Category: News

Unemployment numbers in Coffee County remain low, but are up slightly from the prior month. 

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development released county by county unemployment numbers last week. Those statistics show that unemployment in Coffee County is 4.1 for July of 2019. Those numbers are slightly higher than the 3.8 in June of this year. Out of Tennessee’s 95 counties, 44 counties have unemployment rates below 5 percent. The lowest rates across the state for July were in Williamson and Davidson County, each at 3.2 percent. Sevier County, Cheatham County and Rutherford County rounded out the top 5, all with rates of 3.4 percent or better. The highest unemployment in Tennessee is in Hancock County, at 8.2 percent. 

The Manchester Parks and Recreation Department held a ceremony Thursday afternoon to bring awareness to human trafficking. It is estimated that 36 million people are victims of human trafficking across the globe. After a brief speech from parks director Bonnie Gamble and Coffee County Sheriff Chad Partin, those in attendance spread cups of red sand through cracks in the sidewalk outside of the complex, symbolizing to not let victims of human trafficking fall through the cracks.

Duane Conklin spreads red sand in the sidewalk cracks outside of the Manchester Parks & Recreation Center Thursday, Aug. 22. The sand is a symbol to not allow victims of human trafficking to fall through the cracks.

According to the TBI, in the United States, a child is bought or sold for sex every two minutes. The average age of a child sold for sex is 13 years old and human trafficking is the second fastest growing criminal industry, just behind drug trafficking. If you suspect someone is a victim of human trafficking, call the Tennessee Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-855-55-tnhtn.

Below is a survivor story of human trafficking provided by the TBI. Be aware that some of those details may be disturbing. 

Survivor Stories: Carrie

NOTE: This survivor’s story is featured in a 2011 TBI research study, detailing the nature of human trafficking in Tennessee. The stories are frank and may feature descriptions and language some may find offensive. Still, they’re included in the research studies to describe scenarios occurring across our state. Read more about this research project online: http://tn.gov/assets/entities/tbi/attachments/2011%20Tennessee%20Human%20Sex%20Trafficking%20and%20its%20Impact%20on%20Children%20and%20Youth.pdf.

Carrie was born one of eight siblings to a single mother in a county in southern Middle Tennessee. Her name and exact hometown have been obscured to protect her privacy. Carrie told her story brokenly and with frequent tears, even though her life and story began decades ago.

Carrie’s mother was an alcoholic and very violent. Carrie described severe physical, mental and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother beginning at the age of four. All of her siblings had different fathers, so some were treated better than others. Carrie described her younger siblings getting new shoes every few months, but she did not. Her father was absent and she said her mother hated her grandmother, and she (Carrie) looked just like her. She blamed the absence of her father and her resemblance to her grandmother for the abuse. She was reluctant to blame her mother; instead, she blamed circumstances and the disease of alcoholism.

Carrie said one night when she was thirteen years old, her mother beat her severely and came after her with a butcher knife, cutting her on the arm. She left that night with a girlfriend and they “hitched” a ride with a truck driver to Nashville. Carrie said she and her girlfriend stayed in a house in North Nashville with a number of men and her first sexual experiences were in that house. When asked to describe this, she replied, “…they pulled trains on us.” It was what was expected for her room and board. Carrie said her girlfriend didn’t stay long, calling her family to come get her. Carrie stayed for more than a week before calling her brother to come and get her.

When Carrie got home, her mother beat her so badly, that she, “almost killed me.” Carrie immediately left again and hitched her way back to Nashville. She said the men in that house where she had been were tired of her, so she had to move on. Carrie said she went to the sister of a friend, where she stayed for several weeks. She went to nightclubs around Jo Johnston Avenue (North Nashville) at night and met a man named Johnny, with whom she would start a relationship.

Carrie said Johnny would take her out and very quickly moved them into a motel room, where she lived with him for a few weeks. She said he would buy her things, gave her alcohol, marijuana, and attention. She thought he loved her and she loved him. Carrie said this man was in his mid-20’s at the time. Carrie described a night where a woman came to the motel room door and told her that Johnny had been robbed and shot and she needed to come to the hospital. Carrie said that after he got out of the hospital, she, Johnny, and two other women left Nashville and drove to Washington D.C. It was there that Johnny told her that she would be expected to “work” for money to support him.

Carrie was required to make a minimum of $75 per day. She said she started on the corner of 14th street in D.C. Her first “trick” came at the hands of a woman. Carrie said an older woman approached her on the street and negotiated sex with a man for $40. She said the older woman took her to a residence where she was forced to have sex with both the woman and her husband. She said she was raped, “over and over and over” again for three days. Carrie said after three days, they gave her back her clothes and the woman took her and put her on a corner and told her that she worked for them now.

