Josh Peterson

With the Lynchburg Music Fest coming up on August 23rd and 24th in Lynchburg, the Moore County School District has announced it has closed schools for Friday, Aug. 23 out of concern for student safety. The first year festival features headliners Jamey Johnson, Easton Corbin, Montgomery Gentry and over 40 more acts. There will also be Manchester acts at the festival, including Macy Tabor, Sarah Pearson and Becky Buller Band. 

Coffee County Schools will hold its 5th annual student expo this upcoming Saturday, July 27th at Coffee County Central High School. Doors will open at 9 a.m. 

The annual event is designed to provide students in Coffee County Schools from prek through seniors in high school with all necessary items to begin the new school year. To take advantage of the expo, students must be present on the day of the event and must be enrolled in coffee county schools. Some items of note that will be dispersed are shoe vouchers for the first 500 students, free groceries, free backpacks filled with school supplies, free ahaircuts, community resources and other school-related resources. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  If you have questions, contact Taylor Rayfield at 931-222-1066. 

Coffee County Schools student expo

Pictured is damage to Johnson Lane soccer fields in Tullahoma. (photo provided)

Authorities are looking for the persons responsible for damaging the soccer field  at Johnson Lane in Tullahoma sometime Saturday night.

Videos and photos show the fields were damaged by some sort of vehicles, leaving the fields unplayable. Anyone with information on who damaged these fields is encouraged to contact the Tullahoma Police Department at 931-455-0530. There has been a gofundme page setup to collect donations to repair the fields and to improve security and hopefully catch the vandals – you can donate by clicking here.

There is a $500 reward being offered for information leading to catching the vandals.

The attorney for Justin Shea Bautista-Jones has filed a motion to have District Attorney General Craig Northcott disqualified as the special prosecutor in the case against state house speaker Glen Casada. The motion states that Northcott should be disqualified because of his lobbying relationships with the state general assembly and his social media posts  that came to light in recent months that appeared to contain anti-muslim and anti-gay comments. 

Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott

You may remember the case against Casada where the speaker’s office has been accused of tampering with evidence to allegedly frame Bautista-Jones for violating bond – Bautista-Jones was charged with assault for throwing a cup of coffee at Casada. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk recused himself from the case and the state attorney’s general conference selected Northcott to prosecute. Bautista- Jones, who is black, is also concerned about Northcott’s comments about Muslim people because his attorneys feel the case against Casada is “very much so based upon race, free speech and substantial differences in opinions.” 

As of now, the City of Manchester will move forward with a new greenway that will start behind the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center, run through the Great Stage Park Property – better known as Bonnaroo – and then end on Bushy Branch road with a trailhead available to walkers and runners. 

Little Duck River Greenway

Back in 2018, the city received one million dollars in grant funds from TDOT (specifically to extend the Greenway) that required a $300,000 match and the plan was to connect the greenway from where it ends now, behind Riverview Alternative School, extend it toward great stage park and eventually to the conference center in three phases. However, property owners have balked at the idea of the greenway passing through their land and the city decided to proceed with a new plan or otherwise lose the grant funds, with the hope that the two trails can be connected at a future date. 

Aldermen Mark Messick, Marilyn Howard and Bob Bellamy voted against the plan, while aldermen Ryan French, Chris Elam and Bill Nickels voted in favor. Mayor Lonnie Norman voted in favor to break the tie. 

Back in May of this year a Russian aircraft flew over Arnold Air Force Base for an observation flight as part of the Open Skies Treaty.  According to AEDC officials, the flyover was part of a mission allowed under the open skies treaty, also known as the treaty on open skies, which was signed by 34 participating nations in 1992, which permits each state party to conduct short-notice, unarmed observation flights over the others’ territories to collect data on military forces and activities.

These flights contribute to security by enhancing openness and transparency among the signed parties. The Russian plane that flew over our skies recently was a newly certified aircraft known as the Tupolev tu-214 and it has been the center of some controversy. The US refused to certify that plane in 2018 but was recentlly certified. 

The Berkeley city council in California voted last week  to eliminate gender-specific pronouns from its municipal code. For instance, “manhole” will now be considered “maintenance hole,” “manpower” will now be referred to as “human effort,” the terms “sister” and “brother” will now be referred to as “sibling,” and, get this one, the terms “male” and “female” will now be referred to as “people of different genders.”

A list of new terms in Berkeley, Calif.

A Rutherford County man is in trouble after allegedly shooting his neighbor after the two got into an argument. 

Pitts

The Daily News Journal reports that Larry Dale Pitts, age 57, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder. The report states that Pitt threatened to kill his neighbor and his family after the two to into an argument on Tuesday, July 16th. Later in the day, the two began arguing again when Pitts allegedly grabbed his gun and shot his neighbor once in the leg. The victim was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for treatment.