On Saturday, April 27th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Coffee County Anti-Drug Coalition (CCADC), in cooperation with the semiannual Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) national DRUG TAKEBACK campaign, will be partnering with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office and the Tullahoma Police Department to once again give the public an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by providing a safe, convenient and reliable way to clean out medicine cabinets.
Disposing of unneeded prescriptions can help keep potentially harmful medications out of the wrong hands. You can bring your unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter medications for disposal to either the Manchester First Vision Bank at 2134 Hillsboro Blvd. or Tullahoma Walgreens at 700 N. Jackson Street. The service is free, anonymous and easy to use. Assigned volunteers will be stationed outdoors to accommodate the public’s quick and easy disposal.
In 2017 Coffee County had 81,832 opioid prescriptions dispersed. With a U. S. Census Bureau population estimate of 53,496 that’s enough for EVERY man, woman and child in Coffee County to have at least one and a half prescriptions of opioids! On average, providers in Tennessee wrote 1.4 opioid prescriptions opioid-related year. According to the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Tennessee was 3rd in the nation for opioid prescriptions and 13th in the nation for overdose deaths. Each day in Tennessee at least three people die from opioid-related overdoses—more than the daily number of traffic fatalities. In fact, according to a recent University of Tennessee study which looked at county-level data from across the United States, it was found that a 10% increase in opioid prescriptions per capita led to a 0.6 percentage point drop in labor force participation rates and a 0.1 percentage point increase in county unemployment rates. The study further concluded that prescription opioids may explain up to half of the decline in labor force participation since 2000. Local employers can confirm these statistics further emphasized by the difficulty to hire drug-free employees.
Because the medicines that stay in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse the CCADC initiated the Count It! Lock It! Drop It!® campaign to help combat abuse and theft of medications by offering free medication lock boxes for better security of medications at home. This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue, so important that the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Tennessee enabled 93 of 95 counties in Tennessee to have access to the Count It! Lock It! Drop It!® boxes in 2017.
First Vision Bank in Manchester will also be offering free shredding during the Drug Take Back event. If you would like a free medication Count It! Lock It! Drop It!® box when dropping off just ask for one. For more information on this or other prevention efforts, contact the Coffee County Anti-Drug Coalition at 931-570-4484.

A shooting took place earlier this week in Decherd. Tommy Wilkerson was shot in the face with a 20-gauge shotgun on Monday evening.
The shooting suspect, Roger Dale Burgess, was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder, four counts of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and domestic assault.
Wilkerson was transported to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga for treatment of his injuries.
Burgess is being housed at the Franklin County Jail with no bond set. He is to appear in Franklin County General Sessions Court at 8 a.m. on July 8.

A grand jury has indicted a former Grundy County deputy for using excessive force against a person he was arresting.
Gregory Higgins is charged with one count of depriving someone of rights under color of law and one count of making false statements to the FBI.
The indictment alleges that Higgins used unreasonable force by assaulting someone in handcuffs and then lied to the FBI about the incident:
Specifically, regarding the incident on July 25, 2017, as set out in Count One, the defendant talked to an FBI Special Agent and falsely claimed that he handcuffed the arrestee and that the arrestee had hit his own head against a doorframe. Allegedly Higgins also falsely claimed that he did not hit the arrestee’s head against a doorframe. The indictment also alleges that Gregory Higgins knew, on or about July 25, 2017, that the arrestee did not hit his own head against a doorframe; and Gregory Higgins hit the arrestee’s head against the doorframe area while the arrestee was handcuffed.
Higgins could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum says that Higgins is no longer employed by the department.

Tennessee House lawmakers say they’re fighting to secure funding in next year’s budget so that disabled children will be able to get Medicaid assistance.
House members announced Wednesday they intend to fully fund the so-called Katie Beckett program – which helps parents care for severely disabled children at home – while approving Tennessee’s annual spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year.
However, the House’s intention to fund the $27.3 million program hasn’t been adopted by the Senate.
The program was named for an Iowa girl whose health plight led President Ronald Reagan to change Medicaid’s rules in 1981. It allows states to extend services to children even if their parents aren’t poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. It helps pay for therapy and medical equipment to maintain kids at home.