Category: News

City leaders in Tullahoma said in a press release that they are focused on improving services provided to the public. City Recorder, Rosemary Golden, says that property tax notice distribution will be streamlined to save tax dollars.
The City of Tullahoma contracted with a third party, County Record Services, LLC, to manage the property tax notice distribution process for less than it costs the city for postage to mail the notices. Each year they process over 10,000 property tax notices. This year, they expect to save money and manpower by working with County Record Services, LLC.
This year, property owners may receive property tax notices that in the past had been sent directly to their mortgage company. Golden says, “We are asking property owners that if they receive a property tax bill in October, and in the past this bill was paid by their escrow, please contact your financial institution to be sure that your financial institution also received a copy of the bill.” If the financial institution has not received a copy of the tax bill, please forward your copy to them.
Some of the property tax notices will go directly to the mortgage companies. The three (3) largest mortgage companies (Wells Fargo, Core Logic and Lereta) have already requested the information, and their parcels will be handled as they have been in the past years and will go directly to them and not the property owner.

Tullahoma leaders also announced this week that three new businesses will be opening across the street from Northgate Mall; Starbucks, Kay Jewelers, and Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches.

The case of a missing 30-year old woman has been cleared, along with a vehicle theft in Murfreesboro after her arrest. According to Murfreesboro Police reports, Detective Sam Day made contact with Amber Gordon on the phone after she’d reportedly advertised on Backpage. That’s a classified advertising website, often used for adult ads.
Arrangements were made to meet the woman in the Publix parking lot on Franklin Highway around 4:30 Saturday after her name popped up as a missing person. Gordon was alleged to be driving a 2013 Nissan Altima reported stolen.
A traffic stop was initiated and Gordon was taken into custody without incident. A small amount of heroin and drug paraphernalia were also found.
The vehicle’s owner took possession of the vehicle and the missing person’s case closed. Gordon was charged with theft over 10-thousand dollars, possession of a schedule one drug and drug paraphernalia. She will be in court November 8th. A warrants check also revealed that there were active warrants out of Coffee County for Gordon.

Over 90 newly certified law enforcement officers graduated from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy on Friday Sept. 29 in Hermitage, TN.
Two Coffee County deputies graduated; Timothy Allen Cooper and Michael Sharp.
Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves said that he is very pleased with the hard work these two men put in to accomplish their goals. Cooper and Sharp are now working as road deputies. Sheriff Graves congratulates both deputies, saying the training academy is difficult and the two men should be very proud of their efforts.

The basic police school course provides technical and tactical expertise in addition to the ethical and professional standards of law enforcement necessary for success.
As Tennessee’s premier law enforcement training facility, the academy has trained over 19,000 cadets during the Basic Police School classes and over 53,000 students during its more than 1,700 specialized schools.

On Tuesday, Oct. 3, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Environment was on-hand to de-post a large section of the Duck River. The advisory was initially issued in 1995 and includes the portion of the river that runs through Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park as well as upstream to Morton’s Lake. The Duck River is considered to be one of North America’s most biologically diverse river systems, sporting multitudes of rare fish and mussel species. Work by various agencies to bring e. coli levels to acceptable and safe levels has returned this portion of the river to a safe, family-friendly recreational spot with improved water quality.

A Florida man was arrested on Friday Sept. 29 on multiple charges after leading deputies on a pursuit on Interstate 24.
Manuel Dayan Fraga, 39, of Tampa, Florida was charged with reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, resisting arrest and evading arrest.
According to warrants obtained by Coffee County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Smith, the arrest came after Rutherford and Coffee County dispatchers received numerous calls about a reckless driver.
The deputies attempted to stop Fraga at mile marker 111 but he would not stop. Deputy Brandon Reed joined the pursuit and they attempted to stop the car, but Fraga allegedly attempted to run into another vehicle. The deputies then attempted to box him in and then stopped his vehicle.
Fraga refused to get out of the vehicle and the deputies had to remove him.
He was booked into the Coffee County Jail under a bond of $15,000. He is to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court Oct. 23.

Tennessee gas prices averaged $2.47 on Sunday. The state average dropped 5 cents during the past week. Since peaking at $2.60 on September 10, the state average has declined 21 consecutive days for a total of 13 cents. Despite the recent downturn, motorists are spending an average of 33 cents more at the pump than this time last year.
“No need to rush to the pump, gas prices should get even cheaper as the week progresses,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA-The Auto Club Group. “Prices are still inflated after hurricanes Irma and Harvey, but will keep falling as refinery operations, supplies, imports and exports return to normal. Pump prices have another 20 cents to fall before reaching equilibrium. Expect another 5-10 cent drop this week.”
The low price in Coffee County this week can be found in Tullahoma at $2.34 per gallon and in Manchester the low price is $2.35.

