The 8-1 Russell County Mighty Laker football team played in the biggest game of its season a week ago Friday night, October 25 at Lake Stadium’s Finley Field as district rival Knox Central, 6-3, came to town vying for the 6th District Championship.

The Lakers came out and played strong on both sides of the ball, coming away with an easy 33-0 shutout win and clinching the district title for the second consecutive year.

“We worked all year long to get to this point,” said Laker head coach Bill Sharp. “We wanted to win anther district title and get a number one seed.”

LIVINGSTON ENTERPRISE…

Drug misuse and addiction can ruin marriages, careers and even cost lives. Just recently, one female inmate at Overton County Jail nearly lost her life because of alleged drug abuse.

Emergency medical personnel were dispatched to the jail on Tuesday, October 22 to treat an inmate who had allegedly ingested and abused prescription drugs, including pain killers. The inmate, who the sheriff’s department declined to name at this time, received medical treatment and is in good medical condition now.

Overton County Sheriff W.B. Melton said, “I am just very thankful that this was not worse. It could have been really bad, but I think she is alright.”

He said she had recently come back into the jail after being on a judge-granted furlough to see her doctor.

“We do everything we possibly can to keep drugs out of here,” Melton said. “We know whenever someone leaves these doors to go out and work and then comes back in that there is a risk. They have got 24-hours a day, nothing but time, to think up ways to bring drugs in, and we have got only one chance to keep them out.”

Melton went on to explain some of the wild ploys and elaborate schemes that prisoners have used to sneak drugs into the jail. He said one prisoner who had been granted work as a trustee had found some clay one day, some mud, and had crafted the clay into a shape resembling human feces. He said the guy then buried narcotics in the center of the clay form, waited for it to harden and then shoved it into his rectum.

He spoke of another older inmate at the jail, a cocaine addict, who tried to manipulate his aging mother into bringing drugs in during family visits.

“You wouldn’t believe the things the people back here (meaning the prisoners) are willing to do. They will go to extremes. Some of them are quite smart, actually, I just wish they would use their brains to do something positive with their lives,” Melton said.

While Melton said he realizes work furloughs at the jail can be somewhat risky, he believes sometimes the community benefits outweigh the risks. For example, he said trustees have been painting some of the county’s schools, doing landscaping work for the local Head Start and painting community centers without incident.

“We do a lot to try and help the community and save the county money,” he said. “We try to watch prisoners very closely, but you can’t watch them every minute.”

According to Melton, addiction and prescription pill abuse are real problems in this area and not by any means exclusive to this jail.