Category: News

A three-vehicle accident occurred around 7:30am Wednesday morning at the intersection of Spring and Coffee Streets in Manchester. The crash involved a Coffee County school bus. Manchester Police was in charge of the scene. Manchester Fire & Rescue and Coffee County EMS also arrived at the location. Coffee County school personnel made their way to wreck quickly to attend to the children and parents that arrived at the crash site.
Coffee County Schools Director Dr Ladonna McFall told WMSR News that 8 students were taken to Unity Medical Center to be checked out as a precaution for minor injuries. The remaining middle students were moved to another bus for transport to the school.

Manchester Police Assistant Chief Adam Floied said the driver of the first car involved in the accident stated that his brakes went out. Floied added that the man allegedly ran a red light at the intersection.

The Grundy County Board of Education decided Tuesday night to delay hiring a new football coach.
In the Fall, five students were charged with attempted aggravated rape when they allegedly assaulted another student.
Casey Tate who was head coach at the time of the incident was relieved from his coaching duties.
Tuesday night, the school board was set to decide how much they are willing to spend on a new coach. Instead, the board pushed that topic to the February meeting.
WMSR News has learned there are two finalists to become the new head coach of the Yellow Jackets.
Also, a records request by Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum concerning “any and all information regarding the investigation of incidents of hazing, assault, and/or sexual assault related to Grundy County students in the last five years” have not been turned over to the sheriff by the school system. The subpoena for the records was issued on October 25, 2017.
The case against the five students accused of attempted aggravated rape has been sealed by Judge Tim Brock, of Coffee County. He put a non-disclosure order on the case on November 15, when the boys were last known to have been in court.

The deadline for Tennessee Promise scholarship recipients (high school class of 2018) to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) has been extended until Jan. 26, 2018, due to the recent bout of wintry weather and illness-related school closings in the state.
Jonathan Graham, Tennessee Promise specialist at Motlow State Community College, offers the following advice to interested students, “It is extremely important that the FAFSA be completed by Jan. 26 to be eligible for the Tennessee Promise scholarship. Motlow State Tennessee Promise students needing help with their FASFA application can contact Jessica Dodge, financial aid counselor, at jdodge@mscc.edu.”
Additionally, mandatory TN Achieves team meetings will be held at the students’ high school this spring. High school guidance counselors will be advising students of the dates and times of the mandatory meetings. For information regarding TN Achieves team meetings, students can go to tnachieves.org and click on “Team Meeting Schedule.” For information regarding the Tennessee Promise go to tnpromise.mscc.edu.

Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves and Investigator Jason Dendy have issued a warning about a scam making its way around Coffee County. The scammers in the past have posed as a deputy from the sheriff’s department, this time they are spoofing phone numbers that seem to be local. Sometimes the scammer even claims to be a lawyer.
Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to indicate to the receiver of a call that the originator of the call is from someone or place other than the true originating person or place. “The scammers say they are attempting to collect money on a balance owed on an account. They tell the intended victim that a deputy will arrest them if they don’t pay, Graves said.” Investigator Dendy added, “They tell their victim to get a Green Dot credit card or similar card and call them back and give them the number on the card. “They use the credit card numbers to get money from the cards, the Investigator said.” Graves went on to say that the sheriff’s department does not make arrests in this way.
Some Coffee County residents have fallen for this scam and others, so please don’t be their next victim by falling for this type of intimidation.
The other scam making its way around Coffee County is the IRS scam. People are calling residents claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service. The caller tells their intended victim that they owe the federal agency money and if they don’t pay it then they will be arrested. The IRS and local officials remind residents that this is also a SCAM!
If you have any questions, call Dendy at 931 570 4427.

Winchester Police Department is searching for any information on the whereabouts of James L. Wood, white male, 50 years old. He was last heard from on July 29, 2017.
Mr. Wood is believed to possibly be driving this 1988 white Ford F150 with license plate of DV0X44.
If you have any information at all on James Wood, please contact Detective Ryan Fuller at 931-967-3840 or Crimestoppers at 931-962-INFO (4636).

