Category: News

Treat your Medicare number just like your Social Security number. That’s the message from consumer advocates who warn that letting your number get in the wrong hands could open you up to risk of fraud.
In the wrong hands, your card could be used by scammers to claim health benefits or access personal information. It’s important to exercise caution, said Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance spokeswoman Claire Marsalis.
“Protect your Medicare number like you would your credit card number, not giving it out to people, keeping it protected,” Marsalis said. “Be wary of people who knock on your door or call you uninvited and try to sell you medical supplies or plans.”
Until recently, Social Security numbers were displayed on Medicare cards, but new cards without that information will be distributed over the next four years.
Experts warn never to share your Medicare number with anyone who contacts you by phone or email. Medicare will never contact you for your personal information. And never share information with someone so that they can get benefits under your name, Marsalis warned, because it can incur serious legal consequences.
“In some cases they’ll convince people to borrow their number to use for services that are not being used by the person that the Medicare number is assigned to, to pay for medical services.”
Be sure to review your Medicare Summary Notice regularly to be sure you are only being charged for services you secure for yourself. Also, beware of services that advertise a “limited time offer” or free gifts if you sign up with your personal information.

From candy to costumes, kids across Tennessee are gearing up for Halloween. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Department of Correction is taking additional measures to keep them safe this Halloween season with the launch of Operation Blackout.
Operation Blackout is a yearly, massive statewide sweep to ensure registered sex offenders under TDOC supervision follow strict guidelines for the fall season and Halloween. Hundreds of teams of TDOC probation parole officers work with local law enforcement to saturate communities across the state, conducting random visits and compliance checks on more than 3,000 sex offenders statewide between October 21 and the morning of November 1, including more than 1,100 visits on the night of Halloween. These checks are in addition to the daily supervision officers perform year round.
Seasonal restrictions for sex offenders include:
• Will remain in their homes between the hours of 6:00p.m.-6:00a.m.
• Will not have porch lights on as is the custom to participate in trick-or-treating.
• Will not open their doors for trick-or-treaters.
• Will only open their doors for law enforcement.
• Will not be allowed to display fall decorations.
• Will not be allowed to wear costumes or dress in disguise.
• Will not be allowed to attend fall festivals or parties.
In 2015, TDOC probation parole officers conducted more than 3,000 checks on sex offenders during Operation Blackout.

The September 2016 Sales Tax Collection Report indicates strong growth year over date. A trend that has been consistent throughout the 2016 calendar year in Manchester.
September collections topped the $700,000 mark, a first for a September report. Final collections for the City of Manchester were $712,825.82 up from $662,056.20. The increase is $50,769.62 year-to-date over 2015 or 7.12%.
The report also marks the end of the 3rd quarter of 2016. The quarter realized a growth of $157,325.56 or 7.36% over July, August and September of 2015.
“This continued growth trend shows that our focus on strengthening economic metrics is paying off. The numbers speak for themselves, and the most exciting part is this growth is organic and developed in large part by our small businesses across our city,” says Vice Mayor Ryan French.
For the year, Manchester sales tax collections are up $586,418.93 or 8.67%.

Early voting is continuing for Coffee County voters. In Manchester, residents can vote at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza, which is located at 1329 McArthur St., Suite 6. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. The hours will be extended through 5:30 p.m. on the last day of early voting, which is Thursday, Nov. 3. In Tullahoma, voters can cast their ballots at the C.D. Stamps Community Center, located at 810 S. Jackson St. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. The hours will also be extended through 5:30 on Nov. 3. Election Day is November 8.
On the ballot:
President
United States House of Representatives
(6th Congressional District)
Tennessee State Senate
(16th Senatorial District)
Tennessee House of Representatives
(47th House District)
The total number of registered voters in Coffee County is more than 32,000.
So far around 5,000 people have voted early with the most votes cast on the first day of early voting, October, 19 with nearly 1,300 people casting ballots.

The time to fall back is near: On Sunday, Nov. 6, Daylight Saving Time for 2016 comes to an end at precisely 2 a.m. that morning.
Standard Time will return, and it will stick around until 2 a.m. on March 12, 2017.
We get an extra hour of sleep when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. on Nov. 6, and while some people don’t like losing the hour of afternoon daylight, that extra hour’s slumber has to be worth something.
Daylight Saving Time 2016 ends on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 a.m. Turn your clocks back one hour to 1 a.m.
Daylight Saving Time 2017 begins on Sunday, March 12 at 2 a.m. Turn your clocks forward one hour to 3 a.m.
Changing the clocks is always a good time to sync changing the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Fire safety officials recommend changing those batteries at least once a year and replacing the detectors every 10 years, even if they’re hard-wired.

