Category: News

A high school band and choir director in Bedford County is off the job after police said he sent inappropriate text messages to a student.
Stephen Givens, the band and choir director of Community High School was arrested Friday morning on charges of solicitation of a minor.
Detectives said Givens texted a 16-year-old girl, sent her pictures and asked her to send him pictures. Authorities said the student is in one of Givens’ classes. Givens has been suspended without pay.

A Franklin County kindergarten teacher has been indicted by a Grand Jury on charges of reckless endangerment, aggravated assault and domestic violence. Officials said that Patricia Rollins a kindergarten teacher at Sewanee elementary in Sewanee was indicted on Friday by the Franklin County Grand Jury. It was not clear what case the indictment came from. Franklin County Director of Schools, Dr. Rebecca Scharber said she had no plans to remove Rollins from the classroom until the case was brought to trial. Several board of education members have expressed their opinion that the teacher should not be allowed in the classroom until the matter is resolved.

Hot weather from April to June, including a heat wave that sent temperatures soaring above 100 degrees for four straight days, led to a five percent increase in operating revenues for the Tennessee Valley Authority this quarter. But officials at the federal utility said it still wasn’t enough to overcome the loss TVA suffered earlier in the year amid the mildest winter in decades combined with a sluggish economy. TVA reported a $290 million net loss in the first nine months of 2012. Last year the federal utility reported a $35 million loss during that same time period. The announcement came Friday with the release of TVA’s third quarter report.
Officials said they were committed to low rates but would not be able to say whether there will be plans to increase utility rates until after its board meets later this month.

The Tennessee Democratic Party is disavowing the nomination of Mark Clayton to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, saying the little-known candidate belongs to a hate group.
Mark Clayton, a floor installer, received twice the votes of his nearest competitor in a seven-candidate Democratic primary Thursday. Actress Park Overall was one of them.
In a statement released Friday afternoon, the Tennessee Democratic Party said Clayton has only voted in the Democratic Party when he was voting for himself, and only got the most votes because his name was listed first on the ballot.
The party said in a statement Friday that Clayton is associated with a known hate group in Washington, D.C., and the party “disavows his candidacy.”
Clayton is vice president of Public Advocate of the United States, which calls itself a conservative advocacy group.
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the organization an anti-gay hate group.
Clayton said in an interview before the election that privacy issues are his main concern and that he thinks people are being “over-identified by the government and tracked.”
In the most recent financial disclosures, Corker had more than $6 million remaining, while no other challenger had more than $19,000.

New base entry requirements have been implemented for the Arnold Engineering Development Complex Mission Area and Arnold Village to comply with revisions to Air Force Installation Perimeter Access Control rules. Everyone driving within the mission area or Arnold Village now must be prepared to show their license, registration and insurance if requested by Arnold Police as a condition of entry. If these documents cannot be produced, the driver will not be allowed to drive on base. Large vehicles, defined as a 15-passenger van or larger, or vehicles towing a trailer or boat, may be subject to additional security scrutiny upon entry. Also, if employees lose or have their common access card or AEDC badge stolen, employees must exhaust all efforts to locate the missing card before being issued a new card. Employees will be required to file an Arnold police report to detail the circumstances associated with the missing card.

Researchers at the University of Tennessee Space Institute say a new laser technique they developed has several potential applications, especially in the medical field.
The Tullahoma News reports that Dr. Christian Parigger and Professors Jacqueline Johnson and Robert Splinter worked together to develop laser radiation that has accuracy on the molecular level. They say the technique could be used for detailed biomedical imaging and non-invasive surgery.
The nonprofit University of Tennessee Research Foundation says it is interested in commercializing and licensing the technology because it has the potential to overcome risks and limitations posed by traditional surgery.
Parigger and his colleagues said they are seeking investment from the National Institutes of Health to explore long-term research.

Click here for Coffee County’s vote totals.

