THE LEADER THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 ▪ VO L . 1 2 9 , N O. 8 ▪ T H E VO I C E O F TIPTON COUNTY S I N C E 1 8 8 6 ▪
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A group of Lady Charger players pose for a picture Wednesday morning before boarding the bus for Murfreesboro. Photo by Jeff Ireland
Lady Chargers state-bound By JEFF IRELAND jireland@covingtonleader.com
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harman Coley was on hand Wednesday morning to send off the Covington Lady Charger basketball team in style during a school-wide pep rally. And so was Katresha Glass. When Covington and Macon County begin their Class AA State Tournament quarterfinal game today at 4 p.m. in Murfreesboro, it will be the first time since 2002 that a Covington girls basketball
team has played in a state tournament. Coley, still a teacher at Covington, was the head coach of that 2001-02 team. Glass, the point guard that year, is an assistant coach on this year's team. “Yes it does,” Glass said Wednesday when asked if it seemed like just yesterday she was headed to Murfreesboro. That team lost in the quarterfinals. This year's version will be looking to fare better, and they are favored to do so. Covington (34-2) finished
the regular season ranked second in the Associated Press Class AA state poll. The top-ranked team, Grainger, didn't make it to Murfreesboro. Neither did McMinn Central or Creekwood, the third- and fourthranked teams. Head coach Dion Real, who has resurrected a struggling program since taking over two seasons ago, wasn't making any predictions Wednesday when he spoke to the student body during the pep rally. But he was hopeful about the team advancing to the title
▪ The Lady Chargers are set to play Macon County at 4 p.m. today. The winner advances to state semifinals Friday at 5:30 p.m. against the CAK-Cannon County winner. The winner of that match up will play in the title game Saturday at 6 p.m.
game on Saturday. “I know most of you won't be able to make the game tomorrow,” he said. “But if we can get to Friday, I expect to see more of you. On Saturday I want to see that place full of Charger fans!”
Just two teams from Covington High School have won state titles: Covington baseball in 1999 and 2006. A high school basketball team from Tipton County has never won a state title. Hanging on the wall of the gym during the pep rally was a sign that read, “Don't Believe Us Just Watch,” a line from a popular song. If Real has his way, the 11,000-seat Murphy Center will be full of Lady Charger fans on Saturday hoping to watch history made.
Sheriff answers audit allegations By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com Mislead. That’s how Sheriff Pancho Chumley feels about the state’s annual audit report. “He sat right here and told me everything was okay,” Chumley said, recounting the meeting he had with Kevin Rice, an auditor with the state comptroller’s office in December 2012. On the audit report, which was summarized in The Leader’s Feb. 21 issue, Rice noted several areas of concern. He reported time sheets were not always signed by employees, supervisors made unexplained changes to time sheets, the sheriff’s signature was affixed by a rubber stamp, leave balances for employees exceeded the maximum 240 hours and several employees continued to receive regular compensation though they’d exhausted their accumulated vacation and sick leave and their time sheets reflected negative balances. He also noted that following the audit period, three of the four
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If you don’t know anything’s wrong, you don’t know how to defend yourself against something you’re not doing. DONNA TURNER DEPUTY CHIEF
employees had returned to work and their payroll records no longer reflected negative values for accrued leave. Additionally, the audit revealed meals were routinely charged to sheriff’s office credit cards in excess of the rates allowed by county policy. Some of these meals appeared to be for the entertainment of individuals who were not county employees, which is prohibited by the policy. There’s a perfectly good explanation, said the sheriff. Time sheets There is a strict system of checks and balances in place, a system that includes three levels of approval before a time sheet ever SPORTS The Lady Chargers are headed to the state tournament, A11 Also inside: Craig, McKinney sign scholarships, A12
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reaches Chief Billy Daugherty’s desk where it receives two more before going to the county for payment. From there, it goes back down the chain of command with copies made and filed at each level before reaching the employee. “We’ve never had one contested, never had a grievance, since I’ve been in office,” the sheriff said. Time sheets, he said, are sometimes not signed by deputies who are on leave or away at training when payroll is due. Changes are sometimes made when a deputy has to work an overtime detail after payroll is due or when mathematical errors are found. And only Daugherty has access to the rubber stamp, which is used for state paperwork and to add signatures of approval to time sheets for 99 employees. “You wouldn’t believe the volume of paperwork that cycles through here,” Daugherty said. “Kevin Rice said there’s no law that authorizes the use of stamps (on time sheets), but there’s no law that doesn’t. And there’s nothing that gets stamped that he
A royal flush for cancer By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com
If you find a purple toilet in your yard one morning don’t be alarmed. “We just thought it’d be a good idea,” said Cindy Bradley, a member of the Relay for Life of Tipton County committee. “So my neighbor, who’s a plumber, got us a toilet and my husband and I painted it.” The porcelain throne, painted in the organization’s signature hue, is part of the Relay for Life committee’s campaign to help flush out cancer. “We’re going to have a sign on it that says SEE TOILET, PAGE A3
SEE AUDIT, PAGE A3
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Recent pageant winners have been announced, A7
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