Josh Peterson

We have a scam that you should be aware of. The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department claims they have received several complaints from people stating they have received phone calls from personnel at the sheriff’s department asking for bond money for individuals that are in jail. The perpetrators are spoofing the sheriff department’s phone number to make it appear as if the call is actually coming from the sheriff’s department, but these are not actually sheriff’s department employees. 

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department will not call anyone asking for bond money for someone in jail, officials say. If you receive a call from someone stating they are with the sheriff’s department, tell them you will call them back, hang up the phone and call the Sheriff’s Department on the non-emergency line at 931-728-3591. 

Tennessee is one of three states in the country with the sharpest drop in Medicaid enrollment between 2017 and 2018. 

According to a report by the consumer health care group Families USA, the number of Tennesseans enrolled in Medicaid fell by nearly 10%, and more than 100,000 people lost coverage. 

Eliot Fishman, senior director of health policy at Families USA, says that since 2013 the state has been struggling to bounce back from a massive software failure linked to TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program.

“The way that Tennessee handled that was to mail out a hard copy – I think it was close to 80 pages – mandatory form to keep their Medicaid,” he relates. “And not surprisingly, a lot of people did not fill that out.”

Additionally, more than 50,000 children have lost coverage. 

Fishman says that earlier this year, the state began using a new eligibility system that allows people to apply for or renew coverage online or over the phone. 

He says it remains to be seen whether or not these changes prevent low-income Tennesseans from losing coverage.

Tennessee isn’t the only state dealing with Medicaid debacles. Paperwork hurdles and other bureaucratic difficulties caused more than 1.5 million people across the country to lose Medicaid coverage last year. 

Fishman says these challenges are putting the health care system’s dysfunction in the spotlight, on the heels of the next presidential election.

“That dynamic is a significant factor in the momentum around moving to a national, more federal, more automatic system, that you are seeing both in polling data and in the early stages of the Democratic presidential primary,” he states.

Fishman says confusion surrounding the eligibility process is an old problem in Medicaid, but he says federal laws put in place by the Affordable Care Act were supposed to streamline the procedure. 

However, some states still are not complying with the new rules.

The Decherd Board of Mayor and Aldermen is accusing Decherd Mayor Robin Smith of inappropriately receiving health insurance benefits paid for with city funds totaling $26,000. 

Robin Smith

According to the Herald Chronicle, aldermen claim that members of the board and the mayor are not eligible to receive insurance benefits from the City of Decherd. Alderman Roy Partin said that Mayor Robin Smith has been receiving insurance benefits since 2016. According to the Herald Chronicle, Mayor Smith said that former city administrator Mike Foster added him to the insurance program because he thought under the Affordable Care Act that Smith could be added. The Mayor said that when he found out he was not supposed to be on the plan he told the city to drop him from the plan. Vice Mayor Tammy Holt said that she thinks the mayor has basically stolen $26,000 worth of insurance premiums from the City of Decherd

The board plans to address the issue further at its next board meeting. 

The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has created a new interactive web
tool that provides important information about Tennessee’s Tax Relief
program.

The Tax Relief program began in 1973 and provides property tax relief
to qualifying low-income elderly and disabled homeowners, as well as
disabled veteran homeowners or their surviving spouses. In tax year
2018, more than $41 million dollars was appropriated by the General
Assembly to serve more than 140,000 homeowners across the state.

The new web portal combines important information with images and
interactive maps. The portal displays key data, eligibility
requirements, and local city and county contacts that will be helpful
for anyone interested in learning more about the program.

“The General Assembly has prioritized property tax relief payments for
Tennessee’s most vulnerable citizens and disabled veterans,” said
Comptroller Justin P. Wilson. “This new web portal allows us to use
visual communication and interactive maps to share even more
information about this program.”

If you are interested in applying for tax relief in 2019, you can
apply with your county trustee after you receive your 2019 county
and/or city property tax bill. If your property is within city limits,
you may also contact your city collecting official to apply.

In Coffee County, you can call trustee John Marchesoni at 931-723-5128.