Gov. Bill Haslam is touting a $30 million plan that focuses on prevention, treatment and law enforcement to attack an opioid epidemic that kills three Tennesseans a day.
The Republican released details in a news conference Monday alongside Senate Speaker Randy McNally, House Speaker Beth Harwell, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Bivins and others.
Treatment and recovery services would get a $25 million improvement through state and federal money.
People would be limited to initial prescriptions of a five-day supply and a daily dosage limit of the equivalent of 40 morphine milligrams, with limits similar affecting TennCare recipients.
Prevention education would increase in elementary and secondary schools.
The proposal would add opioid-focused Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents.
Democratic lawmakers said the proposal isn’t enough because Medicaid needs to be expanded.

Ongoing severe winter weather has more than doubled the number of canceled American Red Cross blood drives and the resulting blood and platelet donation shortfall since earlier this month. The Red Cross now considers the situation critical and is reissuing an urgent call for blood and platelet donors.
More than 550 blood drives have been forced to cancel due to winter weather in January, causing over 16,500 blood and platelet donations to go uncollected through last week. In the Red Cross Tennessee Valley Blood Services Region, which includes middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, 54 blood drives have been forced to cancel due to winter weather this month, causing 1,470 donations to go uncollected. In addition, bitter cold and widespread flu have contributed to very low turnout at many blood drives.
Make an appointment to give blood or platelets by downloading the free Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

Manchester Recreation Complex, 557 N. Woodland St. Manchester, TN
1/29/2018: 2 – 6 p.m.

First Baptist Church, 1006 Hillsboro Road Manchester, TN
2/15/2018: 2 – 6 p.m.

Motlow State Community College Lynchburg, 6015 Ledford Mill Road Tullahoma, TN
1/29/2018: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

First Christian Church Annex, 201 N.W. Atlantic Tullahoma, TN
2/13/2018: 2:15 – 7:15 p.m.

A Tennessee lawmaker is still fighting to allow liquor and wine purchases on Sundays.
State Rep. Gerald McCormick proposed a bill that would allow package stores to sell liquor and allow grocery stores to sell wine during hours when beer is sold, which would include Sundays.
This isn’t the first time the push has been made.
In 2016, Tennessee began allowing stores to sell wine. That law denied wine sales on Sundays and certain holidays.
Last year, Sen. Bill Ketron introduced a bill that would allow liquor sales on Sundays–it did not pass.
State Rep. Bob Ramsey is also sponsoring the bill, which has yet to be voted on.

On Saturday (January 20th, 2018) Manchester Police responded to a hit and run accident on the Tullahoma Hwy. Officers state that Orlando Ferez Hayworth age 42 of Johnson Lane, Tullahoma allegedly struck another vehicle and then fled the scene of the accident without reporting it.
According to the arrest warrant, Officer Jamie Norris states that Hayworth then crashed his vehicle on the 2800 block of the Tullahoma Hwy while leaving the scene of the first accident. The man then allegedly fled on foot from his vehicle before being located by officers. When officers caught Hayworth, they stated in the warrant they detected the odor of an intoxicant about the man. Hayworth also allegedly had slurred speech, blood shot eyes and was unsteady on his feet. The warrant states that the man admitted to drinking to the officer and tests were conducted with the man allegedly performing poorly on all the tests given.
Officer Norris then transported the Hayworth to Unity Medical Center for a blood-alcohol test, results are pending.
The man, according to the warrant, was also found to have no insurance for his vehicle at the time of his accident.
While being checked into the Coffee County Jail, Hayworth allegedly spit in the right eye of Sgt. Floyd Rowell when correction officers were asking him to empty his pockets.
Hayworth was charged with DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident, failure to provide proof of insurance and assault. He bonded out of jail and is set to appear in court on March 27, 2018.