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A tragic four-wheeler accident Saturday morning claimed the life of a 12-year-old Cedar Grove girl.

Erin Celeste Jones, daughter of Ricky Porter Jones and Stephanie Bateman Jones of Lavinia, died while riding a four-wheeler just off Holder Road in Cedar Grove near the home of her grandparents, Mack and Evelyn Jones. She is also the granddaughter of Peggy and Clyde Bateman of McKenzie.

According to Carroll County Coroner Steve Cantrell, Erin was thrown from the all-terrain vehicle while traveling on a familiar trail just off Holder Road. She was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

"She was driving on a straight, level stretch of land and had just exited a curve when the Honda Rubicon TRX500 overturned," said Cantrell.

The girl's grandfather, Mack Jones, told officials Erin left home at approximately 8:30 a.m. to make a run through the field path, said Cantrell. Approximately 45 minutes later, Erin's father became concerned when she didn't return and attempted to call her by cell phone, but received no answer. Traveling on another four-wheeler, he found her when he went to search the area.

Ricky called his father to summon an ambulance and began cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on his daughter, Cantrell said. She was transported by ambulance to city of Milan Hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later.

Milan Middle School Principal Lacee Mallard said Erin was well liked by everyone at the school.

"She was just precious," said Mallard. "She was hard working, caring, thoughtful, helpful and very well liked with lots of friends. The kids and teachers are torn up," added Mallard. "We're all hurting right now. One of her teachers told me that if she had a daughter, she would have wanted her to be just like Erin."

Erin's home base teacher, Ms. Mary Brew, nominated her for Student of the Week on October 11. Describing Erin for the honor, Brew wrote, "Erin is a top notch student. She is very helpful and dependable. Her peers think so highly of her, they elected her student government representative for our home base. I think they made an excellent choice."

Mallard said the school will do whatever is necessary to help the kids.

"You try to get everyone prepared, but you just never know how the kids will react after a tragedy like this. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with her family right now," she said.

The accident is the second tragedy for Milan in the past three weeks. Milan freshman Ramzi Morris, 14, was killed in an automobile accident on Gann Road on the morning of September 24.

Erin also leaves a brother, Matt Jones of Lavinia; maternal great-grandfather, Ray Baker of Trezevant and paternal great-grandparents, Walter Jones of Cedar Grove and Ruby Jones of Lexington. (See separate obituary in this edition.)

Testing of private water wells continues, Mayor Walter Winchester reported to members of the McKenzie Board of Water Commissioners and McKenzie City Council in back-to-back meetings Thursday, October 13.

Winchester said he and codes officer Ray Berryman completed Thursday a survey of
pertinent households--those outside the city limits that use well water--within a one mile radius of the capped landfill after a retest of wells originally tested revealed the same results as initial testing. Retested samples were drawn and testing commissioned by the Barge, Sumner, Waggoner and Cannon engineering firm at no cost to the city.

Households in the northern vicinity of Tower Road, surveyed Thursday, will be tested next week with results expected five-to-six days later, said Winchester.

Wells below the landfill in the vicinity of Hansen Meadows Road and the remainder of Highway 436, in which two wells were discovered to be contaminated with trichloroethene and 1, 1 dichloroethene, were sampled last Thursday. Winchester said those results had not yet been received.

Winchester said approximately 40 households comprise the latest testing region and that residents would receive letters notifying them of the results of the water tests.

"Everybody was glad we were doing it at no charge to them," he said. Should
contamination be discovered in any of the wells tested, those residents will receive certified letters advising them of the result and retesting procedures. According to the specifications of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, households affected by well contamination must be provided with bottled drinking water pending the provision of city water services.

Water lines have been extended to the households of Tim and Ronnie Doster, whose
wells on Highway 436 were previously determined to be contaminated, but have not yet been connected pending testing of the lines, Winchester reported.

