Herald-CitizenWednesday

The Daily Newspaper of the Upper Cumberland114th Year — No. 226 Cookeville, Tennessee, September 21, 2016 16 Pages — 2 Sections • 50¢

Weather

Sports

Index

Tonight Tomorrow

66º 86ºComplete forecast, Page 2

FocusedUpperman Bees faceCannon County Friday /B1

Abby............................A8

Calendar......................A6

Crossword ...................A9

Living ..........................A8

Obituaries ...................A7

Dorcas Langford

Mary Allen

R.L. Claborn

Leah Smith

Mary Tompkins

Ermine Dougherty

James McCreless

Homer Hackett

Opinion.......................A4

Sports ..........................B1

Sudoku ........................A9

Weather ......................A2

Living

Adopt-A-RoadFamily to keep part ofBuffalo ValleyRoad clean /A8

Nation

SkepticalTown remembersTrump’s promises /A5

UCHRA finally makes HR director hireBy TRACEY HACKETT

HERALD-CITIZEN Staff

The Upper Cumberland Human Re-source Agency hired a new human re-sources director Tuesday to fill ayear-long vacancy.

In a meeting called specifically for thatpurpose, the executive committee voted tohire Joseph W. Parker Jr.

Parker, who is currently the HR managerfor Fruit of the Loom in Vidalia, La., wasthe second pick to fill the UCHRA open-ing. Cindy Smale, HR director at Liv-ingston Regional Hospital, turned it downin August after being offered a $71,500starting salary that would have been raisedto $75,000 with a favorable job perform-ance at the end of a six-month probation-ary period.

“A lot of really strong candidates appliedfor the position,” said Danny Rader,UCHRA attorney.One board member expressed a desire to

fill the position by hiring someone fromwithin the agency’s 14-county servicearea.“It’s hard for me to imagine that we

couldn’t have hired a good, qualified can-didate from one of those counties,” said

Randy Porter, Putnam County Executive.Porter was one of five board members

who voted against hiring Parker.Before the vote was taken, Porter told the

Parker his choice was not a personal slighttoward the candidate, simply a desire tohire locally.None of the other board members of-

Head of the class

By AMY DAVISHERALD-CITIZEN Staff

Blended learning.It’s a concept that’s taking hold in today’s

learning environments — and PutnamCounty schools are no exception.The school system was even designated

as a Blended Learning Universe district by

Clayton Christensen Institute, a nationalnonprofit organization dedicated to ad-dressing and improving issues in society,with a strong focus on education.“They’ve been highlighting practices of

schools and districts that are moving to-ward more blended learning strategies inthe classroom,” Sam Brooks, personallearning supervisor for Putnam County

Schools, said.Brooks said blended learning refers to a

mix of technology and traditional face-to-face instruction. It incorporates a variety ofeducational programs, learning experi-ences, instructional approaches and aca-demic support strategies to address the

Amy Davis | Herald-Citizen

Upperman Middle School students Holden Walker, in front, and Chase Pippin put their Chromebooks to use. Theschool is completely one-to-one with electronic devices for all students in math and English language artsclasses.

Putnam recognized for tech learning mix

Nursinghomecharged$2 millionfalselyMabry Healthcare & Rehab

Center in Gainesboro includedmore than $2 million of non-allowable expenses on its an-nual Medicaid cost reports,which were used to calculatethe nursing facility’s reim-bursement rates, according tofindings of an audit by thestate Comptroller’s office.This amount included moneythat was spent for the personalbenefit of the owner and herimmediate family members.

Comptroller auditors discov-ered that Mabry Healthcare in-cluded personal expenses andexpenses unrelated to residentcare on the facility’s cost re-ports for five consecutiveyears. These expenses in-cluded hundreds of thousandsof dollars spent at discountstores, restaurants, home im-provement stores, furniturestores, department stores,beauty and nail salons, etc.

Auditors determined thatMabry Healthcare alsoclaimed for reimbursement$322,500 paid to a businessrun by the owner’s husband,$33,162 spent on college tu-ition and books for theowner’s daughter, and $1,184used for the owner’s daugh-ter’s wedding.

