Tornado strikes southern end of county
HoJo photo

Lawrence County, for the second time in a month, suffered serious storm damage when a tornado touched down Thursday near the city of Loretto. Clax Branch Road residents Steve and Deb Beckman’s home sustained extensive damage and their nearby barn was totally destroyed by the midday tornado. The twister left a three mile path of destruction, snapping trees and causing major destruction in the sparsely populated area.

Statewide Jewish History and Culture is Focus of new Crockett Arts Center Exhibit

The story of Jewish immigration to Tennessee and how they embraced the culture they found here is documented in a new exhibit, with an opening reception on Monday, May 12th, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. at the Crockett Arts Center in Lawrenceburg.

Bagels & Barbeque: The Jewish Experience in Tennessee begins with the saga of early Jewish settlers emigrating from Europe, where most faced religious persecution, chronicles the lives of Jewish families during the Civil War and Reconstruction, the wave of immigrants who arrived between 1880 and 1924, and during World War II.

As the young left to seek their fortunes after the war, Tennessee's Jewish population declined to less than 17,000 in 1960. The Civil Rights era raised ongoing challenges for Tennessee Jews. The Nashville Jewish Community Center was dynamited in 1958, while a Chattanooga synagogue was destroyed in 1977.

In 1984, the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, Inc. became the third such state organization in the country. And in 1998, to understand the enormity of Hitler's atrocities, non-Jewish middle-school children in Whitwell, Tennessee, collected six million paper clips worldwide. Dedicated to tolerance and peace and documented in an award-winning film, their internationally acclaimed Children's Holocaust Memorial is another unique contribution to the ongoing, many-sided Jewish experience in Tennessee.

Scholars from across the state of Tennessee provided the research for the exhibit, along with noted authorities on Jewish history from other locations.

Bagels & Barbeque: The Jewish Experience was shown at the Tennessee State Museum from December 9, 2007 to February 3, 2008. It is now traveling for three years to other museums across the state.

The Crockett Arts Center is located on North Military Avenue in downtown Lawrenceburg, TN, south side of the Historic Crockett Theatre. Hours of operation are: Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., closed during the lunch hour.

PICTURED: Jewish friends from Chattanooga and Atlanta visit Umbrella Rock at Lookout Mountain in 1921.

City budget discussions continue
By LaShawn Baxter

Lawrenceburg leaders continue to crunch numbers for their 2008-2009 fiscal year budget. The new fiscal year begins July 1st.

The city lacks around $300,000 being able to balance its upcoming budget. The city started with a shortfall of nearly $900,000 but shaved that number down by reducing department head requests. No employee positions have been cut.

Commissioners continued discussions Tuesday concerning the possibility of cutting costs by modifying the city's employee health insurance plan. Employees have said they prefer paying more for insurance coverage than changing the plan. Currently, there is no cost to employees with single coverage. Employees pay $100 per month for family coverage. If employees with single coverage paid $50 per month and employees with family coverage paid $150 per month, the cost to city government would be reduced by $87,000. Mayor Keith Durham says the city should consider putting new hires on a different plan.

The commission also discussed the possibility of trying to collect city court delinquent fees which total $300,000.

Due to scheduling conflicts, the commission will not have a budget session next Tuesday. They will meet the following Tuesday, May 20, at 6 at City Hall.

Maury officials thank local emergency personnel for assistance
By Sandi Mashburn

Officials from neighboring Maury County traveled to Lawrenceburg Thursday to issue an official “thank you” to local divers and emergency personnel who recently assisted in the recovery of the body of a drowning victim from the Duck River.

Maury County Emergency Management Agency Director Mark Blackwood addressed the Lawrenceburg Board of Mayor and Commissioners during their bi-monthly business meeting. He read a thank-you letter from Maury County Mayor James L. Bailey, Jr., during the meeting.

Dive teams from Lawrence and Giles Counties were called upon to assist teams from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in the search for fifty-one-year-old Billy Ray Brooks.

Surveyors working on the Duck River Bridge April 22 reported seeing Brooks enter the water fully clothed, swim approximately one hundred yards down stream “as if he were enjoying himself,” then disappear beneath the water. Brooks’ body was discovered by fishermen near the Industrial Park Bridge twelve days later.

“We don’t have the resources to develop a dive team of our own,” Blackwood told commissioners Thursday. “It is comforting to know that we have neighbors like you who will offer assistance when it is needed.”

Blackwood said that the Lawrenceburg Fire Department Dive Team was instrumental in conducting a search both for the body, and for evidence in the case. While they were unable to locate that evidence, Blacwood said “Without them we could not have adequately done our job.”

While it is never pleasant working a case such as this one, Blackwood pointed out, “The partnerships that are formed are some of the positive things that come out of these incidents.”

State workers first to feel budget crunch

More than 2000 state jobs will have to be cut to help compensate for falling revenues, Governor Phil Bredesen announced Wednesday.

The governor hopes voluntary buyouts will make it possible to avoid layoffs. The buyout packages will be paid from reserves other than the state's "Rainy Day Fund" which Bredesen says should not be tapped.

The state must cut $468 million from next year's spending plan with $64 coming from job cuts. A $55 million funding decrease to state colleges and universities is also planned and there will be no new pre-kindergarten classrooms.

On Monday, Bredesen will present the general assembly with budget amendments to balance this year's budget as well as revisions to his proposed budget for next year.