Category: News

The Tennessee Department of Transportation will suspend all interstate construction work this Easter weekend in anticipation of increased holiday travel.
TDOT crews and contractors will stop all road construction work that requires lane closures began Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. and runs through Monday, April 2 at 6:00 a.m. This will provide maximum roadway capacity to motorists expected to travel across the state this holiday weekend.
Motorists will still encounter some long-term lane closures on construction projects that will remain in place. While lane closure activity will be stopped, some workers may be on-site in construction zones and reduced speed limits will still be in effect. Motorists are urged to adhere to all posted speed limits, especially in work zones, for their own safety. Slower speeds are necessary in work zones due to the temporary layout of the roadway and will be enforced.
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.

Tullahoma Criminal Investigation Sergeant, Harry Conway has been elected Vice President to the Tennessee Joint Task Force on Children’s Justice and Child Sexual Abuse (JTF). Conway brings unique specialty experience and expertise to the JTF that will be invaluable in providing guidance, leadership and recommendations to the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (TCCY). He is the only law enforcement representative to serve on this state-wide Task Force that advises state legislators.
Conway has nearly 29 years of law enforcement experience. Conway has been with the Tullahoma Police Department (TPD) for 15 years. Prior to joining the TPD, he was a US Army Military Police Staff Sergeant veteran. Conway also managed a private detective service for 10 years.
Conway is a qualified member of the JTF because he served as the Tullahoma representative for the Tullahoma Child Protective Investigative Team (TCPIT). Now supervising that role, this position is filled by Detective Rana Pawlowski, who represents the TPD in all Child Protective Investigations, including team protocols and mutual-aid investigations that involve 5 counties and 19 law enforcement agencies. Some of these agencies include the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (TDCS), and all supporting non-profit agencies that aid in the prevention of severe abuse.

All Motlow State Community College campuses will host an Autism Awareness Walk on World Autism Day, Monday, Apr. 2, from 2 – 4 p.m. The walk is funded in part by the Motlow Student Government Association (SGA), and will be held simultaneously at all four Motlow campuses: Moore County, beginning at the Forrester Student Center; Fayetteville, beginning at the Sundquist Room; McMinnville, beginning at the Main Lobby; and Smyrna, beginning at the MaryLou Apple Lobby.
The event will host speakers on each campus, followed by a campus walk and culminating with cake served by the SGA.
“We look forward to this Motlow signature event,” said Kirsten Moss, dean of students at Motlow, “and feel our theme of ‘Educate-Celebrate-Motivate’ reflects our excitement in facilitating awareness as an educational community.”
The Motlow Autism Awareness Committee helped organize the walk and consists of faculty and staff from each campus that are knowledgeable and passionate about promoting continued learning and awareness concerning Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Motlow students, faculty, staff and the public are invited to participate, and are asked to wear light blue, the official color that represents autism. Blue light bulbs will be given to participants (while supplies last) to use in porch lights and table lamps during the month of April to help spread awareness.
In the event of rain the walk will be canceled, but the event will continue. For more information contact Angelica Dotson at adotson@mscc.edu or 931-393-1601.

On Tuesday afternoon (March 27, 2018) 34-year-old Russell Lee Asbury and Erika L Canuto, age 19, both of Autumn Rd., Morrison went into Wal-Mart in Manchester and allegedly removed items without paying for them. They both got into a vehicle allegedly stolen out of Warren County. Asbury was the driver when Manchester Police officers attempted to stop the vehicle on Highway 41 at Exit 114. Asbury was in the turn lane going onto the interstate and officers approached the vehicle, and he allegedly accelerated, almost hitting two officers and hit an officer’s vehicle and then went north on Highway 41. Asbury drove at a high rate of speed in traffic putting other drivers at risk. The vehicle became disabled at O’Reilly Auto Parts. Asbury jumped and ran from officers on foot but was later captured.
Asbury and Canuto were both arrested. Asbury was charged by Manchester Investigator Trey Adcock with theft of property, shoplifting, 2 counts aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, evading arrest, vandalism and resisting stop/halt/frisk arrest non-violent. His bond was set at $17,500. Canuto was charged with theft of property and shoplifting. Her bond was set at $3,500, which she made and was released from the Coffee County Jail. Both subjects are set to appear in Coffee County Court on May 1, 2018.

