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Archives
02-21-2001 News
Rainfall Covers County, Results
In Flooding
Rainfall Covers County, Results In Flooding
Preston Street, which runs by Food Lion, was one of the areas in Livingston receiving the most flooding from last week's rainfall. According to the WLIV rain gauge, the county received 3-4 inches of rain.
County Legislative Body Meeting Held February 13 By Dewain E. Peek. and Deborah Forsman The Overton County Legislative Body held its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, Feb. 13 with Commissioner Wayne Sells absent. The County Commission voted to adopt a resolution authorizing the county executive to proceed with a project and make application to obtain a Certificate of Public Purpose and Necessity from the Building Finance Committee of the Tennessee Board of Economic Growth. County Executive Richard M. "Ossie" Mitchell said, "What that is, before you can borrow any money for an industrial park, this just pertains to industrial parks, you have to have what they call a Necessity and Purpose approval from this board. We're in the process of doing that now. It takes about two months to do that. We have an extension on this property, a 90-day extension, to allow us to do this." After a motion by Commissioner Johnnie Webb and a second by Commissioner Wayne Ferrell, Commissioner Greg Nivens asked what the criteria are for this. Executive Mitchell said, "About 25 thousand things. I haven't got time to explain it tonight. I'm serious. You've got to prove you need something." Commissioners Greg Nivens and Donnie Bull voted against the resolution. A resolution was adopted to enter into an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to erect caution lights on State Highway 164 in front of Wilson Elementary School. Executive Mitchell said, "We're getting a grant to do that, for $10,000. We did the same thing out here in the cove and we did the same thing out at Hilham. "It'll be a blinking light up there. As the buses are coming out and so forth, the lights blink. It's a dangerous situation up there. "So anyways, it's no cost to the county." The Commission approved a budget amendment to the Solid Waste budget in the amount of $4,800 decrease of disposal funds and receipt of $43,200 grant. According to Executive Mitchell, the $4,800 is matching funds the county will have to pay when a $43,200 grant is received to purchase a Bobcat for the recycling center, put a roof on the tire storage building, and doors on the recycling building. On another item, Executive Mitchell told the County Commission, "At a recent meeting of the Upper Cumberland Development District directors meeting, we had a concern about tires. All counties have a problem with tires. The state's supposed to come around and shred them. The state's slow about doing that." Another concern was that consumers purchasing new tires have to pay $1 per tire purchased, yet new car buyers do not have to pay $4 because of the new tires on the car. The Commission was asked to adopt a resolution asking that the tire shredder be brought around more often and on a regular basis, allow the market to determine the acceptable end-use of waste tires, consider a $1 surcharge per tire of all new vehicle registration tires, and provide a solution to the question of what will happen if the state sticks to its recommendation that no tire chips can go into a landfill. The state will allow no tire chips into landfills beginning in 2002. Executive Mitchell said, "This is simply a resolution to send to our state representatives telling them to try to help us solve this tire problem." The Commission adopted a resolution authorizing the Overton County government to transfer its trust accounts from First Tennessee Bank National Association corporate and municipal trust unit to Chase Manhattan Trust Company National Association. According to Executive Mitchell, Chase Manhattan bought out the other bank and all accounts must be transferred, which requires the resolution. A resolution was approved to rescind a resolution adopted on October 20, 2000 allowing Edith Key to buy back one year of her retirement. Commissioners Randall Boswell and Donnie Bull voted against the resolution. Executive Mitchell said, "In exhibit #2, if you'll read that thing, it obligates the county for a considerable amount of money. Now, when we did this, we just thought she was buying back a year of her retirement; she was going to pay the cost. We didn't know we was going to have to open up a whole keg of worms." Executive Mitchell went on with a string of items the county would be required to do, such as doing a study and going back through records to try to determine an amount that would then have to be approved. "It's not what we thought," Executive Mitchell said. "It's nothing against that lady; it's just the fact that she was not in the retirement system, did not get into the retirement system. In 1973, the county opted to go with the state retirement system." According to Executive Mitchell, employees at that time had the opportunity to join the retirement system, but Key did not. "I didn't know it was this complicated or we wouldn't have had it up before," Executive Mitchell said. "We just made a mistake, and I would like to rescind it. I think that's the only choice we've got. It would be a budget buster." The county's second quarter report for the period ending December 31 was approved. The school system second quarter report was also approved. A school budget amendment in the amount of $8,975 from the fund balance for an educational assistant at Wilson School ($6,074), a secretary for the School Board ($1,041), and a secretary ($1,860). The county Education Committee recommended against the amendment. The County Commission voted to abide by the committee's recommendation, with Commissioners Boswell, Bull, Ferrell, and Billy Phipps dissenting. A school amendment in the amount of $11,000 of mostly Adult Basic Education Program (BEP) grants was approved. Another BEP amendment was also approved . A school budget