Josh Peterson

There was a little bit of a scare at Tullahoma High School Tuesday, but everything turned out to be OK. 

The Tullahoma Police Department responded to the high school Tuesday morning to a complaint of a man on the roof of the school. After speaking with school personnel and conducting a search of the roof and other facilities, it was determined that the person seen was a school maintenance employee. 

Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network and the Coffee County Mayor’s office will host a community meeting on suicide prevention at 6 p.m. Thursday, November 7. The meeting will be at Coffee County Administrative Plaza and everyone is invited and encouraged to attend. 

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for those age 10-24 in Tennessee. The meeting is designed for suicide education, how and why it happens and how it can be prevented. You will be able to ask questions, share stories and concerns. Suicide prevention material will also be available. The statewide suicide crisis telephone line is 1-855-274-7471. You can also text the letters TN to 741741

Some Halloween announcements to be aware of. Manchester City Hall will be open on Halloween from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., but the drive up window will close at 1:30 p.m. 

Also, the annual Safe on the Square trick-or-treating event scheduled from 2:30-5 p.m. will be held rain or shine. In case you were wondering, the weather forecast is calling for a 100% chance of rain on Halloween. So you might need an umbrella to get that candy. 

One person is dead and another received severe burns in a structure fire in Coffee County early Monday morning.  

Area first responders answered a call to 689 Garner Rd. at approximately 3:22 Monday morning to reports of a structure fire. 

Authorities have confirmed that a body was recovered from the structure late Monday morning once investigators were able to gain access to the structure. Authorities suspect the deceased is Joyce Garner, 57, but an autopsy will be performed for a positive identification. 

“We have a potential fatality, but we can’t be sure until the fire is completely extinguished and we can gain access to the structure,” Allen Lendley with Coffee County EMA told Thunder Radio news Monday morning while firefighters were still battling the blaze. “One man was able to get out of the fire but he was burned pretty good.”

The structure is a total loss. 

“There really isn’t much standing but the outside walls,” Lendley explained. 

 Coffee County EMA and state fire investigators will investigate the fire and determine the cause and origin. 

The male burn victim — identified as Jesse Garner, is the owner of the home — was transported to Unity Medical Center and, from there, transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 

Jesse Garner is the brother of the deceased.  

There is a new SRO at Deerfield Elementary School to tell you about. Today is the last day on the job for Tommy Barker – he is moving away from the area. Taking his place will be Dustin Darnell. Darnell moves from the corrections department at the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department – he began training at the school last week and takes over full time this week. Darnell has worked in the school system before and is also a member of the Coffee County Rescue Squad. Join us at Thunder Radio in congratulating officer Darnell on his new job and thank him for his service to our community. 

A two-day, undercover operation by several law enforcement agencies in the northern end of Rutherford County has resulted in the arrests of 16 men accused of seeking illicit sex from minors.

Over a two-day period beginning October 24th, as part of an undercover investigation aimed at addressing human trafficking in Rutherford County, authorities placed several decoy advertisements on websites known to be linked to commercial sex. The focus of the operation was to identify individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with minors. As a result of the operation, authorities arrested 16 men and booked them into the Rutherford County Jail.

• James H. Farmer, DOB 9-23-64, Franklin

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Deadrick Darrell Evans, DOB 1-16-90, Murfreesboro

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Miguel Erazo, DOB 9-24-76, Antioch

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Luis Miguel Garcia-Alvarez, DOB 6-12-85, La Vergne

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Paul Florez-Vazquez, DOB 3-25-89, Nashville

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Jose Guadalupe Zarate-Flores, DOB 12-1-79, Smyrna

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Taylor Moore, DOB 4-4-96, Rombauer, MO

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Tony Maddox, DOB 12-9-80, Cowan, TN

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Gameel Mesad, DOB 1-13-64, La Vergne

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• John Thomas Sulkowski, DOB 1-9-95, Murfreesboro

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Juan Manuel Tovar, DOB 7-11-72, Antioch

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Harry Garcia, DOB 10-22-75, Murfreesboro

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Michael Romero, DOB 5-21-88, Prospect

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Lian Sian Thang, DOB 7-15-87, Smyrna

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Manasranjan Murlidhar Rana, DOB 11-21-87, Nashville

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

• Diego Mancilla Martinez, DOB 11-13-72, La Vergne

o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act

Those participating in the operation included the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, the Smyrna Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the office of 16th District Attorney General Jennings Jones.

Information about human trafficking and TBI’s efforts to address this type of crime can be found online at www.ITHasToStop.com.

UPDATED: Story updated at 11:35 a.m. with deceased name.

One person is dead and another received severe burns in a structure fire in Coffee County early Monday morning.

Area first responders answered a call to 689 Garner Rd. at approximately 3:22 Monday morning to reports of a structure fire.

Authorities have confirmed that a body was recovered from the structure at around 11 a.m. Monday once investigators were able to gain access to the structure. Authorities suspect the deceased is Joyce Garner, 57, but an autopsy will be performed for a positive identification.

“We have a potential fatality, but we can’t be sure until the fire is completely extinguished and we can gain access to the structure,” Allen Lendley with Coffee County EMA told Thunder Radio news Monday morning while firefighters were still battling the blaze. “One man was able to get out of the fire but he was burned pretty good.”

According to Lendley, the structure is a total loss.

“There really isn’t much standing but the outside walls,” Lendley explained.
Coffee County EMA and state fire investigators will investigate the fire and determine the cause and origin.

The male burn victim — identified as Jesse Garner, is the owner of the home — was transported to Unity Medical Center and, from there, transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Authorities report that Jesse Garner is the brother of the deceased.

Thunder Radio will report more details as they are available.

The Coffee County Anti-Drug coalition drug take-back program that was scheduled for Saturday has been cancelled due to the wet weather expected in the area.

The event was scheduled for Walgreens in Tullahoma and First Vision Bank in Manchester. However, anti-drug coalition executive director Mike Young wants to remind everyone that you can drop off unused pills anytime at the Tullahoma Police Department, Manchester Police Department or Coffee County Sheriff’s Department. 

Unemployment rates in nearly every Tennessee county, including distressed counties, declined during September, according to data released Thursday by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD).

Ninety counties experienced lower unemployment in September, while the rate remained the same in one county, and increased in four counties. The latest statistics show unemployment rates are less than 5 percent in 90 counties and 5 percent or greater in five counties.

In Coffee County, the unemployment rate is now 3.1%. That is slightly better than 3.3% in August and 3.4% in September of last year. 

Several of Tennessee’s distressed counties saw significant improvement in unemployment compared to their August statistics. Rates dropped in 12 of the state’s 15 distressed counties.