The Chester County Independent has connected communities and provided news coverage for Henderson and the surrounding areas for 158 years. Read on to look back on highlights from January through June 2023.
Jan . 5 – Clayton retires after 47 years
The First Farmers Co-op of Henderson honored Mike Clayton Friday in anticipation of his upcoming retirement. Clayton, who has served the Chester County community for 47 years, began working on the dock at the Co-op at 17-years-old.
Jan. 12 City Hall renovation project begins
Henderson City Hall began renovation January 3. The project will include completion of vacant areas on each floor, creating additional offices and storage space, the addition of a conference room, new flooring for the upstairs classroom and more.
Jan. 19 – Over 300 dance at Carl Perkins Center Daddy Daughter Dance
Over 300 dads and daughters danced the night away at the Chester County Carl Perkins Center’s Fifth Annual Daddy Daughter Dance that was held at the West Chester Elementary School gym on Saturday, January 14. The continued growth of the event has caused it to be one of the center’s biggest fundraisers, Chester County Carl Perkins Center Director Kirbi Fahs said.
Jan. 26 – Chester Co. names Teachers of the Year
On Jan. 18, Chester County Board of Education held a reception to recognize, honor and celebrate the Chester County Schools 2022-23 Teachers of the Year. During the reception, Director of Schools, Troy Kilzer II, thanked them for their dedication to teaching in Chester County Schools. The teachers who were honored were, left to right: Chester County Middle School’s Fourth Grade Teacher of the Year Crystal Wilson; Chester County High School Teacher of the Year James Carter – Automotive; Chester County Junior High Teacher of the Year Christie Pennington – Seventh Grade Math; West Chester Elementary Teacher of the Year Natalie Cravens – Third Grade; Jacks Creek Elementary Teacher of the Year Nancy Davidson – Second Grade; East Chester Elementary Teacher of the Year Sandy Lewis – Special Education and Chester County Middle School’s Fourth Grade Teacher of the Year Amy Wood. Additionally, in district level recognition, Wilson was honored as the K-Fourth Grade District Level 2022-23 Teacher of the Year. Pennington was honored as the Fifth – Eighth Grade District Level 2022-23 Teacher of the Year and Carter was honored as Ninth – 12th Grade District Level Teacher of the Year.
Feb. 2 – Lee sworn in as Tennessee’s 50th Governor
Gov. Bill Lee was sworn in for his second term by Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Roger Page of Chester County, Saturday, Jan. 21.
Feb. 9 – Lucy Deweese advances to state level in Scripps Spelling Bee
Chester County Middle School hosted the second annual school level Scripps National Spelling Bee on Monday, February 6. There were 42 participants taking part in the school level bee. The first place winner was Lucy Deweese (fifth grade). She won with the words seminary and batten. She will go on to participate at the state level competition in Nashville. The second place winner was Tanis Osterfoss (fourth grade).
Feb. 16 – City recognizes HPD officers
The meeting began with the presentation of Lifesaving Citation Awards to four members of the Henderson Police Department, Sgt. Michael Rhodes and Officers Bradley Ross, Jonathan Menzie and Whitney Watkins. Each of these police officers administered medical aid to injured or unresponsive victims.
Feb. 23 – CCHS announces Valedictorian Lockridge and Salutatorian Haskins
At the top of the class is Valedictorian Annabelle Lockridge. Lockridge, daughter of Jason and Tamara Lockridge, has a 4.0 GPA with a cumulative average of 99.61. She will be attending Freed-Hardeman University to major in Accounting and minor in Bible Text. Second in the class is Salutatorian Jacelyn Haskins. Haskins family members are Beth Haskins (grandmother), Jade Lofton (mom) and Steve Haskins (grandfather). Haskins also has a 4.0 GPA with a cumulative average of 99.43. cumulative average of 99.43. Haskins will be attending FHU as well. Though she is currently undecided on her major, she is committed to FHU Softball.
March 2 – Premier hosts Black History program
Premier Manufacturing held a Black History program and luncheon Thursday. Victor Flanagan, plant manager, briefly spoke about moments in Black History. Pictured are, left to right, Flanagan, Rick Clagg – operations manager, Beth Porter – HR manager, Trevor Nelson – quality/engineer manager and Gary Anderson, controller.