amendment to hire persons to help in maintenance failed to pass. The Legislative Body deadlocked with Commissioners Boswell, Bull, Ferrell, Nivens, Phipps, Alan Atnip, and Stanley Carter Jr. voting yes, and Commissioners Webb, Gail Reed Arney, David Dorminey, Frank Martin, Tom Montooth, Grant Pennington, and Billy Sullivan voted no. Executive Mitchell broke the tie, voting no. A section of a school amendment to bring fire codes up to standard and for alarm systems was approved. A section of a school amendment for a roof and molding at A.H. Roberts Elementary and Rickman Elementary received no action because the item will be put up to bid. A section of a school amendment was approved for kitchen equipment for Livingston Middle School use at the community center, which would later go to Livingston Academy. Commissioners Montooth, Pennington, and Sullivan voted no. A section of a school amendment was approved for items for A.H. Roberts. A section of a school amendment was approved for $15,000 for emergency repair to septic systems. A section of a school amendment was approved for paying UCEMC. A section of a school amendment was approved for gas tanks and fencing at Wilson Elementary. A school amendment for maintenance and transportation was approved. A contract was approved between the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Overton County Highway Department to build a new bridge over Spring Creek on Waterloo Road. The Commission approved the Sheriff's Department and Clerk and Masters personnel policies. The Highway Dept.'s year 2000 road map was approved. Approved as Notaries-At-Large were Angie Hite, Rebecca J. Raines, Vera D. Skinner, Natalie R. Skinner, Michael H. Skinner, Teresa Hummel, Juanita Brown, Dennis Barsness, and Barbara Davis. Appointed to a two-year term on the Overton County Extension Agricultural Committee were Ralph Robbins, Michael Garrett, Donna Holt, and Reba Maynard. The Commission voted to suspend the rules to vote on approving Director of Schools Bill Needham's bond. The bond was approved. The meeting adjourned.
Brown
Trout Being Stocked In Dale Hollow History was made on Thursday, Feb. 8 when 19,000 brown trout were stocked in the Dale Hollow Reservoir in a partnership effort of conservation agencies. The eight-inch brown trout were purchased by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and evenly distributed around the main lake body by stocking them directly from two stocking trucks from a barge furnished by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The fish were furnished by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fish Hatchery at Dale Hollow. TWRA will continue to monitor the fish in this experimental introduction of brown trout in an effort to offset the diminishing lake trout fishery in Dale Hollow. The Reservoir was once known for its lake trout, but over the past several years lake trout numbers have seriously declined due to low dissolved oxygen content in the lake's water. David Young, TWRA fish biologist, said, "Typically, in deep reservoirs the water column will develop layers of water with varying temperatures. The colder, heavier water would be found at the bottom and the warmer, lighter water would be found at the top. This layering or stratification effect will occur in the late summer and early fall months. "Temperature stratification prevents the bottom layer from mixing with the upper layers of water that are rich in oxygen. The lower strata of water will become stagnant and low in dissolved oxygen." Lake trout prefer and need water temperatures of approximately 55 degrees Fahrenheit and that is found in the lower strata of stagnant water low in dissolved oxygen. As a result, the lake trout have died during the past several seasons. "Unlike lake trout, during the critical months of summer, brown trout will be able to avoid the low oxygen strata since they can tolerate warmer water temperatures contained in the upper, oxygen rich layers of water," Young said. Brown trout were originally native only to European countries. Over the past 90 years, they have been introduced and established in 24 different countries. Trout, in general, have stringent water quality requirements, demanding cool water temperatures, and well-oxygenated streams and reservoirs. Compared to brook, rainbow, and lake trout, brown trout are slightly more tolerant to higher water temperatures. Brown trout tend to feed nocturnally and probably are not as easily caught as their rainbow cousins, lending browns to attain more significant size before being harvested. Freshly stocked browns will feed mainly on crustaceans, insect larvae, and smaller fish. When the brown trout reach the size of ten inches or more, their diet will change to shad and other small forage fish. Over the past decade, TWRA has introduced thousands of shad and alewives forage fish into the Dale Hollow Reservoir. Crank baits and other lures that mimic small forage fish can be used to catch brown trout. "Brown trout around one year of age will be seven-to-eight inches long. In good habitats, browns can potentially grow as much as six inches or more per year. Their average life expectancy is five-to-eight years," Young said. The state record brown trout is 28 pounds and 12 ounces and was caught in Norris Reservoir tailwaters in 1998. The world record brown is over 40 pounds and was caught in the White River in Arkansas. "TWRA believes that the brown trout stocked in Dale Hollow will have the potential to produce trophy-size catches in the 10-to-15 pound range," Young said. TWRA biologist do not expect these brown trout to reproduce in the Dale Hollow Reservoir because of the lack of feeder streams with desirable spawning habitat. The brown trout will need to be stocked periodically in order to maintain a desirable fishery. Brown trout are already stocked regularly in the Dale Hollow tailwaters and the day before the reservoir stocking, TWRA biologists found a 12-pound brown trout below the Dale Hollow Dam.
Overton County News
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