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10/29/16–Mt Carmel Cemetery work day
Mt. Carmel Cemetery work day will be held on Oct. 29th starting at noon
with a wienie roast afterwards. Please bring any hand tools you think will
be helpful.
10/25/16 — Taylor Weddington
Taylor Weddington, age 67, of Tullahoma, passed away on Saturday, October
22, 2016 at NHC of Tullahoma. Funeral services are scheduled for Tuesday,
October 25, 2016 at 1 PM at Daves-Culbertson Funeral Home with Bro. Tim
McGehee officiating. Visitation with the family will be Monday, October
24, 2016 from 5 – 8 PM at Daves-Culbertson Funeral Home.
A native of Shelbyville, he was the son of the late Jiles Thomas and
Jeanette Martin Weddington. He enjoyed coon hunting, fishing, golfing and
playing the guitar. He also enjoyed going to the Winchester Race Track on
Saturday nights and watching car racing.
Mr. Weddington is survived by one son, Chad Weddington and his fiancé,
Taylor of Tullahoma; one daughter, Connie Landers and her husband, Pat of
Tullahoma; brothers, Eddie Weddington and his wife, Norma of Tullahoma,
Gene “Cotton” Weddington and his wife, Judy of Viola and Doris Weddington
and his wife, Tammy of Lincoln County; sister Kay Crowell and her husband,
Jerry of Tullahoma and four grandchildren, Patrick Landers II, Peyton
Landers, Megan Landers and Anna Reynolds.
Daves-Culbertson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Raiders Fall to Blackman in Pink-Out Game
![Breast cancer survivors join the CHS captains to the center of the field for the coin toss prior to Friday's game. [Photo by Brock Freeze]](http://www.thunder1320.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PinkOut-Night.jpg)
Breast cancer survivors join the CHS captains to the center of the field for the coin toss prior to Friday’s game. [Photo by Brock Freeze]
Blackman scored on their first offensive drive to put the Raiders in an early hole but Coffee County answered with a 55 yard touchdown run from Tyrese McGee with 6:30 remaining in the first quarter, Blackman was able to block the extra point and answered with 4 touchdowns before intermission.
Coffee County was led in rushing by McGee who had 2 rushes for 54 yards and the lone touchdown. Reese Pratt rushed 9 times for 44 yards to be named the Thunder Radio/Crazy Daisies Player of the Game. Colton Prater was 3 for 8 passing for 18 yards and Zach Vaughn was the leading receiver with 1 catch for 13 yards.
The Raiders will conclude the regular season on Friday when they play host to Siegel on Senior Night. CHS senior football players, cheerleaders and band members will all be recognized as part of the festivities. Kickoff is set for 7 PM and Thunder Radio will begin live coverage at 6 PM.
Westwood Drops Friday Games to Community
Cruz Pitsinos of Westwood basketball
The Westwood Rockets and Lady Rockets fought hard but came up short on Friday night at home against Community. The Lady Rockets dropped a 32 to 23 decision while the Rockets lost in overtime 51 to 48.
After falling behind by 18 points in the 1st quarter, the Rockets Were able to battle back and tie the game at the end of regulation at 48. The Vikings had the only points in overtime to claim the conference win. Trenton Thompson led Westwood in scoring with 20 points, Cruz Pitsinos chipped in 17.
Valerie Barger of Westwood basketball
In the girls’ contest, a sluggish first half put the Lady Rockets in a 24 to 9 hole at the half. Westwood outscored Community in the 2nd half 14 to 12 but could not complete the upset bid. Valarie Barger led Westwood in scoring with 6 points, while Allie Roberts added 5 points for the Lady Rockets.
Westwood will travel to Chapel Hill on Monday for a conference matchup with Forrest. The girls’ game will tip off at 6:00 PM. Westwood will be back at home on Tuesday when they host Eagleville. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that doubleheader as part of the 1st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.
Coffee County Youth Basketball Opens Season on Saturday
CCYBL action from October 22nd
The Coffee County Youth Basketball League got underway on Saturday as the 8 elementary schools squared off in basketball action at the Coffee County Middle School. Four girls’ contests and 4 boys contests were on the schedule in the first of 7 weeks of competition in the regular season.
In girls play, New Union won by forfeit over Deerfield, Hillsboro defeated East Coffee 22 to 8, College Street outlasted North Coffee 15 to 10 and Westwood shut down Hickerson 30 to 4.
