Category: News

Due to what is being called an outdated salary and pay schedule for Coffee County employees, the Budget and Finance Committee is preparing a request for proposals for a professional compensation analysis to make the county’s wages and salaries more competitive, this in spite of the commission rejecting such a plan in the past. Pay has been cited as the reason for a high turnover in the sheriff’s department and ambulance service.

Highland Baptist Church in Tullahoma

Tullahoma Police are investigating the theft of $800 from Highland Baptist Church located on Hickory Street. Pastor Louis Wester reported to Tullahoma Police Officer Jim Tate Tuesday morning that $200 was missing from the cash box and $600 from the offering tray. According to the police report, the money was kept in a filing cabinet in the church office. The envelopes in the offering tray had been opened and the cash removed, but the checks were not. Wester told the officer that the theft apparently occurred between 3 p.m. Monday and 8 a.m. Tuesday. The preacher told the officer that the church’s annual Labor Day fish fry was held Monday afternoon. There was no sign of forced entry into the building. A ceiling tile had been forced up in the church office. Tullahoma detectives are investigating the incident.

A Stewart Street man reported to Tullahoma Police that he was robbed Monday night around 8:30 p.m. while walking home. According to a police report by Officer Daryn Gadeken, Ronald Reynolds was walking home from the convenience store, and when he took a path between Freeman and Silver Streets, he was attacked and beaten by three black males. Reynolds told the officer that after the three men beat him, they took his wallet and cell phone. He described one of his attackers as being heavy set.  Another was about 6-feet tall with dreadlocks, and the third man he did not get to see well. Detective Ty Brazier is investigating the robbery.

Be wary of a scam that’s being sent by email, targeting those on dialysis. It mentions how those taking certain drugs may be entitled to compensation and suggests clicking on a link. This is a scam to gather your personal information. When you receive an email from someone you don’t know, never click on links and delete the email from your computer to avoid spyware or viruses.

Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank says four Economic Development Administration (EDA) grants totaling $3.2 million to build critical infrastructure, support workforce training programs, and facilitate disaster recovery efforts in Tennessee. According to grantee estimates, the projects will together create 786 jobs and attract $373 million in private investment.

“These $3.2 million in EDA investments in Tennessee are examples of the Obama administration’s commitment to efforts that support long-term economic growth,” said Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Blank. “The grants will help Tennessee build critical infrastructure, support natural disaster recovery, and provide training for American workers, all of which create jobs and boost the state’s economy.”

The investments announced include:

An EDA grant of $222,457 to the South Central Tennessee Development District to fund the creation of a long-term disaster recovery and redevelopment strategy for the 13-county region, including a comprehensive assessment of the impact of recent disasters on the regional economy.

The South Central Tennessee Development District is the counties of:

Bedford County

Coffee County

Franklin County

Giles County

Hickman County

Lawrence County

Lewis County

Lincoln County

Marshall County

Maury County

Moore County

Perry County

Wayne County

After being found Heffner taken to Coffee County Jail... By Barry West

Freedom for an escaped prisoner was short-lived Friday afternoon. Justin Heffner of Altamont jumped out of a Grundy County jail transport van on the Hillsboro Boulevard in Manchester but was captured later by sheriff’s investigator Jason Dendy on Powers Road. Heffner was arrested last Wednesday on charges of theft of property from Dunham Sports in Tullahoma. He was being transported to the Coffee County Jail by Grundy County authorities. Heffner is charged with shoplifting 50 boxes of ammunition from the store.

A Tullahoma man was found guilty of a number of burglaries in Bedford County. 20-year-old Austin Lawrence Tomes was found guilty of ten counts of aggravated burglary, nine counts of theft of property under $10,000, and on one count of theft of property under $500. He faces as much as five years in prison on each count. Tomes had already pled guilty in Moore County and faces similar charges in Coffee County.

Photo provided

On Thursday Franklin County Sheriff’s Office personnel responded to a residence on Carson Lane in reference to a house fire. Upon arrival, law enforcement officials along with volunteer fire departments discovered the body of a male subject inside the residence. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the State Fire Marshall Bomb and Arson Division is conducting an investigation into this matter. Franklin County Sheriff Tim Fuller identified the man as 85-year-old James Steele. An autopsy was performed by the State Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death.

Tullahoma is banding with three other similar-sized school systems to strive to get a $20 million federal grant that would move them all into the digital textbook age. Tullahoma City Schools and the systems from Lawrence, Lincoln and Warren counties have signed a letter of intent to collectively apply for a U.S. Department of Education Race to the Top district grant that would fully pay for the effort in the first four years. Then, it would be up to the individual systems to fund the programs from then on. Dr. Dan Lawson, Tullahoma City Schools director, said that the money would go toward providing technical support and the median to use the digital textbooks, such as Apple’s iPad or Google’s Chromebook. Lawson said that after the four-year period is completed, it would probably cost the Tullahoma system about $250,000 a year to add new digital media sources for the textbook material because the older iPads and Chromebooks will have reached their useful lifespan. He said the cost to the system would be less than the $300,000 to $400,000 spent annually now on printed textbooks.