One teenager is dead, and a second one is in Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville after a single vehicle crash Sunday morning around 3:20 a.m. off of Highway 130. According to police a Jeep operated by Nicholas Beasley hit a tree in a field on Hwy 130 killing Tyrin Rippy, age 15, of Tullahoma. Beasley was flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center, where he is undergoing medical treatment.
Tullahoma Police Officer Sgt. Robert Weaver investigated the crash.
Rippy was a sophomore at Tullahoma high School but played middle school football at Westwood in Manchester.

Two Chattanooga men have been arrested in connection with an armed robbery in Coffee County, Tenn., on Saturday afternoon.
Mario A. Moore and Charles Duntay Gray are charged with aggravated robbery, according to Coffee County dispatchers. Moore also was charged with evading arrest and reckless endangerment. Gray has an additional charge of possession of marijuana.
According to Investigator Chad Partin of the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department, Moore and Gray walked into the Barton Springs Grocery store on Normandy Lake at little after 1 p.m. CDT. Moore pulled a handgun on the store owner and demanded money.
As the men were leaving, the owner was able to locate his own gun. He fired a few shots at the men and secured the store. After a brief pursuit by police the suspect’s vehicle stopped because of a bad transmission, the two men were arrested.
Bond is set at $115,000 for Moore and $105,000 for Gray. A court date is set for Oct. 15.

A Tullahoma man has been sentenced in the vehicular homicide of his best friend last year. Michael Allen Duty, 30, of Wesley Street Tullahoma was sentenced to 10 years but to serve only a year in the county jail. Duty was accused of the Sept. 2, 2011 death of Louis William Alford Jr. on Matts Hollow Road. According to authorities, Duty was driving a Ford F-150 along Matts Hollow around 10:30 on Sept. 2, 2011 when said that he swerved to miss a car and struck a utility pole, injuring him and killing Alford. Duty allegedly told police that they had been drinking whiskey before the crash occurred. According to prosecutors, because of the two men being friends, his family asked the district attorney office not to prosecute Duty. But the district attorney’s office felt the case should be pursued. The prosecutors did take into consideration the family’s request.

Area industrial recruiters are working toward getting a food production company to locate in the Coffee County Joint Industrial Park. They are also waiting to learn whether Oak Industries will continue with its planned expansion. Bill Comer, Industrial Board of Coffee County chairman, recently told Tullahoma’s Planning and Coordinating Committee that the food production company, from Ohio, is considering locating in the industrial park. Omar has been moving toward doubling its 50,000 square foot warehouse capacity, used to store its medical gloves. However, an additional 50,000 square-foot warehouse expansion is on hold because the company, which has business operations in China, could be getting an incentive there to increase its production, reducing the need to expand at Tullahoma. The Coffee county Industrial recruiter says the Chinese government has been considering reducing export costs by 14 percent, which could make it more cost efficient to have Omar produce more gloves overseas.

The Tullahoma Airport Authority will be asking the Board of Mayor and Aldermen tonight to pay $40,000 in a matching grant share that will pay to repair the northwest taxiway and install lights. In an email board John Miller, Airport Authority chairman, informed the board through an email that the project is being paid for through a 95 percent and 5 % matching grant with the State Aeronautics Division paying most of the estimated $800,000 cost. Miller advised the board that the repair of the old taxiway is essential before any additional hangar projects can be constructed along the old taxiway. Miller said the authority’s capital improvement account has been earmarked for phase one of an improvement project, which involved repairing and lighting the taxiway to the XP services ramp and hanger complex. Tullahoma officials have been discussing how an airpark could be developed around where XP Services is located at the airport’s northwest end.

The Coffee County Joint Industrial Park has long awaited being able to have fiber optics broadband communications service to promote industrial recruitment, and Charter Communications is considering a plan to set the process in motion. Bob Belvin, who is a Charter Business major account executive, informed the Coffee County Industrial recruiter approval has been given to “release capital to build fiber optics into the joint park on Highway 55.” Charter has agreed internally to cover much of the upfront capital instead of having a payback schedule built into monthly rates for its customers.