CCYBL action from October 22nd
In boys’ action, New Union stopped Deerfield 27 to 10, Hillsboro stopped East Coffee 22 to 2, College Street raced past North Coffee 27 to 7 and Westwood edged Hickerson 22 to 19.
Next Saturday, the action returns to Central High School’s Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym beginning a 9 AM. Each pair of schools will play a doubleheader with the girls’ game first followed by the boys’ game.
Schedule for October 29, 2016 (IMPORTANT NOTE: game will start 5 minutes AFTER previous games so game times are approximate. 9 AM game will start on time while other games COULD start EARLIER than listed time.
| Teams | Girls | Boys | ||
| Westwood | vs | North Coffee | 9:00 | 10:00 |
| Hickerson | vs | College Street | 11:00 | 12:00 |
| East Coffee | vs | New Union | 1:00 | 2:00 |
| Hillsboro | vs | Deerfield | 3:00 | 4:00 |
Titans Frustrated After Another Tough Loss to Colts
The roar was back at Nissan Stadium, and late in the fourth quarter on Sunday, it looked like the Titans would finally take a bite out of Indianapolis Colts.
Only it didn’t happen.
The result – a 34-26 loss to the Colts – was especially tough to take for a team still searching for ways to get over the hump against their AFC South rivals.
“I’m upset,’’ Titans defensive lineman Jurrell Casey said. “Really at a loss for words right now. That makes 10 in a row to lose to the Colts, and me personally, I’ve been losing to (Andrew Luck) since college. It hurts me deeply. I’ve just got to find a way, and my team just has to find ways to win these close games.
“We are very disappointed in ourselves.”
It’s true. The Titans have now lost 10 straight games to the Colts, and Sunday’s game was a painful one.
The Titans had a chance to take a big step in the AFC South, and move ahead of the Colts. The two teams are now tied at 3-4 in the division, behind the Texans (4-2).
“We let this one get away from us,” Titans tight end Delanie Walker said. “We had it, and I think everyone feels the same way right now. We feel like we let this one go. … They keep finding a way to beat us, and that has to stop.”
After battling back from an early deficit, the Titans went ahead 23-20 with just 6:02 remaining on a 48-yard field goal by kicker Ryan Succop.
Earlier, the Titans tied the game 20-20 on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota to Walker with 12:39 remaining.
Momentum was on Tennessee’s side late.
But the Colts rallied, and regained the lead 27-23 on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Luck to tight end Jack Doyle, which capped off a 12-play, 70-yard drive with 1:55 left.
When the Titans got the ball back, Mariota had the ball knocked out of his hand by Colts defensive lineman T.Y. McGill, and Colts defensive lineman Robert Mathis picked it up and ran it back 14 yards for a touchdown to make it 34-23. The Titans added a late field goal to account for the final margin.
Coach Mike Mularkey said the Titans made things difficult on themselves with early mistakes. A botched extra point and the failure to recover an onside kick were among the gaffes.
“Those are things that help you win close games and we are going to be in a lot of close games like this,’’ Mularkey said. “Those are things we have to do a better job of making plays and we have done that. We have won some close games. We have to do it over and over, more consistently.”
Mariota finished the day 22-of-36 for 232 yards and two touchdowns, and a 95.8 rating.
Running back DeMarco Murray racked up 107 yards on 25 carries in the contest. It was his third 100-yard game of the season.
But Titans had their two-game winning streak snapped because they weren’t consistent enough on offense, and because the defense couldn’t get stops when needed in crunch time.
Time and again Luck converted big third downs. He finished the game 27-of-39 for 353 yards and three touchdowns.
“I have all the respect in the world for Luck,” said Titans linebacker Derrick Morgan. “He is one of the best competitors I’ve ever played against. But we didn’t play our brand of defense today. And we didn’t make plays when we needed to.”
The Titans jumped out to a 6-0 lead early, thanks to touchdown on their opening drive for the second week in a row. The Titans scored in a way not many expected – on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to left tackle Taylor Lewan. But the Titans failed on the extra point attempt because of a mishandled snap.
The Colts responded quickly. Luck connected with running back Frank Gore for three-yard touchdown pass, and then found receiver T.Y. Hilton open for a 37-yard touchdown pass. After a 28-yard field goal by kicker Adam Vinatieri, it was 17-6 Colts.
The Titans got a big scoring drive at the end of the first half, one that was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Murray, making it 17-13 at the half.
The Colts stretched their lead to 20-13 on a 33-yard kick by Vinatieri, who broke an NFL record with the kick. It was Vinatieri’s 43rd consecutive made field goal.
Then the Titans rallied, only to see things unravel in the end.
