Category: News

Get Fit! Tullahoma and Urgent Team are pleased to host the second Free Community Health Fair and Fitness Expo Saturday, April 5, from 9 am to noon at Northgate Mall. There will be fitness and nutrition tips, health screenings and more. Please join us and learn how you can move more, eat well, get fit and stay fit.
There are over 30 booths singed up to participate, and the first fifty students to visit will get to play the newest Arcade games for free.
“Get Fit! Tullahoma is about making a change you can live with,” said Urgent Team Area Manager, Mindy K. Street. “Part of our mission is to contribute to activities, organizations and causes that advance our communities forward.”
“This will be another fun and informative event,” said Community Coordinator, Winston Brooks. “This is a great chance to see what resources are available to help motivate you to start moving more and staying healthy.” Throughout the morning there is a complete line up of demonstrations starting at 9:00am with Tullahoma Crossfit; 9:30am Tims Ford Park Ranger Philip Hylen; 10:00am Molly Gupta Karate; 10:30am Estill Springers Square Dancing; 11:00am Snap Fitness Aerobics; and 11:30am the Mayor’s Fitness Challenge.
What is your plan to get fit? More information and a list of vendors at http://www.tullahomatn.gov/get-fit

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty along with Aspen Technologies, Inc. officials on Tuesday announced the company will locate a new polyurethane foam molding plant in the Manchester Industrial Park. With a goal of doubling its molding capacity by opening the Manchester facility, the company will invest $5.1 million and create 161 new jobs over the next five years in Coffee County. Gov. Haslam said, “I want to welcome Aspen Technologies to Tennessee and thank the company for choosing Manchester for its newest manufacturing operations. “When a company chooses Tennessee for a new facility, it sends a strong message about our business-friendly environment, and supports our goal to make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Sou to bring jobs back to the United States and is currently working with two companies to take over business that is being produced in China. “Aspen Technologies is very excited to be expanding its manufacturing into Manchester, Tennessee,” Aspen Technologies Vice President Keith Quinn said. “It has been a pleasure working with the Industrial Board, city, county and state officials to make this expansion possible. The beautiful state of Tennessee along with its friendly people, especially the people of Coffee County, made the decision to locate in Manchester very easy. As we gear up our operations, we will continue to look for other opportunities to bring more work back home.” Aspen Technologies’ customer base is primarily automotive. In recent years, however, the company has been awarded a considerable amount of non-automotive based business and intends to shift approximately 25 percent of its sales to non-automotive related sectors. “The city of Manchester welcomes Aspen Technologies to the Manchester Industrial Park,” Manchester Mayor Lonnie Norman said. “The Board of Mayor and Aldermen are excited that this highly successful automotive parts supplier has elected to locate here, provide jobs for our citizens and generate a positive economic impact on our community. It has been a true pleasure dealing with their corporate officials throughout the site selection process.” “On behalf of the citizens of Coffee County and the Industrial Board of Coffee County, we are pleased to welcome Aspen Technologies as our newest industry,” Coffee County Mayor David Pennington said. “We are excited to add another automotive parts supplier to our growing industrial community. The addition of Aspen Technologies to our area means an increase in jobs for our people, which in turn will strengthen our county’s economy.” Aspen Technologies will begin the hiring process in June and start production in the new facility the first week of July. Visit Aspen’s website at www.aspen-tech.net for information on the company and employment opportunities.

A young woman in Coffee County is in need of help. Peggy Stevens is in dire need of a major dental surgery. She was born with a rare chromosome disorder called 4p Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome which affects 1 in 50,000 births. She is 23 years old but the syndrome she has doesn’t allow her to grow. The surgery cost $5,667 so her family is having a spaghetti dinner at 4pm and an auction starting at 6pm this Saturday. There will be karaoke and Chaos a professional wrestler will be there painting kids’ faces. The fund raiser will take place at the Summitville fire station on Highway 55 in Summitville.

Tullahoma Utilities Board (TUB) will celebrate the American Water Works Association’s National Drinking Water Week May 4-10 of this year. Additionally, TUB will be hosting its annual Drinking Water Week Celebration on Thursday, May 8th 3:30-5:30 p.m.
This year’s celebration will consist of free pizza, drinks, a prize wheel with cash money giveaways, carnival-style games, a bounce house provided by the Tullahoma Fire Department, and much, much more!
Additional information about Drinking Water Week can be found at www.awwa.org.
For more information on the event, call Tullahoma Utilities Board at 455-4515, or stop by the office at 901 South Jackson Street Monday through Friday, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic on America’s roadways. This risky activity can divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving, while endangering the safety of the driver, passengers, and bystanders.
In 2012, there were 3,328 people killed and 421,000 injured nationwide in crashes involving distracted driving. In 2013, there were 18,761 traffic crashes including 54 fatalities as a result of distracted driving in Tennessee.
Text messaging requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver, and is by far the most alarming distraction. Tennessee has a primary texting law that is enforced by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and state-wide law enforcement.
According to Sergeant Bill Miller, Public Information Officer, troopers are looking for any unsafe action that takes away from the responsible and proper operation of a motor vehicle. Troopers patrol daily in the familiar black and cream patrol cars, as well as on police motorcycles. The THP also utilizes unmarked patrol vehicles to detect reckless behavior.
The Governor’s Highway Safety Office urges drivers to make safe choices when driving on Tennessee roadways. Take a moment to pull over if you need to make a call, or send a text. Consider asking your passenger to make the call or text for you. In Tennessee, texting while driving is against the law and considered unsafe. Any situation that causes a driver to become distracted can be extremely dangerous to the driver and fellow Tennesseans. Our goal is to make sure you and your loved ones ARRIVE at their destinations safely.
For more information about distracted driving, please contact Megan Buell, 615-337-7685 or visit our website at www.tntrafficsafety.org.

