Josh Peterson

Traffic was snarled on Interstate 24 all over Rutherford County Monday due to multiple crashes. 

According to Thunder Radio news partners WGNS, a stopped pickup truck on I-24 eastbound caused a multi-vehicle crash at the 88 mile marker around 7:06AM Monday morning.

THP Lieutenant Bill Miller told WGNS, “The passenger of the vehicle sitting in the road fled the scene on foot and has not been taken into custody at this time. There is still an active search on going. There will not be any driver or patient information to be released as there are pending criminal charges.”

Rutherford County Fire Rescue Chief Larry Farley told WGNS that a Ford F-150 pickup truck was stopped on the interstate and a van loaded with a large family crashed into the rear of the pickup at 75 miles per hour. When it was over several other vehicles were involved.

Farley reports that 10 persons were rushed to the hospital, and that two from the van had life threatening injuries.

He confirmed that LifeFlight took one patient to the Vanderbilt Trauma Center, while Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services transported another by ground.

TDOT reported another crash in Rutherford County Monday morning near mile marker 70 westbound, and another crash near exit 81 eastbound and at the 84 eastbound. 

Environmental groups and public health experts are questioning the Environmental Protection Agency’s frequent use of “emergency approvals” that allow farmers to use toxic pesticides. 

The EPA reports last year, it issued emergency approvals for use of a pesticide that is known to kill bees on more than 16 million acres. Senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity Nathan Donley says in Tennessee, the agency recently green-lighted use of two synthetic pesticides on sorghum and cotton fields, and it’s likely more approvals will be issued this growing season.

“In the major pesticide law in this country, there’s an exemption-approval process carved out for true emergencies,” says Donley. “EPA has been abusing this emergency-approval process and, we believe, approving uses that aren’t really actual emergencies.”

He says more than one billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the United States, most of which are applied to farmland.

Donley acknowledges there are situations that warrant the emergency approval of certain pesticides, such as an influx of hard-to-kill pests and diseases that can wipe out crops and financially strain farmers. However, he points out that repeatedly designating “emergencies” isn’t how the system is designed to work. 

“But what we’re finding is that EPA is making these approvals for many, many consecutive years, in some cases up to 8 or 9 consecutive years,” says Donley. “And in our opinion that is no longer an emergency, that is a foreseeable event, and EPA – if they really, truly believe, this pesticide needs to be used – then that needs to go through a normal approval process, which is more robust.”

Donley notes there are alternatives to synthetic pesticides that would reduce the risk of water and food contamination, and protect wildlife. 

“There are safer pesticides, there are organic pesticides,” says Donley. “These are pesticides that are allow to be used in organic agriculture. These are generally orders of magnitude safer, for the environment and people, than the synthetic pesticides that are being approved through emergency use.”

The EPA also recently announced it has, for the first time, approved the use of pesticides on hemp farms, beginning this year.

A Manchester man is facing charges of aggravated child abuse and first degree murder following the death of his infant son early Sunday morning, January 5th. 

Manchester authorities were called to Tennova-Harton hospital in Tullahoma when doctors alerted them to severe injuries to a six-week old infant. The child was flown to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital to be treated at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Saturday afternoon, but passed away at approximately 6:30 a.m. Sunday. 

Gavin Clark, 21, was originally charged with aggravated child abuse. First degree murder charges were added after the infant passed away. 

“This father has been charged with causing the death of his six-week old son through blunt force trauma, which resulted in a fatal closed head injury,” Coffee County District Attorney General Craig Northcott told Thunder Radio News. “Further, he negligently failed to seek immediate medical assistance for injuries to his infant son.” 

The child was taken to Tennova with a story that the child was accidentally dropped. The incident allegedly took place at 1313 McArthur St. in Manchester.

“The doctor’s at Harton alerted our investigators that these injuries were not from a drop,” said Manchester Police Department Assistant Chef Adam Floied. 

Manchester Police Department investigators traveled to Vanderbilt Hospital Saturday afternoon to monitor the welfare of the child and to interview the parents once more. 

Clark is being held in the Coffee County Jail on a bond of $2 million. 

Someone walking the Little Duck River Greenway near the Manchester Sports Park discovered an upside down vehicle in the Little Duck River  early Saturday morning  and called authorities. 

Apparently, the vehicle crashed into the river below State Highway 55 while traveling West on State Route 55 (McMinnville Highway). Specific details as to how the vehicle crashed are not available.

Members of the Coffee County Rescue Squad were able to recovere the vehicle, a Chevrolet Impala sedan, and flip it over to find no one inside.

Authorities later identified the driver as Tauris Donte Maymi, who allegedly walked home after the crash. He was cited by Manchester Police for failure to report an accident and no insurance.

Thunder Radio News has obtained a copy of the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s audit for the Public Building Authority for fiscal year 2018-2019, which shows that the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center operated at a loss of $340,000 for the year. 

While the audit points out that the PBA has corrected five of seven issues from the prior year’s audit, the audit points out that the center continues to operate with budget and net operating loss issues. 

Corrected issues were that of segregation of duties, authorized signatures, surplus of fixed assets, receipts and controls over disbursements. 

“We noted that actual expenditures exceeded the amount appropriated in the budget in the general fund. This practice is contrary to state statutes, which require all expenditures of the general and special revenue funds to be authorized by the governing body. Without following proper procedures, the organization has not authorized all expenditures by the end of the fiscal year,” that audit report states.

The City of Manchester and Coffee County governments currently split the operating losses (or profits, although the center has never been profitable since its inception).

The next PBA meeting is set for 11:30 a.m. Friday, January 10 at the conference center (147 Hospitality Blvd.) PBA meetings are open to the public.

The heavy rain event that covered our listening area to start the new year late last week and led to flash flood watches and some road closures officially dropped 2.11 inches of rain, according to TVA rain gauges. The heaviest day of rain was Thursday when we picked up 1.53 inches. The amounts were on top of 2.11 inches that fell on the area last Sunday, Dec. 29, leaving Manchester with 4.22 inches of rainfall last week. Sunny skies are expected Monday, but rain returns to the forecast Monday night in Manchester.