We reported last week that the Franklin County Fair Board announced that the fair in Franklin County, Tennessee would be cancelled due to lack of vendor participation and community support. However, an outpouring of community support following that announcement has led to the fair board attempting to reorganize and salvage this year’s Franklin County Fair. There will be a meeting Tuesday, July 30th, at 6:30 p.m. at the Franklin County annex building. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.
TDOT crews had to dig 11 feet deep, 15 feet long and 13 feet wide to excavate a sinkhole that closed one lane of Interstate 24 westbound at mile maker 90 for most of the day Friday. Crews anticipate having the lane re-opened by 5 p.m. Friday afternoon. (Photo provided by TDOT)
Many area residents have noticed that Interstate 24 traffic in westbound lanes between Manchester and Murfreesboro has been at a crawl today (Friday). This is because of a sinkhole that TDOT crews have been working to repair.
According to Kathryn Schulte with TDOT, crews finished excavating the sinkhole at approximately 1 p.m. and are working to repair the closed lane of interstate now. According to Schulte, crews had to dig approximately 11 feet deep, 15 feet long and 13 feet wide to excavate the sink hole. She said that crews anticipate re-opening the closed lane by approximately 5 p.m. Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, if you need to travel to Murfreesboro or anywhere else further down I-24 west, you should seek an alternate route.
Coffee County Schools has announced that Kelvin Shores will be the next deputy director of schools.
Earlier this month, the Coffee County Board of Education named Dr. Charles Lawson as the new director of schools. Lawson chose Shores as his deputy director, the school system announced Wednesday evening.
Kelvin Shores
Shores has been the principal at East Coffee Elementary School for the past 16 years, before that he taught math and science in sixth grade at Coffee County Middle School. Shores is a native of Coffee County and graduated from Central High School.
Shores will continue to serve as the principal at East Coffee while the system searches for a replacement.
“I think the world of East Coffee students, faculty and staff and the families that live in this area,” said Shores. “I am deeply going to miss having this role.”
“I look forward to this new role and serving the entire Coffee County School System. This was something I aspired to do later in my career and throughout the years I started to work toward this direction.”
Coffee County Schools return for the 2019-20 school year on Thursday, Aug. 1 for student orientation and the first full day of class is Monday, August 5.
Tennessee’s annual Sales Tax Holiday is this weekend. During tax-free weekend shoppers will not have to pay any state or local sales tax on clothing and school supplies totaling $100 or less per item, or computers totaling $1,500 or less.
The 2019 sales tax holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 26 and ends Sunday, July 28 at 11:59 p.m.
If you aren’t sure what school supplies your child may need, check the links below:
Manchester City Schools Click Here.
Coffee County Schools Click Here.
Coffee County Schools will hold its 5th annual student expo this upcoming Saturday, July 27th at Coffee County Central High School. Doors will open at 9 a.m.
The annual event is designed to provide students in Coffee County Schools from pre-k through seniors in high school with all necessary items to begin the new school year. To take advantage of the expo, students must be present on the day of the event and must be enrolled in Coffee County Schools. Some items of note that will be dispersed are shoe vouchers for the first 500 students, free groceries, free backpacks filled with school supplies, free haircuts, community resources and other school-related resources. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you have questions, contact Taylor Rayfield at 931-222-1066.
The Coffee County School System includes New Union Elementary, Deerfield Elementary, East Coffee Elementary, North Coffee Elementary, Hillsboro Elementary, Hickerson Elementary, Coffee County Middle, Raider Academy, Koss Center and Central High School.
The Manchester City Schools We Care event will be this Saturday, July 27th at 8 a.m. at Westwood Elementary School. The event will serve 211 students who were preregistered in April. Each student will receive an age-appropriate backpack filled with school supplies, a new outfit, hygiene supplies and a shoe voucher for the child to hand pick shoes at Shoe Sensation in Manchester. In addition, 10 lucky families will also win door prizes valued at $50 each.
Volunteers and sponsors for the event include the Children’s Advocacy Center, anti-drug coalition, health department, Manchester fire and police, United Way of Coffee and Moore Counties, Logan Stuteville with Petty Dental for preventative care bag, Shanon Stowe with Canvas Community Church for food bags and the census bureau. If you, your business or organization is interested in partnering with the Manchester City Schools Family Resource Center, contact BJ Sylvia at 931-728-3412.
In other city school news – if you are interested in the system’s ESP program, you can sign your child up on August 1 at your child’s school.
Residents in Franklin County could be facing a 24-cent property tax increase for the 2019-2020 fiscal budget if the county commission there approves the hike at a meeting next week.
Franklin County Mayor David Alexander said the hike is due to lack of funding for the Franklin County School System’s budget, saying that a 24-cent increase in taxes this year will not solve the issue, adding that the county will need to hike taxes another 16 cents next fiscal year to cover the school’s shortfall, according to the Herald-Chronicle.
He also added that an annual 8-cent per year tax hike would be coming. On average, a 24-cent hike would mean about $5 per month in additional monthly mortgage for a homeowner owning a home valued at $100,000. If the increase is rejected by the commission, the school system would then need to revise its proposed budget.
Eleven cents of the proposed hike is to cover bonds issued to build two new middle schools in the county, while 5 cents is to hire 14 new correctional officers and 3 cents to fund a two million dollar bond issued for expansion of the new Franklin County jail. Two cents is et aside to fund a 2 percent raise for county employees with the highway department and solid waste management and 1 cent is for increased gas and utility expenses, according to the Herald Chronicle. An additional 2 cents is to cover a fund balance shortfall. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Monday, July 29 at the Courthouse
The Franklin County Fair Board in Franklin County, Tenn. has announced that it is cancelling the 2019 Franklin County Fair, citing rising insurance costs, lack of carnival ride variety and limited participation from vendors and the fair board.
The fair was scheduled for October. Dont worry, though, the Coffee County Fair is still going strong and is set for September 14th through 21st.
Two Grundy County deputies have been indicted on federal civil rights offenses. According to the Grundy County Herald, Chief Deputy Anthony Tony Bean, age 59 and sergeant Anthony TJ Bean, 29, were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Chattanooga for use of excessive force.
According to the indictment, both are indicted with one count of deprivation of rights for an incident involving an arrestee identified as Freddie Meeks. The indictment says that both Tony Bean and TJ Bean used unreasonable force and assaulted and injured the arrestee in December of 2017. Tony Bean is also charged with one count of deprivation of rights for an incident involving arrestee Calving Green when he served as Chief of Police with Tracy City. The indictment states that Tony Bean used unreasonable force when he assaulted and injured Green in August of 2014. Each of the costs carries a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment.
If you see or hear military helicopters around the area of Arnold Air Force Base on the evening of Wednesday, July 24, there is no need to be alarmed.
“As we have done in the past, there will be a US Army aviation exercise on the base this evening,” stated Jason Austin, Chief of AEDC Public Affairs.
The training will include US Army helicopters and will take place “in the evening, after dark,” according to Austin.
It is a one day training exercise.
