Category: News

On Monday, (July 2nd, 2018) law enforcement officers responded to a pursuit that was headed into Coffee County from Marion County. Asben Keyonta Chapman age 18 of Nashville, TN was apparently the driver of the car that was traveling at a high rate of speed. Chapman refused to stop and was driving erratically. The man turned off Interstate 24 in Manchester at Exit 111 driving toward McMinnville crossing over the median then returning to I-24, exiting this time at Exit 114 where the man was spotted at Taco Bell in Manchester leaving one of his passengers, John Wesley Wade age 18 of Nashville at the restaurant. Chapman then drove onto Expressway Drive where officers again tried to stop the man and he returned to Interstate 24 westbound crossing the median where Chapman and passenger Christian Polk age 18 of Madison, TN abandoned the vehicle fleeing on foot.
According to warrants, the two men then allegedly attempted to carjack a vehicle on Expressway Drive. The victim was able to get away before crashing her vehicle with her child inside. After a foot-chase, Polk and Chapman were apprehended.
It was then discovered the vehicle was stolen out of Nashville. Also found in the car was a small amount of marijuana.
Tennessee Highway Patrolman Shawn Boyd charged Chapman with 2 counts of evading arrest, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, theft of property, criminal attempt and schedule VI drug violation. He was booked in at the Coffee County Jail under a bond of $78,000. Christian Polk was charged with evading arrest, criminal attempt, 2 counts of aggravated assault, theft of property, illegal weapon, and schedule VI drug violation. His bond was set at $98,000. John Wesley Wade was charged with evading arrest and schedule VI drug violation. His bond was set at $2,000. All three are set to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court on July 24, 2018.
Coffee County deputies and Manchester officers assisted in the apprehension of the three men.
No injuries were reported.

Three months after its former CEO was indicted for Medicare fraud, a giant pain management company with clinics in 12 states is shutting locations throughout Tennessee and beyond.
Comprehensive Pain Specialists has made no public statements saying why or when the closures are occurring, but Tennessean reporters have confirmed locations are already closed or closing soon.
Reporters called each of the company’s 60 clinics on Tuesday morning. Sixteen confirmed they were closing this month. At another 11, phone calls were forwarded to voicemail messages that state the clinics were already closed.
None of the 21 Tennessee clinics said they would remain open. Two clinic employees said the company was closing all clinics by the end of the month, but insisted they were not permitted to make statements about the closures.
Comprehensive Pain Management, also known as Anesthesia Services Associates, is headquartered in Middle Tennessee but runs 60 pain management clinics and employs about 250 medical professionals, according to federal court documents.

The Coffee County Election Commission will meet on Monday, July 9, 2018, at 4:00 PM in the Election Commission office in the Administrative Plaza at 1329 McArthur Street, Suite 6 in Manchester. The purpose of the meeting will be to certify Early Voting machines used during the August 2, 2018 elections and audit registration forms for this quarter.
Early voting starts July 13 – July 28 at the Coffee County Election Commission and at CD Stamps Center, Tullahoma.

Attention veterans: the Manchester Recreation Center wants to recognize all veterans individually for their service to our country at the Coffee County Fair on Wednesday morning, September 19. That’s senior citizen day at the fair.
Please call the Wellness Director, Cindy Weber, at 931 728-0273 from
9 am to 5 pm to give her your name and answer a few questions about your service.
Remember veterans this is for any branch of service and for any period of time.

On Friday (June 29, 2018) Manchester Police stopped a vehicle on Ramsey Street for a traffic violation. After speaking to the two people inside, the driver gave consent to search the vehicle. It was discovered that the passenger in the vehicle was holding a ziplock bag full of what was believed to be methamphetamine. The driver and passenger both denied it being their property.
The methamphetamine had an approximate weight of 60 grams. A set of digital scales was found in the passenger side door and the backseat area along with a white pill bottle that was found in the glove box that contained several small baggies that was believed by police to be used to distribute the methamphetamine. Also found inside the white pill bottle were several white pills believed to be prescription drugs.

The driver, Dustin Scott Spradling, age 33, and passenger Chelsea Lynette Nunley, age 30, both of Tullahoma were arrested and charged by Manchester Police Investigation Jonathan Anthony with manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance and possession of legend drugs without a prescription. Bond was set at $60,000 each. Court for Nunley is July 10 and July 17 for Spradling.

