$1 Alamo, Tennessee CrockettCountyTimes.com • [email protected] Volume 149 Issue 20 Wednesday, May 19 2021 Crockett County Ambulance Service honored during EMS week cynthiaKILBURN to specialty care. The emergency med- News Editor ical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical techni- Crockett County Mayor Gary Rea- cians, paramedics, emergency medical sons signed a proclamation designating dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, the week of May 16 to 22 as Emergency educators, administrators, pre-hospital Medical Services Week. nurses, emergency nurses, emergen- The proclamation stated, “Emergen- cy physicians, trained members of the cy medical services is a vital public ser- public, and other out of hospital med- vice. The members of Crockett County ical care providers. The members of Ambulance Service and First Respond- Crockett County Ambulance Service ers are ready to provide lifesaving care team, whether career or volunteer, en- to those in need 24 hours a day, seven gage in thousands of hours of special- days a week. Access to quality emer- ized training and continuing education gency care dramatically improves the to enhance their lifesaving skills. It is survival and recovery rate of those who appropriate to recognize the value and experience sudden illness or injury. the accomplishments of emergency Emergency medical services has grown medical services providers by desig- to fill a gap by providing important, out of hospital care, including preventative medicine, follow-up care, and access See Honored, Page 6 CCHS included in nearly Demolition to Cavalier 60 Governor’s Civics Seal Grant awards grandstand began On May 18, Governor Bill Lee and Bill Lee. “By providing grant funding cynthiaKILBURN 1980s when the school was constructed. structural and educational components the Tennessee Department of Educa- to support civics instruction for our stu- News Editor Home team bleachers received struc- within the schools. tion announced 59 Tennessee schools dents, we are preparing the next gener- tural damage from the February 2016 The projects that will be completed and districts have received Governor’s ation of Tennesseans for life beyond the Cavalier Stadium will see major tornado that caused damage across the at staggered stages include the building Civics Seal grant funding to help imple- classroom and to become active leaders changes going into the 2021 school county as well as Crockett County Mid- addition to the high school vocation- ment high-quality civics education pro- in their communities and in our state.” year. dle and High School. al building, eight new classrooms and grams to prepare students for college, All 59 grant applicants, which in- The Class of 2021 graduation cere- To get the seating back up to code, new roof at the middle school, new career and civics life. cludes 42 schools and 17 districts, were mony on Friday, May 14 was the last the demolition and reconstruction of grandstands for the football field, the Crockett County High School awarded funding totaling $500,000 event held filling the bleachers with the home side of Cavalier Stadium be- Blue Cross playground near Cavalier (CCHS) was included in the grantees through the Governor’s Emergency Ed- friends and family before demolition. came a part of the many projects being drive, auxiliary gym and restroom ren- for $5,000 grant. ucation Relief Fund (GEER). On Monday, May 17, the concrete performed to improve the Crockett ovations, upgrades to the theatre and “We are proud that so many Tennes- bleachers on the home side were torn County Schools. gym including lighting and sound, a see schools are prioritizing strong civics down as part of the schools remodel Currently Crockett County Middle new band practice field near the field education for their students,” said Gov. See Awards, Page 6 that began last summer. and High School have approximate- house and campus upgrades to infra- The bleachers were built in the early ly 27 projects taking place to improve structure. Gadsden home destroyed in weekend fire 268 Aubrey Ferguson Road. cynthiaKILBURN Upon arrival, firefighters made the News Editor initial entry into the home to find a ful- ly engulfed fire exposed mainly in the At approximately 3:20 p.m. on Fri- kitchen area of the home. day, May 14, Gadsden Fire Department Fire Department personnel from Al- responded to a fully engulfed home at amo and Bells also assisted in extin- guishing the blaze. The home was considered to be a to- tal loss but some personal items from within the home will be salvageable. The homeowner stated that she was cooking and turned on the vent hood for exhaust purposes and then heard a CCHS Vocational building presented loud pop that triggered her to turn the vent hood