Category: News

Yesterday (Oct. 17, 2012) a number of Coffee County residents took part in early voting. Poll workers at the C D Stamps in Tullahoma said around noon yesterday that the turnout was a little more than it was the last presidential election. Early voting continues through November 1 at the Stamps center and the election commission office at the administrative plaza in Manchester.

Health officials say four more people have died in the national meningitis outbreak, bringing the number of deaths to 19. Of the four additional deaths, two are in Tennessee.
The deaths are among the 247 people in 15 states sickened in the outbreak, which has been tied to steroid shots for back pain. Most have a rare fungal form of meningitis. Two have joint infections.
A specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts made the steroid, and federal officials are investigating the business.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the count on Wednesday. There were two more deaths reported in Tennessee and one each in Florida and Virginia.
The CDC also said test results so far show infections with three kinds of fungus. Most were a form of black mold.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol cautions motorists to watch out for deer on or near the roadways this fall season. An increase in deer-related crashes is likely during the months of October through December due to deer mating.
“Deer pose a danger to motorists throughout the year, but especially in the fall,” THP Colonel Tracy Trott said. “November is typically the worst month for deer-related crashes. It is important to exercise caution, slow down and stay alert in areas where deer are populated.”
In Tennessee, between 2007 and 2011, 9.2 percent of deer-related crashes occurred on interstate highways. In 2011, there were 5,644 deer-related crashes, including 285 that involved injuries and two that were fatal. That was up by 4.2 percent from 5,418 the previous year. However, since 2007, deer-related crashes in Tennessee have increased 5.9 percent.
In the event of a deer crash, move the vehicle as far off the road as possible, and dial *THP (*847) from an available cell phone for assistance. The call will be connected to the nearest THP Communications Center and a State Trooper will be dispatched to the location.
Tennessee law allows deer killed in a collision to be taken and used as food, as long as you contact the nearest TWRA regional office to report the accident within 48 hours. For TWRA regional offices, visit the TWRA website at www.tnwildlife.org

Celebrate Halloween with a party to thrill kids and adults! According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween has become nearly a seven billion dollar industry and is the second largest retail holiday in the U.S. Since October 31st will be here before we know it, we need to get ready to celebrate.
Nancy Siler, host of PBS’s bake decorate celebrate says, Scare up some fun with various Halloween goodies. Tombstone and monster-shaped sandwich cookies paired with ghostly graveyard cookies set an eerie scene. Add fang-tastic monster-faced popcorn balls, and a parade of monster pretzels – a breeze to make using a Halloween candy kit. Pour melted candy into monster molds, insert pretzel rods and refrigerate until set. They are perfect hand-held treats for kids and look great on display!
She added, I love a skeleton cake as a centerpiece. Bake it in a skeleton in casket 3d pan, then simply decorate with icing and watch the skeleton come back from the grave.
For more Halloween project ideas, visit wilton.com.

The Coffee County School Board appears one step closer to officially purchasing the Colwell property on State Route 53 to construct a new middle school, but some hurdles do remain.
The Manchester Times reports the board voted 4-2 Monday afternoon to allow Director of Schools Dr. LaDonna McFall to close on the land pending a sewer permit from the State of Tennessee.
Board members Brett Henley and Gary Nester voted against the measure, which was put on the table by a motion from Marilyn Morris and a second from Freda Jones. Reggie Johnson and chair person Esther Sims also voted in favor of Dr. McFall to close the deal. Shannon Duncan was absent from the meeting.
Henley said, “I’m concerned about potentially spending $600,000-plus if 18-feet of dirt had to be moved.
American Constructors Vice President Matt Moore who said the potential dirt problem related to soft soil that may need to be addressed was, in fact, included in the overall site preparation cost.
Another snag facing the school board is the purchase of what is being labeled as the “Holmes property.” The Holmes property, which rests at the corner of the Colwell site and between the Colwell site and Woodbury Highway, could be beneficial to hook New Union up to the new sewer line and to move the location of the school, but is not necessary.
“We can do the New Union sewer without the Holmes property,” deputy director Joe Pedigo told the board after Jones asked if the sewer could be connected without the Holmes property.
“The report from Hastings [Architecture] and American [Constructors] is that by purchasing the site we save money in site prep,” McFall told the board.
Morris, Johnson, Jones and Sims voted to increase the spending cap for the property to $98,700. Henley and Nester voted against that measure.

A Moore County man has been charged with rape of a 13-year-old Tullahoma girl. 20-year-old Jonathan Allen Ford of Chestnut Ridge Road, Lynchburg was arrested Monday by Tullahoma Police Officer Johnny Gore on the charges of rape. According to a warrant obtained by Gore, the girl had been staying with a relative on Maplewood Avenue when Ford arrived and entered through a bedroom window where the girl was. The girl told the officer that they first talked for a while but then he started to take her clothes off. She said that she told him to stop but that he did not, according to the warrant. The warrant alleges that he then raped her. The girl stated that she was afraid to yell for fear that he might hurt her. The girl was then transported to Harton Regional Medical Center where she underwent treatment. Ford is being held in the Coffee County Jail under a bond of $25,000. He is scheduled to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court Nov. 15.

A Smartt Station man was flown to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga after being involved in a three-vehicle crash Tuesday on Highway 55.
According to a report by Tennessee Highway Patrolman Carl Seagroves, a 2009 Chevrolet HHR operated by Ernie Bouldin, 30, of Smartt Station, struck the rear of 1995 GMC pickup that was pulling a flat bed trailer with a farm tractor on it that was operated by Jack Cock, 56, of Morrison.
Bouldin’s vehicle then went airborne and struck a Frontier operated by Milton Whitsett, 41, of Oak Drive, Manchester.
Manchester Fire personnel worked carefully for a period of time to free Bouldin from the crashed HHR.
After he was freed, Bouldin was placed in a waiting helicopter and flown to the Chattanooga hospital for treatment.

It looks like a familiar name may be coming back to lead Manchester City Schools. The school board has voted to formally approach former director Dr. Keith Brewer to enter into negotiations with the system. Current Director of Schools Dr. Prater Powell’s contract will end June 30, 2013. Powell earlier announced this would be his last year. Brewer was superintendent for 12 years in Manchester before leaving to take a Deputy Commissioner of Education for the state. School board attorney Mark Williams told the board they could name a new director without a search, that policy does not mandate a search. Two other directors have been named in the past without a search including Brewer.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has released a study that analyzed the state’s domestic violence crime data as reported by law enforcement agencies through the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS) program in an effort to gain more insight into the problem of domestic violence within Tennessee. The report analyzes offense data flagged as domestic related from 2009 through 2011. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence says that is an epidemic affecting individuals in every community, regardless of age, economic status, race, religion, nationality or educational background. A count of domestic violence victims reported from 2009 to 2011 in the state of Tennessee reveals that the overall numbers decrease in total reported offenses during the three-year period by 1.1 percent. Due to the nature of the close personal relationships between victim and offender, it is believed there is an underreporting of such offenses.

The Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. has raised a record $81 million in the first quarter.
That’s a 14 percent increase over the same period last fiscal year, which set the previous record with $71 million.
Total lottery funding for education-related programs in Tennessee exceeds $2.47 billion since the lottery’s inception in 2004.
According to data from the Tennessee Student Assistance Corp., lottery money has provided more than 600,000 scholarships and grants to in-state educational institutions during that time. More than 100,000 scholarships and grants were provided during the past academic year alone.
Lottery funds are also used to support after-school programs and energy efficiency in schools.