Category: News

Gunman enters the Dollar General Store in Hillsboro

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department is looking for the robber Dollar General Store in Hillsboro Wednesday morning (June 6, 2012). Employees described the robber as a black male who was wearing a grey hoodie, black pants and a grey bandanna. The man was armed with a rifle with a clip of ammunition in it. The man demanded money from a store employee, then left with the money in a blue two-door vehicle. The suspect left in an unknown direction. Sheriff’s investigator Chad Partin noted that a similar robbery occurred Tuesday at a Dollar General in Nashville, and the description of the man was the same as that of the Hillsboro robber.

The City of Manchester will conduct its next municipal election on August 2.
Mayor Betty Superstein is running for re-election along with former Mayor Lonnie Norman, Claude Morse, and Stella McWhorter.
For Manchester alderman, those who have returned petitions to have their names listed on the Aug. 2 ballot include incumbents Donnie Thomas, Harlan Gene Holmes, Ryan French, and Roxanne Patton. Other candidates qualifying are J. Sam Miller, Mark Messick, Tim Pauley, Cheryl Swan, Russell Bryan and Joshua Jackson Moore.
Because Norman had to give up his slot on the board to run for Mayor, the state has allowed the qualification deadline to be changed to June 8th at noon. Now Manchester voters will be allowed to vote for up to 5 candidates. The top three candidates will receive 4 year terms. The next two will serve 2 years and 5th highest gets to serve out the final 2 years of Lonnie Norman’s term.
Other candidates that have picked up papers to run since the previous deadline include Gene Stillings, Brent Bates, and Michelle Simmons. Danny Davis has returned his petition to run for Manchester alderman.

The burglaries of four Tullahoma churches are under investigation by Tullahoma Police.
Thieves entered and vandalized buildings belonging to Kings Cross Church on Turkey Creek Road, Trinity Lutheran Church on Wilson Avenue, Faith Lutheran on Bragg Circle, and Westside Nazarene Church on Westside Drive.

Police went to Kings Cross Church after the activation of a burglar alarm.  When officers arrived they found the siding had been peeled back on the building.  Several police officers arrived and covered all possible exits of the building. An individual with the church arrived, and after police made sure there was no one inside the building, they entered the building to determine if anything had been taken.  The officers found that the vestment had been knocked over and a wall had been damaged where the thieves attempted to enter an interior office.  According to a report by Officer Chris Coe, no money was taken. However, there was some $750 in damage to the interior and exterior walls.

When the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church arrived at the church Monday morning, he found several doors had been pried open during the night.  The pastor reported to Tullahoma Police Officer Jim Tate that thieves entered the building through an unlocked door of the A-frame building, entered a hallway, and pried open a door on the left side of the building.  The thieves damaged two sets of double doors and six single doors in a hall of the church. All of the doors were damaged beyond repair.

The pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, Martin Nutter, reported to Officer Tate that someone had pried open the back kitchen door and entered the building.  The thieves then went to the church office and took a small gray metal lock box from the secretary’s desk. The box contained $50 in change and four credit cards from Office Max, Kroger, Lowe’s, and Walmart.  The officer’s report states that the thieves heavily damaged a door to a supply room.

Tullahoma Police Officer Samuel Campbell was dispatched to Westside Church of the Nazarene on Westside Drive Monday morning around 1:45 a.m. due to the activation of a burglar alarm.
When the officer arrived he found a rear door had been broken into.
Robert McBee of the church told the officer that nothing had been taken from the building.

Tullahoma Police investigators are already investigating break-ins at three other churches. Last month, thieves burglarized Cedar Lane Church of Christ, Covenant Presbyterian Church on Highway 55 and St. Paul’s Catholic Church.
Anyone with information on the recent church break-ins is urged to contact Tullahoma Crime Stoppers at 931-461-8888.
A $1,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.-Tullahoma News-

Arnold Community Council member Mark Williams, left, and ACC President Temple Bowling speak with U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais during the ACC’s recent visit to Washington, D.C. (Photo Provided)