March 9 – The Chester County Eagles are State Bound
After defeating Murfreesboro Central Magnet on Monday, March 6, (67-65), the Chester County Eagles Basketball team advanced to the state tournament for the first time in the current TSSAA classification system. The last appearance before that was in 1958. Their first state matchup will be against Ridgeway High School Tuesday, March 14, at 1:15 p.m. at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
March 16 – WTH requests funding for EMS services
Regarding the EMS service in Chester County, a letter sent this week states “Since July 1, 1995, Medical Center EMS has provided emergency Medical Services to the citizens of Chester County. During this time, we have staffed at the contractual level and provided quality coverage on a day-to-day basis. In many cases, we have pulled additional resources into Chester County to supplement our staffing so that the citizens of the county would have access to emergent medical care when needed…We are now facing significant challenges in providing these services…Accordingly, we are no longer able to provide EMS services to Chester County under the current terms of the Agreement, and are providing this letter as notice of termination of the Agreement effective July 1, 2023…We look forward to talking to you in the near future…hope that an agreement can be reached…”
Tim Adams, Vice President of Hospital Services and Joyce Noles, Executive Director Medical Center EMS, were on hand to address the board and answer questions. Despite a 25-year contract agreed upon in 2018 when Chester County built the EMS building on South Church Ave., Adams, citing “cause” said WTH will need assistance providing their EMS services. He continued to explain that because of changes in Medicare program funding and a reduction in compensation and usage, an increase in staff retention costs and the COVID-19 pandemic, WTH EMS is requesting $419,000 yearly beginning July 1, with an increase of 2% or inflation equivalent each year. Chester County currently pays nothing for this service, due to the contractual agreement in building the facility for EMS in Chester County.
March 23 – Alex Beene wins prestigious national award from the Coalition on Adult Basic Educa tion
Chester County native Alex Beene, Lead Instructor at Tennessee Adult Education, has been named Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE), a national organization dedicated to advancing the field of adult literacy.
March 30 – Police standoff ends in peaceful surrender
At around 2 p.m. Sunday, March 26, Henderson Police Officers and Chester County Sheriff’s Deputies were attempting to serve an arrest warrant to 32-year-old Terrence Howard at 616 Hill Ave. in Henderson. While searching the residence for the suspect, the suspect discharged a shotgun, striking Henderson Police Officer Carson Naylor. According to the release, Officer Naylor was attempting to locate the suspect in the residence when he opened a bedroom door and was immediately met with a shotgun blast. Officers did not return fire due to the presence of a small child in the room. A perimeter was set up, and tactical teams were called with agencies from Jackson, Madison County and Lexington responding, as well as EMS, THP and Henderson Fire Department.
After several hours negotiators were able to get Howard to surrender without further incident. Perimeters were lifted around 9:30 p.m.
April 6 – Storms ravage neighboring communities
Strong storms swept across the country Friday, March 31 evening, leaving a path of destruction in West Tennessee and nine dead in neighboring McNairy County and 15 throughout the state of Tennessee.
April 13 – Chester County turns out to support McNairy
Chester County showed up to support McNairy storm victims this week in a big way. Friday evening, the community raised $5,500 at Besso’s. Saturday, the Henderson Fire Department delivered a truck-load of donated item: following a benefit event at Tractor Supply. Bethel Springs Disaster, Relief Coordinator Vonda Burns said what started out as a simple goal of feeding those who had been affected by recent severe weather has become a full-scale operation.
April 20 – Xi Chi Delta takes FHU Makin’ Music 46
About 400 students worked as coordinators, staff, emcees, hosts, hostesses, cast and show band members to put together an incredible Makin’ Music 46 show for more than 7,500 audience members the second week in April. FHU family gathered April 14-15, as prospective students participated in Maroon and Gold Day, incoming students registered for fall classes and alumni and friends enjoyed food trucks, inflatable jumpers, a photo booth and more at Party on the Green in Heritage Commons. Before each of the three weekend performances, crowds lined the sidewalks in front of Loyd Auditorium to cheer for the five social club casts as they entered the building.
After the final note Saturday night, Xi Chi Delta’s “Hillbilly Hideout” was named this year’s first place sweepstakes winner of Makin’ Music 46. Phi Kappa Alpha received second place for its show “Fight at the Museum” and Sigma Rho received third place for its show “A Ghostly Renovation.”
