By The Blaze. As Tennessee residents continued clean-up efforts after tornadoes ravaged the area, first responders found a nearly unscathed Bible among the wreckage.

“I found the holy Bible here. … There’s not a page gone in this Bible,” a Sparta Police Department cop identified as Officer Denton told WVLT-TV. “It’s a family Bible. We’d like to find out whose family Bible it was.”

At least two additional Bibles were found in the wreckage, with police looking to return these items to their rightful owners.

(Read more from “‘Not a Page Gone’: Cops Find Intact Family Bible Among Tennessee Tornado Wreckage (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Married for 58 Years, Tennessee Tornado Victims Died Side by Side: ‘the Best Earthly Example of What a Marriage Should Look Like’

By USA Today. James and Donna Eaton died side by side on a mattress thrown from their bed.

“About as close as you can get,” Mt. Juliet Police Department Capt. Tyler Chandler said.

A powerful tornado leveled the couple’s home in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, an area hard hit by Tuesday morning’s deadly storms.

The Eatons were married for 58 years. Jimmy Eaton, as he was known, would have celebrated his 85th birthday on Wednesday. (Read more from “Married for 58 Years, Tennessee Tornado Victims Died Side by Side: ‘the Best Earthly Example of What a Marriage Should Look Like'” HERE)

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A new law in Tennessee requires the motto “In God We Trust” to be prominently displayed in every public school in the state. . .

Representative Susan Lynn sponsored this bill and recently said this:

“Our national motto is on our money. It’s on our license plates. It’s part of our national anthem. Our national motto and founding documents are the cornerstone of freedom, and we should teach our children about these things.”

Concerning TN license plates, “In God We Trust” was added as an optional addition to standard Tennessee plates after state leaders passed a bill in May 2017.

Many people on social media fully support the idea of displaying the motto in schools. That support carries over to South Knoxville Elementary where they have a sign up and the principal has plans to put up a bigger, more permanent display soon. (Read more from “Tennessee Public Schools Now Required by Law to Display ‘in God We Trust’ Motto” HERE)

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In 2016, Tennessee became the first state in the nation to implement an animal abuse registry, and now other states are looking to follow its lead.

The law requires anyone convicted of aggravated cruelty to animals to be placed on a registry accessible to the public on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s website.

The registry currently has eight perpetrators’ names, photographs and other personal information on it.

Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen told NBC News affiliate WBIR that there are three ways people can make the registry: “aggravated cruelty to animals, fighting animals or having sexual relations with animals.”

The list is reserved for those convicted of the felonies, not lesser misdemeanor crimes of animal abuse, which might involve not feeding or otherwise properly caring for animals.

Also, the law specifically covers companion animals, such as cats and dogs, not farm animals.

State Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, who co-sponsored the legislation, explained why he thought it was an important to step for Tennessee to take.

“These animals become members of our family and they need to have some of the same protections as the people who become attached to them,” Briggs said.

The law requires any who are convicted of aggravated animal cruelty to be placed on the registry for two years. An additional five years will be added to a perpetrators expiration date for every subsequent offense.

Josh Devine, spokesman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, explained via email, “We have heard – anecdotally – the registry is proving to be a resource for adoption organizations, shelters and others as part of their process to ensure those who have a history of abusing animals don’t have access to other animals.”

“The registry – like our sex offender registry – is not designed to be punitive, but informative, so the community has information about those who have been convicted of the most serious animal welfare violations,” he added.

Eric Swafford, Tennessee state director for the Humane Society of the United States, told Western Journalism that “having this type of information being more readily available to law enforcement and to the public, it just makes good sense.”

“Oftentimes people that commit crimes against animals move on to committing crimes against people,” Swafford noted.

Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley executive director Amy Buttry said she is pleased that the registry is available as a resource that her organization can use when doing adoptions, hiring staff and recruiting volunteers.

“Most shelters already use some sort of database, so that they at least know in their immediate town or county of offenders they won’t adopt to,” she explained.

Otherwise, beyond the information contained in the adopter’s application and local databases, “You’re going on faith almost every time you adopt out an animal,” Buttry said.

Michigan became the second state earlier this year to implement an animal abuse registry, while legislation has been introduced in Rhode Island, Texas, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. (For more from the author of “Tennessee Leads the Way in Establishing Animal Abuser Registry” please click HERE)

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