As the heat rises in the summer, so do instances of children dying by hyperthermia, or “heat stroke,” because they are left in a vehicle unattended. According to Lorrie Walker, a training manager and technical advisor for Safe Kids USA, that is the leading cause of non-traffic deaths for kids.
Walker says that it doesn’t have to be a scorcher of a day to be dangerous for kids, because the temperature in a car can go up much higher than it is outside – and it only continues to rise with time – and for kids, the effects are far worse than for adults.
“A child’s body temperature heats up three to five times faster than that of an adult. So, an adult might be able to sit in there and just be hot, but not be dangerously overheated, where a young child is in danger.”
Walker says that it is not safe to leave a child in a vehicle, even if a window is cracked.
Walker says kids are left in vehicles for a variety of reasons – sometimes adults think it will only be for a minute or two and become distracted; sometimes kids wander into unlocked cars themselves – but she says some adults think it’s safe to do.
“The car is not a babysitter, and it’s not a recreation area. There’s no good that can come from leaving a child alone in a car, for any amount of time, ever.”
She adds that leaving a child in a car is not always intentional: about 50 percent of the cases involve parents or caregivers who are super-busy, and simply become very distracted.
“They’re thinking about what they need to do next and they don’t even give the back seat a second thought. They pull up where they’re going, shut off the car, lock the door, and head off to the office or school or wherever it is they’re headed.”
Walker says some good ways to remind yourself are to leave your wallet, purse or cell – whatever needs to go with you that day – next to the child seat, or set an alarm on your cell phone or PDA to remind you to drop off the kids at day care or school.
When temperatures outside exceed 86 degrees F, the internal temperatures of the vehicle can quickly reach 134 to 154 degrees F. Heat stroke may occur when a body temperature passes 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This can overwhelm the brain’s temperature control, causing symptoms such as dizziness, disorientation, agitation, confusion, seizure, and/or death.
On average, 38 children die in hot cars each year from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside motor vehicles.
Think the heat is bad on us? How about your pet?
Each year, countless animals die because they are left in cars on warm, not just hot, days. Most people don’t realize how quickly the temperature in a car rises, making even a five-minute errand a dangerous situation for a pet left in a parked car. The temperature inside a car can rise as much as 19 degrees in 10 minutes.

 

A Tennessee law could save your child’s life in an emergency situation while they’re at school.
AEDs are now required inside every high school statewide. The law went into effect on Sunday.
The AED, or automated external defibrillator, delivers an electric shock to your chest. It can steady an irregular heartbeat or restart a heart if someone goes into sudden cardiac arrest.
The AED can make the difference between the life or death, helping to keep the person stable until a paramedic can arrive.
Experts say more than 6,000 people under the age of 18 go into cardiac arrest in the U.S. every year. More than half of them are students of the high school age.
Students will also be required to receive training on how to use the device.
Coffee County High School already meets the new requirement.

Come celebrate Independence Day, July 4th with the Manchester Parks and Recreation Department! They will have live music, concessions, and fireworks. Live music will begin at 7:00 pm at the Rotary Amphitheater, followed by a fireworks display at 9:00 pm.
Musical entertainment this year is 7 Bridges the Ultimate Eagles Experience. Admission is free!

The annual Independence Day Celebration in Tullahoma will be held at Frazier McEwen Park and Grider Stadium from 3 to 11 p.m. on Tuesday, July 3. Several Middle Tennessee bands will perform throughout the afternoon and evening. Fireworks begin at 9pm.

Attention Coffee County residents: Phone calls are being made to people in our area from a group called Police Officers Support Alliance and they are asking for donations to help support police officers.
Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves wants to let the citizens of the county know that his department is in no way associated with this company. The caller has actually called at least two employees of the department asking for a donation.
Investigator Kelly Smith says he has received phone calls from citizens wanting to know if the sheriff’s department is involved with the people calling and the simple answer is no.

Sheriff Graves says if you do not feel comfortable with whom you are speaking to, you should not give out any personal information. Graves added, “This has not been confirmed as a scam, but it always good to be cautious.”
The Police Officers Support Alliance shows every indication of being a scam.
It is not even listed, much less rated, by 1) Charity Watch, 2) Charity Navigator, 3) the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, or 4) or Consumer Reports Best Charities List. All of these organizations have extensive listings of known charities.
The Police Officers Support Alliance’s only presence seems to be its own web site. That web site suspiciously does not say who the officers are. Moreover, it forewarns you that the address to which you will be directed to send your donation will be DIFFERENT FROM the organization’s business address.
Moreover, the address listed for the Police Officers Support Alliance, is a mail box at a UPS store in Massachusetts.

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation officials have confirmed that a 9-year-old girl from Tracy City has passed away after a tree fell on her at Foster Falls while she was camping. The incident took place early Sunday morning.
Foster Falls is part of the South Cumberland State Park and is located just outside Tracy City.
The girl’s father also had minor injuries. No names had been released as of early Sunday night.