Category: News

Duck River Electric Membership Corporation (DREMC) has announced their receipt of a grant award totaling over $2.14 million dollars from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for DREMC’s east fiber loop and smart grid fiber communication project. The project will deploy smart grid improvements that in turn can be used to form the backbone of a gigabit-speed fiber broadband network.
“This project will help enable their Internet service provider (ISP) partners to provide affordable broadband access to 1,202 businesses and 2,876 households in Franklin, Coffee and Marion Counites, three DREMC- served counties that are also in the ARC footprint,” reported DREMC Key Accounts Coordinator Teresa Sampson. “While DREMC does not have plans currently to become an ISP, we do want to be part of the solution in helping get high-speed broadband access to our service area.”
DREMC received the largest POWER grant for the current funding cycle of 33 awards in 9 states supporting projects ranging from recovery-to-work programs, broadband development and workforce training.

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department would like to reach out to the public to make people aware of the increase in utility trailer thefts over the past few months. Investigators have been working diligently to solve these crimes. The sheriff’s department would like to ask that you pay attention to your surroundings, write down tag numbers of suspicious vehicles, lock up your trailers, write serial numbers of your trailer, take pictures, engrave initials or some unique marking so that your trailer is identifiable, and if possible, add security cameras to your property.
If you have any information in regard to any criminal activity, please feel free to notify the Sheriff’s Department at 931-728-3591.

As National Disability Awareness Month begins this week, some Tennessee groups want lawmakers to focus less on proclamations and more on transparency as an independent review of the state’s Disability Determination Services moves forward.
An investigation of more than five years of data revealed that some doctors who speed applications through the process are making big paychecks. As current and former personnel speak up about what they call a “cash-register” system, advocates for people with disabilities are expressing concern for those whose claims have been denied.
Brandon Brown, executive director of Empower Tennessee, one of six Centers for Independent Living across the state, contended that the “pay-by-case” model isn’t working.
“At the end of the day, you’re dealing with people’s lives and livelihood,” he said. “There seems to be a system in which profit is gained from the health or lack of health of other people.”
Tennessee doctors denied 72 percent of all disability claims in 2017. The Tennessee Department of Human Services, which oversees the disability program, released a statement that said, “We have no reason to believe that doctors that average faster reviews are more prone to have errors in their reviews.”
The investigation found seven high-volume doctors who each billed for more than $1 million between 2013 and 2018. It found that more than half of all contract physicians in Tennessee outpaced the federal standard of one-and-a-half cases per hour.
Brown, whose organization is part of the Disability Coalition of Tennessee, said the system is broken.
“Certainly [we] want to make sure the people who are eligible for those services and need those services receive those services, and we also want to make sure that those who are not, do not,” he said. “Seeing that there is a per-case rate doesn’t seem like it is set up for the well-being of the people who are applying.”
Whistleblowers in the initial investigation included Dr. John Mather, a former medical consultant for the Social Security Administration. Mather said he was terminated in 2017 after he questioned why some doctors were reviewing a high volume of cases.

Members of the Eastern Star Manchester Chapter 339 recently donated hygiene items to Coffee County Schools Family Resource Center.
“We are grateful for the support and generosity from our local Eastern Star Chapter. We appreciate our community always going above and beyond to take care of our students and families in need right here at home,” said Taylor Rayfield, Coordinator of Family Resource for Coffee County Schools.
Coffee County Schools Family Resource Center exists to address the problems with the home and community environments which impede or create barriers to a child’s ability to learn and grow successfully. Coffee County Schools Family Resource Center provides educational support, resources, and programs that strive to engage and empower families. For more information on how you can get involve or contribute to program’s aiding students and families in need, contact Taylor Rayfield at (931) 222-1066 or rayfieldt@k12coffee.net.

According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, on Friday night at approximately 10:30pm, a vehicle driven by Joseph Collins, age 33, of Manchester, TN, was traveling west bound in the east bound lane on Interstate 24. Collins struck a semi-truck head-on. The 18-wheeler was being driven by Valeri Antov, age 60, from Illinois.