off. She then began seeing smoke, which triggered her to evacuate to local officials the home with her son. Monday, May 17. during class change. Firefighters battled the blaze for three cynthiaKILBURN Portions of the area presented to Guests enjoyed a meal with presenta- hours to completely extinguish the fire. News Editor guests were the vocational area, add- tions by students and faculty discussing Safety Officer Randy Smith with the ed restrooms, kitchen and CDC class- what students will learn in these areas Gadsden Fire Department said, “it’s sad Crockett County High School vo- rooms. and how they will help students in the to see someone lose their life long be- cational teachers and students treat- The addition also utilizes an add- future. longings and treasure’s that they have ed school board members and county ed walkway between the vocational Additional projects will continue commissioners to a walk through the building and the main building that throughout the year. currently completed vocational build- will allow an alternate path for students See Fire, Page 6 ing upgrades and ongoing projects on transitioning from building to building Visit Us Online At: www.CrockettCountyTimes.com Page 2 | The Crockett County Times Wednesday | May 19 | 2021 Find a new best friend at a local ANIMAL SHELTER! Adopt today! Wednesday | May 19 | 2021 The Crockett County Times | Page 3 EDITORIAL/ OPINION Reminisce - Part II Fragile infrastructure, fragile supply chains, fragile lifestyle Reading over what I wrote in last week’s column stirred me to recall even more stuff that today’s kids could be missing out on. Everyone in the eastern United States has gotten “talking heads” on TV blamed consumers on the What did we do when we were “banished” a good lesson regarding our infrastructure in the last shortages. But what is someone supposed to do to the outdoors all day long? couple of weeks. First there was the cyber-attack who has to put gas in the car to get to work, the The woods encompassed three sides of our that shut down the Colonial doctor’s office, or school? By Wednesday May 12, property. The fourth side was a cow pasture Pipeline, largest pipeline Colonial restarted its pipeline, which the company owned by the neighbor. Since our land sat on in the country. Colonial says is operating normally now. It may day a few a ridge all the other sides went down into a moves 100 million gallons days for the 1,000+ gas stations that ran out of fuel valley. Except the back side. It ended on a a day of refined petroleum to receive enough supply to resume pre-shut down cliff overlooking a community below with products from the refineries operations. In the meantime everyone from the more cow pastures. Those cows are another in Texas and Louisiana White House on down is wondering what can be story altogether. The cow pasture beside us across a dozen States all done to avoid this sort of disruption to our power was on about a 45 degree slant and had me the way to the population grid and Internet connections. wondering if those cows could have longer centers from Washington, On Tuesday May 11, the I-40 bridge at Memphis legs on one side in order to stand up straight. D.C. to the suburbs of New was closed to traffic after a routine inspection by I know they did not but that would’ve been York City. Then came word the Arkansas Department of Transportation found handy. The old bull kept them all in close that the Hernando DeSoto a failure in a steel support member. It could take check and eyeballed me every time I walked near to the fence. bridge – the I-40 bridge months to evaluate the safety of the bridge and fix Kids live outdoors. Until supper time at least. across the Mississippi River the problems. Detours are in place in Tennessee Some mornings while waiting on the school bus I would pick up a at Memphis – was shut down due to discovery and Arkansas with traffic being rerouted in both dead branch from one of the oak trees and gather some small rocks of a fracture of a sizeable structural steel support directions to I-55 as an alternate route across the from the bottom of our driveway and try to hit them over the tree line member. Here’s what happened. river. To make matters worse the U.S. Coast Guard at the bottom of the hill, across the cow pasture. I don’t recall hitting On Thursday, May 6, computer hackers closed river traffic in both directions for two days, any of the cows but they probably wondered why rocks seemed to launched an attack against Colonial Pipeline. The further crippling bulk commodity shipments. The be falling from the sky. hackers caused Colonial Pipeline to shut down the river traffic restriction was lifted on Friday May The only things that could be found “on line” were the clothes biggest U.S.