Category: News

Animal cruelty has recently been reported as heavy on Monteagle Mountain. Now Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum has scheduled a Community Action Meeting that will focus on animal abuse and cruelty.
Saturday, February 16, the public is invited to join the sheriff at 10:30 am at the courthouse in Altamont to come up with an action plan.
Sheriff Shrum says that this issue is not one the sheriff’s office can tackle alone.
The sheriff said he is going to hand out a list of resources and contacts that he feels would be helpful in hopes that someone or a group in the community would work on this project.
Sheriff Shrum said he believes it is important that they also address that “animal abuse, not always, but many times animal abuse and cruelty can be an indicator of people abuse.”
He added that there are things that can be uncovered because of animal abuse.
“I think the other thing we need to understand is this, a lot of times animals are just dumped. They end up in people’s property. Those people can’t take care of them and they don’t have a resource.” Sheriff Shrum explained. “What we would like to do is get together a little network, and hopefully, come up with a few contacts so when we run into this, we can call these contacts and say hey this is what we’ve got and get some help.”
Sheriff Shrum said he wants the community to come out and share their ideas.
For more information, visit the Grundy County Sheriff’s office Facebook page.

An undercover beer buying operation conducted by Warren County authorities has resulted in clerks at seven businesses being summoned to court.
McMinnville Police and the Warren County Sheriff’s Department conducted the operation on December 17th and 18th. Officers utilized an underage operative, checking for compliance at all convenience markets in McMinnville and Warren County with regards to underage beer sales.
Authorities say the majority of markets refused to sell to the operative. However, sales were made at Super Gas, Mt. Leo Market, South Chancery Gulf, Crisp Springs Market, Owens Market, Morrison Market and Jewel’s Market.
Criminal summons were issued to the clerks in violation and cases will be held on March 5th in General Sessions Court.
Warren County Sheriff Tommy Myers and Police Chief Bryan Denton expressed their appreciation to those establishments who followed the law and provided appropriate training to their clerks.

Gov. Bill Lee says he supports banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
Lee told reporters Wednesday he supports any bill reducing the number of abortions in the state. He joins GOP leaders House Speaker Glen Casada and Senate Speaker Randy McNally in voicing support for the idea.
Lee said he would also look at the decision in Iowa recently, where a state judge struck down a heartbeat law.
Speaking generally, Lee said he would look at any piece of legislation to decide whether he favors it, and the courts would have to decide for themselves whether it’s constitutional or not.

On Friday, (February 1, 2019) the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) welcomed the next generation of correctional officers into our workforce during a graduation ceremony at the Tennessee Correction Academy in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The ceremony celebrated the hard work of 37 Correctional Officers who will be serving the citizens of Tennessee by working in prisons across the state.
During their weeks of training the class learned skills that will assist them in being effective correctional officers. Classes on leadership, effective listening and interviewing techniques, teamwork and defense skills were taught during the six-week academy.

The Eleventh Annual Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards ceremony will honor volunteers from 61 counties at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin on February 10, 2019. The awards will celebrate the efforts of 108 volunteers statewide who have strived to improve their communities through service. Miss Tennessee 2018, Christine Williamson, will present the awards, and NewsChannel5 weekend anchor, Jennifer Kraus, will serve as emcee for the event.
One youth and one adult volunteer were selected from participating counties to receive this prestigious award. Nominees were judged based on the community’s need of the volunteer service performed, initiative taken to perform the service, creativity used to solve a community problem and impact of the volunteer service on the community. The individual awards are sponsored by Tennessee 4-H.

Claude S. Morse – Coffee County Adult Honoree – Claude devotes endless hours to his community. He has been on the Arnold Community Council since 2000. He is the President and Chairman of the Board for Honor Flight of Middle Tennessee, which provides two flights a year for veterans to visit war memorials in Washington DC. This past year, he sponsored 65 people and, on the last flight alone, spent over 60 hours of volunteer work. Claude is a Committee Member for Wreaths Across America, a group that decorates hundreds of veteran graves at Christmas. He is the President of the local Arnold Air Force Association, which runs a scholarship program for military members and their dependents and provides grants to promote science and math education in schools. As a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10904 he helped coordinate the Toy Soldier Project to collect 58,479 toy soldiers, one for every veteran killed in the Vietnam War.

George M. Gannon – Coffee County Youth Honoree – George served as a state officer for SkillsUSA where his responsibilities included running the state conference, teaching workshops to rising leaders, and advocating to government representatives. During his time as State Officer, his community service hours contributed to his team receiving the Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award. George also currently serves in the Coffee County Student Government Association as Student Body President. As Student Body President, He secured a partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank to ensure the Thanksgiving Food Basket Program would be able to provide for everyone who participated. He is involved with Project Graduation, helping foster kids buy Christmas presents for their families. He also started a Christmas food basket program with his dad.

Each year, 1.6 million Tennessee volunteers give more than 137 million hours of service, contributing the equivalent of $3.3 billion to Tennessee’s economy.

The Moore County Sheriff’s Department is looking for information concerning a stolen truck.
Wednesday at approximately 5:00 pm an individual arrived at the Jiffy Mart on Highway 55. The individual, a passenger in a white Dodge extended cab pickup, got out and went into the store, and returned to the vehicle that was parked at the fuel pumps. After waiting a bit, this individual got out of the Dodge, and entered into a 1998 Maroon Toyota Tacoma extended cab, Tag # U7834V, that was left unattended. The two vehicles fled from the scene and went toward Bedford County on State Route 82.

If you have information, or have seen the suspect vehicle, please contact Moore County Captain Shane Taylor or the Criminal Investigation Division- 931-759-7323. Any information shared will be kept anonymous.

A Tennessee agency is asking for tens of millions of dollars more in the upcoming state budget to address growing foster care needs amid the opioid epidemic.
Department of Children’s Services Commissioner Jennifer Nichols said at a budget hearing Monday that since 2016, Tennessee has seen a 10.3 percent increase in the number of children in foster care. She said the jump is due largely to the scourge of opioid abuse.
The department is requesting $78 million in budget increases through state and federal money, including $64 million more for foster children case management and treatment services.
New Gov. Bill Lee told reporters that the state will invest in addressing the opioid crisis, saying he is weighing a number of ideas. He said there’s opportunity for state departments to collaborate.

Back in Oct. 2017 David Edward Steele, 33, of Tullahoma was found hanging from a tree after being reported as missing.
WMSR News reported that Steele of Tullahoma was missing on Oct. 3, 2017. A few days later we reported that his body was found in Franklin County.
45-year-old Miguel Sanders was captured in Putnam County late last week. This is the seventh suspect wanted in the slaying and hanging of Steele.
Sanders along with Bruce Edwards Dorsett Jr., Voltaire Xavier Hickerson, Michael Andrew Taylor, Shawna Haney, Jamie Wilson and Bryan Dudley have all been charged in this case.
The next court date slated in this case is Feb. 27.

Around 6 p.m. on January 20th, Tullahoma Fire Department, the Hickerson Station Volunteer Fire Department and Coffee County Sheriff’s Department deputies were dispatched to the Barton Springs Campground, on Frank Hiles Road, near Normandy lake. When firefighters arrived on the scene, the camper-trailer was fully engulfed in flames. The camper-trailer was a total loss.
Firefighters later discovered a body and the remains of a small dog. The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department sent the body to the state medical examiner’s office in Nashville for an autopsy where he was identified as 84 year-old Lawrence Dickerson.
Dickerson lived in the camper with his daughter who was not at home when the fire started. Dickerson was handicapped which may have attributed to him being unable to escape the blaze.
The fire is still under investigation.