us with questions. They should say 'How about this or how about that?' because that's how things get done. You solve problems, and we believe we have people in Congress now, in the Senate and the White House that can help us get through this."

Many commissioners shared their support of the potential benefits presented Monday.

District 8 Commissioner Gabe Howard commented on the long-term impact the project could have.

"This, to me, is an opportunity for us to really make a generational impact," Howard said. "Some of us might not get to experience it, but this is something that truly puts us on the map for our long-term water strategy. It needs to be talked about."

The commission ultimately voted 21-0 unanimously to approve the resolution showing its support for the project to move forward.

"It is starting to be talked about, and in my opinion, let's keep the momentum going," Commission Chairman Kevin Markham said.

Mayor Fitterer and BOMA Sworn In (CDH)

A new era for the Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen began Monday as newly elected Mayor Matt Fittterer, along with four new aldermen, were officially sworn into office.

Fitterer, who defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Hagaman in the April 10 election, joined Alex Jiminez (Ward 1), Jaimee Davis (Ward 2), Erin Hartwell (Ward 3) and Trent Linville (Ward 4).

"I am so excited I might cry," Hartwell said before being sworn in. "We need so much change in our community. It's a thing, and to be able to be here, to represent and be a voice for you all, it's going to be great."

Linville, who was re-elected to his second term, was also appointed by the BOMA to serve as Spring Hill's new vice mayor.

Scott Wernert, who ran for office in the April election, was also appointed to fill a vacancy representing Ward 2.

After officially taking his seat Monday as the new mayor, Fitterer shared a few words of encouragement, and that the new board is determined to address Spring Hill's growth issues.

"Tonight, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the people of Spring Hill for trusting me with this responsibility," Fitterer said. "I am honored to serve and am committed to working tirelessly to benefit our entire community.

"We all have extraordinary opportunities ahead of us, and many challenges as well and how we address these challenges and seize these opportunities will define our collective work."

Fitterer added that he believes there are three key components to the city's future success in addressing the challenges, the first being a strong sense of collaboration.

"The challenges facing Spring Hill cannot be solved alone, but require a collective wisdom, effort and commitment of everyone on this board, our city staff, regional state partners and most importantly the citizens we serve as well," Fitterer said. "Second, we must be action oriented. Thoughtful deliberation is essential, but our citizens also expect and deserve a government that moves decisively to address the community's needs.

The third component, Fitterer continued, is being a board that is "solution focused."

"It's easy to identify problems, but it's hard to craft practical solutions. We will be a board that spends less time dwelling on obstacles and more time developing creative, pragmatic approaches to overcome."

Fitterer concluded his comments by assuring citizens that the new board's intent should be to "leave our offices in better shape than we found it."

"We were each elected to lead," Fitterer said. "Whether it is infrastructure improvements or growth management, enhancing public safety and elevating our quality of life, we will deliver meaningful results to the citizens of Spring Hill. So, let's get to work."

Spring Hill BOMA Agree To Widen 31 (CDH)

The Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen kicked off its first meeting with new members by finalizing contracts to two major road widening projects at Highway 31 and Buckner Lane South.

The U.S. 31 widening contract with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, which will be from Duplex Road to north of Thompsons Ridge Road/Buckner Road, included a resolution Monday for the city to commit $892,854 for construction costs as part of its Surface Transportation Program or STP.

According to the resolution, the contract stipulates the city provide 20% of construction expenses to the project, with the STP funds covering the remaining 80%.

"Every year, the city receives funds from the federal government for the Surface Transportation Program," Spring Hill Capital Improvement Project Manager Missy Stahl said. "With this addition, the city will have committed a total of $6,405,506.28 with the STP funds and the city's 20% match."

In addition, the BOMA also passed a resolution recognizing Thompson's Station for providing a $15 million financial contribution to the U.S 31 project.

"Part of the advancement of Highway 31 is due to $15 million that Thompson's Station is going to add to progress the project forward, and we wanted to take a moment to recognize them," Alderman Vincent Fuqua said.

The Buckner Lane South widening project, which would complete the original widening project which began construction in 2023, encompasses the road from Buckner Road to Duplex Road and was initially broken up into two segments. The north end includes 500 feet north of Wades Crossing, while the southern portion includes everything south of that.

The north project was awarded to Jones Bros. at a bid of $16,186,559.15, with the BOMA approving a final $17,786,559.15 cost, with the city contributing 10% contingency, which was funded utilizing bond proceeds.