A major change occurred last night in Manchester as a new mayor and 3 new aldermen were elected to serve the citizens of Manchester. Lonnie Norman was selected to be the mayor with 745 votes, Claude Morse finished 2nd, incumbent Mayor Betty Superstein came in 3rd, and Stella McWhorter in 4^th.

For alderman Tim Pauley was tops in votes with 972 and will serve 4 years. Incumbent Ryan French will continue to be in his seat for 4 more years with 919 votes. Russell Bryan gets to serve 4 years with his 915 votes. Cheryl Swan won a seat for 2 years with 913 and incumbent Roxanne Patton will see 2 more years on the board with 705 votes.

One incumbent returns to the Manchester City School Board as Susan Parsley received 941 votes. The top vote-getter was Mike Lewis with 986. Incumbent Bob Bellamy finished 3^rd.

In the race for 4^th district county commissioner, Sam Mai defeated Anne Frisby 239 to 150.

County school board seat 2: Freda K Jones won with 725 votes to Marshall Gilliam’s 304. Seat 5 was won by Shannon Duncan with 853 to incumbent Kathy Norton’s 358.

In Tullahoma’s only contested race, Jimmy Blanks and Sandy Lindeman won alderman seats.

In the race for District 16 State Senate, Democrat Steve Roller won in Coffee County , but Jim Lewis won overall. Janice Bowling won both Coffee County and the district. Lewis and Bowling will run against each other in November.

Diane Black defeated Lou Ann Zelenik in both for 6^th district congressman.

For all local election results click here. http://www.thunder1320.com/election.html

A Gentry Street resident made a startling discovery when he returned to his Tullahoma home Wednesday evening. William Frye of Gentry Street found a Normandy woman dead in his swimming pool. According to a police report by Tullahoma Officer Rana Pawlowski, around 1:48 p.m. as Frye was leaving home, he had given Linda Kaye Stephens, 39, of Normandy Road, Normandy permission to “float” in his pool. When he returned home around 6 p.m. he found her dead. When the officer arrived at the Gentry Street address she was informed that Frye had pulled the woman out of the pool. According to the police report, Stephens had, apparently, been dead for “a while.” Her body was transported to Harton Regional Medical Center. Investigator Sgt. Dale Stone had Stephen’s body transferred to the State Medical Examiner’s Office where an autopsy was performed yesterday.

The 1175th Combat HET unit will be deploying 39 Soldiers to support the 248th Engineer Company out of Connecticut. This will be a 12 month deployment to Bahrain to provide security and installation protection duties. The 39 Soldiers deploying are composed of 3 detachments, Brownsville, Jacksboro and Tullahoma. All 3 detachments make up the The 1175th Combat HET unit who are based at the new Readiness Center (Armory) in Tullahoma. These 39 Soldiers will be leaving the Armory Saturday Aug. 11 at approximately 9:00am. Busses will leave the armory down Hwy 55 to Hwy 64 through Lynchburg, escorted by the TN Highway Patrol and Patriot Guard riders.
The local Family Readiness Group is asking the public to show their support in various ways…tie a ribbon along the route, place a “thank you 1175th” or “We support you” sign in the median along the route, stand along the road and wave a sign of support.
The Guard is also hosting an Open House and Ribbon cutting Ceremony tomorrow from 10 until noon.

The seventh annual Tennessee “Sales Tax Holiday” began today (Aug. 3, 2012) and will end Sunday (Aug. 5, 2012) 11:59 p.m. During the holiday, clothing with a purchase price of $100 or less per item is exempt from sales tax. School supplies exempted include items of $100 or less like binders, book bags, calculators, tape, chalk, crayons, erasers, folders, glue, pens, pencils, lunch boxes, notebooks, paper, ruler, and scissors. Additionally, there is no requirement that purchases be made only for students. Computers with a purchase price of $1,500 or less, not for use in a trade or business, are also exempt from tax. Laptop computers, if priced at $1,500 or less, qualify as well as tablet computers.