Josh Peterson

A 15-year old Manchester girl has died after a tragic kayaking accident with her parents on the Duck River Sunday below Normandy Dam.

WSMV is reporting that the family was kayaking below the dam when the girl, identified as Ashlyn Grace Garbison,  capsized near Courtner’s Mill. After capsizing she reportedly was swept into a downed tree and pinned underwater. WSMV reports that her parents attempted to rescue her but could not due to swift currents.

Bedford County EMS, Bedford County Fire, Normandy Fire, Bedford County Sheriff’s Department and Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency responded to the scene. The victim was reportedly wearing a life jacket. 

Full obituary information is below:

Ashlyn Grace Garbison, age 15 of Manchester passed away suddenly of Sunday May 31, 2020.

She was the daughter of Kevin and Julie Barnes Garbison. Grace is also survived by her siblings, Corienne Garbison, Creighton Garbison, Erin Garbison; grandparents; Dianne and Donald Barnes of Ooltewah, Linda Garbison of Milton, Art and Jo Garbison of Indiana; great-grandmother; Louise McCarty of Milton; aunts and uncles, Craig Garbison and wife Callie of Murfreesboro, Nathan Brown and wife Jennifer of Michigan, Josh Garbison and Savannah of Indiana, Marla Williams of Georgia, Carrie Barnes of Ooltewah.

Grace was a student at Coffee County Raider Academy and was going to attend Central High School in Manchester. She was an avid reader, artist, loved music, and enjoyed baking. Grace loved the outdoors in every way and lived life full force.

Celebration of Ashlyn Grace’s life will be at 3:00PM Saturday, June 6, at Real Life Community Church of the Nazarene, 2022 E Main St, Murfreesboro, TN 37130. Visitation will be at 1:00PM Saturday at the church. www.woodfinchapel.com

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As of 2 p.m. Monday, there are now 23,554 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tennessee. This includes 367 deaths and 1,767 hospitalizations. According to Tennessee Department of Health, there are 15,564 cases that have recovered, leaving 7,990 active cases. This is 284 more active cases than the prior day’s count.

There have been 448,493 tests performed across the state, meaning about 5.25 percent of people are testing positive.
In Coffee County, there are 74 confirmed cases of the virus with 55 recoveries, leaving 19 active cases. This is down 2 from the prior day and up 1 from the low mark of 18 last week. There have been 2,357 total negative tests in Coffee County.

By Jill Pickett, AEDC

Arnold Engineering Development Complex, headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee and with geographically separated units spread throughout the United States, is reorganizing how the Complex is structured with a goal of more effectively meeting the mission – “To prove the superiority of systems required to meet the demands of the National Defense Strategy” – by pursuing three strategic goals: pursue mission excellence, invest in our people and sustain the complex.

Last fall, leaders of AEDC met during a Strategic Planning Conference to consider how to meet the demands of the NDS and create the “AEDC We Need.” As part of this effort, the leaders considered how to “most effectively apply wing- and squadron-level power to the mission,” including potentially altering the organizational structure, roles, responsibilities and authorities of AEDC and its people.

After months of discussions and evaluations, leadership is moving forward with restructuring the Complex into three group-level organizations. There will be two Test Groups – the 704th Test Group and the Test Group at Arnold Air Force Base – and one Mission Support Group.

The Test Group at Arnold Air Force Base will be comprised of the sustainment and operational functions of the current Test Systems Sustainment and Test Operations Divisions. It will be called the Test Division until approval of conversion to a group by Headquarters Air Force. The Mission Support Group will be called the Test Support Division until conversion is approved.

In addition to the changes to the current divisions, some offices will move from the squadron level to the wing level.
“We anticipate that this merger will foster unity of command for more nimble operational decisions and comprehensive strategic planning,” said Col. Jeffrey Geraghty, AEDC commander, in an email to the workforce. “We also believe this will result in a more consistent and comprehensive focus on our national defense partners.”

While initially one of the goals was to organize like an Air Force Wing with subordinate units organized in preparation for conversion to groups and squadrons, another goal took precedence.

“In these discussions, we fully acknowledged that every organizational structure has its own pros and cons, and no organization will be perfect,” Geraghty said. “Leaders evaluated dozens of different potential structures, including the status quo. We determined that clarifying the roles, responsibilities and authorities will be more important than the organizational structure itself.”

There were concerns, though, that without significant changes to the structure the task of defining roles, responsibilities and authorities would be less of a priority, and that was deemed unacceptable for the organization to meet the demands of the future.

“We must position ourselves to excel in a new and challenging environment that is very different than just a few years ago,” Geraghty said. “Continuing to operate under the assumptions and norms that evolved over the course of the past 70 years limits our ability to fully realize the potential of the dynamic and diverse nationwide organization that we are today.”

Discussions are ongoing to refine the new structure before it is implemented. The deadline for those efforts is June 22.
Geraghty invited input from the workforce concerning clarifying the roles, responsibilities and authorities, with a focus on the mission, as opposed to self, when so doing.

“As always, thank you for your dedication to our extremely important mission to prove the superiority of the systems required to meet the demands of the National Defense Strategy. Let’s ensure United States Air and Space Power remains ‘Second to None,’” Geraghty said in closing.

As of 2 p.m. Sunday, there are 23,006 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tennessee. This includes 364 deaths and 1,750 hospitalizations. There are 15,300 cases classified as recovered, leaving 7,706 active cases across the state. This is 659 more active cases than when the report was released by Tennessee Department of Health on Friday. A total of 435,977 tests have been performed, meaning of all of those tested, about 5.27 percent are testing positive for the virus. 

Meanwhile, in Coffee County there are 73 confirmed cases of the virus with 52 recoveries. This leaves 21 active cases, which is 3 more than Friday. Last week, Coffee County dipped from 24 to 18 active cases. 

There have been 2,228 negative cases reported in Coffee County.

According to the Grundy County Sheriff’s Department, Connie Sue Kassner, age 56, of Brasstown, North Carolina was visiting family in Altamont when she was killed in an ATV accident Saturday, May 30.

The Grundy County Herald reports that Kassner was riding a four-wheeler while another family member was riding a separate ATV. Witnesses stated that she was following a family member who stopped. Kassner apparently could not stop in time and in an effort to avoid the stopped ATV she ended up falling off an elevated area.

Residents living in the Tullahoma area shouldn’t be alarmed by the sounds of explosions on Monday.
There will be two controlled explosions Monday, according to the Tullahoma Police Department.
USA environmentalists will detonate unexploded ordnances around Motlow State Community College.