Category: News

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department reports that sometime during the month of March someone had approximately $4,000 in golf clubs stolen out of a vehicle at Willowbrook Golf Course. Any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible, will receive a reward of $500 dollars.
The subject is believed to be well educated on golfing or may have even worked at a golf course before. The responsible person might possibly live in one of the surrounding counties. The subject is a white male with a slender build.
If you have any information, please contact Investigator Brandon Reed with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department at 931-570-4191. Any information will be kept confidential.

The unemployment rate for each of Tennessee’s counties improved in February according to new information released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD).
Eighty of Tennessee’s 95 counties have an unemployment rate less than 5 percent, a marked improvement from January’s jobless numbers.
Williamson County leads the state with the lowest unemployment in February. The county’s 2.2 percent rate is 0.2 of a percentage point lower than the previous month. With a rate of 5.9 percent, Lake County has the state’s highest rate of unemployment for February.
Coffee County tied its lowest ever unemployment rate at 2.9 percent. The January rate was 3.3 percent. There are currently 770 people unemployed in the county.
Bedford County dropped from 3.7 to 3.3 percent. Grundy County fell from 4.2 to 3.9. Franklin County’s unemployment rate for February tied Coffee County at 2.9 percent, falling from 3.2. Moore County dropped from 3 percent to 2.4. Cannon went from 3 percent to 2,7 and Warren County’s unemployment rate dropped from 4.1 to 3.8.

A man accused in the shooting death of another man in 2017 has been sentenced in Warren County Circuit Court. 29 year-old Michael Cody Mills was sentenced to 23 years in prison for the murder of 43 year-old Bobby Ashburn. Mills had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this year.
Authorities said Mills was under the influence of meth at the time of the murder. Ashburn had reportedly arrived at a home on Cherry Springs Road to bring food to his daughter when Mills shot him four times with a handgun. Mills then fled the scene but was captured a short time later by sheriff’s deputies in a nursery field.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating an allegation of sexual misconduct against a Grundy County corrections officer.
Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum confirms the name of the officer is Mark Nunley.
“At the request of 12th District Attorney General Michael Taylor, TBI Agents are investigating an allegation of official misconduct against an employee of the Grundy County Sheriff’s Department,” a TBI spokesperson said.
DA Taylor said his office received an allegation that a male corrections officer was having sexual relations with female inmates.
Taylor added that he called the TBI to investigate because Grundy County does not have an internal affairs department.
Sheriff Shrum says his office is working thoroughly with the TBI and District Attorney’s Office to investigate the allegations made against Nunley.
Shrum says Nunley was fired from his job with the sheriff’s office on Wednesday “for reasons indirectly related to this incident.”
Sheriff Shrum said, “This administration will not tolerate this type of conduct. The security of our female inmates is a priority and we have taken steps to ensure that. While this accusation is very disturbing, it does not define every employee of the Sheriff’s Office. Shrum added that his office will continue to work with both the TBI and District Attorney’s Office to find answers.

State Sen. Janice Bowling and State Rep. Rush Bricken both of Tullahoma were in McMinnville on Friday for the annual Legislative Breakfast, hosted by the McMinnville-Warren County Chamber of Commerce.
During the event, Sen. Bowling explained why she is pushing a bill to legalize medical cannabis. Bowling said after researching the issue, she believes it is very much needed for people who suffer from various conditions. She said medical cannabis has proven to be effective in relieving pain and healing. Her bill is still being considered in the Senate.
On another topic, both lawmakers said they believe the proposed school savings account bill, being pushed by the governor, deserves a chance. The bill would provide funding for students in failing schools to enable them to enroll in a private school.

According to court records provided by a Thunder Radio listener, Mark D. Allen, who was the owner of Volunteer Medical Clinic on Willow Drive in Manchester, was recently found guilty for unprofessional conduct.
According to court records, on Aug. 13, 2018, Allen provided a female patient with injections. The State of Tennessee was said to have evidence that Allen agreed to prescribe the woman a controlled substance. The court records go on to say that after administering the medication, Allen proceeded to perform a sex act on the female patient.
Allen had to relinquish his nursing license to the Tennessee Board of Nursing. He was listed as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse.

A Nashville mother of two young girls is weighing in on an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to weaken rules that regulate mercury and other toxic air emissions from coal-fired power plants.
The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards were put into place in 2012, but the EPA now says it’s too expensive for energy companies to comply with them.
Zozan Noman traveled to Washington with a group of moms from across the country to testify at the agency’s only public hearing on reversing the rules.
She’s concerned about the health effects of mercury pollution on women who are pregnant or are trying to conceive.
“Within the last 10 months, I have had two miscarriages and cannot figure out why,”
Noman states. “As a mother and a wife who would love to conceive again, I would have to say that the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are extremely important to me, as well as life-saving for adults.”
Mercury from power plants pollutes the air and seeps into rivers and streams, where it ends up in marine life.
Pregnant women in particular face serious risks consuming fish, as studies have shown exposure to mercury in the womb can harm a developing brain and nervous system.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation recently warned of elevated mercury levels in fish in East Fork Stones River in Rutherford County.
Until the MATS rule, there was no unified set of federal laws designed to cap emissions from power plants.
The EPA itself previously estimated the standards would reduce mercury emissions from the plants by 90 percent, while also shrinking emissions of arsenic and other pollutants.
Noman says she’s witnessed firsthand the consequences of poor air quality on children, including a nephew who has asthma.
“Probably the most devastating thing for me to witness was a child gasping for breath,” she relates. “And it was difficult, of course, to get a toddler to use an asthma machine for more than five minutes.”
Previous polls have found that more than 70 percent of Americans support keeping the emissions standards in place.
The EPA is taking public comments about the proposal to end them online, until April 17.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is reminding hunters that the state’s 2019 spring turkey season opens in all 95 counties Saturday and runs through Sunday, May 12.
Some rules to follow – hunting hours for the spring gobblers are 30 minutes prior to legal sunrise until legal sunset, according to the TWRA, and bag limit is one bearded turkey per day, and up to four per season.
Licenses required – a state hunting and fishing combination, plus a supplemental big game license, or a sportsman license, is required.

One man appears to have gone on a shopping binge in Rutherford County, but Murfreesboro Police say the culprit was using someone else’s credit card.
Murfreesboro Police Public Information Officer Larry Flowers says that the suspect broke into a vehicle in Tullahoma and reportedly took a credit card.
The male suspect then took the stolen card into Best Buy in The Avenue in Murfreesboro where two computers were charged to the card. Then the man went to Target in the ‘Boro where the suspect charged six Smart Watches. The total amount of items charged on the stolen credit card out of Tullahoma was $5,782.
See a picture of the suspect at wmsrradio.com. If you can identify the man, please call Det. Ed Gorham at the Murfreesboro Police Department (615-893-2717).
You can remain anonymous and phone your tip to CrimeStoppers at 615-893-STOP (7867). No one, not even the police, know your identity and you could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000. (WGNS Radio)