Category: News

Courtney Miller… Photo provided

Coffee County Fair’s 2016 Fairest of the Fair, Courtney Miller competed on Friday night in the Tennessee Association of Fair’s state beauty pageant.
Miller had an outstanding night, finishing runner-up.
The event was held at the Music City Sheraton in Nashville, TN.
Congratulations to Courtney Miller on a job well done and representing Coffee County in such a positive way.
For young ladies wanting to compete in the 2017 Coffee County Fairest of the Fair the event will be held in September.

Coffee/Grundy County U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director Charla Brannon reminds livestock producers who suffered grazing losses that occurred throughout 2016 due to drought or wildfire to report their losses and to enroll in the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) by Jan. 30, 2017.
LFP provides compensation to eligible livestock producers who suffered grazing losses for covered livestock due to drought on privately-owned or cash-leased land or fire on federally-managed land. Producers in Coffee and Grundy County are eligible to apply for 2016 LFP benefits on small grain, native pasture, improved pasture, annual ryegrass or forage sorghum. Livestock producers are encouraged to contact the Coffee/Grundy County FSA Office with any questions regarding specific forage crops that are eligible.
“Prolonged drought conditions have created a need for livestock disaster assistance programs in Coffee and Grundy County,” said Brannon. “I encourage all affected livestock producers to contact the Coffee/Grundy County FSA Office to schedule an appointment to enroll in the program before the Jan. 30 deadline.”
Livestock producers must complete the LFP application and required supporting documentation no later than Jan. 30, 2017, for losses that occurred throughout 2016. Producers who already have appointments scheduled require no additional action to meet the deadline.
Eligible livestock includes alpacas, beef cattle, buffalo, beefalo, dairy cattle, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, poultry, reindeer, sheep or swine that have been or would have been grazing the eligible grazing land or pastureland.
Visit www.usda.gov/disaster to learn more about FSA disaster assistance programs or contact the Coffee/Grundy County FSA Office at 931-728-2472

Mumps, the illness many associate with childhood, can infect people of all ages and has been on the rise as some neglect to immunize themselves or their children. The Tennessee Department of Health is concerned about increases in mumps cases, including an ongoing outbreak in neighboring Arkansas which so far involves more than 2,400 suspected or confirmed cases of the illness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all adults born in 1957 or more recently who have not had mumps receive at least one dose of the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR vaccine in their lifetimes. Two doses are recommended for adults in high-risk settings: those attending college, working in a healthcare facility or traveling internationally. People born before 1957 are presumed to be immune through natural illness in childhood. Some may not recall having mumps because one-third of mumps cases are extremely mild or without symptoms.
State health leaders strongly encourage children more than one year of age and adults under 60 who do not know if they had mumps as a child and do not recall receiving mumps vaccine at some point in their lives to get the MMR vaccine.
Two doses of MMR vaccine are required for school and college students in Tennessee. MMR vaccine is available at all county health departments to any individual for whom protection from these diseases is desired. Certain insurance companies may be billed. Sliding scale fees based on income are available to people without insurance. Call your health care provider or your local health department for an appointment and for answers to questions you may have.

Coffee County Schools

Kindergarten Readiness Parent Workshop Dates

Feb. 1 New Union 12:00 – 1:00
Feb. 6 Hickerson 12:00 – 1:00
Feb. 7 East Coffee 12:00 -1:00
Feb. 8 Hillsboro 12:00 – 1:00
Feb. 9 North Coffee 12:00 – 1:00
Feb. 16 Deerfield 12:00 – 1:00

Pre-K Registration and 3 & 4 Year Old Screening

Schools PK Number Date and Time
Hillsboro Elem. 596-2775 Tuesday, March 14, 3:00 – 6:00
East Coffee Elem. 728-8627 Wednesday, March 15, 3:00 – 6:00
North Coffee Elem. 723-8220 Wednesday, March 15, 3:00 – 6:00
Deerfield Elem. 570-2658 Thursday, March 16, 3:00 – 6:00
Hickerson Elem. 393-3330 Thursday, March 16, 3:00 – 6:00
New Union Elem. 728-8434 Thursday, March 16, 3:00 – 6:00

Kindergarten Pre-Registration

April 11 – 7:30a.m. – 6:00p.m.

All Elementary Schools: Deerfield, East Coffee, Hickerson, Hillsboro, North Coffee, New Union

Students must be 5 years old by August 15, 2017, to enroll in Kindergarten for the 2017–2018 school year. In planning for the school year, it is extremely important to get accurate numbers of potential Kindergarten students. This number determines the number of classes at each school, so we strongly encourage you to pre-register your child. Please share this information with family and friends who may have a Kindergarten age child and make every effort to pre-register.

LaShawnda Ann Taylor… Photo provided by the TBI.

Special Agents in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit have obtained an indictment for a Tullahoma woman accused of stealing prescription medication from a patient in her care.
After receiving information from the Tennessee Department of Human Services Adult Protective Services Unit, Agents began investigating LaShawnda Ann Taylor of Tullahoma on April 18, 2016. During the course of the investigation, Agents developed information that on April 7th, while working as an employee of a company providing community-based living services in Decherd, Taylor took a patient’s prescription of Percocet without her consent.
On November 18, 2016, the Franklin County Grand Jury returned an indictment, charging Taylor age 34, with one count of Theft. On Wednesday, authorities booked her into the Franklin County Jail on $5,000 bond.

Coffee County Sheriff’s Department and Jail… Photo by Barry West

Coffee County is about to become $218,000 richer. The county will get reimbursed for expenses related to a problem with the smoke evacuation system of the new county jail.
The construction of the jail building began in December 2012. The problem with the smoke evacuation system was identified by the State Fire Marshal’s Office after completion of the building and caused a delay in moving of inmates until May of 2015 to the new jail and additional expenses for the county.
The two companies responsible for the deficiencies of the system are Centric Architecture and Smith Seckman Reid.
The full commission approved the settlement on Jan. 10. The two companies will pay the county by the end of the month.

Coffee County Deputy Joey Ricco responded to a call around 4am Tuesday at 1344 French Brantley Road in Wartrace due to a structure fire. Once he arrived on scene, Ricco noticed that the whole house was engulfed in flames along with the yard and the swimming pool. He then was able to make contact with the owner of the residence, and he informed Ricco that he was at home by himself. He advised that he was in the kitchen and had placed the stove and oven on clean mode and then left the residence to go to the store. Once he arrived back at the residence he then went upstairs and then started hearing the smoke alarms going off.
North Coffee Fire Department and other volunteer fire stations arrived on scene along with state forestry and stopped the fire from going over the hill side.