Category: News

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s (TDEC) mobile household hazardous waste collection service will be in Coffee County on Saturday, April 14. Since the program’s inception in 1993, more than 346,000 Tennessee households have properly disposed of more than 22 million pounds of material.
“I encourage all Tennessee households with eligible hazardous materials to participate in this free annual event which helps protect our waterways and our air,” said TDEC Commissioner Bob Martineau.
Any Tennessee resident is encouraged to bring their household hazardous waste – including cleaning fluids, pesticides, batteries, and more – to the designated drop-off locations. You do not need to live in the county listed to participate in the event.
Coffee County – Solid Waste Department, 2180 Murfreesboro Highway, in Manchester from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. The local contact for this collection event is Wannella Ingleburger at (931) 723-5139.
Household hazardous waste materials are considered flammable, toxic, reactive and/or corrosive and should not be placed with regular garbage. Typical items to dispose of include cleaning fluids, pesticides, mercury thermometers and thermostats, fluorescent lamps, lithium and button batteries, aerosols, adhesives, medications, brake fluid, swimming pool chemicals, paint thinner and used needles in sturdy containers. Items not accepted include ammunition, explosives, alkaline batteries, paint, electronics and any empty containers that should be disposed in normal trash.
While household waste may be disposed for free, there is a cost for disposal of Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator Waste (i.e. wastes from non-household sources such as businesses, schools, farms, churches, etc.). An appointment is also necessary. Call (615) 643-3170 to request a price quote and schedule an appointment.
Many counties and municipalities meet the needs of local residents by providing collection of batteries, oil, paint, antifreeze and electronic scrap. When handled correctly, these materials are minimally hazardous, but inappropriate for collection at household hazardous waste events. Contact your local city or county solid waste department to find collection sites in your area.
When transporting materials to the site, place containers in sturdy boxes lined with newspaper to prevent spills and cross-contamination in the trunk of a car or back of a truck. Be sure to keep materials away from children and pets. Materials should be kept in the original containers whenever possible. If not, place each waste in a separate plastic container with a secure lid and label its contents.
For more information on the household hazardous waste mobile collection service, please call 1-800-287-9013

New legal and ethical questions surrounding the business practices of Facebook seem to surface daily, but at the same time, a new survey finds most Twitter users don’t realize that university researchers and others collect and analyze their “tweets” in the name of science.
Social computing researcher Casey Fiesler, an assistant professor in the University of Colorado’s Department of Information Science, is co-author of a study on how tweets are used. Of about 68 million active U.S. Twitter users, Fiesler said 268 were surveyed, with an average age of 32.
“So this was a survey, and we asked people generally how they felt about this, whether they were previously aware,” she said, “and one of the striking things we found was that the majority of our participants had no idea, previously, that this was a thing that could happen.”
Sixty-two percent of the people surveyed did not know researchers used their tweets, and 61 percent thought it would be a breach of ethics. Twitter’s privacy policy states that public information can be broadly disseminated to a wide range of users, including universities.
Fiesler said there are uses for “tweeted” information in the name of science that may not be intended by people with Twitter accounts, but added that she doesn’t think they need to stop using social media or lock up their information.
“I think that most people know intellectually that Twitter is public,” she said, “and I would actually say that research is one of the less harmful things that could happen with a tweet.”
Fiesler said most survey respondents were more comfortable having a tweet they’ve posted analyzed along with millions of others, or quoted anonymously, rather than having tweets attributed to them when they are used.
“Lots of researchers also look at things like Instagram, Yelp reviews,” she said. “Anything that is just public, so that anyone on the Internet can see it, is a typical ethical heuristic for whether researchers can look at that data.”
The study, funded by the National Science Foundation, recommended that researchers develop ethical guidelines and standards for mining Twitter data from users.
The study is online at journals.sagepub.com.