To view the Comptroller’s new Property Tax Relief portal, go to:
https://comptroller.tn.gov/office-functions/pa/property-taxes/property-tax-programs/tax-relief.html

If you suspect fraud, waste or abuse of public money in Tennessee,
call the Comptroller’s toll-free hotline at 800.232.5454, or file a
report online at:
http://www.comptroller.tn.gov/hotline<http://www.comptroller.tn.gov/hotline

The City of Tullahoma will hold a public meeting on Monday, July 22 at 4:00

p.m. at City Hall located at 201 West Grundy St. Tullahoma, TN. The purpose

of the meeting will be to discuss the HOME program. The City of Tullahoma

has been awarded a grant from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency

(THDA) for the purpose of rehabilitating owner-occupied homes for low-income

residents. All residents of Tullahoma interested in the program should

attend this meeting.

The program will be explained at the meeting and applications may be picked

up at the meeting or at the City Hall following the meeting. Applications

must be submitted back to the City Hall by August 26.

The South Central Development District worked with the city of Tullahoma to obtain a $500,000 HOME grant that will cover the costs of approximately 7-9 projects.

The grants are available to low-income homeowners living in substandard

housing and are used to bring properties up to code compliancy only, not for

beatification purposes. For example, the grant funds would not cover new

windows for beautification but would fund them if the existing windows were

broken or missing. These funds are strictly used to bring the home up to

code. There’s a limit of approximately $60,000 on any given project. If

renovating the home would exceed that amount then rebuilding the home may be

an option.

Applicants for the program must be of low or very low income, defined as

below 80% of the area median income, and must have lived at their property

for at least one year.

If you have any questions about this meeting, please contact Kandi Higgins

at 931-379-2957.

A state lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would ban traffic cameras in the state of Tennessee during the 2020 legislative session. 

Andy Holt, a republican from Dresden says the cameras are “all about generating revenue.” 

Approximately 16 Tennessee cities use red light cameras, and 13 use speed cameras, according to the insurance institute fo rhighway safety.

Manchester does not have such cameras, but you can find them as closely as Murfreesboro. The bill is expected to be met with heavy opposition from camera companies and local governments, alike.

The Tennessean first reported this story. 

Authorities say a 62-year old male drowned on Normandy Lake Thursday.

Authorities identified the victim late Thursday as Thomas R. Spelce of Hazel Green, Alabama. He went missing at approximately noon Thursday when he went beneath the water. His body was discovered at approximately 10 p.m. Thursday.

According to Billy Butler with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department,  Spelce  was on the lake with a group that consisted of three different boats. Members of the group with Spelce allegedly told authorities that the victim had Parkinson’s disease. Authorities are unsure at this time whether or not that contributed to his drowning. 

According to sheriff’s department officials, Spelce went under where the water is approximately 30-feet deep at about noon on Thursday and did not resurface. The Coffee County Rescue Squad and TWRA officials were on the scene through the afternoon Thursday and into the night before recovering his body at about 10 p.m.

More details will be reported as they are released from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department.

The Coffee County Commission is short one commissioner after the recent resignation of Emily Howes on July 1st. 

Howes, who was the District 8 Commissioner, recently moved out of her district and submitted her resignation to the county, effective July 1. 

In addition to the full commission, Howes served on the Budget and Finance Committee, as well as the water and wastewater treatment committee. 

She was elected in August of 2018. 

The full commission will need to appoint her replacement. Anyone interested in filling the position must live in district 8, and should contact Roxanne Patton with the county office at 931-723-5100. 

With the Independence Day holiday over, it might be hard to believe but it’s time to start thinking about going back to school at the first of August.

The Coffee County School System is ramping up for its third annual Stuff the Bus Tour, which will be held on July 17th. Area businesses participate by collecting necessities and school supplies for students in need. The supplies will be distributed at the fifth annual student expo from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 27th at Coffee County Central High School. There will be backpacks, school supplies, groceries, vouchers for new shoes, haircuts, community resources and much more. You can help by dropping items at various stuff the bus drop locations around town at area businesses, or by calling Taylor Rayfield at 931-222-1066.