Carrie said that the woman negotiated a “trick” for her but insisted on accompanying her on the “date.” The “John” refused to allow the older woman to come. He turned out to be the police. Carrie said God was looking out for her that night. She said she was arrested and that Johnny came and picked her up. Carrie said the experience scared her so badly; she refused to go back to the street for a period of time. Johnny then introduced her to more hard core drugs, heroin, cocaine and others. Carrie said she could not tolerate the heroin, it just put her to sleep, and then she could not work. She said that she was probably too young for a drug like heroin. She was fourteen years old.

Carrie said she used drugs to medicate herself; she described being very afraid all the time. Johnny also became violent during this period. Carrie said he usually would heat metal hangers and burn her on the back with them. If a woman was lying on her back, you wouldn’t see the burns. They moved from D.C. to Norfolk Virginia, where she was expected to produce $200 per day. She said they also worked in Rhode Island, New York, Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and other cities and states. Carrie described moving to another pimp once, but Johnny paid to get her back and then he beat her with butt of a shotgun and cracked her pelvis.

Carrie said sometimes she would get into a car or truck and she would cry to the John, tell them how young she was and that she didn’t want to do this. She said some would give her $20 and let her go. She said that there were two kinds: “flat backin’ hoes” and “thievin’ hoes.” She said one of the other women taught her how to be a “thievin’ hoe” by stealing or robbing her tricks. She said “thievin’” got her shot in the leg and thrown off of a bridge, but she survived.

By sixteen, she had her first child by Johnny. She left the child with family and went back on the road with him. By seventeen, she was so addicted to drugs that she said, “The dope man got all my money.” Carrie said by the age of eighteen, she was back in Nashville with no pimp and working on her own. She mostly worked the Dickerson Road and Trinity Lane area and gave all her money to drug dealers for cocaine and crack cocaine.

Carrie wanted people to know that she was raped dozens of times by police officers who would demand sex in exchange for not going to jail. Carrie said this happened in multiple cities during her years working the streets. She said she was as afraid of them as anybody else. Carrie said that many nights, she would have preferred to go to jail, she described being so tired. It was clear that despair was a frequent companion. It was also clear that Carrie received few if any offers for help along the way. She said, “Who wants to have sex with 15 or 20 men a day? It was a living fucking hell.”

The good news is Carrie found her way to Magdalene, a facility for women operated by women in Nashville. Carrie credits the help she got there with saving her life and changing her destiny. Carrie said when she started treatment for the last time, she was so angry. Carrie said she does not know how those women put up with her. She said they just kept hugging her and patting her back and they just nodded when she lashed out. “My destiny now is to have a positive life.” Despite several starts and stops, Carrie graduated from the two-year program two years ago. She said the more she talks about it, the more it loses its power over her and she hopes it helps somebody. When asked how and why, she said, “I just wanted any kind of attention… anywhere.”

Authorities are searching for this tractor that was stolen.

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department is asking the public to please be on the lookout for a CK 35-10 Kioti tractor with front hay spear and bush hog stolen from 3900 block of Shady Grove rd on August 21, 2019. Anyone with information contact Investigator James Sherrill at 931-570-4404.

Marshall county native John Moses was re-elected to a three-year term on the

DREMC Board of Directors for Zone 5 (Marshall and Giles counties). Moses defeated challenger R.L. Williams by a margin of 128-49 in the election held August 12-16 at the co-op’s Lewisburg and Chapel Hill offices.

Announcement of the election results was made at the annual membership meeting held on Saturday, August 17 before approximately 200 DREMC members, employees and guests at Franklin County High School in Winchester.

Four unopposed directors were re-elected to new terms, and board officers were named in the reorganizational session following the meeting. Baxter White, Zone 1 (Coffee and Warren counties); Laura Willis, Zone 2 (Franklin, Grundy & Marion counties, University of the South); Buford Jennings, Zone 3 (Moore and Lincoln counties); and Dana Salters, Zone 6 (Maury, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis and Williamson counties) returned to the board of directors by acclamation vote. Barry Cooper was re-elected chairman of the DREMC board, and other officers include Buford Jennings, vice chairman; John  Moses, treasurer; and Laura Willis, secretary.

Attendees heard business reports and recaps about co-op programs and projects and were introduced to Washington Youth Tour winners. Door prizes were awarded at the conclusion of the meeting.

Chairman Cooper addressed the attendees assuring that the financial condition of the cooperative is sound and continues to invest in the network of substations, circuits and lines that maintain the reliability of electric service in DREMC’s 16-county footprint.

In his report Cooper recognized several area businesses and manufacturers for job creation and significant investment in rural Tennessee.

