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3/12/16 — Marlene Gifford McBee
Marlene Gifford McBee, age 70, passed away on March 3, 2016 at her home in
Hillsboro, Tennessee, surrounded by her loving family. She was a retired
Pharmacy Manager and a homemaker. Born in Chicago Illinois, she was preceded
in death by her parents, the late Frank Morlan and Adeline Irlbacker Morlan;
and children, Billy Gifford and Cynthia Gifford. She lived in Tennessee for
29 years and raised her children. She is survived by her husband of 13 years
Michael J. McBee of Hillsboro, Tenn.; four children, Cherrie Fletcher of
Morrison, Tenn., Brenda Gifford Thomas of Hillsboro, Tenn., Debbie Sue
Coughlin of Wisconsin and Kelly Lynch of Manchester, Tenn.; 29 grandchildren
and a host of other relatives and friends.
VISITATION
Saturday, March 12, 2016 from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. at Central Funeral Home,
2812 Hillsboro Highway, Manchester, TN 37355
MEMORIAL SERVICE
Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 1 p.m. following the visitation at Central
Funeral Home
Arrangements with CENTRAL FUNERAL HOME
Coffee County CHS Loses a Coaching Icon
CHS track coach Phil Bonham(left) poses with Sarah Pearson, head track coach Stan Jarrell and assistant track coach Samantha Amis after Pearson earned a medal at the 2015 TSSAA state pentathlon.
The Coffee County coaching community was stunned on Saturday morning with the news of the passing of Coach Phil Bonham. Coach Bonham passed away early Saturday morning at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga after suffering a stroke on Thursday. Coach Bonham, who had retired from the classroom a couple years ago, was currently serving as an assistant track coach at CHS. Bonham came to Central High School in the 1980’s where he served as head girls’ basketball coach and assistant football coach. During his tenure at CHS he served as an assistant boys’ basketball coach and as head girls’ track coach. His expertise in the hurdling events in track consistently earned him qualifiers to the state meet, including 2 state competitors in the hurdles last season, and a state title in 1993.
His longtime friend and track coaching partner Stan Jarrell described the passing of Bonham as “a devastating loss, both personally and professionally.” Jarrell, who was kind enough to share his thoughts with Thunder Radio, went on to say “it will be tough going back out there on that track without him. He was very demanding of the athletes but he ALWAYS had their best interests at heart. I want to wish my deepest condolences to his family.” Bonham was 62 years old and is survived by 3 daughters and 3 grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be handled by Central Funeral Home.
See the obituary at: http://www.thunder1320.com/obit/030816-philip-dwayne-bonham/
Fire Burns Coffee County Home
Fire scene photos by Barry West
Rico was able to speak with one of the home owners and she stated that she was in the house giving one of her dogs a bath and then heard the smoke alarm going off. She then locked the dogs in the bathroom and went to see why the alarm was going off and then noticed that there was smoke coming from the back bedroom. She then took the dogs and put them in the car and walked to a neighbor house across the road to call 911.
Coffee County EMS arrived on the scene and was able to keep the female calm.
New Union and North Coffee volunteer fire departments arrived on scene to attempt to get the fire under control.
The owners, the Minor family advised Deputy Ricco that the total damage was $300,000 plus.
North Coffee, New Union and Summitville volunteer fire departments responded.
McMinnville Man Arrested in Manchester
Christopher R Bowden… Photo provided by the CCSD
The driver gave the consent to Manchester Officer Jamie Norris to search and Bowden allegedly got out of the car with a blue case in his hand and threw it on the seat of the vehicle. A search of the case yielded 4 individually wrapped bags of methamphetamine with an approximate weight of .72 grams. 18 amphetamine tablets, 10 generic Xanax pills and 14 hydrocodone tablets. Also found in a bag was a set of digital scales.
Bowden was charged with manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance, 2 counts of schedule II drug violation, 2 counts of schedule IV drug violation and unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities. His bond was set at $16,500 and he has a court date of April 26, 2016.
Motlow Tops Colleges in Growth
Anthony G. Kinkel
Motlow outpaced all TBR institutions in the fall 2015 semester, establishing Motlow as the fastest growing college in Tennessee and among the fastest growing in the nation.
“A real team effort by our coaches, faculty, and admissions staff has helped us lead the state in enrollment growth two semesters in a row,” said Dr. Anthony Kinkel, Motlow president. “Not only is Motlow State benefiting from a record number of Tennessee Promise students, but we are also retaining students at the highest rate in our college’s history.”
The most recent numbers for the spring semester show Motlow posted a state-leading growth rate of nine percent in enrollment headcount, and an impressive 19 percent increase in FTE numbers. Out of the 13 state community colleges, only four other institutions showed an increase in headcount, with the closest to Motlow being Northeast State with an increase of three percent.
Man Pleads Guilty to Murder Charge
The second of four suspects charged in the beating death of a Cowan man has been convicted
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports 29-year-old Todd E. Dalton pleaded guilty Wednesday in Franklin County Circuit Court to facilitating first-degree murder in Corey N. Matthews’ death.