Monday's resolution, which will also be funded via bond proceeds, totaled $10,225,697.60, with the city providing a $929,608 contingency and would be contracted to Mastec Civil, LLC for construction services.

"This came in at a significantly lower cost than I was fearful of," Mayor Matt Fitterer said. "To be at $10 million is fantastic."

Vice Mayor Trent Linville asked if by hiring a new company to complete the second portion of the project would cause any issue. Stahl said there could be some overlap in the project, but nothing that would cause any unneeded disruption to its completion.

"We have had a meeting with Jones Brothers and they will be working in conjunction with Mastec, because the north and south are going to overlap just a little bit, and they understand that," Stahl said. "They will work with Mastec well."

Alderman Alex Jiminez asked if the contract would include any penalties if Mastec does not meet the project's turnaround time on the project's completion.

"There are liquidated damages that will be included in the contract if they do not meet their contract date," Stahl responded.

"We charge a certain amount each day that they do not hit it. On the north segment, we did have an extension of time request, which was granted to them, but part of it was the city's fault where it took longer to get the Williamson County approval to remove sceptic tanks on two properties not annexed into the city, and then we had the tornado come through."

Stahl added that pre-construction on the project is expected to begin in about three weeks.

Yanahli Polinator Program (MSM)

A small crowd assembled at Yanahli Park on Wednesday, April 16, for the “groundbreaking” of a new pollinator garden. The air grew thick with bees as Master Beekeepers Andreas Eastep and Larissa Thomas, both members of Columbia’s Breakfast Rotary Club, emptied boxes of honeybees into their new hives.

First, Eastep told the crowd, they spray the bees with delicious sugar water, to distract them while he moved their queen. No smoke was required because they weren’t taking any of the bees’ honey or wax.

At the start of the journey the keepers put the queen and four “attendant” bees in a small mesh box, which they placed in the larger travel box to attract the rest of the bees so they could be transported. At the destination, the queen’s small box is placed in the new hive to establish it as the bees’ new home. The entrance to the box is plugged with “candy,” which the bees will eat through in a few days to free her.

Then Eastep and Thomas dumped each colony of bees into their new hive. Bees are loyal to their queen and hive, to death and even beyond. A bee stinger is a weapon which digs with barbs into an attacker’s skin and reflexively pumps in venom, even after it fatally rips out of the bee’s abdomen.

“They’ve got the pheromones of that queen… and they know their queen,” said Eastep, who only avoided a few lasting stings because his latex gloves blocked the barbs.

Not even bees from other hives are welcome, said Larissa Thomas.

“[Intruding bees] are gonna get kicked out because they don’t have the right pheromones,” Thomas said. “Each hive or colony will have, I guess you could say, enforcers.”

Three of the queens were gentle, but when emptying the third hive, Eastep found he was dealing with a “mean queen.” The trouble with aggressive queens is that the hive takes after her.

“When you’ve got a mean queen, that’s when you have to wear [a] full suit,” he explained. “Most people just pinch their heads off and get another one. Off with her head!”

After decapitating the mean queen he would have to order a new one, but not indiscriminately: new queens have to pass the hive’s “Velcro test.”

“[While holding the new queen,] you take your finger and… rake the bees that come up on it,” he told the crowd. “If they grab on… and don’t want to let go, you need to leave them a day or two more. But if you rake them, and they move and don’t get all mad, they’ll accept her.”

When the humidity is under 17 percent (bees can control the humidity and temperature of the air in a hive by fanning their wings), the bees will fill their honeycombs and “cap” them with wax. In its first season (starting February and producing results by July), each hive can produce 40-70 pounds of honey, and more the next year. As the builders and sponsors of the hives, the Rotary Club stands to claim the honey and wax, which they’ll sell at fundraisers. The Club even has plans for the beeswax: local artist Amy Stielstra introduced the idea of painting with it.

“I thought ‘Oh, that’s a new medium, painting with beeswax,'” recalled Columbia Rotary President Merilee Meschefske. “She said, ‘Ma’am, the Egyptians were doing this 5,000 years ago.'”

Classes in beeswax painting will be offered to the public, possibly in the fall somewhere at Yanahli Park.

