Kimberly Ann Mullins, 37, who was indicted last year for the theft of over $60,000 from the Coffee County Fair Association, was in court this week. Mullins pleaded guilty to the charge and agreed to pay back $165,000. She started paying back the money yesterday (Thursday), making a $10,000 payment. Sentencing for Mullins will be in August. Mullins served as treasurer of the fair board from 2006 until February 2011.  She was indicted June 14, 2011 on theft charges after a three-month investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that alleges she took in excess of $60,000 from the fair coffers without approval.

Nissan has broken ground on an engine plant in Decherd, Tennessee, that is expected to create up to 400 jobs. The plant will assemble 4-cylinder engines for Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti models when production begins in 2014. The engines will be supplied for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is built at a Daimler plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. An existing plant in Decherd already makes engines for the Infiniti JX. That plant began powertrain assembly in 1997 and manufactures four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines for all U.S.-produced Nissan and Infiniti vehicles. Nissan and Daimler first began a partnership in April 2010. Nissan’s USA headquarters are in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. A manufacturing facility is located in Smyrna.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is reminding motorists to buckle their seat belts when getting behind the wheel of a vehicle. In an effort to bring awareness to the growing number of traffic fatalities, officials have begun displaying the number of deaths that occur on Tennessee roadways on interstate signs. As of May 9, 332 people have been killed on Tennessee roadways, which is an increase over the same time period in 2011. Last month the Tennessee Highway Patrol put an emphasis on seat-belt violations. There were some 1,100 citations written in a 24-hour period. The Governor’s Safety Office kicked off its “Click It or Ticket” campaign today to put an even greater emphasis on the use of seat belts.

Gov. Bill Haslam

You will soon have to prove you are actively looking for work to continue receiving unemployment benefits in Tennessee. According to the bill signed by Governor Bill Haslam, 1,000 Tennesseans on unemployment will be audited each month to ensure they are doing everything they can to seek work. The state is also making it harder for those who are fired for chronic absenteeism, to collect benefits.-WGNS-

The U.S. Postal Service announced a plan this week that the Normandy post office and other rural facilities will remain open, but with reduced hours. The United States Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe stated that the agency is backing off its plan to close up to 3,700 low-revenue post offices, a list that included the location including Normandy. Citing strong community opposition, Donahoe said the agency will now whittle down full-time staff but maintain a part-time post office presence in rural areas, with access to retail lobbies and post office boxes. No post office will be closed under the emerging strategy, but more than 13,000 rural mail facilities could see reduced operations of between two and six hours. The recommendation for Normandy was to cut their hours from six to two per day.

On Saturday letter carriers in Manchester and Tullahoma will be delivering more than just packages and bills. They will also be delivering much-needed donations to area food pantries.
The National Association of Letter Carriers, the union to which city letter carriers belong, will host its 20th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive on May 12.
The food collected in the local area on Saturday will stay in the community. All the food carriers collect is given to Good Samaritan Food Bank, which then distributes the donations throughout the community. Anyone interested in participating in this year’s Stamp Out Hunger drive is just leave the food to be donated in or on top of their mailboxes. Donations must be nonperishable items in cans, bags or boxes. Expired cans, homemade food and pet food cannot be accepted.

Tullahoma Airport

226 Coffee County Middle School students were busy Thursday morning touring the Tullahoma Airport and the Beechcraft Museum during their adopt a pilot campaign. The students toured the hangars, visited with Lifeflight helicopter crew, toured the airport terminal and saw a cargo plane that was sitting on the tarmac that delivered parts for M-Tek in Manchester. They then attended a luncheon at the Beechcraft Museum.