People reported seeing a strange sight on Wednesday at 2 area restaurants. Those people said armed officers were outside the establishments.
According to Alcohol Beverage Commission’s Heath Luttrell told the Tullahoma News that officers entered the Casa Mexicana in Shelbyville and the Casa Mexico in Tullahoma checking various records including employment records.
While no arrest were made Wednesday at the Tullahoma business, the Shelbyville restaurant saw several charges lodged. There were 15 felony arrest and seven misdemeanor arrest made.
The Shelbyville restaurant also was issued a citation by agents for failing to be responsible for law and order on licensed premises.
A spokesperson would not comment on whether or not federal charges would be filed.
In addition to the ABC agents also taking part was the federal Department of Homeland Security Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the THP Criminal Investigative Division and the Shelbyville Police Department.

A pickup truck crossed Interstate 24 from eastbound to the westbound lanes and collided with a charter bus Thursday morning just inside Rutherford County.
The crash occurred just before 10 a.m. at mile marker 95 about 2 miles outside Coffee County.
Authorities believe the driver of the pickup truck suffered a medical emergency, causing him to lose control. He was taken via Life Flight to Vanderbilt Medical Center.
The bus from Illinois suffered significant damage.
Westbound I-24 was closed while crews cleared the scene.

Tullahoma Utilities board (TUB) has been presented the 2014 Tree Line USA award by the Arbor Day Foundation for the third consecutive year.
TUB was awarded the honor thanks to its employees’ commitment to proper tree pruning, planting, and care within the service area.
Tree Line USA is a partnership between the Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters, which recognizes public and private utilities for pursuing practices that protect and enhance America’s urban trees.
TUB achieved the 2014 Tree Line USA status by meeting five program standards: Utilities must follow industry standards for quality tree care; provide annual worker training in best tree-care practices; sponsor a tree-planting and public education program; maintain a tree-based energy conservation program; and participate in an Arbor Day celebration.
Besides pruning, an example of tree-care that TUB participates in annually is the planting and dedication of tree memorials of past TUB employees and board members. As recently as November, TUB planted two memorial trees at the Lions Club Park here in town.
Besides beautifying the city, tree-care and planting cleanses and purifies the air and water, adds quality of life to wildlife, and increases property value.
Monty Hawkins is TUB’s Lineman Forester and coordinates tree pruning across the city. For more questions on TUB’s tree-care practices, call Monty directly at 571-7109.

Pressure continues to mount across Tennessee for Gov. Bill Haslam to follow through on his proposal to raise teacher salaries in the state. Last fall, Haslam said he wanted to boost teacher pay, and his initial budget included a small hike across the board. Now, however, the governor has withdrawn that plan, drawing fire from Gera Summerford, a Sevier County math teacher and president of the Tennessee Eduction Association. “The governor made a public announcement several months ago that his intent was to make Tennessee’s salaries for teachers the fastest-growing in the nation – and then this budget does not include that,” she said. “We anticipated a 2 percent increase and it’s not there.” Haslam said he still thinks it’s important to invest in education, but the state must close a $160 million budget gap. A big part of that shortfall is from sales and business tax collections that were below expectations, and Summerford said that drop in state revenue must be closely examined. “I think that this drop in the corporate taxes is something that needs to be investigated,” she said. “We’re certainly looking for some answers to questions we have raised, because if the governor says it’s where all the drop has come from, then that’s something we need to look more closely at.” Haslam also is abandoning his plans for a small wage hike for state workers and funding increases for the state’s colleges and universities. Tennessee ranks among the bottom five in the nation for investments in public education. More from TEA is online at TEAteachers.org. Information on education funding per state is at nea.org.

Chiquita Correll Wright a woman from Georgia was arrested this week in Coffee County by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in connection with identity theft.
Wright, 27, of Decatur, Ga. was allegedly a passenger in a car that was stopped by a trooper for a traffic violation on I-24 at mile marker 109. The trooper alleges that Wright identified herself as someone other than who she is as well as a fake birth date.
While searching the vehicle, he found IRS checks belonging to other individuals, as well as a number of credit cards and driver’s license belonging to someone else.
According to warrants, the trooper also found a check and tax information belonging to others and he also found nine Oxycodone pills.
The woman was charged with identity theft, criminal simulation, criminal impersonation and possession of a schedule II drug by Trooper Jason Boles.
Wright was booked into the Coffee County Jail under a bond of $135,000.