Josh Peterson

The Tennessee Department of Health will be providing free flu shots for one day only. 

On Nov. 19 from 2:30-5:30 p.m. you can get your flu shot for no charge. The flu shots will be administered at the Coffee County Administrative Building at 1329 McArthur St. in Manchester. For more information, click here.

A Tullahoma man has died after drowning near Dabs Ford Bridge in Hillsboro Tuesday (Oct. 22) morning during a fishing trip.

Deceased is Dustin Buckner, 35, of Tullahoma. According to authorities, Buckner was fishing with his sister and brother-in-law when he went into the water. Coffee County Sheriff’s Department chief investigator Billy Butler said the drowning “appears to be accidental.”

“It looks like he may have cast his line and got it tangled in a tree or something and he possibly fell in the water trying to get it untangled and then got himself tangled in his own fishing line,” explained Butler.

According to the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department, the three arrived at approximately 5 a.m. Tuesday morning to fish and authorities were dispatched to the scene at approximately 8:25 a.m.

“The sister was waiting on him to return and realize that he had not come back,” added Butler.

Coffee County Rescue Squad recovered Buckner’s body within a few minutes. Coffee County Sheriff’s Department and EMS were also on the scene. The incident happened on United States Air Force property, therefore AEDC officials were alerted and also responded to the scene, according to Butler.

Buckner’s body has been sent to the state medical examiner for an autopsy.

The Manchester Times reported over the weekend that the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center and the Public Building Authority built its new outdoor venue and 33% of the project is on property not owned by the county or the Public Building Authority, which oversees the conference center. Thunder Radio picked up that story Monday, Oct. 21.

But actually, the new venue is on a piece of property that is jointly owned by the PBA and an individual named Wayne Lance, according to Zach Lowry with the PBA. Lance owns approximately 33% of that jointly-owned property.

However, conference center management did not have written permission or a written agreement from Lance to make the improvements to the property. Although general manager Rebecca French told the PBA last week that she had verbal permission from Lance before proceeding.

According to Lowry, the PBA actually can’t currently run permanent electrical to the venue. He said that the county, the PBA and/or the City of Manchester may end up having to purchase Lance’s portion of the property. Lowry said the PBA hopes to resolve the issue very quickly because events are scheduled at the venue.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is attempting to locate a missing juvenile. A report filed by Sgt. Daryl Sweeton stated that Layla Bell Dickey was last seen at her foster residence (1886 Lynchburg Highway Winchester, TN.) at approximately 6:15pm on Sunday October 20th, 2019.

Layla is a Caucasian/female and is 16 years old. Anyone having any information regarding her location is asked to contact Inv. Todd Hindman of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office at 931-968-6050.

 Researchers have found a correlation between exposure to air pollution and aggressive behavior or violent crime.

The health effects of air pollution might be noticeable to most Tennesseans, especially those suffering from asthma or other respiratory conditions, but the study’s lead author Jesse Burkhardt, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University, said the correlation between poor air quality and violent crime would be difficult to suss out on an individual or community level.

“Again, the effects are small,” Burkhardt said. “But, if you aggregate them across the entire U.S. or across the counties in our sample, at least, the costs end up being somewhat large.”

Results of the study, which merged FBI crime statistics with a map of air pollution in counties across the U.S., will be published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

The state Division of Air Pollution Control is responsible for air monitoring in all of Tennessee’s 91 counties. Several counties, including Davidson, Hamilton, Knox and Shelby have established their own local air pollution control programs.

Burkhardt said this type of data could be useful for policymakers trying to improve the quality of life in their communities.

“This study basically adds a little more to that benefit side, saying that if you reduce pollution, you might see a reduction in crime as well,” he said.

He also pointed out that when it’s not feasible to perform a controlled experiment, scientists often rely on identifying connections in aggregate data sets.

“As follow-up research, we try to explore the mechanisms that we think might be underlying these relationships,” Burkhardt said. “So, as an example, one of our next papers is we’re going to look for a relationship between online test performance and pollution exposure.”

According to the American Lung Association, the Knoxville metro region ranks 25th in the nation for year-round particle pollution, while Nashville and Memphis fare slightly better, showing improvements in cleaning up both ozone and particle pollution.

Nadia Ramlagan, Public News Service – TN produced this report

There appears to be an issue with the recently completed outdoor event venue completed by Public Building Authority behind the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center. The parcel of land where the venue was built is jointly owned by the PBA and a private individual (Wayne Lance), and is not 100% owned by the PBA.

The venue was recently completed and a ribbon cutting with the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce was held on September 26. However, at a Friday (Oct. 18) PBA board meeting, PBA member Greg Sandlin brought out the apparent fact that the property where the building is placed is on land owned by Wayne Lance and PBA, and PBA did not have written agreement from Lance to make the improvements to the property. Elena Cawley with the Manchester Times reports that Sandlin asked conference center general manager Rebecca French if any documents were obtained prior to building the venue to show that Lance agreed to the project. French reportedly stated that she spoke with Lance about the construction and he approved the project, but there are no supporting documents to confirm that account.

PBA reportedly owns 66% of the land where the building was placed.

According to reports, Coffee County Attorney Robert Huskey has reached out to Lance an is waiting for a response. 

The PBA does not plan to hold any events at the newly constructed venue before the matter is resolved. PBA members say they hope to have the matter solved as soon as possible.

4:26 p.m. Oct. 21: This story has been corrected. A previous version stated that a portion of the building was on property owned solely by Lance.

Monday, Oct. 21 from 2-4 p.m. there will be a public open house at Tullahoma City Hall to review plans for construction of a new Tullahoma Police Department. Construction is set to begin early in 2020. The open house is upstairs at city hall, 201 W. Grundy St. in Tullahoma. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.

If you own a horse, be aware that a horse in West Tennessee has tested positive for eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a virus that can be fatal for horses and humans. The Tennessee departments of Agriculture and Health (TDA and TDH) are advising citizens to take precautions to protect themselves and their livestock.

The horse in Gibson County showed signs of illness. Testing confirmed it was suffering from EEE, and the horse was euthanized.

Mosquitoes transmit EEE. An infected horse cannot directly transmit the virus to other horses or humans through contact. However, mosquito-borne diseases do pose a public health risk. Tennessee had the first documented human case of EEE in a resident of Hamilton County earlier this summer. This recent equine case serves as a reminder that mosquito season is not over yet.

-WGNS Radio contributed to this story.