Category: News

In a follow-up to the officer involved shooting that took place on Friday evening, December 28, at approximately 10:40 pm. We now know that Mark Luttrell, Jr., 34 years of age, from Tullahoma was the wanted man police went inside Walmart looking for who had outstanding warrants in Coffee and Franklin counties. The Coffee County warrants consisted of Failure to Appear on charges of Manufacturing/Sale/Delivery of a controlled substance; Evading Arrest; and Child Support. The Franklin County warrants included Reckless Endangerment; Driving on a Revoked License; Simple Possession of a controlled substance; and Evading Arrest.
According to police, as officers confronted Luttrell, he pulled a pistol from his waistband and pointed the firearm at the officers. A Tullahoma Police Department officer fired his service weapon in response to the immediate threat striking Luttrell. He died at the scene.
According a Tullahoma Police Department press release, the involved officer has been a certified law enforcement officer for several years and has been an officer of the Tullahoma Police Department since June 2018. The officer previously served as a deputy with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office.
In addition to the TBI investigation, this incident will be reviewed internally by the Tullahoma Police Department. This review process will be done by a panel of experienced officers.
In a statement from Tullahoma Police, “the safety of the public and the officer is paramount in all that the Tullahoma Police Department does.” “To be clear, all of the preliminary indications are that the officers involved acted appropriately and with this safety directive in mind during the incident in question.” The statement went onto say, “however, should the TBI investigation or the internal review determine otherwise, the Tullahoma Police Department will take appropriate measures to ensure that its mission to protect and serve this community is accomplished in a professional and competent manner.” The officers involved in this incident have been placed on administrative leave with pay.
Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott said that Luttrell’s body was sent to the Tennessee Medical Examiner’s Office in Nashville for an autopsy. The preliminary report indicates that Luttrell was shot a minimum of 3 times. It will be several months before that report is completely done.

Starting today (Jan. 1, 2019) hospitals nationwide will have to list prices for standard services as part of a new federal rule.
The federal rule was put in place by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make hospitals more transparent and help give patients more information when deciding on important healthcare decisions.
It’s being called the Prospective Payment System rule.
The new requirement will require hospitals to list prices for procedures on their websites.

The statistics are grim – only one or two out of every 10 people who make New Year’s resolutions will achieve them, and the rest are likely to fizzle by February.
Experts say the biggest hurdles are related to setting unrealistic goals – trying to change too much, too fast.
Psychotherapist Gail Rogers recommends small changes, such as meditation, or deciding on specific ways to enjoy family and lower overall stress.
Rogers says it’s important to set realistic expectations and make a daily choice to meet your new goals.
“And the choice is, ‘How am I going to live my life?’” she stresses. “Well, I choose to live my life fully, with joy, looking forward to the next day, looking forward to being in this day. Or I could choose just to feel miserable and give up – but it’s choice.”
Joint research from Cornell University and the University of Chicago also found that in making resolutions, including weight loss and job promotions, most people are motivated either by immediate or short-term rewards.
So Rogers says it’s important to celebrate each positive step along the path to meeting your goal.
Eating better, exercising more, spending less money and making self-care a bigger priority all rank highly in recent polling about 2019 resolutions from You.gov.
But Rogers says resolutions also are good for people seeking to be more intentional about their lifestyle.
“Being more mindful of how I am living – I’m not just on automatic pilot,” she explains. “I am in the present moment, because that’s where everything is.”
Rogers says another key to keeping resolutions is to trust yourself.
Multiple studies show it takes at least three weeks for most folks to incorporate a new routine into their lives, and about two months to truly break an old habit.

Friday night at approximately 11pm an officer-involved shooting occurred inside the Walmart store on North Jackson Street in Tullahoma.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Tullahoma Police Department are investigating the shooting.
According to District Attorney Craig Northcott, a Tullahoma police officer, who is unnamed at this time, went inside Walmart to serve a warrant on a man that was thought to be inside the store. After receiving that tip, Tullahoma officers located 34 year-old Mark Wade Luttrell, Jr. and approached him. At some point during the confrontation, Luttrell allegedly pulled a gun on officers. One of the Tullahoma officers fired at Luttrell, striking him. He was pronounced dead the scene.
Walmart has released the following statement regarding the incident:
“We are grateful none of our customers or associates were injured or involved in this isolated incident. During this ongoing investigation, we will continue to work with the Tullahoma Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and refer any additional questions to them.”
A representative with Walmart added that the company will share the surveillance video with law enforcement.
The TBI does not identify officers involved in these types of incidents.

Rain and strong winds powered through Coffee County and the surrounding area Thursday and Friday. Some trees were uprooted from the ground after being saturated from the rain, and strong winds helped to push over trees onto roadways and power lines. Some roadways were blocked by the fallen trees, and electricity was knocked out in some areas.
Duck River Electric Membership Corporation linemen were out in full force to get electric power restored as soon as possible. Michael Millraney, District Manager for the Manchester office, said that workers began Thursday restoring power lines and electricity and worked through the night and all day Friday.

Area police departments also reported flash flooding in some low-lying areas, including the vicinity around Skinner Flat Road. Mostly everything was reported as being back to normal by Friday evening.

With the federal government going through a partial shutdown, what does that mean for the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC)?
The John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 was signed by President Donald Trump in August which means that the Department of Defense is fully funded. Even though shutdowns have affected AEDC in the past, this particular one will not disrupt the base’s operation.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is now accepting entries for its 2019-20 photo contest for publication in Tennessee Wildlife’s annual calendar issue. All interested photographers are invited to submit up to 10 of their best photos on fishing, hunting, boating, and wildlife species native to Tennessee.
The photos will be reviewed for publication in the annual calendar edition of Tennessee Wildlife, which is the summer issue. If a photo is selected for the calendar edition, the photographer will receive $60.
Photographers must submit their photo entries by the March 20, 2019 deadline. Photos must be horizontal (landscape), in JPEG format, and submitted on a CD. They must be sized to print no smaller that 8-1/2×11 and resolution should be at least 300 pixels/inch.
Photographers must be sure to provide their name, address, phone number, and e-mail address with their disk. Disks cannot be returned.
Entries may be mailed to:
Tennessee Wildlife
Calendar Issue
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
Tennessee Wildlife is the official magazine for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Subscription rates are $10 for a year, $17 for two years and $25 for three years.

Manchester Police reported late Thursday morning that a tree had fallen onto Hwy 41 south. Apparently strong winds pushed the tree over. The large tree was located at the top of the ramp at exit 114 westbound. With the tree on the roadway and on top of the power line and traffic light, travel became a problem on Hwy 41 from the Quality Inn going all the way back to nearly Al White Motors and back toward Hillsboro in the opposite direction. Police were only able to allow one lane open in each direction until the tree was removed and traffic started to flow normally.