Josh Peterson

Motlow State Community College athletic director John Chandler III has resigned from the college, just a year after he was hired.

Chandler was placed on administrative leave on Dec. 6, 2019 after Motlow Chief of Staff Marvin Thompson informed him that there were allegations of potential misconduct and/or unprofessional behavior reported to the college on Dec. 4.

After he was placed on leave, Chandler was prohibited from being present on Motlow property.

We have an update to a news story Thunder Radio News brought to you last week. On February 19, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an AMBER Alert for 15-month old Evelyn Mae Boswell out of Sullivan County, Tennessee. She was last seen on December 26 but was not reported missing until Feb. 18.

As of late Wednesday night, Feb. 25, Megan Boswell, the mother of Evelyn, was taken into custody and charged with false reporting. The search for Evelyn Boswell is ongoing.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call 1-800-TBI-FIND.

Join us at Thunder Radio and the Manchester H&R Block and say congratulations to our student of the week – Savannah Ellis.

Savanah is a fifth grade student at Hickerson Elementary. She is the daughter of Angela and Kenneth Ellis and is in Beth Stroop’s class at Hickerson.

Savannah likes to read and play video games in her spare time. When she grows up, she plans to be an astronautical engineer.

Rosalyn Partin, owner of the Manchester H&R Block, has been inspired to recognize great kids in our community all through hockey season. What does hockey season have to do with our local students? Well, H&R Block gives each Student of the Week a set of Nashville Predators hockey tickets, a commemorative plaque, as well as a special letter of recognition.

Congratulations, Savannah!

Early voting for the March 3 primary ended on Tuesday, and turnout in Coffee County was better this year than for the last presidential primary in 2016.

This year’s early voting in Coffee County, which ran Feb. 12 through Feb. 25, saw 3,517 total votes cast. Of those, 2,179 were cast at the Coffee County Election Commission office and 1,202 were cast in Tullahoma at the CD Stamps location. There were 136 total absentee voters. Of those 3,517 early voters, 2,561 voted in the Republican primary, while 956 voted in the Democratic primary.

Voters in both primaries are choosing candidates for the presidential race – with the majority of those candidates being in the Democratic primary as President Donald Trump is the presumed candidate on the Republican ticket. Locally, voters in the Republican primary are choosing one of four candidates to be Coffee County General Sessions Judge. There are no judge candidates on the Democratic ticket.

The early vote total of 3,517 votes outpaced 2016 totals in Coffee County, which was the last presidential primary. That year there were 3,074 early votes – 2,327 republicans and 747 democrats.

For those who did not early vote, election day is next Tuesday, March 3, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 28, is the final day to pay your property taxes before they are delinquent. Coffee County taxes are for the calendar year of January 1 through December 31 of the same year. Payment period for county taxes are from the first Monday of October through the last day of February for the following year.

There are multiple ways to pay your county property taxes. You can drop off payment in the drop box that has been installed in the trustee’s office window at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza (no cash, please). Please use a check or money order and include the tax notice or write the receipt number on the memo portion of your check. No cash.

You can take payments to the Coffee County Trustee’s office from 8 am. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, or you can mail payment to Coffee County Trustee, PO Box 467 in Manchester, TN. 37349.

The physical address of the trustee’s office is 1341 McArthur St. Suite 1, Manchester, TN. 37355.

If you choose to mail your payment, it will need to be postmarked by Feb. 28 in order to not be delinquent.

Beginning March 1, county taxes become delinquent and begin to accrue a 1.5 percent penalty and interest on the first day of each month.

You can also pay your county property taxes online by clicking here. 

Property owners who live inside the city limits of Manchester will also need to pay property taxes with the city  – that can be done between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Manchester City Hall – 200 W Fort St. in Manchester or online. You can also pay your city property taxes online by clicking here. 

Local authorities are warning the public of a new phone scam being received by local residents. In this scam, the intended victim receives a call from someone claiming to be with Apple Support, claiming that there is an issue with their account.

The scammer then begins to request personal information from the intended victim, asking for social security numbers and financial information. Authorities warn to never share this information unless you are confident with who you are talking with.

Friday, Feb. 28, is the final day to pay your property taxes before they are delinquent. Coffee County taxes are for the calendar year of January 1 through December 31 of the same year. Payment period for county taxes are from the first Monday of October through the last day of February for the following year.

There are multiple ways to pay your county property taxes. You can drop off payment in the drop box that has been installed in the trustee’s office window at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza. Please use a check or money order and include the tax notice or write the receipt number on the memo portion of your check. No cash.

You can take payments to the Coffee County Trustee’s office from 8 am. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, or you can mail payment to Coffee County Trustee, PO Box 467 in Manchester, TN. 37349.

The physical address of the trustee’s office is 1341 McArthur St. Suite 1, Manchester, TN. 37355.

If you choose to mail your payment, it will need to be postmarked by the last day of February in order to not be delinquent.

Beginning March 1, county taxes become delinquent and begin to accrue a 1.5 percent penalty and interest on the first day of each month.

You can also pay your county property taxes online by clicking here.  

Property owners who live inside the city limits of Manchester will also need to pay property taxes with the city  – that can be done between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Manchester City Hall – 200 W Fort St. in Manchester or online. You can pay your city property taxes online by clicking here. 

Initial business filings continue year-over-year growth and don’t show any signs of slowing down, according to a reported released Tuesday by Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office. 

The Tennessee Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report for the fourth quarter of 2019 showed that there were 10,604 new business filings representing a 7.8 percent increase over the same quarter in 2018. Initial filings have now seen positive year-over-year growth in 33 consecutive quarters. New filings from domestic nonprofit corporations saw the strongest year-over-year gains, increasing by 13.3 percent.

“Tennessee welcomes new business and business leaders continue to take note. Our data shows strong growth across the state and a healthy economy with no signs of slowing down,” said Secretary Hargett.

According to the report, Tennessee’s unemployment rate remains at a record low of 3.3 percent and is 0.3 percentage points below the national average. Nonfarm employment in Tennessee expanded by 1.6 percent in December, representing an increase of 49,200 jobs compared to December of 2018.

“The strong new entity filing numbers in the last quarter of 2019 suggest that Tennessee’s economic expansion and historically low unemployment rate will continue into 2020,” said Dr. William Fox, director of the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research.

The Tennessee Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report provides a snapshot of the state’s economy based on a variety of key indicators, including new business data from the Secretary of State’s Division of Business Services. It’s published through a partnership with the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research and the Secretary of State.

To review the complete Q4 2019 Tennessee Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report, past reports and a recording of Tuesday’s teleconference visit, https://www.sos.tn.gov/tennessee-quarterl-business-and-economic-indicators-reports.