WATER COMMISSION PROPOSES ORDINANCE PROHIBITING PRIVATE WELLS

Water commissions approved the recommendation to City Council of an ordinance that would prohibit the construction of privately owned wells and springs, and prohibiting the keeping of dangerous or offensive pools or ponds.

The proposed ordinance proposes that: (1) every residential and business structure within the city limits must be supplied city water services, provided there is a municipal water main at the front, rear, or either side of the premises; (2) it be unlawful for any person at any such building to use water from wells or springs if it is open to the general public or the general public is invited upon the premises; (3) the digging of new wells within city limits would be unlawful; (4) the mayor would have authority to request the state
Department of Health or Department of Environment and Conservation to examine and test all springs and wells believed to be unclean or contaminated in any way; (5) in the event a spring or well is found to be contaminated, the mayor will condemn the same as a public nuisance and post a notice nearby stating the water source has been condemned as unsanitary and dangerous to health, and also serve upon the owner notice that the well should be permanently closed within ten days in such a way that renders the retrieving of water impossible; (6) notice be further provided to owners who fail to comply with the abatement notice that they are subject to a fine of $50 for each day the nuisance continues to exist and that the city may seek civil remedies for damages caused thereby; (7) in the event of continued noncooperation, the chief of police, by request of mayor, would assume the duty to close the well so as to prevent persons from obtaining and using the water therefrom, with costs charged to the owner and payable on demand; (8) every pool, pond, or other place within city limits that is offensive or dangerous to health will be declared a public nuisance and may be abated at the cost of the property owner unless renovated, cleaned, or purified within three days of notice by the mayor; and (9) the city
adopt TDEC Rule No. 1200-5-1-.34 as its official wellhead protection policy.

That approximately ten-page document establishes a statewide program for the
"development and implementation of wellhead protection plans by public water systems and are intended to protect aquifers used as potable water supply sources from contamination due to hazardous and/or toxic substances entering the ground water."

The ordinance will be presented to the City Council and must pass two readings before becoming law.

The City Council during their October 13 meeting approved a planning commission
recommendation to contract with the state planning service after Charlie Goforth of Barge, Sumner, Waggoner and Cannon announced in a recent meeting of the planning commission that planner Jack Brown had not recovered sufficiently from cancer treatments to attend meetings and that it was difficult for Goforth, an executive vice president with the company, to attend the meetings.

Winchester said the state service would cost $8,500 per year and that he had been promised a single planner would be assigned to McKenzie for at least two consecutive years. Several persons had previously expressed concern that the city had experienced a high turnover rate with planners from the state office located in Jackson. The mayor also said maps and other peripheral service would be produced from the Jackson office at no extra charge whereas the engineering firm charged for each service performed in addition to approximately $300 per meeting, which in part included travel expenses from Memphis.

The council postponed a decision regarding one lighting bid received from Musco
Lighting Company in Muscatine, Iowa. The company bid $29,950 for pre-wired, pre-
aimed, stackable lights and poles to be installed at the girls softball field at City Park.

Parks and Recreation Director Ricky French said the poles currently in use since 1978 were dilapidated and "on the way down."

Winchester noted approximately $30,000 remained in the grant funding the project and that installation was not included.

Noting the bid was good for 60 days, the council voted to postpone the decision pending bids for installation and further approved that bid process. The city also agreed to request installation assistance from the electric company.

In other matters the council:

* approved a resolution recognizing and commending the McKenzie High School golf
team (see related story this edition);

* Referred to Fire Department liaison Darra Adkins and Fire Chief Brian Tucker two bids received on a skid for use on the department's Gator. The mounted motor, pump, and 50-gallon water tank, with 150 feet of forestry hose and fog nozzle, will be used primarily in fighting brush fires. The committee will report next meeting with a recommendation for purchase between bids submitted by Jeff's Lawnmower Service in Huntingdon ($7,575) and Elite Power Products in Wisconsin ($4,790);

* Approved the recommendation of a committee headed by Jill Holland to purchase a $5,515.95 John Deere riding mower for the Park and Recreation Department from Jeff's Lawnmower Service, who was the low bidder.