Gov. Bill Haslam has approved the recommendations of a school safety panel, including a security risk assessment of all Tennessee public school facilities.
Haslam announced the approval Wednesday of the recommendations from the panel that he appointed. Two other immediate priorities identified by the panel included an increase in available resources to help secure school resource officers and providing a statewide technology application for the anonymous reporting of security threats.
Haslam says in a statement the assessment of every public elementary and secondary school to identify risks should begin immediately. He says the assessments should to be finished before students return to school in the fall.
The statement says each school’s emergency operations plan must identify and update specific facility risks on an annual basis.

The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) College System recently announced graduation and retention numbers for the 13 Tennessee community colleges that comprise the System. Motlow State Community College had the highest graduation rate of any community college over the past three years. The College also had the second-highest retention rate for freshmen who enrolled for the fall semester of 2016.
The Motlow graduation rate for the 2014-17 time frame came in at 35.5 percent, compared to the system-wide average of 21.8 percent. The next closest college, Roane State Community College, had a graduation rate of 28 percent.
The Motlow retention rate for freshmen enrolled for the 2016 fall semester came in at 61.2 percent, second only to Northeast Community College, which had a retention rate of 63.4 percent. The system-wide retention average for the 2016 freshman class was 55.9 percent. Retention rate is a critical number gauging the success of an institution in keeping students enrolled.

In a vote on Wednesday state lawmakers in a key House committee passed a stripped down medical cannabis bill by a vote of 9 -2.
The bill now heads to the Health Committee.
The vote comes after it was unexpectedly postponed last week.
The bill was essentially gutted last week. Instead of a bill full of rules and regulations for growing and distributing medical cannabis, the sponsor amended the bill. The two amendments that were added to the bill: one that takes away the requirement that someone would need a medical card to possess medical marijuana. The second takes chronic pain and nausea out of one of the accepted conditions in the bill.

The City of Manchester, Street Department provides leaf vacuum service to all city residents from Fall to Spring of each year.
The Leaf Vacuum Service will resume again this fall, usually sometime toward the end of October. Until then, any leaves put out for disposal AFTER APRIL 13th must be placed in PAPER RECYCLABLE BAGS. These can be obtained at local retail stores. Grass Clipping must be placed in these bags year-round. All leaves and grass must be recycled under State and Federal regulations.
All leaves placed out to be vacuumed must be free of any sticks, rocks, limbs, etc. or any other debris that would obstruct or harm the equipment.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact the City of Manchester, Street Department office at 728-6903 Monday thru Friday, 6:00 am to 3:30 pm.

A Tullahoma woman was arrested early Tuesday (March 27, 2018) on multiple charges by Tullahoma Police Officer Brooke Earhart.
According to warrants, Nicole Lee Montgomery, 30, of Provins Drive, Tullahoma was charged with two counts of possession of schedule II, possession of schedule IV, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, third offense of driving on revoke/suspended license and violation of probation.
According to the warrants, the officer reports that a person was sitting in a vehicle on Silver Street in front of an apartment.
When the officer arrived, she states that the woman was acting suspicious by reaching into her pockets and purse while the officer was speaking to her.
Officer Earhart received permission to search Montgomery and located a plastic bag containing five and half Xanax bars, cut straw with drug residue and a piece of glass with residue on it.
The warrant alleges that when the officer was placing Montgomery into custody she saw the woman attempting to hide a plastic flashlight container in her body. The container contained five and half Hydrocodone pills and two and half Oxycodone pills.
Montgomery was booked into the Coffee County Jail on the charges under a bond of $17,000 and is to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court on April 5.