Category: News

Officials have enacted a Middle Tennessee Endangered Child Alert for three children missing from White County.
Abrianne Davis, 5, Clifton Rice, 4, and Breanna Rice, 1, were to be placed into protective custody on March 29. Prior to this, they were taken by their non-custodial mother, Tiffany Tolbert-Rice, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Abrianne is a white female, hair and eye color are unknown. She is 3’3″ tall and weighs 58 lbs. Clifton is a white male, hair and eye color are unknown. He is 3’2″ tall and weighs 48 lbs. Breanna is a white female, hair and eye color is unknown. She is 2’4″ tall and weighs 35 lbs.
Tiffany Tolbert-Rice is described as a white female with red hair and blue eyes. She is 5’2″ tall and weighs 150lbs.
They may be traveling in a 1999 green Oldsmobile Bravada with TN license plate 722-WFH. Anyone who has seen any of the subjects or the vehicle should contact White County Sheriff’s Office at 931-738-7111 or TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.

A father of four was killed during a family bicycle ride along a rural Manchester road Wednesday evening.
According to a report by Tennessee Highway Patrolman Donnie Clark, around 6:45 p.m. Stacey L. Floyd, 40, of Oak Hill Road, Manchester and his wife and three children were riding their bicycles along Oak Hill Road when a van operated by Sheryl Marsee, 48, of Manchester struck the man and two other riders.
According to the trooper’s report, Marsee was traveling westbound facing the sun on Oak Hill Road and was unable to see the five bicyclists due to the glare of the sun.
Injured were Amy Floyd, 35, and Faith Floyd, 10. Two of their children, Michael Floyd, 6, and Ava Floyd, 4, were not injured in the accident.
The trooper’s report states that he was unable to determine if the riders were wearing helmets at the time of the crash.
No charges were filed in the accident.

A two-vehicle accident occurred yesterday afternoon around 5pm in Manchester. The wreck was at the intersection of Clover Lane and Summer St. beside American City Bank. The red Nissan 4-door car and white Ford Ranger collided shutting down traffic on Clover and Summer while emergency crews cleared the wreckage.

The Coffee County Commission was given the green light to move forward with the purchase of land designated for construction of the new jail. Commissioner and Jail Review Committee Chairman Chris Bird said that the land designated for the new jail was finally approved for construction by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and that therefore the county could now execute the purchase. The 44-acre site is located on the Hillsboro Highway.
Some commissioners have stated they wanted to build on the current site but others argued that point. It is estimated the county buying adjacent land to the current jail would cost approximately $800,000. This would be to buy houses near the site to be torn down, cleared and extra land needed for the new jail. The land on the Hillsboro Hwy is being bought for $480,000.

A Canadian company has inquired about the possibility of locating a flight training school at the Tullahoma airport. Ravinder Singh Virdi of Areo Academy of Canada contacted airport authority chairman John Miller and told him that the company will move their business from Canada to Tennessee. Virdi also informed Miller that the company would offer training with 3 airplanes. He explained that he is a Canadian citizen but would be hiring a staff strictly from the United States. Verdi wrote that the staff would have clearance and meet regulations.
During the airport authority meeting Tuesday afternoon, Miller and other board members expressed an interest to work with the company officials.

The Russian children’s rights ombudsman says he wants an American woman who sent her young adopted son back to Russia to testify in a Moscow court.
Torry Hansen was living in Shelbyville, Tenn., in April 2010 when she sent her then-7-year-old son on a plane alone back to Moscow with a note that said the boy was violent and she no longer wanted to keep him.
A Tennessee judge ruled last month that Hansen is liable for child support in a lawsuit brought by her former adoption agency.
The boy now lives in a private orphanage that spends the equivalent of about $2,300 a month on his housing and “psychological correction.”

The House has voted to begin phasing out Tennessee’s inheritance tax and to lower the state’s sales tax on groceries.
The chamber voted 88-8 on the estate tax measure Thursday, and 96-0 to cut the food tax from 5.5% to 5.25%.
Republicans hailed the estate tax cut as a way to keep retirees from moving out of state, while Democrats argued that the tax cut on groceries affects a far larger number of people.
Both measures were part of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s legislative agenda this year.
The inheritance tax currently applies to estates worth more than $1 million, and was paid in 845 instances in the last budget year. The bill would bump that exemption up to $1.25 million next year and to $5 million by 2016.

It was almost sundown Wednesday when a small van traveling west on Oakhill Road in northern Coffee County topped a rise in the road and struck a family of five riding their bicycles. A mother, father and three children were all struck by the van and knocked into the ditch. The mother and one child were transported to an area hospital. The father was pronounced dead at the scene. The people in the van suffered minor injuries.
Trooper Donnie Clark was in charge of the scene.

During the early evening hours of Tuesday, April 10, 2012, Tullahoma Police were called to the Casa Mexican Restaurant located on North Jackson Street in Tullahoma to investigate a possible “stabbing”.  Upon arrival the victim, 23-year-old Garry Lee Brown of Chattanooga, was bleeding from multiple wounds to his neck. Garry Brown was taken to Harton Regional Medical Center and was later airlifted to Erlanger Hospital where he was treated and released. Using information gathered from the victim at the scene, Police were able to obtain an alleged suspect vehicle description and in turn notified surrounding agencies to request their assistance in locating the vehicle. Just over an hour later, Manchester Police observed a vehicle matching the description and conducted a stop of the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle, Lebron Terrell Brown, a 23-year-old Chattanooga resident, was taken into custody and interviewed.  The victim and suspect were allegedly a room at the Quality Inn Located behind the Casa Mexican Restaurant when an argument ensued resulting in the injuries to victim. The victim then ran to the restaurant where an employee notified police. After obtaining a search warrant, a search of the room was conducted.  Eight grams of crack cocaine and cash were located in the room along with other items that were seized as evidence in the case. Lebron Brown is charged with the alleged Aggravated Assault and is currently being held in the Coffee County Jail under a $25,000.00 bond. The investigation into the narcotics found in the room continues.