* Heard a report from Fire Chief Brian Tucker that of 200 calls between January and September, 41 percent were handled by on-duty personnel; 29.5 percent were page-out, pay calls in which volunteer firefighters were paid to assist; and 29.5 percent were assisted by volunteers who happened to be at the department at the time of the call and opted to receive no pay for their service.

Tucker said it was not uncommon for a subsequent call to come in while personnel are responding to another call, and that there have been instances in which the department has responded to three calls at once.

He lauded the dedication and commitment of firefighters who often spend their free time in service to the department. "I'm pretty proud of them," he said.

* Heard Holland report citizen requests for deer crossing signs on Liberty Lane, Smith, and College Drive. She said a request had also been made for signs on Cole Street to signal drivers to reduce their speed due to children playing on the road in which she said houses were located very close to the road. "There are lots of small children playing and toys and balls do roll out in the street," she said.

"I will relay that to the streets superintendent," said Winchester. "The more signs we've got, the more we have to enforce."

Winchester also advised commissioners and council members of the receipt of a
$500,000 CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) for the initiation of sewer
rehabilitation. City officials will attend a November 19 meeting in Nashville for the formal announcement and workshop regarding the grant.

"This is good news," he said. Noting that diagnostic smoke tests would reveal areas most critical for the first stage of sewer line rehabilitation, he added, "It'll be a long process; we won't get anywhere near completed... This is the beginning of a long journey, but we've got to start."

A condition of the grant is that the city expend $75,000 toward the project. Winchester said the city would "try every way we can...anything we can do" to reduce actual expenditures through the use of "in-kind" resources through the use of city labor and equipment.

Mayor Walter Winchester presents McKenzie High School golf coach Larry Joe Smith with a resolution honoring the teams'efforts in regional and state tournaments. Present to receive the honor are, left to right: Beau Brown, Marshall Smith, Craig Broadbent, Coach Smith, Mayor Winchester, Justin Wilson, Carson Rider, Justin Petering, Kristi Petering, Jake Brown and assistant coach Hoot Gibson.

McKenzie High School's golf teams were recognized Thursday, October 13, with a resolution approved by the McKenzie city council in their honor. The girls and boys teams competed in the TSSAA Class A-AA regional championships held at the Tennessee River Golf Course in Decaturville, where the boys team came away with the regional championship, advancing to the TSSAA State Class A-AA championship tournament held at the Bear Trace Golf Course at Tim's Ford State Park in Winchester.

The team was the first in MHS history to ever advance to the state championship.

The resolution also recognized the accomplishments of Kristi Petering, who advanced to the state championship tournament as the third individual qualifier.

The resolution noted it had been ten years since a female golfer had participated in the state tournament. McKenzie's girls' golf team in 1995 season were undefeated in district action and won the regional title, allowing them to advance to the state level.

"The McKenzie Board of Mayor and Council hereby extends its sincere congratulations to the boys regional champions which includes Beau Brown, Jake Brown, Justin Wilson, Marhsall Smith, Craig Broadbent, Justin Petering, and Carson Rider of the McKenzie High School boys golf team and, Kristi Petering of the McKenzie High School girls golf team, and Coach Larry Joe Smith and assistant Coach Harold "Hoot" Gibson for a truly impressive showing in the TSSAA Class A-AA Regional Golf Tournament Championships in Decaturville," the resolution reads.

"The community publicly recognizes the effort put forth by the McKenzie High School boys golf team and the McKenzie High School girls golf teams and extends its gratitude for representing their school and community in such an inspiring fashion."

"We certainly do appreciate this recognition," said Coach Larry Joe Smith, "We're awfully proud of them." He said the boys team's 40-10 record was a first at the school.