Gunman enters the Dollar General Store in Hillsboro

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department is looking for the robber Dollar General Store in Hillsboro Wednesday morning (June 6, 2012). Employees described the robber as a black male who was wearing a grey hoodie, black pants and a grey bandanna. The man was armed with a rifle with a clip of ammunition in it. The man demanded money from a store employee, then left with the money in a blue two-door vehicle. The suspect left in an unknown direction. Sheriff’s investigator Chad Partin noted that a similar robbery occurred Tuesday at a Dollar General in Nashville, and the description of the man was the same as that of the Hillsboro robber.

The City of Manchester will conduct its next municipal election on August 2.
Mayor Betty Superstein is running for re-election along with former Mayor Lonnie Norman, Claude Morse, and Stella McWhorter.
For Manchester alderman, those who have returned petitions to have their names listed on the Aug. 2 ballot include incumbents Donnie Thomas, Harlan Gene Holmes, Ryan French, and Roxanne Patton. Other candidates qualifying are J. Sam Miller, Mark Messick, Tim Pauley, Cheryl Swan, Russell Bryan and Joshua Jackson Moore.
Because Norman had to give up his slot on the board to run for Mayor, the state has allowed the qualification deadline to be changed to June 8th at noon. Now Manchester voters will be allowed to vote for up to 5 candidates. The top three candidates will receive 4 year terms. The next two will serve 2 years and 5th highest gets to serve out the final 2 years of Lonnie Norman’s term.
Other candidates that have picked up papers to run since the previous deadline include Gene Stillings, Brent Bates, and Michelle Simmons. Danny Davis has returned his petition to run for Manchester alderman.

The burglaries of four Tullahoma churches are under investigation by Tullahoma Police.
Thieves entered and vandalized buildings belonging to Kings Cross Church on Turkey Creek Road, Trinity Lutheran Church on Wilson Avenue, Faith Lutheran on Bragg Circle, and Westside Nazarene Church on Westside Drive.

Police went to Kings Cross Church after the activation of a burglar alarm.  When officers arrived they found the siding had been peeled back on the building.  Several police officers arrived and covered all possible exits of the building. An individual with the church arrived, and after police made sure there was no one inside the building, they entered the building to determine if anything had been taken.  The officers found that the vestment had been knocked over and a wall had been damaged where the thieves attempted to enter an interior office.  According to a report by Officer Chris Coe, no money was taken. However, there was some $750 in damage to the interior and exterior walls.

When the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church arrived at the church Monday morning, he found several doors had been pried open during the night.  The pastor reported to Tullahoma Police Officer Jim Tate that thieves entered the building through an unlocked door of the A-frame building, entered a hallway, and pried open a door on the left side of the building.  The thieves damaged two sets of double doors and six single doors in a hall of the church. All of the doors were damaged beyond repair.

The pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, Martin Nutter, reported to Officer Tate that someone had pried open the back kitchen door and entered the building.  The thieves then went to the church office and took a small gray metal lock box from the secretary’s desk. The box contained $50 in change and four credit cards from Office Max, Kroger, Lowe’s, and Walmart.  The officer’s report states that the thieves heavily damaged a door to a supply room.

Tullahoma Police Officer Samuel Campbell was dispatched to Westside Church of the Nazarene on Westside Drive Monday morning around 1:45 a.m. due to the activation of a burglar alarm.
When the officer arrived he found a rear door had been broken into.
Robert McBee of the church told the officer that nothing had been taken from the building.

Tullahoma Police investigators are already investigating break-ins at three other churches. Last month, thieves burglarized Cedar Lane Church of Christ, Covenant Presbyterian Church on Highway 55 and St. Paul’s Catholic Church.
Anyone with information on the recent church break-ins is urged to contact Tullahoma Crime Stoppers at 931-461-8888.
A $1,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.-Tullahoma News-