Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network and the Coffee County Mayor’s office will host a community meeting on suicide prevention at 6 p.m. Thursday, November 7. The meeting will be at Coffee County Administrative Plaza and everyone is invited and encouraged to attend.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for those age 10-24 in Tennessee. The meeting is designed for suicide education, how and why it happens and how it can be prevented. You will be able to ask questions, share stories and concerns. Suicide prevention material will also be available. The statewide suicide crisis telephone line is 1-855-274-7471. You can also text the letters TN to 741741
Some Halloween announcements to be aware of. Manchester City Hall will be open on Halloween from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., but the drive up window will close at 1:30 p.m.
Also, the annual Safe on the Square trick-or-treating event scheduled from 2:30-5 p.m. will be held rain or shine. In case you were wondering, the weather forecast is calling for a 100% chance of rain on Halloween. So you might need an umbrella to get that candy.
The home on Garner Rd. is a total loss after an early morning fire Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. (Photo by Josh Peterson)
One person is dead and another received severe burns in a structure fire in Coffee County early Monday morning.
Area first responders answered a call to 689 Garner Rd. at approximately 3:22 Monday morning to reports of a structure fire.
Authorities have confirmed that a body was recovered from the structure late Monday morning once investigators were able to gain access to the structure. Authorities suspect the deceased is Joyce Garner, 57, but an autopsy will be performed for a positive identification.
“We have a potential fatality, but we can’t be sure until the fire is completely extinguished and we can gain access to the structure,” Allen Lendley with Coffee County EMA told Thunder Radio news Monday morning while firefighters were still battling the blaze. “One man was able to get out of the fire but he was burned pretty good.”
The structure is a total loss.
“There really isn’t much standing but the outside walls,” Lendley explained.
Coffee County EMA and state fire investigators will investigate the fire and determine the cause and origin.
The male burn victim — identified as Jesse Garner, is the owner of the home — was transported to Unity Medical Center and, from there, transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
There is a new SRO at Deerfield Elementary School to tell you about. Today is the last day on the job for Tommy Barker – he is moving away from the area. Taking his place will be Dustin Darnell. Darnell moves from the corrections department at the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department – he began training at the school last week and takes over full time this week. Darnell has worked in the school system before and is also a member of the Coffee County Rescue Squad. Join us at Thunder Radio in congratulating officer Darnell on his new job and thank him for his service to our community.
A two-day, undercover operation by several law enforcement agencies in the northern end of Rutherford County has resulted in the arrests of 16 men accused of seeking illicit sex from minors.
Over a two-day period beginning October 24th, as part of an undercover investigation aimed at addressing human trafficking in Rutherford County, authorities placed several decoy advertisements on websites known to be linked to commercial sex. The focus of the operation was to identify individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with minors. As a result of the operation, authorities arrested 16 men and booked them into the Rutherford County Jail.
James H. Farmer, DOB 9-23-64, Franklin
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Deadrick Darrell Evans, DOB 1-16-90, Murfreesboro
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Miguel Erazo, DOB 9-24-76, Antioch
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Luis Miguel Garcia-Alvarez, DOB 6-12-85, La Vergne
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Paul Florez-Vazquez, DOB 3-25-89, Nashville
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Jose Guadalupe Zarate-Flores, DOB 12-1-79, Smyrna
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Taylor Moore, DOB 4-4-96, Rombauer, MO
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Tony Maddox, DOB 12-9-80, Cowan, TN
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Gameel Mesad, DOB 1-13-64, La Vergne
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
John Thomas Sulkowski, DOB 1-9-95, Murfreesboro
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Juan Manuel Tovar, DOB 7-11-72, Antioch
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Harry Garcia, DOB 10-22-75, Murfreesboro
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Michael Romero, DOB 5-21-88, Prospect
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Lian Sian Thang, DOB 7-15-87, Smyrna
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Manasranjan Murlidhar Rana, DOB 11-21-87, Nashville
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Diego Mancilla Martinez, DOB 11-13-72, La Vergne
o Trafficking a Person for a Commercial Sex Act
Those participating in the operation included the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, the Smyrna Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the office of 16th District Attorney General Jennings Jones.
Information about human trafficking and TBI’s efforts to address this type of crime can be found online at www.ITHasToStop.com.
UPDATED: Story updated at 11:35 a.m. with deceased name.
One person is dead and another received severe burns in a structure fire in Coffee County early Monday morning.
Area first responders answered a call to 689 Garner Rd. at approximately 3:22 Monday morning to reports of a structure fire.
Authorities have confirmed that a body was recovered from the structure at around 11 a.m. Monday once investigators were able to gain access to the structure. Authorities suspect the deceased is Joyce Garner, 57, but an autopsy will be performed for a positive identification.
“We have a potential fatality, but we can’t be sure until the fire is completely extinguished and we can gain access to the structure,” Allen Lendley with Coffee County EMA told Thunder Radio news Monday morning while firefighters were still battling the blaze. “One man was able to get out of the fire but he was burned pretty good.”
According to Lendley, the structure is a total loss.
“There really isn’t much standing but the outside walls,” Lendley explained. Coffee County EMA and state fire investigators will investigate the fire and determine the cause and origin.
The male burn victim — identified as Jesse Garner, is the owner of the home — was transported to Unity Medical Center and, from there, transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Authorities report that Jesse Garner is the brother of the deceased.
Thunder Radio will report more details as they are available.
The home on Garner Rd. is a total loss after an early morning fire Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. (Photo by Josh Peterson)
Pictured is a snapshot of registered sex offenders in the immediate Manchester area. To perform your own search and click on each dot for more detailed information, click on the photo to use the TBI registry search or use the link here >. https://tnmap.tn.gov/sor/
The annual Safe on the Square event put on by the Coffee County Children’s Advocacy Center will be from 2:30 until 5 p.m. this Thursday, Oct. 31.
One of the biggest downtown events of the year, officials expect 2,000-plus trick-or-treaters and family to be downtown for the event. Everyone is welcome to attend the annual event that was setup as a safe means of trick-or-treating. Also, drivers should be aware of trick-or-treaters on Thursday night, not just in the area of the square, but in all neighborhoods.
If you are allowing your child to go trick-or-treating, the TBI has issued a warning to “know before you go” in terms of knowing the whereabouts of registered sex offenders. If you want to search for registered sex offenders in the area, we have a link you can check by clicking here, this allows you to view addresses in map form.
The Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Aldermen has approved 35 new stun guns for the Tullahoma Police Department.
New Tullahoma Police Chief Jason Williams told The Tullahoma News that the department does not have many in use right now and there are not enough for every officer to carry their own.
The purchase cost for the new stun guns will cost approximately $41,000.
While the Manchester area did not catch the brunt of rainfall that plowed through Tennessee over the weekend, our area did receive notable rainfall amounts, especially considering the dry conditions leading up to the weekend.
According to TVA rain gauges, Manchester picked up 1.75 inches of rainfall Friday and another .3 inches on Saturday, giving us a little over 2 inches for the two days. Combined with the 1.1 inches of rain that fell Monday (Oct. 21), the past week accounted for 3.2 inches of the month’s total of 4.53. Rain chances do creep back into the forecast later this week. Keep your radio tuned to Thunder Radio for daily weather updates.
Enjoy the extra hour of sunlight this week, because daylight savings time ends early morning next Sunday, Nov. 3.
That’s right, as hard as it is to believe, it will be time to “fall back” and roll back the clocks Saturday night. We will stay in that state of time until daylight savings time begins again on March the 8th.
