Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) is a national program that provides guidelines for beef cattle production. The program raises consumer confidence through offering proper management techniques and a commitment to quality within every segment of the beef industry.
BQA certification in Tennessee is good for a two year period. If your certification has expired or if you have never been certified, County Extension Director Michael Barry will be offering some BQA certification classes at the UT Extension office in Smithville. The class lasts about an hour. The BQA fees are $15 if you are a member of the Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association. However, if you are not a member of the Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association, the cost is $30. And there is only one discounted BQA per TCA membership.
In addition to learning practices which are designed to help improve individual operations, increase profits and raise the overall quality of livestock and management practices in the state, BQA certification is also required to participate in the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Ag Enhancement programs.
Producers have embraced BQA because it is the right thing to do; but they have also gained through increased profitability. As an educating program, BQA helps producers identify management processes that can be improved.
BQA classes will be offered on Tuesday, April 10 at 6:00 p.m. and on Wednesday, April 11 at 1:00 p.m. The classes will be at the new UT Extension office location at 722 South Congress Boulevard, across the road from Food Lion. If you would like to register to attend one of the classes or have any questions, give me a call at the Extension office at 597-4945.

The Annual Celebration of Spring will be Saturday, April 14th at Edgar Evins State Park, Silver Point, between Smithville and Cookeville on Center Hill Lake.
This year it will also commemorate the 75th Birthday of Tennessee State Parks. It will be a FREE day of outdoor recreation and entertainment for families and individuals, sponsored by the Friends of Edgar Evins State Park and park employees.
The day’s activities will begin at 8 a.m. at the Visitors Center with registration for all and sign-ups for the events that have a maximum number of participants. The activities that have limits are the popular nature hikes led by State Naturalist Randy Hedgepath, Park Ranger Mark Taylor, and Holly Taylor as well as the approximately hour long pontoon boat rides for adults and children over 3 years accompanied by an adult.
Other events will include kite flying, face painting, 3-legged and sack races, living history demonstrations, and Ssssnakes! Ranger Ramble Raccoon, the Tennessee State Parks Mascot, will be on-hand for picture opportunities and to take part in the festivities.
Boy Scouts of Troop 875 will show how to cook in a Dutch Oven over a camp fire. Girl Scouts of Troop 1147 will assist anyone interested in making honeysuckle baskets or cornshuck dolls at the crafting workshop.
Many offerings will overlap so there will be something going on most of the day for various ages and interests. In addition there are approximately 11 miles of trails waiting to be hiked by those who prefer to explore on their own.
Live on-stage performances beginning at 8:30 a.m. will include a welcome address by James Westerfield of Murfreesboro as James Edgar Evins for whom the park was named, Minnie Pearl impersonator and country/pop singer, Patricia Jackson from Nashville, the Cannon Arts Dance Studio with Lori Christensen (“Ms. California” ) of Woodbury as Mother Nature, and the popular Flat Broke Blue Grass Band.
During the stage show there will be random Tennessee State Parks Trivia questions and prizes for correct answers. Other prizes will be awarded for the most nearly correct estimate of the candies in a jar and for winners of the races.
Participants are encouraged to pack a picnic or sack lunch and plan to stay for a fun day in the park. Those who wish to make it an overnight or weekend outing may phone the park office (1-800-250-8619 or 931-858-2114) to inquire about camping and cabins.
The website for the Friends of Edgar Evins State Park may be visited at http://foeesp.ne1.net

Almost eight months after four of the public officials re-located to the new county administrative building on South Congress Boulevard in an effort to free up space at the courthouse, the election commission remains in cramped quarters.
Last Monday night, Election Commission Chairman Walteen Parker, Secretary Harry Lasser, and Administrator Dennis Stanley addressed the county commission requesting more storage and operational space.
The election commission operates out of two small offices on the first floor of the courthouse. Supplies and materials are kept stored in closets, hallway filing cabinets, under tables, and other nooks and crannies on the first floor.
