An early Saturday (Aug. 25, 2012) morning two-car crash on I-24 left two people from Manchester dead. According to a report by Tennessee Highway Patrolman Jason Boles, a 2005 Chrysler Sebring driven by Carlean R Ramcharran, 36, of Expressway Drive in Manchester was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-24. Vehicle two, a 1998 Plymouth van driven by Christopher C Pack, 36, of Gruett Road of Manchester was traveling east in the eastbound fast lane of I-24. Ramcharran’s vehicle struck Pack’s van head-on causing both vehicles to rotate clockwise coming to rest on the interstate. Both drivers were pronounced dead on scene. Alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the accident.

Rod Ballard

Longtime Manchester fireman Rod Ballard, who was serving as assistant fire chief, passed away Friday afternoon. Ballard became a full-time member of the Manchester Fire Department in 1981. Ballard, 67, was battling stag-four lung cancer. Charlie Taylor, the new Manchester Fire Chief, said on WMSR Friday morning that he visited Ballard in the hospital in Murfreesboro and said he was fighting with all he had. Visitation is today from 5-9pm at Central Funeral Home in Manchester and Tuesday starting at noon with the funeral to follow at 2pm. For more information go obituaries page of our website.

A Tullahoma woman has filed a $1 million lawsuit against a Memphis company in connection a false laboratory test result. Holly Hinkle filed the suit in Coffee County Circuit Court against American Esoteric Laboratories of Memphis for informing her that she was HIV positive when she wasn’t. According to the suit, Hinkle became pregnant in the fall of 2011, and her obstetric doctor Dr. Celio Pou, M.D. ordered a blood and urine test to be performed by the lab. The suit alleges that when Hinkle visited her doctor in January 2012 to receive the result of the test, she was told that she had been tested positive for HIV. As the result of the positive HIV test, Hinkle was “treated by Dr. Pou and the Vanderbilt Specialty Clinic in Nashville for HIV pregnancy.” She was given anti-HIV medicine for a six-month period. She was later tested and found to be negative for HIV. Hinkle is asking for a jury trial and asking for a $1 million dollar judgment against the Memphis company as well as other general relief and cost of the suit. Tullahoma attorney Bobby Carter represents Hinkle in the suit. A lawsuit is only one side of an issue.

Three hurt in Ford van... Photo by Barry West

Just before 4:00 p.m. Saturday, a Ford Mini Van was traveling south on Woodbury Hwy, when a collision occurred with a black Dodge Ram truck. A Manchester woman and her two daughters were all transported to area hospital. A nephew in the van was flown via AirEvac to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. The driver of the truck was not transported. Tennessee Highway Patrol was in charge of the scene.

Dodge truck involved in Saturday wreck... By Barry West

The Coffee County 911 Communications Center Board has voted to adopt a revised agreement between Tullahoma Fire Department and Coffee County Emergency Medical Service (EMS), which expands the criteria for which the Fire Department’s first responders are dispatched for medical emergencies in Tullahoma. The Tullahoma Fire Department is the first agency within Coffee County whose personnel have become certified as first responders, but officials say they hope more agencies will follow suit, particularly in the rural areas of the county. The fire department used several grants and other funding sources for First Responders medical equipment, such as defibrillators and oxygen tanks, on which they are trained to help stabilize a patient in trouble until the ambulance can reach the scene. The new agreement includes 13 comprehensive criteria for when the Fire Department should be dispatched with the ambulance service for medical emergencies in Tullahoma, such as heart attack, shootings and stabbings, difficulty breathing, and the like.