Motlow State Community College will be holding a Cleanup Day at all four of its campuses this fall to provide Tennessee Promise students the opportunity to fulfill their eight hours of community service requirement. The deadline for community service for the spring semester is Dec. 1.
Each of the four Motlow campuses will hold a Cleanup Day that will be on a specific Friday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Motlow staff members will be available to help students register and log their community service hours.
The following cleanup days are scheduled: Moore County campus, Oct. 28; McMinnville campus Nov. 4; Fayetteville campus Nov. 11; and Smyrna campus Nov. 18.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Tennessee Promise students to satisfy a very important requirement in order to maintain Promise funding,” said Debra Smith, Tennessee Promise coordinator at Motlow. “Our thanks goes out to the Motlow State facilities team for helping to make this happen. It is a win-win opportunity, as it not only benefits the students but also helps to build student pride in helping to keep our beautiful Motlow campuses clean.”
The deadline for application for Tennessee Promise for current Tennessee high school seniors, those graduating in 2017, is Nov. 1.
For more information contact Debra Smith at dsmith@mscc.edu or call 931-438-9766.

On Thursday in Tullahoma, Tennessee Highway Patrolmen responded to a “Be on the Lookout” for a possible vehicle involved in a credit card theft or scam. The vehicle matching the bolo was located on North Jackson Street in Tullahoma.
The arrest warrants indicates that upon making contact with the driver and passenger it was discovered they had numerous credit cards in their possession. A check through Capital One Credit Card Company confirmed that the cards were fraudulent. The cards allegedly were reportedly from a personal debit account to an unknown person at this time, the investigation to find the victim is ongoing.

Nykeisha Michelle Jenkins age 26 and Shakha Osman Daniels age 22 both of Atlanta, GA were charged by troopers Donnie Clark and Jason Boles with Criminal Simulation and Identity theft/use of another’s information. They were booked in at the Coffee County Jail under bonds was set at $100,000 each. Jenkins and Daniels will both appear in court on Nov. 22, 2016.

The Hickerson Volunteer Fire Department received a page out for a house fire from the Coffee County Communication Center around 10pm Saturday night. The fire was at 3284 Old Tullahoma Hwy across from 3-Way Market. Emergency crews arrived on the scene and extinguished the blaze.
It was discovered that the home was unoccupied and no injuries were reported.
Hickerson Volunteer Fire Department was called back to the home on Sunday morning just before noon for a rekindle and they were able to put that fire out as well.
The fire is under investigation.

Press Release: Changes in state assessments for students in Tennessee have occurred on a somewhat regular basis; in fact, some people may claim that changes were put in place for which our schools were not prepared to follow. Case in point: the online testing situation in 2015-2016. Although many school systems prepared to assess their students in grades 3-8 and grades 9-12 students enrolled in classes with End of Course tests in English/Language Arts and Mathematics, the promised online platform was not ready. To add insult to injury, the pencil-and-paper format of the TNReady assessment was not shipped in time for students in grades 3-8 to take their tests at all. Despite these setbacks experienced last year, the state of Tennessee has plans in place for students to complete their assessments successfully in 2016-2017. Some aspects of the testing plan remain the same, but there are changes in store for students in Coffee County Schools.
With respect to the testing platform, students in grades 3-8 will take all of their assessments with pencil-and-paper this year. However, Coffee County students in grades 9-12 will complete their English/Language Arts and Mathematics tests on computers. Also, students who were previously assessed with a portfolio system will now take their tests on computer. This plan is part of a gradual phase-in of online testing over a three-year period. As part of this new online testing plan, a new vendor contracted with the state of Tennessee to provide assessment and scoring of these assessments.
Additional testing requirements for some students will also be in place this year. The state of Tennessee has developed a new test for students in Grade 2. Coffee County students in Grade 2 will take this test in the spring semester. At the high school level, students in Grade 11 who want to graduate with a regular diploma must take either the ACT or SAT to fulfill part of their graduation requirement. The state has provided the opportunity for students to take one of these college readiness tests during the school day instead of reporting to a national testing center on a Saturday morning.
Another change involving testing concerns how much weight test results contribute to a student’s overall grade. In past years, the results from state testing made up 25% of the grade for the second semester. Since there were no test results available for 2015-2016, testing did not contribute any weight for final grades last year. For the next three years, the following scale has been proposed for the percentage that testing will contribute to a student’s final grade:
 2016-2017: 10% of the final grade
 2017-2018: 15% of the final grade
 2018-2019 and beyond: 15-25% of the final grade
Each school district will decide the weight of state testing for 2018-2019 and beyond within the amount allowed by the State Board of Education.