“Opportunities are all around us,” said Cooper. “It’s not just the big cities in our state that benefit. Almost half the job commitments in 2017 to the state’s economic development department were in rural counties – 9,700 new jobs. And this number was up by over 30% from five years prior. Electric cooperatives, with their commitment to economic development, help make this happen.”

Cooper shared another example of DREMC’s commitment to job growth.

“A DREMC zero-interest loan fund, created from a partnership with the Rural Utilities Service, helped the Coffee County Industrial Board finance their latest industrial park spec building currently being marketed to industries looking to locate in our area.”

The chairman further explained DREMC’s community commitment by sending students to Washington D.C. each summer and to Nashville for a leadership summit. He also stated that DREMC is involved with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum to our youngest citizens.

“Our employees visited with over 8,400 students and teachers last school year,” remarked Cooper. Cooper shared the benefits of the co-op connections card, reporting specific examples of how cooperative members are saving on prescriptions, hotel stays, restaurants and more.

Chairman Cooper closed his remarks by thanking the DREMC employees for their work in keeping the lights on and recognized those that retired this past year with combined experience of 125 years.

Interim President and CEO Charles McDonald updated attendees on a variety of cooperative activities including progress on broadband and fiber deployment, advanced meter installation completion, a new system operations center in Shelbyville, and expected growth in the coming years.

“It is projected the cooperative will grow to more than 80,000 members within a four-year period, up from approximately 76,000 today, with the estimated capital cost to maintain reliability and meet anticipated growth equaling $72 million,” stated McDonald. “Maintaining reliability and supporting our communities is our priority.”

Plans for DREMC’s expected growth include two new substations, a private 35-megawatt solar farm within our service area and the introduction of new state of the art light emitting diode (LED) security lighting program, which will take effect in October of this year.

“My interest in this cooperative goes back some 45 years,” said McDonald. “I’ve been back on two different occasions after retirement to assist DREMC. I appreciate the board’s confidence in me as they conducted a nationwide search for a new CEO, and I thank the employees for making me feel as if I never left.”

McDonald received a standing ovation by those in attendance. Board Treasurer John Moses reported that DREMC is financially strong, with assets of just over $254 million and system equity under $115 million which represents approximately 45% of total assets.

Operating revenues and other income are just over $204 million. Moses also reported the cooperative realized over $300,000 in savings on last year’s wholesale power bill to TVA due to the Beat the Peak program.

“Approximately 75% of our total expenses for 2019 went to pay TVA for power with the remaining margin used for capital improvements, taxes, loan repayments and operating expenses,” said Moses. Before concluding, Cooper introduced the new President & CEO Scott Spence. Spence was one of 74 applicants for the position and comes to DREMC most recently from Arab Electric where he served as CEO.

Newly named CEO Spence greeted the crowd saying, “I am excited to begin my time with DREMC and look forward to working with the employees and members in moving DREMC forward.”

Spence began work at the cooperative’s Shelbyville location on Monday, August 19. For a more detailed report of the cooperative’s annual meeting, go to www.dremc.com and visit What’s Happening.

Duck River EMC, a Touchstone Energy® cooperative, is a not-for-profit, member owned organization providing electric and other services to more than 76,500 homes and businesses in southern Middle Tennessee. Duck River EMC serves an area of approximately 2,500 square miles in Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, Franklin, Giles, Grundy, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Maury, Moore, Rutherford, and Williamson counties

Motlow State mechatronics graduate Ryan Gibson, from Hillsboro, will continue his pathway to a
bachelor’s degree through the new ‘2+2’ program agreement between Motlow’s McMinnville
campus and Tennessee State University.

Getting a four-year degree in the growing field of mechatronics
just got easier for students in the McMinnville area, thanks to Motlow State’s partnership with Tennessee State University (TSU).

“Motlow is very pleased to now offer a ‘2+2’ program in mechatronics with TSU for our McMinnville campus,” said Fred Rascoe, dean of career readiness at Motlow. “The agreement means that students can attend Motlow to obtain an A.A.S. degree in Mechatronics, then seamlessly articulate to TSU and continue to take classes on the Motlow McMinnville campus to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Industrial Technologies with a concentration in Mechatronics. It is a wonderful opportunity for any mechatronic student wishing to continue their education and receive a four-year degree, all on the Motlow McMinnville campus.”

Recent Motlow mechatronics graduate Ryan Gibson will be one of the first students to take advantage of the new opportunity. Gibson, who lives in Hillsboro, is enrolled in the program this fall. Being able to remain in school at the nearby McMinnville campus while still living at home and working in Manchester at the Wal-Mart Auto Care Center makes it possible for him to continue his educational plan. According to Gibson, he was very concerned with the prospect of transferring to a much larger school after having grown accustomed to the warm and supportive student environment on the Motlow McMinnville campus.