“We were hoping we would be allowed to have more square footage and more room with the transition to the complex but it never materialized,” said Chairman Parker. “Space is needed to accommodate voters, candidates, and citizens who come to our office to conduct business. That is business which is confidential or needs to be a private discussion. Much to our chagrin though we often have to discuss private information, inquiries, and matters openly and we always lack the accommodations and conveniences that our handicapped and elderly citizens and voters deserve just to complete forms. We just don’t have the space. Election night is always a cramped and crowded situation. We have six to eight people in a room trying to do our job. Its just extremely overcrowded. We make this request, for more operational space,” she said.
Lasser, one of two Democrats on the commission, also appealed to the County Mayor and County Commission for help. “We hold commission meetings in the back corner space (of an office). There are seven people packed in there with desks and filing cabinets. I get to sit between the door and the filing cabinets. It is not an exaggeration that Mr. (Kenneth) Moore and I have to take turns crossing our legs, otherwise we’d be playing footsie. I got to see my first countywide election on March 6 and it was chaotic. Every chair was occupied by a commissioner or by someone who was coming to vote. The election workers were in and out with folks who had questions. The phones were ringing constantly. Voters wandered in there wondering where they were supposed to vote. Chaos is the most appropriate word I can think of to describe what election day was like. When you walk into those offices, there are voter registration cards setting on desks. Those voter registration cards have names, addresses, birth dates, and social security numbers. A person could very easily walk into that office and grab a handful of voter registration cards. We’re the only office that I’m aware that doesn’t have some form of counter or barrier to keep visitors from sensitive information,” he said.
County Mayor Foster said more storage space could be made available at the new county complex. “I think we all agree with your problem,” said Foster. I think we have talked about doing some space. I went with Dennis out to the new building about storing all the things you need to store out there as soon as we can get two or three things done here. We’ve not even moved out of where I was into our office. We’re still in that process. I told Dennis we could start moving anything he wants to move out there in the way of storage. We also told Dennis that you can use the conference room upstairs (for election commission meetings) which is a much better place for you to meet. That should create a lot more room for you and be a bigger help,” said Foster.
Stanley said there is also a need for more space to conduct daily operations. “There are two issues here. One is a storage issue and the other is an operational issue. Really they are separate. On the storage issue, Mike (Foster) and I have talked and we have resolved most of that. I am not sure we need to move those (election) machines over there (new complex) and we’ll talk about that. But a lot of the other stuff we can move over there and it’ll be done. It’ll be out of the way,” said Stanley.
“On the operational issue, we need at least one more office so we can open up the other two (offices) and make some counter space for people to register to vote and have some privacy. At least a bar separating those people from our actual work. We’ve got stuff in the hall. We’ve got stuff in closets We’ve got stuff everywhere. It really needs to be organized,” he said.
“If we have more operational space, it will in the end give us more storage space as well,” said Stanley. “The only issue as far as storage inside the courthouse is simply voting machines and the printers. We really need some help. We’ve got a city election in June. Its not very large. But we’ve got a county wide election in August and November and if those two are any worse than what we had in March as far as activity in our office, its going to be a nightmare,” said Stanley.
“Privacy was a major issue (in the March primary). One office was full of election commissioners or an inspector. I was in the other office where the machine technicians were. I had a phone call from the state coordinator’s office that really needed to be private. There’s no privacy at all. It is a major problem. Its rather embarrassing to me for someone to walk in and say I want to register to vote and I have to move a chair or have them move a chair and then I have to move stuff off of a desk so they can sit down and fill out a form. There is no counter there at all. Anything you can do to help us, we would certainly appreciate it and the sooner the better,” said Stanley.
Other than County Mayor Foster, no county commissioner had anything to say about the problem and they moved on to other business.
While it was not mentioned publically Monday night, some election commissioners are reportedly upset that the county commission or mayor never asked them if they needed more space when the plans were being made about who was moving (to the new complex) and how office space was going to be designated. It has also been pointed out that almost every office that was moved from the courthouse has been replaced with an entity or organization that was not in the courthouse originally.
