If you’re heading out to a lake or river, such as Woods Revisor, Normandy, Tims Ford or another body of water, please think about safety.
The National Safe Boating Council and its partners are kicking off the annual Safe Boating Campaign the weekend before Memorial Day with National Safe Boating Week held May 18-24, with important safety reminders for boaters as the busy boating season gears up.
In 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard reported 658 deaths in the U.S. from boating incidents, with 75 percent of those deaths caused by drowning. Of those deaths, 85 percent are reported as not wearing their life jackets.
National Safe Boating Week kicks off with Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day on Friday, May 17. This annual event is a fun, educational way to heighten life jacket awareness and highlight the various styles. Boating enthusiasts are encouraged to wear their life jacket to work, snap a picture, and share their photo on social media with the hashtags #lifejacket2work and #safeboating.
The Safe Boating Campaign reminds boaters to follow these safety tips:
• Take a boating safety course.
• Wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket.
• Watch the weather.
• No distracted boating.
• Travel at safe speeds.
• Never boat under the influence.
• Have more than one communication device that works when wet.
More safe boating tips and educational resources can be found at safeboatingcampaign.com.

The U.S. Supreme Court won’t consider an appeal, that could have delayed an upcoming Tennessee execution.
The appeal involves Tennessee’s lethal injection combination. Inmates claim in a lawsuit that the method causes excruciating pain.
The appeal doesn’t challenge lethal injection directly. Instead, it challenges Tennessee laws surrounding the procurement of execution drugs. Inmates argue the laws prevented them from proving a more humane drug is available.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor agrees. In her statement on Monday, she says the requirement that prisoners challenging one method of execution proves there is a better method available is “fundamentally wrong.” She adds that state laws compound the injustice.
Don Johnson is scheduled to be executed Thursday for the 1984 murder of his wife, Connie Johnson.

The bank account of a Shelbyville woman has been completely depleted since January by a scammer who convinced her she’d won $150,000, Shelbyville police said Friday.
Calls began coming in January to the woman’s cellphone. She was told to send $2,000 to FedEx to receive the money. That request was followed by demands for more money.
The victim took out bank loans to send $5,000 to the scammer. She told police she’s now broke and can’t send more money.
A text sent to the woman contained the name “Agent Gaynell Chaney of the Global Empowerment Grant Program.”
Officer Chris Vest advised the victim not to send more money or have further contact with the caller. (Shelbyville Times-Gazette)

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department and Manchester Police are working together to solve several car burglaries that occurred in the early morning of May 6, 2019 in the Indian Springs Subdivision and Oakley Subdivision area in Manchester.
A vehicle of interest is a Toyota Tacoma possibly gray or green in color, with at least three occupants inside.
Several guns were stolen along with a Stihl MS460 chainsaw, Dewalt tools, electronics, and money.
These vehicles were left unlocked at the time, so the departments are urging citizens to make sure your vehicles are locked.
If you have any information of who these suspects are, notify Investigator James Sherrill with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department at 931-570-4404 or Manchester Police at 931-728-2099. A REWARD is being offered.

Back in 2014 the Coffee County Board of Education sued the city of Tullahoma for $387,488. This was money the city had gotten from liquor-by-the-drink taxes.
The county argued the city’s portion of liquor-by-the-drink tax money should have been distributed in part to the county school system and had been denied those funds for decades.
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Tullahoma saying the city does not owe the county schools any money.
A similar suit was filed by Manchester against Tullahoma, but a ruling has not been made in that case even though the decision is expected to be the same.