Category: News

Tullahoma Police are investigating the robbery of two men on Saturday March 4. Travis Rogers’ vehicle broke down while he was driving home. He left it in the parking lot of the Westwood Church of Christ on West Lincoln Street. Rogers was being followed by Travis Patterson who picked up the man and they went to Rogers’ Cobb Hollow Road home to retrieve a jump box.
When they returned and began to try and start the car, an unknown male wearing a camouflage jacket and blue jeans with a black athletic shirt around his face approached them.
The man held the two at gunpoint and forced them to lay face down on the ground. The robber then took their wallet and money. He also threw the car keys into the parking lot along with the victim’s phones and fled on foot toward a field and a wooded area.
The men got up and Patterson retrieved his phone and called 911.
The thief got away with approximately $2,000.

The Shelbyville Police Department responded to a report of shots fired Sunday morning at approximately 2:20am. Responding officers discovered multiple rounds of various caliber ammunition within the event venue and in the parking lot. The venue was rented to celebrate the 30th birthday of Dequan Twilley, a former Shelbyville and ETSU basketball player.
Investigators have been told approximately 30 people were present when an altercation ensued and an attempt to disarm Corey Carlos Garrett led to Garrett discharging a firearm into the ceiling. During the struggle to disarm Garrett a party attender fired toward Garrett striking Garrett in the upper left torso. A stray bullet struck Wayne Shelton in the upper left arm as he sought cover.
While party attenders fled the scene of the initial shooting, additional shots are believed to have been fired in the parking lot.
Corey Carlos Garrett was Lifeflighted to Vanderbilt Hospital and is in critical but stable condition. Wayne Shelton was treated at Tennova Emergency Room in Shelbyville and released later the same day.
Investigators are still in the process of interviewing those who attended the birthday party.
If you have information that will assist please call Det. Sgt. Charles Merlo at 931-684-5811 or Crimestoppers at 931-685-4300.

The Trump administration’s $54 billion proposed hike in military spending could come at a cost to states such as Tennessee, according to a budget research group.
The National Priorities Project notes the United States already spends more on defense than the next seven largest military budgets in the world combined.
Money that now goes to domestic spending and foreign aid would pay for the increased military budget. And Lindsay Koshgarian, the National Priorities Project’s research director, points out states would be huge losers if those cuts take place.
“States get, on average, about 30 percent of their budgets from the federal government, and this is about a 10 percent cut to domestic spending,” she explains. “You can definitely expect that to trickle down to the state.”
Gov. Bill Haslam unveiled his budget for the state at the end of January. It includes no new state debt for the second straight year, but also at this point doesn’t account for any decreases in federal funding.
Koshgarian says many states such as Tennessee already are dealing with budget demands, and further cuts will only make those deficits larger.
“We can expect to see that in things like education and local maintenance of roads and things that cities and states primarily take care of, but a lot of federal funding helps to shore those things up,” she states.
Democrats in Congress are particularly set against cuts to domestic spending, and there is opposition to some of Trump’s proposals among some Republicans as well.
And Koshgarian notes another obstacle to the president’s plan. Under the 2011 Budget Control Act, any increase in defense spending must be matched by an increase in domestic spending.
“That is in law right now, and it would take 60 members of the Senate in order to change that law,” she points out.
Trump has said he won’t ask for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits or law enforcement.

In response to a request from the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) acting State Executive Director in Tennessee, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 66 counties in Tennessee as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages caused by a recent drought. Those counties include: Coffee, Franklin, Moore, Bedford, Warren, Grundy and Cannon.
Counties listed were designated natural disaster areas, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for FSA’s emergency (EM) loans, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration (Feb 23, 2017) to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