Last October, the county commission authorized the assignment of that courthouse space to others. Since then the Tennessee Highway Patrol, who had an office in the old Veteran’s Building, moved into the courthouse where the Trustee’s office had been. The Chamber of Commerce, in an effort to save expense, relocated from its office on the public square to the courthouse where the Register of Deeds had been. County Mayor Foster has moved his office across the hall to where the County Clerk office had been. Others are using some of the available courthouse space as well.
During that meeting in October, seventh district member Jimmy Poss came to the aid of the election commission strongly advising that the county take care of all those in the courthouse needing space before assigning all of the available courthouse space to others. Poss said the election commission is in dire need of extra space.”I think we should take care of the ones in the courthouse first before we start giving rooms out,” said Poss.

DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for February was at 8.4%, down from the revised rate for January of 8.6%, and down from 10.1% in February, 2011
The local labor force for January was at 9,800. A total of 8,970 were employed and 830 were without work.
DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for February was the fourth lowest among the fourteen counties of the Upper Cumberland region as follows:
Pickett County- 15.9%
Van Buren- 11.9%
White- 11.1%
Clay- 11%
Jackson- 10.7%
Cumberland- 10.4%
Warren-9.8%
Overton- 9.7%
Fentress- 9.5%
Smith- 8.9%
DeKalb-8.4%
Macon- 8.1%
Cannon- 7.8%
Putnam-7.5%
County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for February 2012, released today, show the rate decreased in 75 counties, increased in 10 counties, and remained the same in 10 counties.
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for February fell to 8.0 percent, down from the January revised rate of 8.2 percent. The national unemployment rate for February 2012 was 8.3 percent, unchanged from the January rate.
The state unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted while the county unemployment rates are not. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that eliminates the influences of weather, holidays, the opening and closing of schools, and other recurring seasonal events from economic time series.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 6.1 percent, down from 6.2 percent in January. Davidson County was 7.0 percent, down from 7.1 percent in the previous month. Hamilton County was 7.7 percent, down from 7.9 percent, and Shelby County was 9.2 percent, down from the January unemployment rate of 9.4 percent.

On Thursday, March 29, the Tennessee Department of Human Services, with USDA approval, will begin issuing D-SNAP (Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits to eligible residents of ten tornado-ravaged counties that have been federally declared disaster areas following the storms that occurred earlier in March. The D-SNAP program is the Food Stamp Disaster program approved via a waiver from the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service. The program allows households that are not otherwise eligible for the standard SNAP program to receive supplemental food assistance during a time of financial hardship caused by tornado damage.
The benefits are ONLY for eligible residents of Bradley, Hamilton, McMinn, Polk, Monroe, Claiborne, Cumberland, Overton, Jackson and DeKalb counties. Applications for D-SNAP benefits can be submitted Thursday, March 29, 2012 through Thursday, April 5, 2012, including Saturday, March 31.
Only residents of these counties, who sustained tornado loss or damages and wish to apply for the D- SNAP benefits, can apply. Residents who are currently receiving standard SNAP benefits can also apply for the D-SNAP program. All eligible residents are asked to bring photo identification, address information, Social Security verification, statements of income or resources, and estimated disaster expenses to one of the DHS offices in their county. Staff on-site will make eligibility determinations, and benefits in the form of EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards will be distributed the same day. The benefits will represent up to a one-month allotment of food stamps for the appropriate household size, and can be used for up to 90 days in any authorized SNAP grocery retailer.
The following locations are DHS offices in each of the ten effected counties. They will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m, local time to process applications for disaster SNAP benefits:
DeKalb County
715 Walker Drive
Smithville, TN 37166-2028
For more information, including a list of key questions and answers about the assistance program, please visit the DHS website at www.tn.gov/humanserv or contact your local DHS office.