“At Motlow, I always feel welcome and important,” said Gibson. “I’ve
been told by people attending larger campuses that sometimes your teachers just don’t have time for you. At Motlow, faculty is always there to help you. It’s not uncommon for anyone (faculty) to stay late or meet with students between classes to help them grasp the material. And you can call them any time. They’re always dedicated to satisfying the students’ needs.”

According to a recent article published in “Community College Review”, 2+2 agreements are increasingly occurring nationwide as community colleges and four-year-schools work together to ensure the courses they offer complement each other for an overall, comprehensive degree program.

The seamless transition process ensures students do not waste time or money on classes that will not be a good fit for their final goals. Reasons for considering a 2+2 program include:
• Financial savings, since tuition at community colleges is traditionally much less than tuition at
four-year schools
• Additional academic assistance for students who need remedial help to succeed in school –
this sort of assistance is much more plentiful at community colleges
• Community college may be easier to access, allowing students to live at home their first two
years of school or longer
• Better college access for first-generation college students, immigrants and others who might
not be eligible for immediate entrance to a four-year school right out of high school
• A better fit for mature students who typically enter community college after years in the
work force

“Our partnership with Motlow is a demonstration of the need for more innovative collaborations to meet the urgent workforce demands for technical skills and knowledge in production, IT, and logistics,” said Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of the college of engineering at TSU. “We are excited about our joint program (with Motlow) to produce more graduates in the emerging field of mechatronics, and the opportunity to provide a larger pool of diverse technicians, technologists, and
engineers for the industry growth in middle Tennessee and beyond.”

The Mechatronics 2+2 agreement is the second of its kind between the two institutions, following a 2+2 program that began in Fall 2018 that offers degrees in Agricultural Business and Animal Science at the Motlow Fayetteville campus.
Mechatronics is a synergy of mechanical, electrical and computerized technologies that together form a complex system used in product engineering, manufacturing, and packaging operations. This career program will provide the academic knowledge and practical experience necessary to prepare students for employment as a highly skilled mechatronics technician.

“With this new 2+2 program TSU has at Motlow, all of my worries are gone,” added Gibson. “I can stay right where I feel at home and obtain a degree in a high-wage, high-demand field, and know I’m surrounded by people that care about me and my future and want me to succeed.”

For additional information about Motlow State’s Mechatronics program, visit
www.mscc.edu/programs/mechatronics-technology or contact Fred Rascoe, dean of career and technical programs, at 931-668-7010, Ext. 2123 or frascoe@mscc.edu.

Sarah Pearson

The Lynchburg Music Fest begins Friday and runs through Saturday. There are a few local musical talents who will be on the stages at the festival. Manchester’s very own Macy Tabor will actually begin the festival with a quick 15 minute set from 12-12:15 p.m. Friday on the Jack Daniels Stage. Manchester’s Sarah Pearson will also be on the Jack Daniels Stage from 1-1:15 p.m.

Later in the day on the JD Visitors Center Stage, Tabor will perform from 1:30 until 2:30 and Pearson returns to the stage from 2:45-4 p.m. 

On Saturday, Becky Buller Band will play from 1:45 until 2:30. Sarah Pearson will play another long set on Saturay, 12:15-1:30 p.m. on the JD BBQ Hill Stage, and Tabor will play an early set, from 10:15-10:45 a.m. on the Lynchburg Radio Stage. You can get tickets at lynchburgmusicfest.com

A Moore County man is dead after a police chase and then a crash in Tullahoma in the early morning hours of Wednesday, August 21st. 

Tullahoma Police report receiving a phone call around 1 a.m. Wednesday referencing a naked man walking around the Food Lion on West Lincoln Street. 

As officers responded, the man, who was later identified as Lawrence Bean, age 29, left in a Nissan Altima and police pursued. Bean crashed into multiple parked vehicles and was ejected from his vehicle. He was not wearing a seat belt. 

Tullahoma Police report that the chase was suspended prior to the crash due to dangerous speeds.

Tennessee residents are allowed to hunt without a license this Saturday, Aug. 24th, which coincides with the opening day of squirrel season. “Free Hunting Day” is an event the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency annually provides in hopes of increasing interest in hunting.

On Free Hunting Day, state resident hunters are exempt from hunting licenses and WMA permit requirements.

The TWRA offers a reminder that hunter education requirements are not waived for Free Hunting Day. Anyone born on or after Jan. 1st, 1969 is required to have successfully completed a hunter education course.