Matthews’ body was found in 2013 in a cornfield outside of Cowan. Authorities say he had been struck 14 times with a hammer.
Dalton was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Dalton is one of four men charged in Matthews’ slaying. David G. Jenkins was found guilty last year and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Two other suspects, 29-year-old Corey Lanier and 28-year-old Coty Keith Holmes, are each charged with first-degree murder and felony murder in Matthews’ death. Their court dates are pending. At one time all of the men lived in Coffee County. One or more have been linked to a white supremacy group.
Unemployment Rate Drops in Tennessee
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for January was 5.4 percent, a drop of 2-tenths of a percentage point from the December rate of 5.6 percent. That’s according to numbers from the Tennessee Department of Labor. The U.S. unemployment rate for January was 4.9 percent, a slight drop from the December rate of 5.0 percent. Over the past year, Tennessee’s unemployment rate has decreased from 6.1 to 5.4 percent, while the national rate declined from 5.7 to 4.9 percent.
CHS Baseball Pounds out 2 Scrimmage Wins on Saturday
The Coffee County Central High School Baseball team banged out 28 runs and 24 hits in a pair of scrimmage wins on Saturday at Powers Field. The Red Raiders used a big 9th inning in a 14 to 1 defeat of Grundy County in a 10 inning scrimmage to open play on Saturday morning. Nathanial Tate was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and DeAndre Wakefield was 1 for 4 with 3 RBI.
Against Cumberland County, the Raiders took advantage of a pair of errors to score 5 runs in the 4th inning to shoot down the Jets by an identical 14 to 1 score. Zach Wise was 2 for 3 with an RBI as he also escaped serious injury when he was hit by a pitch in the face. Jacob Langham was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored for Coffee County. Coach David Martin was pleased with how well his team played defensively including the excellence performance by his pitching staff.
The JV team also looked impressive on Saturday as they captured an 11 to 4 win over the Grundy County JV squad. Six different JV pitchers threw for Coffee County in the 6 inning win. Kael McCall had 2 hits for Coffee County and stole home in the game.
The Red Raiders open the regular season on Monday, March 14th when they play host to Shelbyville at Powers Field in a district contest. Thunder Radio will travel to Shelbyville on Tuesday, March 15th to bring you the 2nd game of that series.
CHS Soccer and Softball Teams Travel for Saturday Scrimmages
The CHS Soccer and Softball teams were in scrimmage action on Saturday in Rutherford County. The Lady Raider softball team finished their day with a record of 1 and 2 in the Rutherford County Playday at Riverdale. Lauren Tomberlin, Shelby Scrivnor and Paige Baker all had home runs for the Lady Raiders. Coach Steve Wilder was pleased with the power production “(but we) just have got to get runners on base.” The Lady Riaders will open the season at home on Monday, March 14th when they play host to Shelbyville in a 7 PM district contest. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of that game with Lucky Knott on the call.
The soccer team dropped a 2 to 0 decision to Stewarts Creek but Coach Robert Harper was proud of the play of his team. “(I) thought we played better than anytime (last) Saturday (at their home playday)” said Harper. Harper singled out the play of his goal keepers as John Parigger held Stewarts Creek scoreless for the first 60 minutes in the varisty match and JV keeper Kix Ferrell shutout the Red Hawks in the first half of the JV game. The Red Raiders will travel to Mt. Juliet on Monday night for a Varsity/JV scrimmage doubleheader with the Bears of Mt. Juliet High. The JV game begins at 5 PM with the varsity getting underway at 7 PM. The Red Raiders open the regular season on Tuesday, March 15th at 7 PM as they welcome LaVergne to the Raider Soccer Field at the Raider Academy.
Westwood Baseball Drops Season Opener on Friday
Skylar Bratcher leads off the 2nd inning for Westwood on Friday night vs. Grundy County
In the game of baseball, it is often the case that the little things mean the difference between winning and losing. Such was the case on Friday night as an improved Westwood baseball team lost their season opener to Grundy County 10 to 2 at Fred Deadman Park. A 5 run Yellow Jackets rally in the 3rd inning proved to be the back breaker as Grundy County strung together 6 hits and took advantage of some key defensive lapses from the Rockets. “We are still making too many little mistakes to win games” first year coach Josh Morris told his team following the game. Those little mistakes resulted in 2 charged errors in the inning, but saw the Westwood defense have trouble making several crucial defensive decisions resulting in the Yellow Jackets being able to advance their baserunners.
But make no mistake about it, this Rockets team is much improved over last year’s team which was shut out 7 times as they lost all 17 of their games. “We have a long way to go” said Morris immediately after the game, but in comparison to how far they have come that seems like a short road indeed. Skylar Bratcher got the starting nod for Westwood going 1.2 innings and surrendering 2 runs with 3 strikeouts. Zach Milan came on in relief and got 3 strike outs in 2.1 innings of relief as Morris used 5 different pitchers on the night. Bratcher led the Rockets in hitting as he went 2 for 2 with a walk and a run scored. Nick Smith was 1 for 2 with a walk and scored the other Westwood run. The Rockets open conference play on Monday when they to Huntland for a 5:00 PM matchup.