Category: News

The bonds that children develop with their parents early on can be fundamental to their success in life, but the latest research finds many babies and toddlers are missing out, and that means problems.
A new analysis concludes that 40 percent of children are not getting that needed secure attachment, which family therapist Susan Stiffelman says comes through parents being attuned to their baby.
“That means relating and responding and interacting with them in such a way that says ‘I’m with you,’” she explains. “’We’re connected. Your needs matter. They can be understood and acted upon.’ And it sort of sets a template for a child going through life.”
The report says those children from birth to age three who do not form strong bonds with their mother or father are more likely to suffer from aggression, defiance and hyperactivity as they get older.
Stiffelman says that lack of a loving bond can also impact other areas for children, including health and educational achievement.
“Children are very distracted by emotional events that are in their home life or between them and their parents,” she stresses. “So, a child who is sent off to school by a parent who criticizes and berates them and there’s no sense of warmth, these kids don’t do well in school because they’re distracted all day long.”
While some may think that the need for a loving bond is most important for girls, the report finds that the behavior of boys is actually more affected by early parenting.
“Even though we think of boys as much tougher and more durable and hearty and thicker-skinned, boys it’s thought have a greater vulnerability to injuries of attachment,” Stiffelman points out. “And so we do see that in more acting out behavior when a little boy is not feeling securely attached and connected.”
The Baby Bonds review from the Sutton Trust also says that those children without strong attachment to their parents are also at higher risk for depression, family instability and poverty.

The new Coffee County jail is set to open later this year but will the current workhouse remain open?
The workhouse is the portion of the old jail where low-risk inmates sentenced to the work detail program are housed. Sheriff Steve Graves says the new jail is not being built to include a work detail, and that any work detail program must be conducted in a completely separate facility from the jail itself.
Commissioner Rush Bricken and others agreed that since the cities of Tullahoma and Manchester, the Coffee County Rural Solid Waste Department and several non-profits use the free inmate labor to reduce labor costs, it appeared that it should be kept in operation. Graves said he agreed that the program is worth keeping.
At a recent meeting commissioners voted to continue examining the costs and benefits of the work house program.
The new jail is set to be in full operation in December.

A man accused of driving a pickup truck that crashed into a motorcycle, killing two people, has been indicted by the Warren County Grand Jury on nine counts, including vehicular homicide.
Harlin Alvarez faces charges in connection with the crash in 2008 that killed Samantha Roach and Billy Lynn Bell.
The sealed indictment charges him with 2 counts of vehicular homicide, reckless vehicular homicide, criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving fatalities, and driving on a suspended license.
He is being held without bond in the Warren County Jail.
Alvarez was able to elude authorities for five years, but was captured earlier this year in Atlanta as he tried to board a plane for his native Guatemala.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has received one of its largest cash donations ever, a $2.2 million gift from an anonymous donor.
The money will be used to pay off an existing construction loan that funded a visitor center near the park’s Cherokee, N.C., border, opened in 2011.
Money from the gift will also be used toward a new loan to help construct the 13,000-square-foot Collections Preservation Center scheduled to be finished in fall 2015.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports the money will be directed through the Great Smoky Mountains Association, a nonprofit organization that supports the park’s educational, scientific and preservation efforts.
Terry Maddox, executive director of the association, says the anonymous donor loves the national park.

Legislative leaders are considering a one-year delay in the testing component for Tennessee’s Common Core education standards.
Last month, a broad coalition of Republican and Democratic House members passed a bill seeking to delay further implementation of the new standards for two years. It also seeks to delay the testing component for the standards for the same amount of time.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports legislative leaders are discussing a compromise that would delay testing for a year.
Under the proposal, the state Department of Education would put out a “request for proposals” for alternative testing. The state’s current testing program, known as TCAP, would continue in the interim.
The Common Core standards have been voluntarily adopted by 45 states.

