Category: News

Education officials say changes in standardized testing in Tennessee are expected to reduce testing time for students and teachers by about 30 percent.
The Tennessean reports the state has cut the first part of spring standardized testing to create only one assessment window at the end of the school year.
The changes stem from the Tennessee Department of Education’s two-year, $60 million contract with Minnesota-based Questar Assessment, which was finalized last week.
The changes mean that in grades 3-8, students will spend about three-and-a-half hours less time on state-mandated standardized testing each year. High school students will also see a cut in year-end tests with a typical 11th-grader seeing about the same reduction in testing time.
Education Commissioner Candice McQueen says that keeps flexibility for schools and maximizes instructional time.

The literal dirty truth about child rearing is the high price of diapers – which can cost families from $70 to $80 per month per child. Congress is considering legislation that would fund pilot programs in states such as Tennessee to help low-income families afford this necessity. There are currently no federal programs that meet the need, according to Alison Weir with the National Diaper Bank Network.
“You tell people that you can’t buy diapers with food stamps or WIC, and the first response is ‘What!’” Weir said. “Neither program is meant for that, but the programs that were meant to cover basic needs have all shrunk to the point where there’s a big hole in the safety net.”
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, is the only program that provides money that could be used for diapers. But in Tennessee, that benefit is limited to $185 per month for a household with one parent and two children.
Missouri recently opted to fund diaper banks, and California is considering a voucher to offset the cost for children enrolled in subsidized day care. The federal bill was referred to a House subcommittee for consideration.
The pressure to provide diapers for children often forces parents to make tough choices, Weir said. It’s a fact illustrated by a survey from Feeding America in which parents shared some surprising confessions.
“A large number of folks admitted to delaying changing a diaper or, in some cases, shaking a diaper out and trying to reuse it,” she said. “And if you don’t have diapers, in most cases you can’t leave your child at day care because most day cares require parents to provide the diapers their child will use.”
There are currently two diaper banks in Tennessee, located in Nashville and Memphis. Of the 240,000 children under age three in the state, almost one-third live in households that fall below the federal poverty line.
For more information, visit nationaldiaperbanknetwork.org or feedingamerica.org.

We told you on Thursday about a two-vehicle crash in Tullahoma. According to an accident report from the Tullahoma Police Department, a 2005 Chevrolet operated by Kayla Brooke Hickey, 21, of McMinnville ran a traffic light at the viaduct in Tullahoma during a police pursuit early Thursday morning and T-boned 66 year-old Joe Moon’s 2009 Ford Pickup truck, Moon a retired City of Tullahoma employee was pronounced dead at the scene. A Coffee County deputy attempted to stop Hickey’s vehicle for a traffic violation near the Summitville community around midnight Wednesday night.

Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves says the reason that the driver was being stopped by a deputy was a busted license plate light and the passenger acted suspicious by trying to hide from view of the deputy. He says another reason the pursuit continued was that Hickey attempted to hit a deputy head-on at the Hwy 41/55 intersection in Manchester.
Sheriff Graves added that Manchester and Tullahoma City police departments along with the Tennessee Highway Patrol were called to provide assistance.
The sheriff says that the investigation is continuing and any other information will be released by the District Attorney Craig Northcott’s office.

Driver–Kayla B Hickey age 21

• Schedule I, II and IV drug violations
• Manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance
• Vehicular homicide
• Driving on revoked/suspended
• Evading arrest
• Reckless endangerment
• Aggravated assault
• Unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities
• Unlawful carrying or possession of a weapon, illegal possession
• Bond $240,500. Court 7-25-16

Passenger Charleston Dakota Ortega age 22 of Rock Island, TN

• Firearm use in association with dangerous felonies
• Tampering with or fabricating evidence/destruction of evidence
• 3 counts of schedule II drug violation along with a schedule IV drug violation
• Unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities
• Manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance
• Vehicular homicide
• Tampering with or fabricating evidence/destruction

Bond $229,000. Court 7-25-16

A Manchester man was arrested after he allegedly took meat products from Kroger in Tullahoma and trying to leave without paying for them.
Store employee William Stephenson reported on July 13 to Tullahoma Police Officer John Bratten that Jerry Williamson, 52, of Mill Street, Manchester placed several packages of steak from the meat department in his pants and attempted to leave without paying.
Williamson is to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court Aug. 18 on charges of shoplifting.

The Manchester Tourism and Community Development Commission in partnership with the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce and Manchester Parks and Recreation announced they have received a $41,000 tourism enhancement grant from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development & Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. These funds along with $17,000 from the Manchester Tourism and Community Development Commission to total $58,000 will be used for additional electrical infrastructure and facility enhancements at the Manchester Parks and Recreation’s Soccer Complex.
“The Parks and Recreation Department is excited to work in partnership with the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce and the Tourism Commission on providing electrical service to the new Soccer Complex. The partnership allowed us to tap into the Tourism Enhancement Grant program funding to further develop the Soccer Complex. The electrical service is an important step forward to creating a venue for soccer to attract tournaments and tourism dollars to our local economy,” said Bonnie Gamble, Director, Manchester Parks and Recreation.