“It goes without saying thatnursing homes should never

Ty Kernea | Herald-Citizen

Preparing for Saturday’s poker run that will benefit Project Graduation at MontereyHigh School are, from left, Aimee Webb, event organizer and Project Graduation vicepresident; Kayla Holpp, Donovan Farley, Caitlin Sampley, Clair Webb, ChelseyGroves and Dalton Beard, Project Graduation members; and Sandy Sampley, ProjectGraduation president. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. at MHS. Motorcycle kick-stands will go up at 9:30 a.m., and participants are due back by 2 p.m. Registrationis $20 per card, with a 50-percent payback with a winning hand. Stops include Con-venience Mart, Norris Supercycle, Leatherworks and Mid-State Motorsports. Carsare welcome to participate.

MHS poker run City to vote onmaintainingBuck Cemetery

By MEGAN TROTTERHERALD-CITIZEN Staff

At one time, Buck Cemeteryoff of Gainesboro Grade inCookeville was nearly erasedfrom the minds of people.Thanks to the hard work of vol-

unteers, the Putnam CountyArchives and city officials, thehistoric slave cemetery site iswell on its way to being pre-served. The Cookeville City Council

will be discussing taking overthe upkeep of the graveyard at itsregular meeting at 5:30 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 29, at City Hall.“The city does not want to own

it; we just want to honor the peo-ple buried there by keeping it inorder,” Council Member ChuckWomack told those gathered at a

recent meeting to discuss thecemetery’s fate.The cemetery first belonged to

a slaveholder family with the lastname of Buck. Historians be-lieved that the first graves therewere of that family’s slaves.From those first burials, the sitegrew to be known as a placestrictly for African-Americanburials. As the years went on, the site

became neglected and over-grown. The cemetery wasbrought to the attention of thestaff of the Putnam CountyArchives in 2011, and archivistGlenn Jones headed up a groupof volunteers to clean off the siteand fix the sunken graves. How-ever, it proved too much for vol-

See BUCK, Page 2

See HIRE, Page 2

See AUDIT, Page 2 See SCHOOLS, Page 3

HERALD-CITIZEN, Cookeville, Tenn. — www.herald-citizen.com — Wednesday, September 21, 2016 — A3

LOCAL/STATE

State

in Brief

Groups cross

ideological lines

for criminal

justice reform

NASHVILLE (AP) — Ad-vocacy and business groupsfrom opposite ends of the po-litical spectrum are joiningforces to press for criminaljustice reform in Tennessee.American Civil Liberties

Union of Tennessee, the Bea-con Center of Tennessee, theTennessee Association ofGoodwills and the NashvilleArea Chamber of Commerceare among the groups formingthe Tennessee Coalition forSensible Justice.The coalition will promote

reforms to the criminal justicesystem that enhance publicsafety, promote rehabilitationand re-entry, and save tax-payer dollars, according to arelease.“Our current criminal justice

system is functioning like a re-volving door,” ACLU-TN ex-ecutive director HedyWeinberg said in the release.“We as a state can and must dobetter to ensure public safety,fair treatment and equality inthe justice system. “This coalition will be a

powerful advocate for smart-on-crime policies at the legis-lature.”Justin Owen, president and

CEO of the Beacon Center ofTennessee, said the currentsystem isn’t working and ismaking Tennessee less safe.In the beginning, the coali-

tion will pursue legislation fo-cused on juvenile justice,sentencing reform and recidi-vism reduction.Before the legislative session

begins, the group plans to holda series of town hall meetingsand reach out to other organi-zations with an interest incriminal justice reform acrossthe state.

Nashville approves

marijuana

decriminalization

ordinance

NASHVILLE (AP) —Council members in Nashvillehave approved an ordinancethat allows police to reduce thepenalty for people who pos-sess a small amount of mari-juana.The Tennessean reports that

the Nashville MetropolitanCouncil voted 35 to 3 in favorof the ordinance on Tuesdaynight.The ordinance says a police

officer who encounters some-one in possession of a half-ounce or less of marijuana hasthe option of issuing a civil ci-tation for a $50 fine or com-munity service, rather thanarresting the individual.Such a penalty is in contrast

to Tennessee law, which callsfor people caught with a half-ounce of marijuana or less toface a misdemeanor criminalcharge punishable by up to oneyear in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Nashville police

officer fatally

wounds suspect

NASHVILLE (AP) —Nashville police say a 43-year-old man has been fatally shotby police after pulling a pistol.The Tennessean reports

