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Coffee Middle School holds homecoming ceremony
Photo by Sam Davis, for Thunder Radio
Coffee County Middle School held its homecoming ceremony on Tuesday night. Members of the homecoming court are, from left, Ella Arnold, Aliza Freeze, Jade Lenhart, Lindsey Grimes, Kaylee Suggs, queen Layla McGee, Sydney Gilley, Lola George, Ashlyn Owens and Saige Adams.
9/4/19 — Birthdays
Kaitlyn Huddleston – 11 – PIZZA WINNER!
Paysley Church – 4 CAKE WINNER!
North Coffee Elementary closed Wednesday due to water issue
North Coffee Elementary School has been closed Wednesday due to a water line break, according to Director of Schools Dr. Charles Lawson.
“There was a water line rupture and the school does not have a water supply so we were forced to close the school,” announced Lawson. “All other schools remain operational.”
SCHOOL CLOSING INFORMATION BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Spring Street Market. Shop local for your groceries! 801 S. Spring St. Manchester, TN.
9/3/19 — Birthdays
Peggy Dayton – 24
TDH asks doctors to report vaping-related illness
The Tennessee Department of Health is asking health-care providers across the state to report any cases of respiratory illness they suspect to be associated with vaping. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 200 people across 22 states have been hospitalized after using electronic cigarettes.
State Epidemiologist Dr. Tim Jones with the Tennessee Department of Health said patients are showing signs of serious lung problems.
“And it’s essentially severe lung disease – shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing – something that we might see with really bad asthma or pneumonia,” Jones said.
He said most of the patients are adolescents and young adults. Last week, the Knox County Health Department reported a resident there was hospitalized with symptoms thought to be linked to e-cigarette use. At least one individual in Illinois has died of severe respiratory illness linked to vaping.
According to the CDC, many patients reported a gradual start to their breathing issues before being hospitalized. In some cases, they’ve reported vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue. Jones said the type of electronic cigarette product used doesn’t seem to be a factor.
“It doesn’t appear to be associated with a particular brand or a particular maker,” he said.
Jones added medical experts are in the dark as to what’s causing the illness, which began cropping up in hospital rooms in late June.
“Right now, we’re seeing such a sudden increase that, clearly, there’s something new going on,” Jones said. “It hasn’t yet been specifically identified, but as soon as we know, we’ll let people know. But clearly something is different, and has been different in the last couple of months.”
Even though cases in different states appear to be similar, the CDC has said it’s still unclear whether they have a common cause or are entirely different ailments.
Manchester Police need help identifying individuals for questioning
The Manchester Police Department needs your help identifying individuals who are wanted for questioning regarding a vandalism incident at the Manchester Walmart. If you have any information, contact MPD investigator Trey Adcock at 931-728-2099. You can also message the police department on Facebook or Twitter.
Job fair Thursday in Nashville for veterans, spouses
The Department of Veterans Affairs and RecruitMilitary will host the Nashville Veterans Job Fair on Thursday, September 5th from 11am to 3pm at Nissan Stadium. This free event for veterans, military spouses, transitioning military, National Guard members and Reservists features 50+ employers ready to hire.
In addition to providing career opportunities for veterans, RecruitMilitary is also focusing efforts on the more than 600,000 military spouses in the United States who are unemployed and/or underemployed in their professional careers. The company is actively working to help address the exorbitantly high unemployment rate of military spouses – nearly 25% – a rate more than six times the national average. This is the highest unemployment rate of any singular group in the U.S. Through its partnership with Google, a new job search tool is now available to assist military spouse and military trained talent to explore 8,000 remote work options in the RecruitMilitary database of more than 250,000 jobs. With more than 140 veteran and military spouse job fairs this year, RecruitMilitary offers veterans and military spouses the most opportunities of any organization to help facilitate their future career goals.
Tuesday is deadline to postmark Coffee Co. Fair entry forms
The Coffee County Fair is coming up Sept. 14 through the 21st. Today is the final day to have your entry forms postmarked to enter into the beauty pageants, baby shows and toddler shows. Click here for a link to the fair book. You can print off the entry forms there and fill them out, just be sure to have them postmarked by today to be eligible.
Government meetings Tuesday night
There are a couple of local government meetings to be aware of Tuesday night. The Coffee County Budget and Finance committee will meet at 5 p.m. at the administrative plaza and the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen will have a work session at 5:30 p.m. and a meeting to follow at 6:30 p.m. tonight at Manchester City Hall. Both meetings are open to the public.
8 in 10 voters support repairing national parks, study shows
Eight in 10 registered voters support cleaning up and repairing our aging national parks, in the latest poll by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
House lawmakers are considering legislation that would channel up to $6.5 billion in funding to the National Park Service to begin upgrades to crumbling roads, outdated water and sewer systems, and eroding trails and campgrounds.
Ian Rutter, a guide and owner of R&R Flyflshing in Townsend, near Great Smoky Mountains National Park, said the park’s maintenance needs are worsening.
“Roads need to be maintained. Restroom facilities are a big one,” he said. “Simple maintenance has been forgone for so long that parks seem to be in a state of crisis management.”
To address the maintenance backlog, the Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act would use money from oil and gas company fees paid to the federal government. Tennessee is home to a dozen national parks that see more than 9 million visitors each year.
Marcia Argust, project director for the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Restore America’s Parks campaign, said more than 400 national park sites around the country require almost $12 billion worth of maintenance. She said the last time the parks saw significant investment was more than 50 years ago.
“So as you can imagine, with the aging infrastructure and also the increase in pressures from visitors, some of those assets are deteriorating, and there simply has not been enough funding over the past several decades to keep pace with the needed repairs.”
Rutter said well-maintained parks are critical for local businesses such as his.
“Sometimes an overlooked point is that all these great national parks, because they’re such natural wonders, they’re kind of in rural areas,” he said. “So, it provides jobs.”
According to the Pew poll, voters from all sides of the political spectrum say keeping the country’s parks and monuments pristine and up-to-date is important.
The poll is online at pewtrusts.org.