The Titans will face the Jaguars on Thursday night at Nissan Stadium. Thunder Radio will bring your Thursday night’s game as part of the Tennessee Titans Radio Network.
Credit Card Scam leads to Charges against Two Atlanta Residents
Nykeisha Michelle Jenkins… Photos provided by the CCSD
On Thursday in Tullahoma, Tennessee Highway Patrolmen responded to a “Be on the Lookout” for a possible vehicle involved in a credit card theft or scam. The vehicle matching the bolo was located on North Jackson Street in Tullahoma.
The arrest warrants indicates that upon making contact with the driver and passenger it was discovered they had numerous credit cards in their possession. A check through Capital One Credit Card Company confirmed that the cards were fraudulent. The cards allegedly were reportedly from a personal debit account to an unknown person at this time, the investigation to find the victim is ongoing.
Shakha Osman Daniels
Nykeisha Michelle Jenkins age 26 and Shakha Osman Daniels age 22 both of Atlanta, GA were charged by troopers Donnie Clark and Jason Boles with Criminal Simulation and Identity theft/use of another’s information. They were booked in at the Coffee County Jail under bonds was set at $100,000 each. Jenkins and Daniels will both appear in court on Nov. 22, 2016.
Late Night Fire Burns Coffee Co. Home
Fire scene photo by Barry West
The Hickerson Volunteer Fire Department received a page out for a house fire from the Coffee County Communication Center around 10pm Saturday night. The fire was at 3284 Old Tullahoma Hwy across from 3-Way Market. Emergency crews arrived on the scene and extinguished the blaze.
It was discovered that the home was unoccupied and no injuries were reported.
Hickerson Volunteer Fire Department was called back to the home on Sunday morning just before noon for a rekindle and they were able to put that fire out as well.
The fire is under investigation.
State Assessments and Coffee County Schools
Press Release: Changes in state assessments for students in Tennessee have occurred on a somewhat regular basis; in fact, some people may claim that changes were put in place for which our schools were not prepared to follow. Case in point: the online testing situation in 2015-2016. Although many school systems prepared to assess their students in grades 3-8 and grades 9-12 students enrolled in classes with End of Course tests in English/Language Arts and Mathematics, the promised online platform was not ready. To add insult to injury, the pencil-and-paper format of the TNReady assessment was not shipped in time for students in grades 3-8 to take their tests at all. Despite these setbacks experienced last year, the state of Tennessee has plans in place for students to complete their assessments successfully in 2016-2017. Some aspects of the testing plan remain the same, but there are changes in store for students in Coffee County Schools.
With respect to the testing platform, students in grades 3-8 will take all of their assessments with pencil-and-paper this year. However, Coffee County students in grades 9-12 will complete their English/Language Arts and Mathematics tests on computers. Also, students who were previously assessed with a portfolio system will now take their tests on computer. This plan is part of a gradual phase-in of online testing over a three-year period. As part of this new online testing plan, a new vendor contracted with the state of Tennessee to provide assessment and scoring of these assessments.
Additional testing requirements for some students will also be in place this year. The state of Tennessee has developed a new test for students in Grade 2. Coffee County students in Grade 2 will take this test in the spring semester. At the high school level, students in Grade 11 who want to graduate with a regular diploma must take either the ACT or SAT to fulfill part of their graduation requirement. The state has provided the opportunity for students to take one of these college readiness tests during the school day instead of reporting to a national testing center on a Saturday morning.
Another change involving testing concerns how much weight test results contribute to a student’s overall grade. In past years, the results from state testing made up 25% of the grade for the second semester. Since there were no test results available for 2015-2016, testing did not contribute any weight for final grades last year. For the next three years, the following scale has been proposed for the percentage that testing will contribute to a student’s final grade:
2016-2017: 10% of the final grade
2017-2018: 15% of the final grade
2018-2019 and beyond: 15-25% of the final grade
Each school district will decide the weight of state testing for 2018-2019 and beyond within the amount allowed by the State Board of Education.
Unemployment Rate Up in Tennessee
Tennessee’s preliminary unemployment rate for September has risen in the state’s latest reports.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday that the preliminary rate for September was 4.6 percent, up two-tenths of a percentage point from August’s revised rate of 4.4 percent.
The U.S. preliminary rate for September was 5 percent, up one-tenth of a percentage point from the previous month.
Tennessee’s unemployment rate has fallen from 5.6 percent a year ago to 4.6 percent. Nationally, the rate is down from 5.1 percent to 5 percent.