Category: News

A court date has been set for a woman who is a parent of a teen who fatally shot a schoolmate.
Jennifer Ann Amacher of Tullahoma, will go before a judge on Dec. 15. She is charged with reckless endangerment.
Last December, Amacher was at the 127 Honey Lane, Estill Springs resident, when her 12 year old son shot and killed 11 year old Sienna Dusk Owens.
Amacher is defended by Bobby Peters. A discussion date has been set for Dec. 6 at which time a plea deal could be struck between Amacher’s lawyers and the District Attorney.
Should a deal be reached, Amacher’s official plea would be made on Dec. 15.
If no deal is reached, the case will proceed with trial.

A tractor trailer truck trying to make the turn at the viaduct off of Jackson Street in Tullahoma overturned Tuesday afternoon around 12:30 p.m. According to the Tullahoma Police Department, the truck which was hauling 40,000 lbs. of wood appeared to have had a “blow out” in a left rear tire causing the truck to overturn. Because of the wood, oil leak and diesel leak, the east bound lane of East Carroll over the viaduct was closed off for several hours while emergency personnel worked to upright the truck and clean up the spill. Tullahoma Fire and Police Departments, Coffee County Emergency Management Agency and Tennessee Department of Transportation worked with a wrecker crew to upright the truck and clean up the debris. There were no injuries but as a precautionary measure the driver of the truck was transported to Tennova—Harton Hospital to be “checked out.”

A Cannon County woman is charged with TennCare fraud in nearby Rutherford County in a case involving prescription drugs.
The Office of Inspector General has announced the arrest of April Smotherman, 43, of Woodbury. She is charged with five counts of TennCare fraud relating to doctor shopping, which involves going to multiple doctors in a short period of time to obtain prescription drugs. Smotherman is accused of doctor shopping for the painkiller Hydrocodone. She turned herself in to authorities at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.
“Unauthorized use of TennCare to obtain prescription drugs is a serious crime we are pursuing every day across the state,” Inspector General Manny Tyndall said. “The Office of Inspector General is committed to ensuring TennCare benefits are not abused in this manner so that we preserve the program.”
District Attorney General Jennings H. Jones is prosecuting. As of July 1, 2016, TennCare fraud was changed to a Class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
The OIG, which is separate from TennCare, began full operation in February 2005 and has investigated cases leading to more than $3 million being repaid to TennCare, with a total estimated cost avoidance of more than $163.6 million for TennCare, according to latest figures. To date, 2,739 people have been charged with TennCare fraud.
Anyone can report suspected TennCare fraud by calling 1-800-433-3982 toll-free from anywhere in Tennessee, or visit the website and follow prompts that read “Report TennCare Fraud.”

The Estimated $3 (M) Exit 111 A ramp on I-24 eastbound opened to the public in Manchester around noon on Tuesday.
All interstate eastbound traffic wanting to go to Tullahoma will take the new ramp and not have to cross over Hwy 55 in order to turn toward Tullahoma.
Civil Constructors Foreman Scott Hansert said the wooded area between Coffee County Raider Academy and the Interstate was all wetlands. An 18-foot high wall was built to avoid grading the roadway and filling in the wetland.
All eastbound traffic wanting to travel to McMinnville will take Exit 111 B. An island will be built to block traffic at 111 B that formally went toward Tullahoma.

ONE DAY OF HOPE will take place Saturday Oct. 15 at the Coffee County Fairgrounds from 10am-2pm. The event began in 2012 with about 6 churches and about 30 volunteers. Around 2,000 folks showed up that day for primarily clothes and some food and medical care. This year around 5,000 people are expected to be helped by 1,000 volunteers.
ONE DAY OF HOPE is day to reach out to our community in the name of Jesus to provide clothes, food, coats, shoes, various FREE services (medical/dental, haircuts, family portraits, groceries, etc)

Last Thursday Tullahoma police officers were doing a walk through at Dossett Apartments. Officers heard a female screaming and a male subject shouting in an apartment. Police report, that neither person would come to the door and the female was still screaming. According to the arrest warrant Tullahoma Police made forced entry through the front door. Upon entering the apartment the female victim was on a bed crying uncontrollably with allegedly severe injuries all about her body. The warrant goes onto say the victim told officers that the man identified as Dustin DeWayne Burgess age 21 Old Woodbury Hwy Manchester allegedly attempted to strangle her. Police say she had large marks on her neck, bruising on her arms, legs, feet and upper back and she also had a black eye.
Burgess was taken into custody by Tullahoma Officer Rocky Ruehling and charged with Aggravated assault and he was also facing a previous failure to appear, and vandalism charges.

A Tullahoma woman reported to Tullahoma Police that she was a victim of a scam.
The woman told Officer Tyler Walls on Sept. 23 that she received a phone call from an individual telling her that she owed $6,000 to the IRS in back taxes. The caller told the woman that she needed to send them 13 iTunes cards containing $500 each.
She then went and purchased the cards gave the caller information from the cards.
The woman told the officer that according to caller ID the call originated from a Washington D.C. number.
Police advised that the IRS does not call people and tell them that they owe the federal agency, they send a letter notifying of a debt. And they certainly do not tell people to purchase an iTune card.

Drugged driving has overtaken drunken and distracted driving as a factor in Tennessee traffic fatalities.
Citing an analysis of Tennessee Highway Patrol data, The Tennessean reports the number of deaths from crashes with drug-impaired drivers leapt by 89 percent from 2010 to 2015.
Last year, 174 people died in crashes in which a driver either tested positive for drugs or an officer determined drugs contributed to the crash. For alcohol, the tally reached 136 deaths, while distracted driving was associated with 51 killed.
Experts have attributed the increase to a rising prevalence of prescription drug abuse. Officers are also now better trained to detect drug-impaired drivers.
Traffic fatalities in general are on the rise in Tennessee this year, but it is too early to tell how many are drug-related.

Gov. Bill Haslam says he’s concerned that too much Tennessee history could be stripped from teaching requirements in the state’s public schools under an update to social studies standards. A draft version would remove a slew of Tennessee events from U.S. history courses, including major milestones in the civil rights movements for minorities and women and several key Civil War battles fought on state soil. Haslam told reporters on Monday that he has heard complaints from several people about the proposed changes but that he hasn’t yet studied them himself. The governor said he’s confident the professional educators involved in the review process will recognize Tennessee history is “critical for people growing up in our schools system.” The public comment period for the new standards ends Oct. 28.