Category: News

The Tullahoma Board of Education is contracting with the Tennessee School Boards Association to lead the effort in finding a replacement for the Tullahoma City Schools director. The board has approved spending $8,500 with the education group association to manage the process to handle advertising, field applications, screen candidates, check references, and provide other services related to finding a replacement to fill the position that will become vacant as Dr. Dan Lawson’s contract expires on June 30, 2013. The board plans to conduct community meetings with the candidates, teachers, government officials, and parent-teacher organizations before any final decision is made. Lawson’s contract expires at the end of next school. The school board hopes to have a decision made in May 2013.

Dollywood has a new roller coaster. Elvis has a different side to see. And you can prepare to take a nip at the Jack Daniel distillery.
Those are just three of the lures this year as Tennessee’s summer tourism season gets under way.
The peak of the travel year falls as gasoline prices are high, but going down. For the state’s busy $14 billion tourism industry, which employs more than 170,000, there are signs that business is picking up.
The sprawling Great Smoky Mountains National Park already is seeing a 15 percent increase in visitors over last year. With 9 million visitors annually, it’s the most popular national park.
Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge has a new roller coaster to go with its four others. The Wild Eagle is 21 stories high and goes 61 mph in each 2 1/2 minute ride.
In Memphis, Graceland is offering visitors a new perspective of Elvis: Just opened is the Elvis Presley Stable Tour displaying saddles used by Elvis, personal western wear and home movie footage of the king of rock ‘n’ roll on horseback. This August will mark the 35th anniversary of his death.
For the first time, visitors can sample Jack Daniel whiskey on tours at the Lynchburg distillery under plans being fine-tuned. It was outlawed until recent legislation authorized it.
Nashville, as usual, relies heavily on music to attract 11 million visitors annually. There are up to five Grand Ole Opry country music shows weekly, plus the annual CMA Music Festival June 7-10 featuring Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Blake Shelton and others.
Here in Manchester, the annual Bonnaroo festival on the same dates as the CMA’s will include performers like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, the reunited Beach Boys, Phish and Kenny Rogers.

The 43rd annual Tullahoma Kiwanis Club Independence Day fireworks and air show celebration is planned for Friday, June 29, club member Mike Rutherford recently told the Tullahoma Airport Authority. The gates will open at 3 p.m. and will have a static display with the air show at dark. According to club member Ed Hoge, this year’s event promises to be “the most ambitious event ever,” with Nashville musicians “Live from Ventura Boulevard,” supplying the entertainment, an air show with Eastern European aircraft staging a simulated jet air combat and the evening culminating in the “spectacular fireworks display.” Korean War veterans will be honored at this year’s event.

Officials with TVA say that if the area doesn’t receive between 6 and 10 inches of rain, the lakes in the area will be lower than normal. The officials say that the agency is currently releasing as little as possible and still maintain aquatic life downstream and to provide water supplies for the towns downstream from the dams. TVA officials say that boaters and those using jet skis should pay attention as there are some trees still perturbing out of the lake in some areas. Tims Ford and Normandy reservoirs are six feet below the normal level for this time of the year. The U.S. Drought Monitor states that the areas around Shelbyville, Winchester, Tullahoma and Manchester are having their driest period ever on record. The first 28 days of May have been the tenth driest on record. Runoff is 17 percent of normal and the lowest recorded for the area.
However, the two reservoirs are still two feet higher than during the drought of 2007.

The U.S. Air Force is seeking input on possible commercial development of 152 acres at Arnold Air Force Base in Coffee County.
The property lies along state Highway 55 near the Manchester city limits and base officials are looking for private industries and businesses to develop the property in what is called an enhanced use lease opportunity.
Arnold Engineering and Development Center spokesman Jason Austin told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that they would offer the land at fair market value to enhance the use of the land.
Development proposals could include manufacturing, distributing, warehousing, offices, residential facilities, mixed uses, industrial facilities, and renewable or alternative energy operations.

Duck River Electric Membership Corp. (DREMC) is conducting what it calls a “selective low volume back pack” herbicide application process. The purpose, according to the notice mailed to customers, is to destroy problem trees, brush and vines in unmaintained areas of power line rights of way and fence rows under power lines that have grown up with trees and brush. The work by DREMC crews will be performed from June to September. A spokesperson for the electric company said that the spraying is there effort to improve the electric service reliability to its members. The goal is said to be cost effectively control tree species that may grow into the power lines causing outages or inhibiting continuous access to the rights of way needed for inspection and restoration of service after major storms.”

A 17-year-old is facing charges following an incident at his residence on Druid Lane in Tullahoma. Police were dispatched to the house because of a possible disturbance. When Tullahoma Officer Jim Tate arrived, he allegedly found the teenager attempting to set a mattress on fire. Tate stopped him and grabbed the fire extinguisher from his patrol car and put the fire out. He then escorted the boy out of the house and met members of the fire department who removed the mattress from the house.

A 12-year-old Shelbyville boy has died  following a five-year battle with cancer.
Alex Rodriguez was diagnosed with a rare cancer that affects the soft tissue, when he was just he was just seven years old.
After his diagnosis, Alex underwent chemotherapy and radiation but when the treatments weren’t working he made the decision to stop them and instead spend the time he had left with his family.
Funeral services were held Sunday.-WKRN-

County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for April 2012, are out and they show the rate decreased in 84 counties, increased in five counties, and remained the same in six counties.
Williamson County had the lowest county rate at 5.3% and the highest rate is in Scott County at 15.4%
The rate in Coffee County in April stayed the same as in March at 7.6%. In surrounding counties like Franklin County they fell from 8.3 to 7.6, Grundy down from 9.4% to 9.1, Cannon County dropped 0.2 to 7.3, Bedford has a nice drop from 9.1 to 8.4, Moore County went up from 7.3 to 7.6% and Warren County falling from a March rate of 9.1 to 8.7% in April.

The Music City Roots free concert and free food event was a big success at Roberts Nissan yesterday (May 28, 2012). The Volunteer String Band put on a fantastic show and Free Vietti Chili dogs were served along with free Sundrop.
During the event Manchester Mayor Betty Superstein gave the “Key to the City” to the Coffee County Lady Raiders softball team and coaches.
Head Coach Terry Floyd told the crowd and radio listeners that he was extremely proud of the girls and thanked the community for their support.
Music City Roots is a weekly, two-hour radio show that revives the historic legacy of live musical radio production in Nashville. Music City Roots showcases Nashville’s astonishing music scene, from country and Americana to more progressive interpreters of tradition — a “roots and branches” format that brings together fans of different tastes and generations.