At least 14 people have contracted Hepatitis A in Tennessee’s largest city in the last six months. The Tennessean reports Nashville’s Metro Public Health Department is offering free vaccines beginning Tuesday at three public health centers. Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by a virus, but it can spread through close contact with an infected person. An outbreak in Kentucky recently spread to more than 440 people. Four people died.
Category: News
Hepatitis A Outbreak in Nahville
Identity of Theft Suspect Sought
The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help identifying a man allegedly involved in a credit card numbers theft. The man apparently got credit card information in an unknown way, possibly a card reader. 
The man used credit card information from a person in Coffee County at the Mount Juliet Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart in Nashville on Nolensville Pike.
He might be driving a dark colored SUV, possibly a Ford (shown). The only description is that he is a white male with a beard, he’s bald and perhaps wearing black ball cap (shown).
Any information on who this subject is will be greatly appreciated. Contact Coffee County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Brandon Reed at 931-570-4191.
Health Department transitioning to Electronic Medical Records–Patient appointment needed
The Coffee County Health Department will be transitioning to electronic medical records in 2018. To prepare for this implementation, the Coffee County Health Department is providing services by appointment. Patients are strongly encouraged to keep their scheduled appointments, as there will be longer wait times and fewer appointments available during this transition and implementation time. The health department thanks clients for their understanding during this exciting time as they work to serve you better in the future.
The Coffee County Health Departments in Manchester and Tullahoma are open from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and provides a wide range of services including family planning, immunizations, WIC, well-child exams, and vital records. The Manchester clinic is located at 800 Parks Street in Manchester and the Tullahoma clinic is located at 615 Wilson Avenue in Tullahoma. The mission of the Coffee County Health Department is to protect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Coffee County.
For more information, please contact the Coffee County Health Department at 931-723-5134.
Wear Your Life Jacket on the Boat and No Boating Under the Influence
With the Memorial Day weekend upon us, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency wants to remind boaters about the importance of wearing life jackets and boating in a safe and responsible manner.
The TWRA said the Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to the summer boating season. Last year, for the third year in a row, there were not any fatalities related to boating incidents over the Memorial Day weekend.
So far this year, however, there have been five boating-related deaths, four injury-accident incidents and five property damage accidents. Three of those deaths involved paddle crafts.
To make sure everyone stays safe on the water, the TWRA stresses the importance of the responsible use of alcohol while boating.
In a boat on the water, the effects of alcohol increase because of external stressors such as engine vibration, wave motion and glare from the sun.
It is illegal to operate a boat while under the influence of alcohol and drugs in the state of Tennessee.
The TWRA also wants to remind boaters to take a few minutes to perform a simple maintenance check before getting on the water. They suggest checking hoses, making sure the lights work and carrying extra fuses and bulbs.
Graduation will be held at Carden-Jerrell Field
Graduation will be held Friday night (May 25) at 7pm for Coffee County High School seniors. A crowd estimated of over 5,000 will watch graduates accept their diplomas behind Raider Academy in Manchester at Carden-Jerrell Field.
Around 400 seniors will take their next step toward a future full of expectations as they will hear from fellow classmates; Valedictorian Brianna Cardenal and Salutatorian Michelle Dong.
Many of the grads will take a break from school for a short period before heading off to college, and others will jump right into the workforce.
The 2018-2019 school year begins in just over two months.
Scott Anderson and his audio/visual students at the high school will be videoing the event for Raider TV and you can watch it at www.wmsrradio.com
Memorial Day Ceremony Moved to inside the Veterans Building
Your Coffee County Veterans Association is pleased to again host the annual Memorial Day Ceremony. The group had planned for the event for the Courthouse Square in Manchester, on Memorial Day, May 28th beginning at 11 AM, but with the uncertainty about the weather the ceremony will take place inside the Coffee County Veterans Building, 130 Shelton Road in Manchester.
The public is encouraged to attend – and bring your school-age children! They need to see, first hand, that the freedoms we all enjoy are not free… but were fought for with the blood of patriots and the tears of their loved ones.
Come early for a good seat and help our community honor and remember those who have given their all, in defense of our nation. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Coffee County Veterans Building at 130 Shelton Road in Manchester.