The Coffee County Budget and Finance Committee back in March approved a recommendation to the full commission that would give commissioners a raise in pay.
The recommendation was approved on Tuesday night during the full county commission meeting. The compensation will be raised from $100 to $150 for each meeting of the full commission and each commissioner will receive $75 for each standing committee meeting.
According to Tennessee Code Annotated (5-5-107), compensation for committee meetings should equal half the compensation paid for regular sessions of the full legislative body.
For the first time in a few years Wright Paving LLC has proposed building a quarry in Hillsboro. The company has been turned down several times over the last 15 by the county for re-zoning of their land.
Commissioner Rush Bricken made a proposal to form a committee to research hiring an attorney that is an expert in zoning issues. Bricken he wants to reduce the chances of the county being sued. The measure was approved by a vote of 11-9 on Tuesday night.
The commission also approved Mayor Gary Cordell to negotiate a one-year contract with Bonnaroo officials. There is no current contract since the previous deal ended after last year’s event. Various proposals have been presented but no contract has been signed and Bonnaroo is set to begin in 2 months. Some county officials want money from Bonnaroo fees to go into the general fund and others along with Bonnaroo want the money going into infrastructure around the complex.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol issued 1,816 distracted driving citations during a crackdown from April 2 through April 4. That’s 911 more citations than were issued during 2017’s crackdown.
The Tennessee Highway Safety Office and the Tennessee Highway Patrol joined local law enforcement for Tennessee’s third statewide bus tour to crack down on distracted driving.
In 2017, the THP provided two large, black and tan buses marked with THP logos to help promote awareness for the initiative. This year, the focus shifted toward the effectiveness of enforcement efforts, which meant utilizing additional passenger vehicles that could travel more efficiently on the highways.
Officers representing various agencies riding the passenger vehicles communicated with ground units after observing traffic violations to initiate the execution of enforcement action. Depending on available resources, enforcement lasted between two to eight hours each day.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced Wednesday that more than 10,000 adults have applied for Tennessee Reconnect, the state’s program for adult learners to earn an associate degree or technical certificate tuition-free.
The application for Tennessee Reconnect opened on February 15 and 10,497 applications had been submitted as of April 10. Tennessee Reconnect is Haslam’s groundbreaking program that covers tuition and mandatory fees at a Tennessee community or technical college for eligible adults that do not yet have a college degree.
Among those who have applied for the scholarship, more than two-thirds have previously enrolled in college and just more than half of all applicants have attended college in the past five years. The average age of applicants is 34 years old and nearly 90 percent of those who applied plan to work while enrolled through Reconnect.
Tennessee Reconnect was proposed by Haslam and passed by the General Assembly in 2017.
The Tennessee Reconnect application will remain open year-round; adults hoping to enroll in community or technical college in fall 2018 are encouraged to apply by April 15 to ensure time to complete all enrollment steps. Go online to TNReconnect.gov for more information.

The Tennessee Legislature has passed a bill that would allow seven-day liquor and wine sales, despite opposition from religious conservatives. Afterward, the Tennessee Pastors Network called the measure “despicable.”
If signed by the governor, liquor stores would be able to open for business on Sunday and grocery stores would be allowed to sell wine that day. Liquor and wine could also be sold on holidays, with the exception of Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.
The measure passed in the Tennessee Senate on Wednesday by a vote of 17-11. It cleared the House earlier in the week.
Liquor stores can begin opening on Sundays as soon as the bill becomes law. However, grocery stores could not sell wine on Sundays until January.

Early voting for the May 1, 2018 Coffee County primary election begins Wednesday (April 11, 2018). Those wanting to take advantage of the early voting have two options. In Tullahoma voting will take place at the C.D. Stamps Center from 9 a.m. to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. In Manchester early votes may be cast at the Coffee County Election Commission office in the county administrative plaza. Voting there will be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Early voting will continue through April 26 at both locations. Remember those casting ballots must have a photo ID, such IDs can be obtained from the Tennessee Department of Safety.
Winners will face off in the county general election on August 2.

On Saturday (April 7th, 2018) Coffee County Sheriff’s Department Corporal Blake Simmons states that he attempted to stop Nakeshia S. Gergorie, age 35, of Mill St., Manchester on Oakdale Street in Manchester due to the subject having known active warrants. Upon attempting to stop the vehicle, it allegedly accelerated. Simmons states that upon catching up to the vehicle, it entered a mobile home park at unsafe speeds. Simmons also states in his report that Gregorie’s vehicle sped up in an attempt to flee from him and drove recklessly through the mobile home park. The report goes on to say that the vehicle was observed almost losing control on the gravel at the back of the park, and that’s when Gregorie jumped out of the moving vehicle. The vehicle came to a stop when it struck a tree and the woman took off on foot.
She was pursued on foot and caught after a short chase. Once Gregorie was caught, Simmons attempted to placed her into custody and she actively resisted. After a few minutes of struggling, she was partially cuffed, when she got up and attempted to flee again. Simmons was able to bring the woman under control and place her into custody.
Gregorie was charged with driving on revoked/suspended license 4th offense, resisting arrest, violation of probation, evading arrest, reckless endangerment and reckless driving. Bond was set at $41,000 and she is set to appear in court May 18, 2018.