Category: News

Hester Lockridge of Woodbury was arrested this week just a short time after being released from jail. He was charged with driving on a revoked driver’s license.
Deputies in Cannon County saw Lockridge driving on the John Bragg Highway. Allegedly the vehicle crossed the center line and authorities made a traffic stop.
Deputies allowed him to call for a licensed driver to come pick up the car to keep it from being towed.
Deputies ran a check on a passenger in the car, Samantha Briggs and they were told there was an active warrant on Briggs in Coffee County so she was arrested as well.
As deputies were waiting on the person to drive the vehicle to arrive, they were told that person had been pulled over by the Woodbury Police Department and was under arrest for methamphetamine charges. The vehicle was later removed from the scene.

In their second annual study SmartAsset, a New York financial technology company, determines the places in America where Social Security goes furthest. The study analyzes Social Security income, cost of living data, and taxes across all counties to determine where people are getting the most mileage out of Social Security. Coffee County cracked the list at number 8 in Tennessee, up from their rank of 55 last year. Loudon County ranked 1^st and Moore County was 3rd.

A bill that would require transgender students to use bathrooms that match their sex at birth has failed.
The bill died in a House Education Administration and Planning Committee meeting Tuesday that was packed with transgender youth who opposed the measure.
Transgender students who testified before the committee were elated and said they felt like sharing their personal stories had impacted the vote.
Religious conservatives had pushed the legislation, which was supported by Coffee County State Rep. Judd Matheny.
A revised fiscal note on the bill said the federal government could withhold education money if the bill passed. The fiscal note said Tennessee had received $1 billion in federal education funds last year.
Gov. Bill Haslam had objected to the bill because he was concerned that Tennessee could lose federal funding if it passed.

We hear reports all the time about “Human Trafficking” which is the exploitation of human beings for personal gain.
Hannah Harmon is a missionary whose heart has become burdened by the plight of modern day slavery. To show her support in abolishing slavery and to raise awareness about human trafficking in the United States she’s riding a bicycle over 12,000 miles in 166 days through 37 states. Harmon wants to start conversations about the problem and help launch anti-trafficking initiatives in communities everywhere.
Harmon will arrive in Manchester on Friday around 2pm and will be escorted by the Manchester Police bike patrol and the Coffee County Sheriff’s deputies to St Paul United Methodist Church. She will speak at the church at 6:30pm during the Good Friday service. The church is located at 30 Cat Creek Rd behind Westwood Middle School.

A Tullahoma resident had to be rescued from a structure fire that occurred last week in the 1200 block of Pickett Drive.
According to Tullahoma Fire Chief Richard Shasteen, the first arriving firefighters were on the scene in less than five minutes. Firefighters Josh Nelms and Rocky Rhoton were able to rescue a resident from the home.
The individual victim was transported to Tennova Healthcare-Harton for observation and kept overnight. The other occupants were able to escape.
Chief Shasteen said that firefighters entered the front door and found heavy smoke inside of the home with little visibility.
Firefighters were able to locate and extinguish the blaze within a matter of a few minutes.
Fire units did stay on scene for about 2 1/2 hours to make sure the fire was completely extinguished.
Chief Shasteen said that the preliminary investigation of how the fire started is still ongoing, but it appears to be accidental.
He said that damages to the home were estimated to be around $50,000.
The home was left not fit to live because of extensive smoke, fire and water damage.

After a critical audit report earlier this year detailing a loss of more than $300,000, the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center (MCCCC) ended the month of February in the black.
According to a report in the Tullahoma News, the center turned a profit of $4,434.24 in February after paying $11,000 in outstanding credit card debt.
The Coffee County Public Building Authority (PBA) is making an effort to improve the financial standing of the conference center after a recent audit revealed an operating loss of $301,329.01 during the 2014-15 fiscal year.
MCCCC Interim General Manager Rebecca French said, “We had to pay $11,000 on the outstanding credit card [debt] and we paid back August 2015 payroll to the county.” “After making payments to our auditors, but not paying them in full, we made a profit of $4,434.24.
“If we didn’t have the outstanding credit card, we would have $15,434.24 in profit. That monthly number includes all of our taxes and bills paid for the month. The credit card has been recommended, and voted to be paid off and closed so that this situation can never happen again.”
French credited a full calendar of events, busier than the month of December, for helping the conference center make a profit.

This Thursday afternoon at 5 P.M. the Manchester Board of Education will begin to interview current Coffee County High School Principal Dr Joey Vaughn. Vaughn is being interviewed about the open Director of Schools position with Manchester City Schools. The interview will take place at the administrative building at 215 E. Fort Street, downstairs.
Last week during a school meeting where members of the board were contemplating between six other candidates school board Chairman Mike Lewis said he thought the board should ask the local education administrator about the possibility that he might interested in being the next director of schools. Vaughn once worked for the city school system.

All day Tuesday people were calling authorities in the area about thick black smoke around LKQ Used Auto Parts and the Coffee County Jail on the Hillsboro Highway. Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves said that this was a controlled burn of brush and debris by state officials.
At times traffic had to be rerouted because of the heavy smoke that blew across the highway.
There was no word given on how many days this controlled burn would continue.