Category: News

Coffee County Sheriff’s Department investigators are seeking information on a 1997 to 2003 white SUV.
This is a change in the type of vehicle that we first reported as being in the area.
The vehicle is believed to be involved in a burglary of Riley Creek Storage on Saturday August 8. If anyone has information regarding this burglary, please contact Investigator James Sherrill at 931-570-4404 or 931-728-3591.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Tourist Development Commissioner Kevin Triplett announced this week that Tennessee tourism’s direct domestic and international travel expenditures reached a new all-time record high of $20.7 billion in 2017, up 6.3 percent over the previous year, as reported by the U.S. Travel Association. The announcement was made at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.
Tourism brought in $95 million to Coffee County in 2017. Of course, a large portion of that money came from people visiting the county for Bonnaroo in June.
For the 12th consecutive year, tourism topped $1 billion in state and local sales tax revenue, reaching $1.8 billion. That marks a 7.6 percent increase over 2016, higher than the national growth of travel related
state tax revenues of 4.6 percent. Tourism also generated 184,300 jobs for Tennesseans, a 3.1 percent growth year over year.
All 95 counties enjoyed an increase in tourism expenditures. Each county saw more than $1 million in direct travel expenditures in the economic impact of tourism. Five counties exceeded one billion in travel expenditures, including Davidson ($6.505 billion), Shelby ($3.503 billion), Sevier ($2.276 billion), Hamilton ($1.112 billion), and Knox ($1.097 billion).

On Friday, August 24th, deputies recovered gardening items that had been taken in a recent burglary at Palmer Elementary School in Grundy County.
Warrants have been issued for Nicholas Callahan from Gifford Lane in Palmer. Callahan is 27 years old, 6’1″, 170 lbs. If you know of his whereabouts, please contact investigators with the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office at 931-692-3466 ext. 5 or send them a message on Facebook.

The Tennessee Valley Authority says it’ll build a $300 million system operations center in the state as part of upgrades to its power grid but some residents have complained the federal utility hasn’t been transparent.
Aaron Melda is TVA vice president of transmission operations and power supply. He tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press the facility near Georgetown will be operational in 2023 and replace TVA’s power control center in Chattanooga.
TVA hadn’t disclosed the relocation before Tuesday. But Melda says it’s become preferable to move operations from urban areas to remote, secured sites to help prevent cyberattacks on the grid. TVA officials declined to detail all their facilities’ security measures.
Georgetown landowner and preservationist Greg Vital says TVA should’ve tried to get residents’ support before building in the area.

The American Legion Riders Gold Star Post 78 in Manchester donated school supplies to Coffee County Schools Family Resource Center to benefit students in need. “We are grateful to the American Legion Riders and their generous donation ensuring our students have the necessary materials to be successful in the classroom,” said Taylor Rayfield, Coordinator of Coffee County Schools Family Resource Center.
The American Legion Riders mission is to support veterans and children.

A large Tennessee hospital system is suing the state’s Medicaid program, TennCare, claiming it’s purposefully siphoning money from hospitals that treat the neediest patients in order to favor insurance companies that often employ former TennCare employees.
In a Davidson County Chancery Court lawsuit filed last week, Erlanger Health System in Chattanooga claims the state is ignoring a state law that requires for-profit managed care organizations contracted by TennCare to pay out-of-network hospitals that provide emergency services to Medicaid enrollees the average in-network contract rate, instead of the lowest in-network rates.
The lawsuit says those rates created a windfall for managed care organizations on the backs of out-of-network hospitals like Erlanger that must provide emergency care to Tennessee’s neediest citizens.
TennCare spokeswoman Sarah Tanksley said TennCare can’t comment on ongoing litigation.

Some recently elected and re-elected Coffee County officials were sworn in at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza on Tuesday morning. The oath of office for any elected or appointed county official may be administered by the county mayor, the county clerk, a judge of any court of record in the county, or the current or a retired judge of the general sessions court.
Mayor Gary Cordell had this to say about the leadership in Coffee County.
Those sworn in on Tuesday by Coffee County Court Clerk, Teresa McFadden were Coffee County Mayor Gary Cordell, Coffee County Highway Commissioner Jeff Bush, Judge Craig Johnson swore in Chief Deputy Coffee County Clerk Connie Rogers and Register of Deeds Dona Toney. McFadden swore in Constables: Carl Wilson, Kenneth Spry, Brian Coate and James Sander, Jr, Coffee County Road Superintendent Benton Bartlett and Coffee County Trustee John Marchesoni.
The newly-elected County Commissioners will be sworn in on Tuesday, September 11th at 6PM, just before the next full County Commission meeting.

Mancie James Zawacki age 52 of East Carroll St, Tullahoma was arrested by Manchester Officer Ben Sneed over the weekend after the man was stopped for a traffic violation.
Sneed says that the man showed signs of intoxication including blood shot eyes, unsteadiness on his feet and slurred speech. The officer administered three field sobriety tests with Zawacki allegedly doing poorly on all three.
Sneed asked Zawacki if had consumed narcotics or intoxicants and the man admitted to taking Xanax earlier that day.
Upon his arrest, Zawacki allegedly gave the wrong name to Officer Sneed, giving the name of his brother.
Zawacki was charged with DUI 4th offense, habitual motor vehicle offender, violation of implied consent and criminal impersonation. His bond was set at $24,000 and his court date Sept. 4, 2018.

Fewer people have died on Tennessee roadways this year than last year, Tennessee Highway Patrol reports.
From January to August, 34 fewer people have died in car crashes in 2018 than 2017.
Fatal crashes were down across the board except in crashes involving large trucks, buses, motorcycles, and ATVs.
Tennessee Highway Patrol says the reduction in fatal crashes can be contributed to increased traffic enforcement campaigns, such as “Booze it or Lose it” and “Click it or ticket.”
About one in three traffic deaths in the US involves a drunk driver. THP frequently conducts sobriety checkpoints to catch impaired drivers.
Research proves that seat-belts save lives. To drive home the point early, THP troopers traveled county to county showing children the importance of wearing seat-belts properly.
THP says their mission is to get drivers to think BEFORE they get behind the wheel.