April 27 – CCYT visits the world of Narnia
May 4 – Yellow brick road leads to funds for helping prevent child abuse
The community followed the yellow brick road to the First United Methodist Church of Henderson for the Chester County Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse for “A Night in Emerald City” for the center’s 23rd annual dinner and auction. After feasting on the good meal, people pulled out their credit cards and checkbooks to bid for items that varied from bleacher chairs, food seasonings, tickets for fun activities that would be good for vacations and more. During the event there was live music from pianist Adam Booher and singing by Becky Hartle.
May 11 – Robbins found guilty on first degree murder
Todd Allen Robbins, 35 of Sardis, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Benny Wayne Maness. On December 20, 2020, the Chester County, Tennessee, Sheriff was called to Nolen Road near Enville. Upon arrival, deputies found a man, later identified as Maness, who had been shot and run over by a vehicle. The investigation and testimony at the March 22- 23 trial revealed that Robbins, who was an acquaintance of the victim, had shot Maness in the head with a handgun, pulled him from the cab of his 1985 Toyota pickup, shot him again to make sure he was dead, and then ran over him as he drove away from the scene of the murder.
May 18 – NFL greats Esiason and Simms to team up at FHU Benefit Dinner
A pair of NFL greats-turned-commentators will team up for the Freed- Hardeman University Annual Benefit Dinner Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms will share the Loyd Auditorium stage at the FHU event that raises scholarship funds for FHU students.
May 25 – James Carter makes run for State Teacher of the Year
The Chester County Board of Education met Tuesday, May 16, with all members in attendance. The first item on the evening’s agenda was the spotlight/celebration and recognition of Chester County High School teacher James Carter. Superintendent Troy Kilzer introduced Carter, who is in the running for the statewide teacher of the year.
June 1 – 2023 Spring Fling results in silver bling
Chester County did not get any gold hardware, but silver still looks good on them.
At Spring Fling 2023, Chester County was able to be called runner-ups in the state in two events, Boys Tennis Doubles and Boys 1600m race.
Recent Chester County Graduate Stewart Brown was able to place second in the 1600m race which was the last track event last Tuesday. He finished with a time of 4:33.54.
Nathan Britt and Ethan Mullins were the runner-up boys doubles team in the state.
Bella Lamb also ran the 1600m race and earned eighth place with a time of 5:58.386.
Both of them ran the 3200m race. Brown was able to get third with a time of 9:46.28, and Lamb got eighth with a time of 13:07.54.
Brown also ran with his team of 4×800 runners, Silas McManus, Garrett Robison and Dillon Williams. They earned sixth place with a time of 8:33.712.
Last but not least, Hannah Rich threw for Chester County in the discus and shot put and earned fifth place in both of them. In shot put she threw 33 feet and 4.25 inches. In discus, she threw 102 feet and 4 inches.
In addition to Britt and Mullins, Cecily Davis and Grace Compton competed in the girls doubles state tournament but were eliminated in the semifinals. They lost in the third set, 2-1. In the first round they won 2-0.
The two girls, though they lost, have made history for Chester County Girls Tennis as the first girls to compete at state.
Also representing CCHS in tennis were the CCHS Boys Tennis Team and Austin Ketchum in the Boys Singles Tournament. Unfortunately. the boys team and Ketchum could not advance past the first round.
June 8 – Students combine science and summer
Summer camp includes STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) research and implementation in Chester County this year, with Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs Summer Manufacturing Camp.
June 15 – County Mayor criticizes commissioners, refuses to sign contract
Chester County Mayor Barr Hutcherson took to social media Sunday afternoon in a length Facebook post concerning a disconnect between his office and the county commission He stated that since his election to his second term last yea that most of the commissioner pushed forward to push him out as chairman of the commission by electing commissioner Barr Smith to serve as chairman. Th commission has the right to elect anyone to head the board. “Since that time,” Hutcherson said, “they began taking actions, which in my opinion were detrimental to the county.”
June 22 – City receives $4 million water infrastructure grant
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation issued good news last week for communities
across the state that will benefit from nearly $300,000,000 in grant funding.
Among those recipients is Henderson, which received $4,001,247.
June 29 – Commission meeting turns into shouting match
Emotion was high at the Chester County Commission Meeting Monday evening. The commission worked through the agenda in front of a packed house with questions from the audience ranging from the county budget to the $1.3 million appropriated for a new Election Commission facility.