Former Tullahoma resident Brad Scott recently donated seven college football related books to the Motlow State Community College Clayton-Glass Library as part of the ‘Books for Binns’ project.
The project is named for Lawson Binns Jordan, who was the first radio play-by-play broadcaster of Motlow State sports in the 1970s. Jordan also worked at the Follett Bookstore on Motlow’s Moore County campus for a decade, provided color commentary on Tullahoma High School football broadcasts and was co-host of the popular radio sports talk show, ‘Sports Plus’. He died at the age of 67 from cancer in February 2014.
The ‘Books for Binns’ project was started by Motlow alumnus and former basketball star Andy Baits in 2014 with his donation of “Wooden, A Coach’s Life”. All ‘Books for Binns’ are available for checkout at the library.
Scott made the donation from his home in Port Charlotte, Fla., through his first cousin Scott Shasteen, Motlow’s athletic director.
The new additions to the ‘Books for Binns’ project include: “The Last Coach: The Life of Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant”, “Bowden: How Bobby Bowden Forged a Football Dynasty”, “Called to Coach: Reflections on Life, Faith, and Football”, “Bragging Rights: A Season Inside the SEC, College Football’s Toughest Conference”, “Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting”, “Southern Fried Football: The History, Passion, and Glory of the Great Southern Game” and “Pigskin Warriors: 140 Years of College Football’s Greatest Traditions, Games, and Stars”.
“It is important that the early pioneers of Motlow State athletics be remembered,” said Shasteen. “Binns Jordan was the first person to promote Motlow athletics in the media and he was synonymous with the Bucks throughout his life.

The Manchester Times and Thunder Radio hosted a political forum on Thursday evening at the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center.
Candidates for Manchester School Board, Alderman, Mayor, Tennessee State Representative and State Senate spoke and answered questions during the event. If you missed the forum or would like to re-listen, go to WMSRradio.com and click on the downloads page.
Early Voting runs July 15 – July 30 and Election Day is August 4. In Manchester you vote at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza 1329 McArthur Street, Suite 6, Monday-Friday 8:00-4:30PM and Saturday 8:30-12:00 PM and in Tullahoma at the C.D. Stamps building at 810 South Jackson St, 9AM-4:30PM and Saturday 9AM-Noon.

LISTEN TO THE POLITICAL FORUM

Casey J. Young, 22, of Louisville KY, a Bonnaroo attendee back in June died after he was struck by two vehicles. A medical examiner in Nashville has determined that Young died as a result of an accident.
The accident occurred in the early morning hours on June 11 and Assistant County Medical Examiner Emily H. Dennison said in a written report that his cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries. No alcohol or drugs were found in Young’s system.
According to the THP, Young was in the interstate median near mile marker 112 and Powers Road for an unknown reason when he went into the eastbound lanes. He struck the side of a 2017 tractor-trailer before falling on the roadway and then was hit by a 1996 Jeep.

Tennessee programs will receive a quarter of a million dollars to support injury and violence prevention programs.
The grant is part of $30 million distributed nationwide from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reduce injury and violence related mortality.
Angela Marr, practice integration and evaluation branch chief for the CDC Injury Center, says the agency would rather spend money on programs to prevent problems before they happen.
“The strategies that we had selected were things that are intended to be preventive, so we think this is just absolutely key and we are thrilled to see the number of lives it’s going to impact and change in Tennessee,” she states.
Specifically, the CDC is working with the state to reduce traumatic brain injuries, child abuse and sexual violence.
The $250,000 dollars in Tennessee will fund additional safety procedures at child care centers, increase the number of hospitals implementing shaken baby syndrome prevention programs and increase the number of schools offering programs to discourage intimate partner violence, among others.
According to the CDC, injury from violence is the leading cause of death in the first four decades of life.
Marr says taking a big picture approach across population groups will help reduce injuries and mortality in this state.
“We believe that if you can look at systems-based change, that this is really the way that we’re going to achieve population level change and actually see some of the numbers drop for these issues across the state,” she says. “Our hope at CDC is that we see these numbers drop across the nation.”
In 2014, 963 people died on Tennessee roads. According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, from 2012 to 2014, domestic violence resulted in 270 murders.

Four Coffee County offices are housed in the Justice Center building in Manchester and have had storage issues for some time. The offices are the Circuit Court Clerk, Chancery Court, Clerk and Master, Youth Services, and Probation. Coffee County officials are trying to improve the situation by transforming some of the cell blocks at the old jail into storage rooms to be used by county offices. The old jail is located next to the Justice Center building.
The intent is for the offices to move some of the older files to the soon-to-be-renovated storage area at the old jail. Three cells have been cleaned up and painted to allow the circuit court clerk’s office to move older files to the old jail for storage and officials are waiting for more room to be made in six cells for the other offices.