Category: News

Molly Poppins pled guilty to drug charges on Wednesday in federal court. Graham Mitchell Clark, aka Molly Poppins known to distribute drugs at music festivals, including Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN,
pleaded guilty to charges of possession with the intent to distribute MDMA and LSD at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2017.
Clark faces a federal prison term of up to 40 years and at least four years of supervision after his release. Sentencing is set for Nov. 30 in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga.
According to court documents, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents conducted an undercover drug buy from Clark at the 2017 Bonnaroo. After Clark’s arrest, officers found around a half-pound of MDMA and over five gross grams of LSD in his car.

A Manchester man was injured when the car he was driving on Oakdale St. in Manchester went off the roadway. The vehicle went off the roadway near WMSR. According to witnesses, they say the car went off one side of the street, crossing over the road, hit a culvert, then flipping before coming to rest on its top in Thunder Radio’s yard.
The accident occurred around 5pm Saturday and injured Samuel Watters. He was taken by Coffee County EMS to Unity Medical Center and then airlifted to Nashville.
Manchester Police and Manchester Fire & Rescue also responded to the scene.

A weekend crash claimed the life of a Warren County woman. It happened on Highway 108 near the Mt. Zion community. According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, 46 year old Maria Lopez was driving northbound in a Toyota Matrix when, for unknown reasons, the car crossed the center line and hit a concrete culvert in a creek bed before bursting into flames. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash happened Saturday afternoon at around 4:30.

Tennesseans took home a little more money in their paycheck last year according to the latest data released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD).
The median wage earned for all Tennessee occupations increased by 3.16 percent between May 2016 and May 2017 to $33,870.
“It’s always a positive to see wages increase, by amount,” said TDLWD Commissioner Burns Phillips. “The state’s economy is thriving and more money is a person’s paycheck is going to help that continue.”
The largest occupational groups in the state were office and administrative, sales and related, food preparation and serving, transportation and material moving, healthcare practitioners and healthcare support, and production occupations.

The Coffee County Election Commission will meet on Monday, September 10, 2018 at 4:00 PM in the Election Commission office, Administrative Plaza, 1329 McArthur Street, Suite 6 in Manchester.
The purpose of the meeting will be to open resumes received concerning the Administrator of Election position.
Also, there will be a meeting on September 12, 2018 to lock and seal ballot boxes, tentatively approve poll workers and set times for early voting for the November 6, 2018 elections. Any outstanding resumes will also be opened.
For more information contact: Vernita Davis, Administrator Coffee County Election Commission at 931-723-5103.

At approximately 12:45pm, Thursday, August 30th, Investigators and officers of the Tullahoma Police Department took a seventeen (17) year old male into custody after investigating threatening social media posts. The department, in conjunction with the Tullahoma City Schools began investigating social media posts which were being passed by students and parents. Although the initial post did not make any reference to the school or any student, the Department began efforts to identify those involved and ensure the safety of the students, school and the community.
The Department would like to thank the Tullahoma City Schools for their assistance and providing valuable information leading to this resolution. The Department also wants to thank the many students and parents that provided information. At this time the juvenile has been charged with possession of a firearm with an altered serial number and will be appearing in the juvenile court in Coffee County. As a result of the investigation, Tullahoma Police does not believe there are any other people involved, and the charging of the juvenile has brought this issue to a safe resolution.
Tullahoma City Schools officials stated that there was never a weapon on any school property.

It’s back to school for people of all ages in the Volunteer State, as a record number of adults head to college through the state’s Tennessee Reconnect program.
The grants are available to residents age 25 and older to earn an associate’s degree or technical certificate. The program has seen more than 31,000 applications – almost double what was expected.
Mike Krause, executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, said the interest level is indicative of the need.
“We think that that is happening even as our economy is strong, because we’ve made an unprecedented offer to these adult students, that they can attend community or technical college tuition free,” he said, “and that opportunity is one that’s nowhere else in the nation.”
Krause cited the program as one reason community-college enrollment is on the rise in Tennessee, when it has been on the decline in other parts of the country. The low unemployment rate means more people are working, and federal funding cutbacks to higher education also have had an impact.
Krause said 48 percent of the people applying for Tennessee Reconnect make less than $25,000 a year, which means they might be living below the poverty line, depending on the number of people in their household. He added that, in the long term, the program will shape the state’s workforce as well as the students’ futures.
“Something important is going on in Tennessee right now that is not going on anywhere else in the nation,” he said. “The opportunity here is for a higher-education credential to transform these Tennesseans’ ability to earn a living income.”
Krause said about two out of three enrollees are women, many looking to support their family and be a role model for their children. He said they’ve heard several anecdotal stories about parents and kids starting college together this semester.
Tennessee Reconnect info is online at tnreconnect.gov, and information on the community-college enrollment trend is at insidehighered.com.

The Tennessee Department of Health urges Tennesseans to take preventive steps to avoid mosquito-borne diseases. TDH has seen a recent increase in West Nile virus in mosquito testing in addition to human cases. Sadly, this includes two recent West Nile Virus deaths in Shelby County. In addition to West Nile virus, Tennessee has seen six cases of La Crosse encephalitis in children so far this year.
TDH encourages everyone to follow these precautions to avoid mosquito bites: Use insect repellants such as DEET on your skin, following all label recommendations for use. Wear long, loose and light clothing to help prevent bites through fabric. It’s best to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Reduce mosquito populations around your home. Mosquitoes can breed in any place that holds water, including clogged drains or gutters, watering cans and empty bottles.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation will halt all lane closure activity on interstates and state highways for the Labor Day holiday travel period. Construction crews will stop all lane closure activity beginning at noon on Friday through 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 4. This will provide maximum roadway capacity for motorists traveling during the busy Labor Day holiday.
While lane closure activity will be stopped, workers will still be on site in many construction zones, and drivers are urged to obey posted speed limits. Drivers convicted of speeding in work zones where workers are present face a fine of $250 to $500, plus court fees and possible increased insurance premiums.
In 2016, the Tennessee Department of Transportation lost three workers in the line of duty. All three were struck by passing motorists. Those tragedies bring the total number of TDOT lives lost to 112.