Collins was charged with DUI, open container law, schedule 2 & 6 drug violations, seat belt violation, due care, registration violation and driving on wrong side of road.
Collins was transported from the scene to a hospital for treatment of serious injuries.

Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn has announced eight school districts selected to receive grants as part of Tennessee’s ‘State of the Arts’ music grants in partnership with the Country Music Association (CMA) Foundation. One of those counties is Coffee County. This new, competitive grant opportunity is focused on expanding students’ access to high-quality music and arts education statewide and was made possible by a $1 million investment from the CMA Foundation.
The newly created ‘State of the Arts’ music grant program will fund initiatives and strategies that will
expand students’ access to high-quality music education. Types of strategies include; professional development for music teachers; additional music supplies, materials, and equipment to address
equity challenges; or expansion of local music education outreach programs.
The Coffee County School System will receive $124,000 for elementary general music curriculum, instruments and equipment, Pre-K curriculum, classroom and instructional equipment for middle and high school programs, development of high school choral program, teacher professional development and support.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett has announced the introduction of the Tennessee Safe at Home Address Confidentiality Program. Tennessee now joins the more than 35 other states offering similar domestic violence safety programs.
Safe at Home launched March 1 and aims to protect Tennessee victims of domestic violence, rape, human trafficking, stalking and other related crimes from their abusers by keeping their address concealed from public records. According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, 18 of the 84 domestic violence-related murder victims in Tennessee in 2017 were repeat victims or had reported domestic abuse prior to their deaths.
Under current Tennessee law, most state or local government records are considered public and available for public review.
Legislation passed in 2018 created the Safe at Home program and allows for participants of the program to be concealed from public records in order to shield survivors and victims from the ongoing threat of domestic violence.
Participants in the program will be provided a government-managed substitute address to be used as their official mailing address on all government documents. The address may be used for both victims and their children. Safe at Home forwards the mail received to program participants and keeps their personal address confidential.
There is no cost to participate in the program, but participants must complete an application with the assistance of a certified application assistant.

Motlow State Community College has joined forces with CMT and the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) College System of Tennessee as one of four community colleges selected to be a part of CMT’s Empowering Education initiative. The project features a multi-city concert tour encouraging rural Tennesseans to pursue higher education.
Country music artist Courtney Cole will be the featured performer at the Motlow State free concert on April 9, inside Powers Auditorium on the Moore County campus, with activities beginning at 5:30 p.m. To reserve a ticket visit Motlow’s website at mscc.edu and click the Courtney Cole banner.
The partnership was announced last fall at the TBR Presidents’ Meeting in Nashville and aims to encourage more Tennesseans to attend college – whether to earn an academic degree or a technical or occupational degree or certificate – paving their way to successful careers that will benefit themselves and their families. CMT’s Empowering Education initiative offers four community colleges across the state the opportunity to receive additional support at a local level, including a free concert at each stop featuring one of CMT’s “Next Women of Country,” Courtney Cole.
She has opened for the biggest names in country music like Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney and Thomas Rhett, and was named an artist to watch by Spotify and the Huffington Post.

Officials at Arista Aviation have identified the pilots injured in a helicopter crash near the Tullahoma Airport on Thursday afternoon. The pilots identified as 70-year old Jack Cook of Ozark, Alabama and 69-year old Larry Cornell of New Brockton, Alabama, were treated at Vanderbilt University hospital.
Both pilots are said to be highly experienced, retired Army Aviators, who have flown the Blackhawk for over 35 years. Cook and Cornell joined Arista in 2015.
The official cause of the crash has not been determined and Arista is continuing to cooperate with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on their investigation. Arista’s President and CEO said, “Arista Aviation would like to thank all the first responders, whose quick action save the lives of our pilots, we will be forever grateful.”
Gilley Crane of Manchester pulled the Blackhawk from the woods.