Category: News

Alford Lazo Jr age 34 of Murfreesboro Hwy Manchester was arrested on Thursday afternoon for DUI, driving on a revoked license (3rd offense) escape, evading arrest, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, theft of property, vandalism, violation of the implied consent law, violation of probation, and three attachment warrants and he’s facing a parole violation (no bond). Other charges are pending.

On Thursday afternoon Manchester Police officers and Coffee County deputies responded to a call about a possible impaired driver passed out in his car at Sonic. Apparently the subject left the area and drove to Old Bushy Branch Road with officers following. The subject was then stopped where the officer obtained his identification. Lazo allegedly drove off leading police on a pursuit where he finally crashed to end the pursuit. The man was apprehended and placed in the back of a Manchester Patrol car. A short time later the subject escaped the rear of the patrol car and then jumped in the front of the police car driving away leading police on a second pursuit. Lazo Jr apparently attempted to strike several officers with the vehicle eventually crashing the vehicles in a field.
Three county vehicles received damage with one being extensive and the Manchester police car the subject attempted to leave in was heavily damaged along with one other vehicle receiving damage in the second pursuit. Coffee County Investigator Kerry Farrar received injuries in the pursuit and was treated and released from Unity Medical Center.
At this time Lazo Jr is being held on a bond of $177,100 and is set to be in court on April 28, 2016.

On Thursday morning Coffee County deputies responded to the Dollar General store on McMinnville Highway in reference to a theft and assault. When Corporal Stephen Sharketti arrived the victims told Sharketti that they were attempting to detain the subject for theft of items valued at $40.00. According to the arrest warrant the victims told officers that Jennifer Danielle Webb age 30 of Lowell Colony Rd Manchester stole items and concealed them in her purse. The warrant goes onto say that after taking the items from her purse she became agitated and grabbed a box cutter from the area and began threaten and fighting with employees and that’s when one of the employees allegedly received a three inch laceration on her arm. Upon deputies making contact with her, she apparently refused to comply with instructions to remove her hands from inside her pants where she was allegedly hiding contraband.
Webb was charged with, resisting, halt, frisk, stop, arrest or search, 2 counts of aggravated assault, failure to appear and theft of property. Bond was set at $29,000 and her court date was set for May 9, 2016.

On Friday morning Manchester Officer Jordan Watson stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation on Highway 55 near the Red Raider Academy. A check of John T Anderson’s driving privileges revealed his license to be revoked/suspended. The vehicle was allegedly stolen out of the state of New Mexico.
Anderson age 52 of Sewanee, TN was charged with driving on a revoked/suspended license and theft of property. His bond was set at $16,500 and he’ll be in court on April 26, 2016.

A special called meeting of the Manchester City School Board will be held at 5pm on Monday inside the administration building on Fort St. This meeting is being held to further discuss the Director of Schools position.
Board member Susan Parsley made a motion last week to approach current Coffee County High School Principal Dr Joey Vaughn with a contract for director of schools. This comes after Vaughn recently pulled his name from consideration. Board member Lisa Gregory said at last week’s meeting the board should consider offering interim director Sandra Morris a limited contract of somewhere between 60-120 days until a new director can be named.

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department has been involved with several law enforcement agencies in the investigation of a recent rash of burglaries in Coffee and other surrounding counties.
As a result of partnering with the Shelbyville Police Department, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office five individuals have been charged in the burglaries. Investigators from the various agencies worked long hours for over 2 weeks in order to solve these cases that have affected multiple areas.
The victims in these crimes will be contacted once the investigators have finished pursuing the locations of property taken.
The names of the people involved in the crimes will be announced later. Charges are pending locally.
Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves said he is very proud of his investigators and thanks the numerous departments involved to bring an end to these cases.

A Rutherford County high school booster club paid out almost $100,000 in gift cards and cash over a four-year period in numerous unauthorized transactions, according to an investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office. John Dunn, spokesman for the office, described what investigators found, which has since been turned over to the county district attorney to determine if any laws were broken. “What we found,” Dunn said, “was that the Blackman High School Football Booster Club basically opened a second account for the purposes of paying their coaches pretty much on the side in a way to circumvent a policy that required them to make those payments through the central office.” In a statement, the Rutherford County School District said Blackman High School’s principal reported “questionable accounting issues related to the football booster club program” shortly after she became principal of the school in 2014. The school district notified the state comptroller of the allegations immediately and has complied fully with the state’s investigation. Dunn said booster club leaders say they were acting under the direction of the school’s athletic department. “Booster Club officials really told us that that action was directed by their former head football coach, who resigned in March of last year,” Dunn said. “Booster Club officials told us the coach was actually telling them who to write checks to and then to provide that cash to those folks.” The Comptroller’s Office doesn’t investigate booster clubs unless there is an allegation of fraud, Dunn said, adding that his office has been investigating such complaints with more regularity in recent years. Details of the investigation are online at comptroller.tn.gov/ia.
According to officials no charges will be filed.
Dr Ladonna McFall Director of Schools emailed Thunder Radio a copy of the rules for clubs operating in the system and states that only a group or organization that has entered into a written cooperative agreement with the Board may use the name, mascot or logo of a school or the school district to solicit or raise the money, materials, property, securities, services, or other things of value. The school support organization’s officers shall ensure that school support organization funds are safeguarded and are spent only for purposes related to the stated goals and objectives of the organization.

It has been more than a decade since Middle Tennessee has dealt with swarms of cicadas.
The last time the 13-year periodical cicada emerged from the ground was in May of 1998.
Come May of this year, most of Middle Tennessee will again see the cicadas, Brood XIX.
Various populations are called broods and scientists use Roman numerals to designate which brood they are referring to.
The cicadas will start appearing in early May and live for about five to six weeks.
Cicadas are completely harmless but they are very loud and the noise could affect outdoor events in May like picnics or weddings.
The female cicadas can also cause damage to young trees when laying eggs.
Females prefer branches about the size of a pencil.
They cut into the underside of the branch and lay their eggs.

On Wednesday Tullahoma Officer Tommy Elliott stopped Leonard F Pike on 315 East Lincoln Street for suspicious activity in the area. According to the arrest warrant, Officer Elliott made contact with Pike and detected in plain view a used hypodermic needle lying in the back seat of the vehicle. Elliott then allegedly searched the vehicle and located 2 pistols hidden under the center console of the vehicle along with ammunition for both firearms. The warrant goes onto to say that the officer located in the Pike’s front jacket pocket a pill crusher that contained two white pills believed to be Hydrocodone that the man did not have a prescription with him at the time of his arrest.
Pike age 37 of Fountain Grove Road Manchester was charged with unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities, unlawful carrying or possession of a weapon and schedule II drug violations. Bond was set at $10,500 and Pike has a court date set for May 12, 2016.