The pollinator garden and beekeeping program comprise a joint project between the Breakfast Rotary Club, the UT Agricultural Extension program and the Maury County Parks Department. The Parks Department came up with the garden idea, and the Rotary Club volunteered the services of their Master Beekeepers. This isn’t Rotary’s first project at Yanahli Park: last year the Club built a shade structure over the archery range, a few dozen yards from the pollinator garden.

“We’ve got a really nice working relationship [with the] Parks Department… [and] UT Extension office,” Meschefske explained. “We’re just concentrating on doing something environmental… especially when [we] have two master beekeepers in [our] club.”

The UT ag extension office will do the bulk of community outreach, and the local 4-H is already “excited” to get its member kids involved.

The University of Tennessee supplies the personnel: the “Master Gardeners” and “Master Beekeepers” who will supervise and staff the new garden and hives. To keep their certifications, the Master program requires its graduates to put in a certain amount of volunteer time and continuing education. Volunteer coordinators said they expect to find plenty among them to work in the pollinator garden.

“We just had our meeting last night, and they were going on and on about how they’ve never had this many people in the Master Gardener program,” officials said. “So there should be plenty of us.”

The garden will be about 30 by 60 feet and feature 28 native pollinating plants, each marked and identified with a small sign.

Yanahli’s hives will be the first Master Beekeeping training ground in Middle Tennessee, to complement the ones in the western and eastern thirds of the state, where beekeeping apprentices can get certified.

The grand opening of the pollinator garden & beehives will happen on May 16 and have more information released. By the end of the hive transfer, the air was thick with bees, but no one seemed alarmed.

“Where would you rather be: in the office, or here in nature?” Meschefske asked the attendees.

And now, Your Hometown Memorials, Sponsored by Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home…

Michael Lee Dale “Big Daddy”, 60, Truck Driver for Marlene’s Express, and resident of Williamsport, died Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at Maury Regional Medical Center.

A visitation will be held Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home. The family will have a celebration of life at a later date. 

Regina Lynn Bain Cheek, 71, retired bookkeeper, and resident of Columbia, died Saturday, April 19, 2025 at The Reserve at Spring Hill.

Funeral services will be conducted Saturday, April 26, 2025 at 1:00 PM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Morton Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Friday, April 25, 2025 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM and on Saturday, April 26, 2025 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home.

And now, news from around the state…

Boy Hero in Franklin (WilliamsonHerald)

The Franklin Police Department recognized the heroic actions of a 7-year-old boy, who played a critical role in saving his aunt’s life during a medical emergency.

On Wednesday, April 16, Chief Deb Faulkner presented Jacob Peters with the department’s Citizen Commendation Certificate. The award is given to a citizen who assists the agency in an emergency that would otherwise cause imminent danger to others if the citizen would not have acted.

“What Jacob did was nothing short of heroic,” said Faulkner. “In a moment of crisis, he stayed calm, acted quickly, and likely saved his aunt’s life. We are incredibly proud to honor him, and he is likely the youngest person to ever receive this award.”

On April 5, Jacob was spending time with his aunt at her home when she suffered a seizure and hit her head on the hardwood floor. Acting with remarkable courage and clarity beyond his years, Jacob grabbed her phone and dialed 9-1-1, informing a dispatcher that his family member needed help. First responders arrived quickly and found Jacob’s aunt disoriented and unable to recall the incident.

“Without Jacob’s swift actions, his beloved aunt could have gone a prolonged period without receiving medical care,” according to Faulkner.

Jacob credits Franklin first responders for teaching him what to do in an emergency.

“At school, we learned from a Franklin firefighter how to call 9-1-1 on a locked cell phone. I’m happy I was able to use what I learned at school to help my aunt, and she’s going to be OK.”

Jacob is a first grader at Liberty Elementary School. He lives in Franklin with his parents, Philip and Laura Beth Peters.

Final Story of the Day (Maury County Source)

Now through June 13, Dollywood is honoring military personnel, first responders, and teachers with discounted tickets.

The Public Employees Appreciation Days program allows those who qualify to purchase a one-day ticket for $49. Tickets are valid any one operating day from now through June 13th and may be upgraded to a 2025 Season Pass on the day of visit for an additional fee. Those who want to use the program must verify their employment at ID.me.

Qualifying guests can pick up six discounted tickets. You can also enjoy a discounted rate at DreamMore Resort and Spa, along with HeartSong Lodge & Resort. Learn more at www.dollywood.com/deals.