After a failed attempt to revamp health care, Congress and the president now are turning their attention to tax reform.
Among the proposed policies on the chopping block is the elimination of a provision that allows homeowners to deduct state and local property taxes from their federal taxes.
The SALT deduction largely benefits the middle class, with nearly 87 percent of taxpayers who claim it having adjusted gross incomes of less than $200,000.
Andrew Koneschusky, a spokesman for Americans Against Double Taxation, explains the impact.
“If the deduction were to be removed, essentially more of their income would be exposed to federal taxation because you would be paying the full value of your federal taxes as well as your income taxes and your property taxes,” he points out.
The National Association of Realtors estimates households with incomes between $50,000 and $200,000 would see an increase of $815 if SALT were eliminated.
A bipartisan collection of groups, including the National Sheriffs’ Association, National Association of Counties and the International Association of Fire Fighters, are part of a coalition to preserve SALT.
Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell is among city leaders fighting to protect the SALT deduction. He’s concerned the elimination of SALT will make it challenging for local municipalities to continue to tax to cover investments in infrastructure, public safety, education and others.
“Our concern with this particular tax bill is it’s shifting a significant amount of money that state and local government has relied upon, really, for the last 100 years,” Luttrell explains.
Koneschusky says the SALT deduction is a tempting line item for lawmakers looking for ways to increase federal revenue.
“The SALT deduction, it’s a large expenditure in the tax code and so it’s something that could offset other cuts elsewhere, which is why it’s being eyed,” he points out.
While eliminating SALT will increase taxes for the middle class, the White House also is aiming to reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. That move would reduce taxes for the wealthy.

The Coffee County election process will crank up in full force on May 1.
Primaries will be in May, the county general election and state primary in August and state general in November.
County elections in 2018 will be held for: mayor, all 21 commissioners, trustee, sheriff, county clerk, circuit court clerk, register of deeds, road superintendent, road commissioners and constables.
City elections in Manchester and Tullahoma will also be held in August.
There will be some new faces on the county commission as some current commissioners will not seek re-election: Sam Mai, Republican representing Manchester’s District 4, Diane Argraves, a Democrat representing rural District 11, Kerry Farrar, a Democrat representing District 8, Mark Kelly, a Republican representing Tullahoma’s District 15, Kimberly Martin, a Republican representing Tullahoma’s District 17, and Rush Bricken, a Republican representing Tullahoma’s District 21 have all decided not seek re-election. Others may choose not to run, but have not announced.
In county-wide elections Coffee County Mayor Gary Cordell will seek re-election and former mayor David Pennington will also run for the office he once had.
Sheriff Steve Graves, a Democrat, is undecided. Republicans Chad Partin, Brandon Tomberlin, Larry Swan and Harry Conway say they are running for sheriff. Danny Ferrell, an independent, has said he will enter the race.
Only incumbents have said they’ll run for the following four county positions. Trustee John Marchesoni, Republican will run for re-election. Register of Deeds Donna Toney, Republican, will seek re-election.
Longtime Circuit Court Clerk Heather Duncan, Democrat, is seeking re-election and Democrat County Clerk Theresa McFadden, is running once again.
Candidates may pick up petitions for the May 1 primary starting Nov. 17. Qualifying deadline is Feb. 15, with withdrawal deadline Feb. 22.
Deadline for voter registration for the May 1 primary is April 2.
Manchester and Tullahoma municipal elections will be held on Aug. 2.

A crash in Marion County has sent several college students to the hospital.
The South Pittsburg Mountain Volunteer Fire Department and Tennessee Highway Patrol responded to the crash on South Pittsburg Mountain Road (SR 156).
The crash occurred around 10:30pm Friday night. It involved one SUV with 10 people from Sewanee, Tennessee’s University of the South and one visitor inside. Four were taken by helicopter to the hospital. They all have serious injuries.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol says preliminary reports show the car ran off the roadway, overcorrected and came back onto the road before flipping and rolling down an embankment.
The crash occurred near the county line with Franklin County. Marion County officials said the crash scene was cleared around 2 a.m. Saturday.
Senior Associate Dean of Student Life Becky Spurlock disclosed the University’s decision to suspend operation the sorority the students were involved in until an investigation regarding the accident had been completed.