Arnold Community Council (ACC) members recently made their annual trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with elected officials and staffers about Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC). Early in the planning for this trip, the group knew they wanted to garner Congressional support for AEDC and establish a caucus. They also wanted to build a relationship with the support groups for Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Earlier this year, Air Force Materiel Command proposed a new organization, AFTC, placing AEDC and Eglin AFB under Edwards AFB leadership with initial operating capability planned for Oct. 1. One of the key items on the trip agenda was working with Congressional delegations to create a Defense Test and Training Range Caucus, similar to the efforts of Logistic depots across the three bases. The Arnold Community Council team consisted of community leaders and citizens who paid their own expenses for this trip to the nation’s capital to promote AEDC. They visited 20 Congressional offices. The agenda included ways to decrease costs of developing the nation’s most critical aerospace systems; ideas for returning high technology jobs to the United States; improving international competitiveness to the U.S. aerospace service sector; embracing necessary future consolidations and helping the U.S. Congress win support for better and less expensive ways of doing business in the federal sector. This is the eighth year for the ACC trip to visit Congress. To learn more about the ACC or to view the complete briefing presented to Congressional officials, go to www.arnoldcommunitycouncil.com.

The federal government has moved toward stiffer, mandatory penalties for horse soring and other related violations. According to The Tennessean the U.S. Department of Agriculture will implement a new rule requiring organizations that inspect horses to assess minimum penalties to violators of the Horse Protection Act, including violations from soring Tennessee Walking Horses. Currently, outside organizations licensed by the USDA and certified by the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service can inspect horses for soring and other violations. The new rule would require these organizations to assess the same level of federally mandated penalties in any horse show they are inspecting. Soring is pouring caustic chemicals on the hooves and lower legs of horses to induce the high leg kick that wins prizes in competitions.

Fire destroys mobile home... By Barry West

On Tuesday morning  (June 5, 2012) just after 9am, the Manchester Fire Department received a fire call from Oakdale Street. Firemen found a mobile home on fire in the Parker Place mobile home park. Jeremy Woods, who investigated the fire, says that the home was heavily damaged by fire and smoke and is considered a total loss. According to Woods the blaze started in the bathroom and was deemed to be an electrical fire. The rental property is owned by Freddie Reynolds. One person and an animal were inside the trailer but were able to escape without any injury.

Firefighters on the scene... By Barry West

North Coffee Fire Department responds to fire... By Barry West

Grease left on the stove caused an early Tuesday morning house fire at 3197 Matts Hollow Road. North Coffee Fire Department responded quickly and kept the damages to a minimum. The kitchen area suffered most of the fire damage although heavy smoke spread throughout the house. No one was injured in the fire, and all pets were saved.

Fire damages roof top... By Barry West

As attendees of Bonnaroo arrive, area law enforcement are gearing up to deal with the huge influx of people to Coffee County. The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department will be operating a communication truck to handle dispatching for Bonnaroo. Sheriff Steve Graves says that his department will also be maintaining a specially equipped trailer to handle the booking process during the busiest times at the festival. This trailer will handle the paper work to book a person into jail, which will speed up the process at the jail. Manchester Police will also be operating a specially equipped truck at the intersection of Ragsdale and Highway 55 where traffic will be turning to get into the festival. All drivers are urged to use caution in the the area as there will be a number of out of town drivers who aren’t acquainted with the area. Again this year the National Weather Service will have a forecaster assigned to watching the weather over Bonnaroo. EMA director Allen Lindley will be monitoring the weather service radar with a large monitor set up on the grounds of Bonnaroo.

On Monday June the 4th at approximately 2:00pm, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office personnel conducted a search of the residence located at 260 Knights Home Place Decherd, TN. As a result of the search, Sheriff’s Office personnel discovered what they believed to be 34 marijuana plants with a street value of approximately $27,000. Future criminal charges are anticipated in an ongoing investigation concerning this case. Investigator Todd Hindman and Corporal Craig Arnold participated in the search.

Tullahoma Police are investigating the burglary of a business on West Carroll Street. According to a report by Tullahoma Police Officer Samuel Campbell, a burglary was reported at Snow White Laundry and Dry Cleaners located at 405 West Carroll Street. When the officer arrived he found the front door glass was broken out of the business. He also found a brick that was apparently used to break the glass door. The damage to the front door equals $800 according to the officer’s report.  The business’ owner, Howard Eads, noted the cash register holding $273.38 cash was missing.