On Sunday, a man was observed on video and by Tullahoma Walmart personnel allegedly huffing a can of car air freshener. Walmart notified Tullahoma police and kept watch of the subject. The man, who according to the arrest warrant admitted to smoking marijuana, appeared to be under the influence of drugs/inhalants, as his speech was very slurred, his pupils were very restricted and he was extremely unsteady on his feet.
The man identified as Joshua Dane Jackson age 28 of Lee Lane, Huntland was observed on video and by personnel allegedly taking two cans of lighter fluid, a can of tea, which he was drinking and the two cans of inhalant. Jackson was also criminally trespassing as he had been banned from Walmart properties in January 2017 for prior thefts.
Jackson was also found to be allegedly in possession of three white tablets believed to be hydrocodone, five plastic baggies of a white rock and powder like substance, weighing approximately 5.16 grams that is believed to be methamphetamine, two other plastic baggies containing a white rock and powder-like substance weighing approximately 7.17 grams and believed to be cocaine. He also allegedly had approximately .03 grams of a green plant-like material believed to be marijuana and a glass pipe with residue in it.
Jackson was charged with shoplifting, unlawful inhaling, giving, selling, of glue, paint (etc.), public intoxication, theft of property, criminal trespass, schedule II drug violation, 2 counts of manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance, unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities and failure to appear.
Bond was set at $126,500 and he has two court dates, March 9 and April 6, 2017.

On Thursday March 2, 2017 Franklin County Sheriff’s Office personnel executed a search warrant at 1920 Oak Grove Rd Decherd, TN. The search resulted in law enforcement discovering components consistent with the production of methamphetamine, equipment and materials used in producing marijuana and various stolen items were recovered as well.
Authorities also anticipate charges of animal cruelty being presented to a Franklin County grand jury as well as charges for the alleged offenses.
No names were given by authorities.

As it now stands in Tennessee, only a registered nurse can provide basic health care to in-home patients. While the law may sound logical on paper, state Rep. Darren Jernigan, D-Nashville, said he experienced firsthand how that requirement may complicate things for patients as they seek care at home.
Wheelchair-bound after an accident, Jernigan said, his home health aide couldn’t hand him a bottle of medicine.
“My medicine I’d been taking for 20 years got put right out of arm’s reach,” he explained. “I said, ‘You mean to tell me you can’t hand me that bottle?’ And she said, ‘No, I can’t.’ It just defied common sense to me.”
Jernigan is a cosponsor of House Bill 0968, to allow medical professionals to delegate some health-maintenance tasks to a paid care worker. Reps. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough, and Sherry Jones, D-Nashville, also are cosponsors.
Opponents argue it could remove responsibilities that should be handled by a trained nurse, and could potentially put a patient at risk. But supporters of the bill say, because many patients can’t afford a registered nurse in home care, this offers an opportunity for a trained medical professional to offer some of that care.
Jernigan says based on his experience, home-health aides should at least be able to connect patients with medication already directed by a medical professional.
“I seriously think there’s little, minor maintenance health-care decisions that can be made, under delegation of a nurse, that someone can go in and do that, especially if there’s a plan in place,” said Jernigan.
AARP Tennessee and patient-advocacy groups are among the bill’s supporters. According to the Pew Research Center, for the next 20 years, an average of 10,000 people each day will reach age 65 nationwide.

We have more information on theft of money from the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center.
An investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller has resulted in the indictment of Alyce Heifner, the former general manager of the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center. Heifner stole at least $31,000 from the conference center over 15 months.
Investigators determined Heifner used multiple schemes to steal money.
She made personal purchases using the conference center’s credit and debit cards. These purchases included clothing, a big screen TV, and a personal trip to Europe. Heifner also took cash from the conference center’s bank account, and she received pay and a reimbursement to which she wasn’t entitled.
Heifner was able to conceal her activity by removing pages from bank statements and credit card statements. She also submitted incorrect and misleading financial reports to The Public Building Authority of Coffee County, Tennessee (PBA) board.
Alyce Heifner admitted to Comptroller investigators that she took the money because she was angry at the PBA board for not supporting her, and because she was angry at the Coffee County community for the way she was treated. Heifner resigned her position on December 4, 2015.
In December 2016, Alyce Heifner was indicted by the Coffee County Grand Jury on one count of theft over $10,000 and two counts of official misconduct.
According to circuit court records, Heifner informed Coffee County Circuit Court Judge Craig Johnson that she was planning on hiring an attorney to defend her. She will return to court on March 28 with her attorney.
“Board members must ensure they provide oversight when there’s a possibility that money can be stolen,” said Comptroller Justin P. Wilson. “Even something as simple as opening the mail and reviewing bank statements should help deter theft. I am pleased to note the board has corrected these weaknesses.”
If you suspect fraud, waste or abuse of public money in Tennessee, call the Comptroller’s toll-free hotline at (800) 232-5454, or file a report online at: www.comptroller.tn.gov/hotline.