User:Joebax1959

Joe (Joseph William) Baxter is the director of emergency management for Lawrenceburg/Lawrence County, Tennessee.

Baxter has held the position since December, 1990, when he was appointed by Lawrenceburg Mayor Ivan Johnston and Lawrence County Executive Marty Dunkin.

He was born in Lawrenceburg on February 20, 1959, the son of Tennessee State Trooper Dean Baxter and Lawrence County school teacher Virginia Baxter of Leoma, Tennessee.

He graduated from Lawrence County High School in 1977, and the University of North Alabama in 1981. He worked as a news writer and editor from 1981-1990 for the Lawrence County News, WDXE Radio, and the Lawrence County Advocate until being named to head the county's emergency management program.

During Baxter's tenure, Lawrence County experienced several severe natural disasters, including ice storms, tornadoes, and floods.

An Ice Storm in February, 1993 caused residents to be without electricity for up to three weeks, requiring extensive sheltering and feeding operations while utility crews rebuilt the county's electrical grid.

Despite having an excellent storm spotter organization, Lawrence County residents were unable to receive weather radio warnings when powerful tornadoes struck Iron City in June, 1994, and Ethridge in May, 1995. Baxter led a project in 1996 to raise $90,000 to build a NOAA weather radio station that now serves several counties in southern middle Tennessee. When Lawrence County was hit with Tennessee's only documented F-5 tornado in April of 1998, there were no lives lost within the county despite massive destruction along the 50 mile damage path.

Less than two months after the F-5 tornado, the City of Lawrenceburg was hit with a devastating flood on July 13, 1998. The flood claimed two lives, damaged hundreds of homes, and destroyed the city's water and sewer plants.

The great flood of 1998 continues to be the focus of Baxter's disaster preparedness program. After completing a floodplain buyout program, Baxter undertook a flood control project to mitigate future floods by constructing retention and detention ponds, and improving the 2.2 mile "Shoal Creek Interceptor" that drains stormwater out of Lawrenceburg.

Although the project is not scheduled to be complete until September, 2012, the improvements have already demonstrated their effectiveness in several notable rainfall events.