Click It or Ticket
The Coffee Co. Sheriff’s Dept. is partnering with the Tennessee Highway Safety Office to step up seat belt enforcement from now thru June 3, surrounding one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. This is an effort to remind all citizens to utilize the safety equipment available, and for deputies to continue to help protect lives on county roads and highways. Motorists are dying in motor vehicle crashes daily due to simply not using their seat belt. There is no good excuse for not wearing a seatbelt. According to Tennessee’s Integrated Traffic Analysis Network (TITAN), 315 people killed in Tennessee traffic crashes last year were not wearing a seat belt. This represents approximately 30 percent of the state’s total traffic fatalities in 2017. Our law enforcement personnel have seen the consequences of not buckling up. They see the loss of life. Often, it could have been prevented with the simple click of a seat belt.
As Memorial Day weekend and the Summer season approaches, the Coffee Co. Sheriff’s Dept. wants to make sure people are doing the one thing they can to save them in a crash—buckling up. Seatbelt usage is mandatory in Tennessee. Sheriff Steve Graves and his staff hope that each person is committed to starting their Summer in a positive manner by simply “Buckling Up”.
For more information on seat belt safety and child passenger safety visit www.tntrafficsafety.org.
Tullahoma Man Wanted in Mississippi
The Lauderdale County, MS Sheriff’s Department needs your help in finding Leon Florence formerly of Tullahoma, TN.
Florence is a 69-year-old white man who is about 6’4″ in height and weighs 190 pounds. He is wanted on an indictment out of the circuit court of Lauderdale County where he has been charged of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
The last known address for Florence is in the Tullahoma, Tennessee area.
If you have any information, you can call the East Mississippi Crimestoppers line at (855) 485-TIPS. You can remain anonymous and could potentially earn a cash reward.
Working in the Gig Economy? Protections May be Eliminated in TN
Thousands of Tennesseans are working in the so-called gig economy and legislation currently in the State Assembly would eliminate some worker protections for them. (Twenty20)
The bill would classify them as marketplace contractors and remove protections provided by worker’s compensation law and the Tennessee Employment Security Law.
Unions and workers’ rights groups oppose the legislation. At the same time a new report from the
The Economic Policy Institute shows the impact of tech companies such as Uber is overrated.
Lawrence Mishel, a distinguished fellow with the institute, says widely publicized hourly earnings for Uber drivers frequently leave out expenses the independent contractors have to cover.
“And they have to pay extra taxes for Social Security and Medicare that regular workers don’t,” Mishel points out. “And it turns out they get paid around $9.21 an hour. And that’s in spite of the fact that half the Uber drivers actually have a college degree.”
Uber drivers generate nearly $25 an hour in passenger fares, but Mishel says the company takes more than $8 of that upfront in fees.
An Uber representative says the report ignores the flexibility drivers say they value and cannot find in traditional jobs.
The report also suggests that the gig economy may not be the future of employment, a boast Mishel says platform-based companies frequently make.
He says Uber, with more than 800,000 drivers in a given year, accounts for as much as two-thirds of the total gig economy.
Mishel says for most drivers, it’s about earning supplementary income.
“So you can’t have a future of work of things that supplement your main job,” he states. “The future of work has to be people having their main jobs.”
Georgia, Indiana, Utah, Kentucky, Florida, Iowa and Colorado are considering similar legislation to Tennessee’s when it comes to reclassifying contract employees of tech companies like Uber.
Earlier this spring, the National Domestic Workers Alliance visited Tennessee to caution lawmakers that the bill would permanently carve many workers out of rights to which they would be entitled as employees.
TDOT Suspending All Construction-Related Lane Closures on Interstates and State Routes
Motorists will not be delayed by road construction as they travel Tennessee’s highways this Memorial Day weekend. The Tennessee Department of Transportation will suspend all construction-related lane closures on interstates and state routes beginning at noon Friday through 6am Tuesday. This will provide maximum roadway capacity for motorists expected to travel in the state this Memorial Day weekend.
Motorists may still encounter some lane closure or restrictions while traveling through long-term construction projects.
AAA estimates more than 41.5 million Americans will travel this Memorial Day holiday, nearly 5 percent more than last year. An estimated 727,000 Tennesseans will drive to their holiday destinations.
