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Sims Jobe

THE LEADER

Jerry Crowder

Jamie Christy

Mike Pegg

Phillip Martin

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2013 ▪ VO L . 1 2 9 , N O. 3 4 ▪ T H E VO I C E O F TIPTON COUNTY S I N C E 1 8 8 6 ▪

Dennis Chaney

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Rodeo to raise funds for club Proceeds benefit new Boys & Girls Club By FRANCE GASQUET fgasquet@covingtonleader.com

This weekend the rodeo's coming to town, and proceeds will be donated to a much-needed organization. Held on both Friday and Saturday nights, the rodeo will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of the Hatchie River Region. “It’s a family friendly event and the original extreme sport. Also, we’ll have the world’s champion rodeo clown," said Covington mayor David Gordon. The rodeo will be held at the Covington Saddle Club arena at 7:30 p.m. both nights and will feature such contests as saddle

GOVERNMENT

County working on budget numbers

bronc riding, cowgirls breakaway roping, and Brahma bull riding. Children will enjoy the many special attractions created just for them, including best dressed cowboy and cowgirl contest and the kid’s gold rush. Spectators will have the chance to win a complete charcoal grill package donated by Home Depot or compete in a paper airplane toss to win a new vehicle donated by Homer Skelton Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Millington. “I hope everyone will come out and see

the rodeo,” Gordon said. Tickets are available at Stockdales, Abby Farm Supply, the Covington-Tipton County Chamber of Commerce, and at the gate. General admission is $10 in advance for adults, $15 at the gate (or two or more $12.50 at the gate). Children 10 and under are $5 in advance and $8 at the gate. All advance sales end on Thursday, June 13 at 5 p.m. The Covington Saddle Club is located at 100 C.E. Moss Parkway, inside Cobb Parr Park.

NEIGHBORS

By JEFF IRELAND jireland@covingtonleader.com Budget amendments were the main topic of conversation at Monday night's meeting of the Tipton County Legislative Body. The commissioners approved the amended 2012-13 budget as presented by Bobby Alsbrook, the school system's budget director. Alsbrook presented a budget that was amended from $89.471 million to $93.501 million. The amendments were necessary, Alsbook said, because funding for several federal projects was not finalized when the original budget was made. The federal project budget increased from $5.27 million to $8.501 million, with the remainder of the amendments coming out of the general fund. Alsbrook said he expects the school system to use between $100,000 and $150,000 out of fund balance to balance the budget. The commissioners also approved various amendments to the county's 2012-13 budget, which is $123 million. Quincy Barlow, the director of the county's finance committee, said money was transferred between various accounts, but the amendments did not require the county to spend any extra money. “Everything zeroed out,” Barlow said, “but we did transfer a lot of money around.” County Executive Jeff Huffman said he expects the 2013-14 county budget to be presented to the commissioners next month. “We're working on it right now,” Huffman said. “A lot of it is already finished.” A continuing budget resolution was passed, allowing the county to go past the June 30 budget deadline. The meeting was recessed instead of ended to allow for the finalization of budget amendments. The meeting will resume June 24 at 7 p.m. In other matters: • Director of Schools Dr. Buddy Bibb presented ACT results for 11 rural West Tennessee counties from a state department report.

After their home was damaged by an EF-1 tornado on May 31, Mt. Lebanon resident Bo McClain and fiancé Margaret Frame said donations from the community would help them get back on their feet. Photo by Echo Day

Tornado victims in need of help By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com On the first 90-degree day of the year, Bo McClain is on his lawnmower, mowing grass to give his two-year-old son a place to play. "He really loves it out here," McClain said, looking around the property where he was born, raised and continues to live. Until a tornado damaged the house his father built in 1939, that was. "We really prayed for (the victims of the tornado in) Oklahoma, then it happened to us," said Margaret Frame, McClain's fiancée. The couple, along with their son, Clinton Lewis, and Frame's 78-yearold father, who is also blind, are trying to rebuild their lives after they were disrupted by the EF-1 tornado that ripped through the Mt. Lebanon community two weeks ago. McClain and Frame were in the living room, awake, when it hit. "They always say it sounds like a freight train coming through, and it does," Frame said. "It was my first tornado I've been through, it's a scary feeling."

McClain said they heard the storm and he told his fiancée to hold on. "When the windows blew out, I knew we were in for trouble," McClain said. The 74-year-old home was knocked off of its foundation, windows were broken, limbs came through the roof of Clinton's bedroom. You can look at the corner of the living room and, because the connecting walls were pulled away from one another, see into one of the bedrooms. Frame's father was lying on a hospital bed near windows in the same room but, thankfully, the windows next to him remained intact. Outside, the swings and slide connected to Clinton's playset remain missing, toys were broken, the shed was knocked down, the gas tank and their vehicles were moved and the chicken coop was damaged. Their five hens survived, surprisingly, and, the important part is, they did too. But they need help rebuilding. "It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't just have knee surgery," McClain said. Out of work since Thanksgiving,

McClain had his first knee surgery in November and his second less than a month before the tornado hit. "Like I told the insurance lady, we're on a very, very tight budget around my house," he said. They're not sure what will be covered by the insurance company, but will need help meeting the deductible. "We didn't lose any clothes or much furniture, so we don't need those things," he said. "Money would really go further than anything." After a brief hotel stay funded by the American Red Cross, the family has been renting a home in the northwest part of Covington. To help the family, Dr. Jesse Cannon has set up a donation fund at Patriot Bank. "I am pleading for all my friends to join me in helping a family that was a victim of the tornado that hit Covington area last week," he said via Facebook this week. Anyone wishing to donate to the Bo McClain fund can do so at any Patriot Bank branch. Donations can also be sent to Patriot Bank at P.O. Box 865, Covington, TN 38019.

SEE BUDGET, PAGE A3

NEW COACH AT CHS Lady Chargers welcome Katrisha Glass as new head coach, A10 INSIDE: BMS track season successful, A10

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Reader's Guide Opinion Obituaries Property Transfers Community Correspondents

FFA HOSTS CAMP AT BRIGHTON

A4 A6 A6 A7 A8

Sports Puzzles Faith Classifieds Legals

A10 A11 A12 A14 A15

“For the Kids Rodeo” June 14 and 15, 7:30 pm Covington Saddle Club Arena “Downhome Banking the Way It Should Be”

Children enjoy Agventures camp this week. A20

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