You are invited to attend an Opioid Addiction and Prescribing Conference to be held at the DeKalb County Community Center on Tuesday, March 20 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. A dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m.

On-line registration for the conference has closed but if you have not registered you can register at the door. Please call 615-684-6378 to let them know you are coming.

The DeKalb and Smith County Drug Prevention Coalitions are partnering with East Tennessee State University and the Tennessee Department of Health to educate health care professionals and others about proper prescribing practices to curb the spread of opioid abuse.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Mitchell Mutter of Chattanooga, Medical Director of Special Projects for the Tennessee Department of Health.

The program is open to all levels of health care professionals including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, dentists and others interested in solutions.

Attendees will learn about prescription opioid misuse and abuse trends, risk management tools, new laws and regulations effecting pain management specialists, current prescription related trends, the Tennessee Controlled Substance Monitoring Database, Chronic Pain Guidelines, and identifying strategies to incorporate evidence based best practice standards for safe opioid prescribing practices into team-based care.

The registration fee for the event is $50 for health care professionals and $15 for all others.

Smithville Boy Scout Troop 347 ventured into the world of spelunking at Raccoon Mountain Caverns in Chattanooga. Under the guidance of Scout Masters Will and Jen Sherwood, and Assistant Scout Master David Robinson, the scouts donned helmets, kneepads, and pairs of gloves for the Wild Cave Expedition tour Saturday, March 10.

“We started off in a big room and then to go to the next part, you had an option of two ways—one was to crawl on your belly through a section that was 8 inches high,” explained Cody Robinson. “But if you’re claustrophobic there’s an easier way.”

Robinson chose the tight squeeze.

“I went the less challenging way just to try it out,” said Zackary Cantrell. “I was a little nervous at first but after that, I felt great. It was longer but not as tight.”

“One side was easier than the other,” said Gavin Conger. “I went for the easy side. We could walk normally at first. Then, it would get to where we would have to duck some.”

Parts of the 2-hour Canyon Crawl tour took scouts on a muddy adventure visiting the deeper, undeveloped sections of the cave.

“I went down a mud slide,” said Robinson. “It was cold. It was about 5 yards, and at the end of it was a puddle of muddy water.”

Scouts used a 15-foot rope to climb parts of the cave.

“It was a little difficult at some points,” said Cantrell. “It felt like you had to hold on to the rope for dear life.”

One spot called The Canyon Crawl posed a different challenge.

“You crawled on the edge, and there was this huge drop if you stepped in the wrong spot,” explained Cantrell.

Darren Waggoner and Emily Robinson also explored the cave. Troop 347 loved Raccoon Mountain, leaving with sore muscles and a lot of mud on their clothes from the cave.