Category: News

Todd E. Dalton, the second of four defendants charged in the 2013 Corey N. Matthews’ murder, will go on trial Wednesday once the jury has been selected. All four defendants one time all lived in Coffee County.
Last summer, David Jenkins, who was the first of the defendants to go on trial for Matthews’ murder, was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole on June 9, 2015.
Matthew’s badly beaten body was found March 24, 2013, in a cornfield in Cowan by a Cowan Police Officer who had been searching for the man after family members reported him missing.
Jury selection will take place with Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Graham presiding.

A Manchester man has been charged the theft of a dirt bike belonging to an Alabama man.
Eugene J. Kinney III, 19, of Manchester has been charged with theft of property.
An Alabama man reported on Feb. 26 to Tullahoma Police Officer Mickey Blanton that his dirt bike was stolen from him in the parking lot of Bel Aire School.
Matthew Sapp reported that he had advertised the bike for sell on Craigslist and an individual in Tullahoma had contacted him about it. Sapp drove to the school parking lot to let an individual see it but when the man test drove it, he just kept going. The Alabama man said that he did not know the name of the individual that he met, just his cell phone number.
The dirt bike is valued at $3,000.
Kinney was arrested Feb. 29. His bond was set at $15,000 and he is to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court March 3.

Animal rights activists attended county meetings last week in support of dogs they allege are being abused by Coffee County Animal Control employees.
A petition to end animal cruelty at the animal shelter by shutting down the facility and replacing the staff with personnel “that has been trained to properly care for animals” currently has several signatures.
The animal welfare meeting opened with discussion of the Coffee County Budget and Finance Committee’s approval of $500 for the purchase of a new color printer and scale.
Commissioner Margaret Cunningham presented photos of a dog illustrating its weight loss over two months at the shelter.
The purpose of the new items is to document each dog’s condition upon arrival to the animal shelter.
The committee also plans to implement a volunteer program and more thorough paperwork for owners to fill out when turning over a dog to the shelter. (Tullahoma News)

The first Saturday in May, Motlow State Community College dual enrollment student Alexis Dietz will accomplish something no other Tullahoma High School (THS) student in history has ever accomplished. She will be the first THS student to earn her Motlow State associate degree BEFORE she receives her high school diploma.
Dietz knew that dual graduation was a goal for herself after seeing Motlow’s president hand out diplomas to area high school students at a previous Motlow graduation ceremony. Students from a number of area high schools, including Moore County, Smyrna, Coffee County and Lincoln County have earned dual enrollment degrees in the past.
She participated in Motlow’s dual enrollment program that allows high school students to earn college credits while still enrolled in high school. Students that qualify can take classes on a Motlow State campus, online, or even at a partner high school. Motlow’s dual enrollment program currently has over 600 high school students that participate.

The 2016 Presidential Preference Primary and Coffee County Primary will be held Tuesday (March 1, 2016).
You’ll be able to vote in the Presidential Preference Primary and county primary. The county offices are: Public Defender (unexpired six (6) year term), Assessor of Property, Constable – Seat 4 – Dist. 3, 14 & 16 (unexpired two (2) year term) and Constable – Seat 7 – Dist. 17, 19 & 20 (unexpired two (2) year term). District Offices are elected by voters living in those areas only.
3,461 people voted early in Coffee County with 2,588 voting Republican and 873 casting ballots for Democrats.
Polls open at 8am and close at 7pm. Live election coverage begins at 7pm on Thunder Radio.

A 15-year-old Tullahoma youth is in stable but critical condition in a Chattanooga hospital after being struck by a train early Sunday morning just outside of Tullahoma.
According to Franklin County Sheriff Tim Fuller, the department received a report from CSX after a train hit the teen in the area between Blackberry Lane and UT Farm Road around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
An investigation by the sheriff’s department revealed that the teen, who authorities are not identifying, along with three others were walking along the railroad tracks when the train struck him. He was flown to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga for treatment of his injuries.
According to sheriff’s department spokesman Sgt. Chris Guess, the boy was in custody of a contracted foster care home in Tullahoma.

Here’s another reason to teach your kids a second language. Research in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology shows children learning two languages perform better at certain problem-solving tasks than their monolingual peers. Cristina Crivello, a Ph.D. student at the University of Concordia in Montreal led the study. She says one-and-a-half-year-old bilingual children have abilities that are beneficial for people at any age. “It’s these specific cognitive abilities, like selective attention and cognitive flexibility,” says Crivello. “Where they have to focus on relevant information, and ignore distracting information.” Although there is no consensus yet on exactly how learning other languages improves the brain, Crivello suggests that switching between languages mirrors the process of switching between tasks. Tennessee requires graduating high school students have two units of foreign language, but there is no requirement for kindergarten through fifth grade. Speaking another language also can improve children’s chances of getting a job later in life, both at home and abroad. Bridget Yaden, professor of Hispanic studies, Pacific Lutheran University whose third-grader is enrolled in a dual-immersion language program, says her son will be able to bring another set of skills to potential employers. Those employers could be in any number of countries around the world. “Just the general ability to learn a second language or a third language, he could really go anywhere and be much more open to the cultural practices and really kind of make his way,” says Yaden. Children immersed in other languages can more easily pick them up, because their brains are more receptive to acquiring language. Yaden, who also teaches foreign languages, says she can see how fast her son is progressing compared with her college students. “He’s definitely leaps and bounds beyond where my college students, who may have had the same amount of time with the language, are,” she says. “He’s definitely progressed much more quickly.” Yaden, who is fluent in Spanish, adds she didn’t study a foreign language until high school.

The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame has announced that The University of the South (Sewanee) 1899 football team will be honored as the Historical Achievement Award recipient at its 50th Anniversary Banquet on Saturday, June 18, 2016, at the Omni Nashville Hotel.
The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee made its place in the history of College Football in 1899. That year the Sewanee Tigers went 12-0-0.
What further distinguishes the Sewanee Iron Men in college football history is the remarkable schedule they played. Sewanee took the ultimate road trip to play five games in six days, and all five games were won in shutouts. The Tigers travelled over 2500 miles on a train defeating Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, Louisiana State, and Ole Miss. This amazing team shut out the five best teams in the southern half of the United States.
For more on this story click on our sports page.

Franklin County authorities reported Sunday that a teenager had been hit by a train.
The sheriff’s office reported a CSX train struck the teen between Blackberry Lane and UT Farm Road around 3:30am Sunday morning
The victim was transported to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga where he was listed in critical condition.
The identity of the victim has not be released. He was accompanied by three other unidentified males.
The victim was described as a white male, 5 feet 8 inches tall, wearing a green-colored hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and red Nike shoes. A teal backpack with a panther logo on it in gold writing was found at the scene.
The Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone having any information to please call 931-962-0123.