Sandy Joe Duke of Springfieldwas shot just before 2:30 p.m.Tuesday. Police said no offi-cers were injured.Law enforcement officials

said Duke was a suspect in ahome invasion earlier in theday in Robertson County.Nashville police spokesman

Don Aaron said RobertsonCounty sheriff’s officials wereable to track the suspect toNashville.Aaron said police located the

suspect and ordered him tostop, but he fled. Aaron saidofficers again commandedhim to stop, and he turned to-ward them with a pistol inhand, so an officer opened fire.

distinct learning needs, interests,aspirations and cultural back-grounds of individual students toincrease their achievement lev-els.

Putnam County’s designationcame in August through itsVITAL program, which standsfor Virtual Instruction to Accen-tuate Learning.

“When we talk about personal-ized learning and the VITAL op-portunities we have, that all fallsunder the blended learning um-brella,” Brooks, who overseesVITAL, said.

He said the Putnam CountySchool System was the first dis-trict selected as a Blended Learn-ing Universe district by ClaytonChristensen Institute. Before that,only individual schools had beenrecognized.

Since then, at least one more inTennessee and four total nation-wide have earned the distinction.

“Clayton Christensen Instituteis a major contributor to blendedlearning across the nation,”Brooks said.

“They put on conferences andidentify folks who are doinggood things.”

Director of Schools Jerry Boydis pleased with Putnam County’sdesignation.

“It’s very deserved recognitionfor Sam Brooks and his team atVITAL, as well as all the teachersin the various schools who haveutilized VITAL to move in thatdirection,” he said.

“Sam has shared our successesat several national conferences,and over time we’ve gotten theattention of this group and otherstrying to highlight these types ofpractices in schools and schooldistricts.”

The VITAL program goes backto 2008.“One of the goals was to sup-

port teachers in incorporatingtechnology in their classroom ina very deliberate way,” Boydsaid. “Many have improved uponand taken the strategies muchfurther than we could have imag-ined.”Boyd said school districts

across the state are taking similarapproaches to blended learning,and they’re all learning fromeach other’s successes.“We recognize that technology

is not a silver bullet, but it’s cer-tainly a tool our educators canuse to better meet the needs ofstudents in this day and age,” hesaid. Putnam County schools are in-

creasing their use of technologyin many different ways. Prescott South Middle just

launched its own VITAL MiddleSchool Academy, through whicharound 250 students are earninghigh school credits throughblended learning environmentsthat incorporate the use ofChromebooks and Google Apps

for Education.Upperman Middle School is

completely one-to-one with stu-dent electronic devices in allmath and English language artsclasses. Cookeville High School has

several classroom pilots goingwith Chromebooks and GoogleApps for Education. Its Fresh-man Academy program isquickly moving to a one-to-onestudent Chromebook environ-ment. The school also has morethan 200 dual enrollment stu-dents attending college classes.

Prescott South Elementary hasa strong STEM (science, technol-ogy, engineering and math) pro-gram that is incorporated intoclasses, many of which are ledthrough a blended learning for-mat.Numerous Algood Middle

School students are working to-ward high school credit throughVITAL and Algood offerings.Northeast Elementary has sev-

eral blended learning station ro-tation models in place throughthe use of Chromebooks andGoogle Apps for Education.

From Page 1

SCHOOLS: Putnam recognized for tech learning

Amy Davis | Herald-Citizen

Upperman Middle School teacher Sara Harvick teaches students in her blended learning classroom, where each studenthas access to a electronic devices.

GOP donor Andy Miller settled federal fraud case for $7.8MNASHVILLE (AP) — The

business run by wealthy Repub-lican donor Andy Miller hasagreed to pay $7.8 million to set-tle allegations of defrauding afederal military health care pro-gram.

The Tennessean reports that

Miller, his brother Tracy and aFlorida company called QMedRxInc. agreed to the settlement withfederal prosecutors on Sept. 13.Persecutors said QMedRx vio-

lated the federal “anti-kickbackstatute” that bans the exchange ofanything of value in exchange for

government business.The Millers run Healthmark In-

vestment Trust and have beenprominent backers of tea party-styled politicians like perennialcongressional candidate Joe Carrand expelled state Rep. JeremyDurham.