July 4 may be three months away, but the Tullahoma Kiwanis Club is already planning its 45^th annual Independence Day Celebration and fireworks show for the public at the Tullahoma Regional Airport.
In addition to fireworks, an aerial show will be staged by Keith Davis and his Pitts aerobatic airplane.
While the show is free, the club will be accepting any and all donations to help with the cost of providing the huge fireworks display.
In addition to hearing plans for the Kiwanis celebration, the Tullahoma Airport Authority was told as its meeting that two more events are scheduled for the future at the airport.
One being planned for later this month is a 30-man jump over Tullahoma to be staged by the airport-based Tennessee Sky Divers Club.
The event will attempt to set a state record in the number of people who will jump from two airplanes, link hands and free-fall for a distance, then let go and continue to parachute.
Charles Parish, speaking on behalf of the Beechcraft Museum, told the authority that this year’s annual Beech Party is set for Oct. 15- Oct. 19 at the museum. This year will be the 50th anniversary of the King Air planes.

The Sonic Restaurant on North Jackson Street in Tullahoma had to be evacuated Thursday morning around 11 a.m. due to a fire.
Brian Young, owner of the restaurant, stated that an electrical fire started in the back of a fryer. The building quickly filled with smoke and the fire department was notified. The fire fighters battled the smoke and fire for some time before extinguishing. According to Fire Chief Richard Shasteen, the kitchen area of the restaurant suffered “moderate damage.”
Manchester Fire and Rescue was standby while Tullahoma firefighters were on the scene of the Sonic fire.
The restaurant was closed because of the fire and no one was injured.

Day 2 of searching for Leo Paul Massicotte was held yesterday in Manchester. Massicotte was last seen July 3, 2011 when his girlfriend let him out of her car on Skinner Flat Road in Manchester. Over the last 2 days over 50 law enforcement officials have searched for the man and clues concerning his disappearance. The search has been conducted mostly A.E.D.C. property.
The search involved Manchester Police, Manchester Fire Department, Coffee County Rescue Squad members, deputies from Coffee County, Franklin County along with Warren and Cannon Counties. Also involved were Tennessee State Troopers, the THP helicopter, and K-9 units from Louisiana, Florida and North Carolina, Air Force personnel, Air Force OSI, and Air Force Security.
Several rewards have been offered for information leading to Massicotte’s whereabouts but so far the man has not been found.
He was last seen wearing a brown T-shirt, cut-off blue jean shorts and Timberland work boots. He is 6 ft 1” tall, weighs between 180 to 200 lbs. He has hazel eyes and short brown military-style haircut. Massicotte is the father of six children.

Legislation altering the boundary line between Marion and Franklin counties is on its way to Gov. Bill Haslam after the House took final action on the bill this week.
The measure, previously approved by the Senate, passed 97-0.
According to the Chattanooga Times Free-Press Rep. David Alexander, R-Winchester, said the change would bring 56 parcels of mountain property, currently part of Franklin, into Marion County.
The reason, Alexander said, is a development on mountainous terrain that includes property in both counties. The private developers had built a road to the property on the Marion County side and it is inaccessible from Franklin County.
Both Marion and Franklin counties’ commissions have approved the boundary change, said Alexander, who didn’t recall the name of the mountain involved nor the total acreage of property.

The Senate has voted to overrule the sponsor of a bill that originally sought to require the phrase “In God We Trust” to be painted behind the speaker’s podiums in the state Capitol.
Republican Sen. Stacey Campfield of Knoxville urged the chamber to reject House changes to the bill that would instead instruct the State Capitol Commission to study having the phrase painted in the tunnel connecting the building to the Legislative Plaza.
But the Republican-controlled chamber voted 19-8 against Campfield’s motion, which had the effect of agreeing to the House version of the bill and sending it to Gov. Bill Haslam’s desk.
Campfield was visibly upset by the chamber’s action, and complained off the microphone that one GOP colleague was “messing” with his bill.