Category: News

Washington is closed for business this week as the nation’s capital digs out from a record-setting snowstorm. But before lawmakers got snowed in, members of the U.S. Senate released a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize child nutrition programs, including the national school lunch and breakfast programs for the next five years. The bill doubles funding for the Farm to School Grant Program, streamlines summer meal coordination and expands summer meal programs. Claire DiMattina, executive director with the advocacy group Food Policy Action, says if passed the legislation would have a direct impact on children in the state. “In Tennessee alone nearly 700,000 children participate in the National School Lunch Program, making this re-authorization incredibly important,” says DiMattina. The legislation would also require that 80 percent of grains served in schools are whole grain rich and puts in place sodium-reduction requirements. Once lawmakers are back in session, the bill will have to be added to the calendar to be considered by the full Senate. The bill also includes funding for expanded kitchen equipment to enable staff to prepare fresh-cooked meals for students. This comes after a trend of school districts centralizing food preparation and utilizing frozen meals and vegetables. DiMattina says what’s on a school lunch tray is important. “For a lot of those kids these are one or two of the only healthy, nutritious and hopefully delicious meals they’re having every day,” she says. “So it’s important we’re providing meals that are healthy, that they want to eat, that are providing the necessary nutrients.” The former Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act that went into effect in 2010 has been criticized for encouraging a menu with food many children won’t eat. This bill is the reauthorization of that legislation and includes some changes.

A fire was reported just before midnight on Tuesday evening on Lloyd Boynton Road in the northern part of Coffee County.
All local volunteer fire departments were summoned to scene because when the emergency workers arrived on the scene the mobile home was fully engulfed.
Coffee County Investigator Billy Marcom says that two people died in the blaze. The home and a vehicle were a total loss.
Marcom added that the state bomb and arson squad reported to the location but the cause has yet to be determined. No identification of the two victims has been given and their remains have been sent to the medical examiner’s office in Nashville.

On Tuesday, Coffee County Deputy Cody Frame responded to a call at 681 Blue Springs Rd to check a vehicle that the complainant stated had got stuck in his field. The complainant stated that he watched the vehicle trying to get out of his field. He stated that when the deputy arrived on the scene the driver ran across the field.
When other deputies arrived Andrew James Nielsen was found in a tree.
Further investigation revealed that the vehicle the subject was seen exiting, was a stolen postal employee’s Ford Escape that was reported stolen January 23, 2016 in Marion, Arkansas.
At this time Nielsen was taken into custody and transported to the sheriff’s department where a warrant for theft of property was obtained and Arkansas police were contacted.
Bond for Andrew James Nielsen age 39 of Fort Dodge, Iowa was set at $250,000 and he has a court date of March 7, 2016.

Doing a quick check of email or texts on your smartphone while you’re with your children could have a long-term impact on them.
New research at University of California looking at the impact of fragmented care on brain development found that frequent interruptions to the bonding that should take place between new parents and their child can lead to emotional disorders for the child later in life.
Hal Stern, a Cal-Irvine professor and report co-author, says it should be a warning to parents who find it hard to put their phones away.
“It speaks to the importance of having, you know, regular patterns in your interactions with your child,” he states. “And a clear way to do that would be to kind of set the phone aside when it’s reading time or play time.”
Even though the study’s first phase focused on rodents, Stern says it showed distractions can break the consistent rhythms that developing brains need to ensure the growth of robust neuron networks.
He says children need greater assurance that when a parent picks up a book, for instance, that time really is reserved for them.
The researchers say what they found suggests erratic care of infants can increase the likelihood of risky behaviors, drug and alcohol use and depression in adolescence and adult life.
Stern says because mobile phones are so ubiquitous – and bring an endless stream of calls, texts and social media posts – the group’s findings are especially important for today’s parents.
“As children become adolescents, one might expect effects on risk-taking behaviors, and an increased risk of emotional disorders and the like,” he states.
Stern says the next step is to see how these discoveries in rodent behavior apply to people.
The team plans to use video analysis of parent care, and imaging technology to measure brain development, to find out if limiting distractions today can help prevent problems for tomorrow’s teens and adults.

A poison control official says two Tennessee teens are dead after drinking a mixture of racing fuel and Mountain Dew, and two others were sickened by the mixture they called “Dewshine.”
Tennessee Poison Center Medical Director Donna Seger says the teens evidently thought they could drink methanol, which is extremely toxic, as a substitute for ethanol, the ingredient in alcoholic beverages that causes intoxication.
Seger says the Robertson County teens didn’t realize drinking methanol could kill them, and she called last week’s poisonings an accident.
She says this is the first time she has seen this type of poisoning. The four cases are the only ones reported in Tennessee, and Seger is not aware of any cases in other states.

Tullahoma Police Detective Rana Pawlowski is investigating two rapes that allegedly occurred on Jan 25.
The first incident was reported to Tullahoma Officer John Bratten. The female says she went to a neighbor’s residence to borrow a DVD and while there the individual allegedly started to “perform nonconsensual sexual acts on her.
The woman was transported to Harton Regional Medical Center for treatment.
The second incident was reported around midnight.
The woman reported to Tullahoma Police Officer Chris Coe that she had been sexually assaulted.
According to Tullahoma Police Chief Paul Blackwell, one of the rapes occurred in the area of East Moore Street and North College Street, while the other occurred on the area of West Lincoln Street and Collins Street.
An arrest is pending.

On Monday, Manchester Police officers were called to Wal-Mart on the Hillsboro Blvd for a theft call. In the arrest warrant it states officers arrived and made contact with Wal-Mart security who stated that the subject had stolen approximately $24.00 worth of merchandise.
The warrant says that officers state that Justin Blake Lee was disorderly and would not follow orders to stop cursing them and Wal-Mart personal numerous times.
The warrant goes onto to say that when Manchester officers were taking him out of the store Lee kicked an emergency exit door causing approximately $500.00 in damage to the door.
The warrant says officers state that a witness watched Lee throw a zip lot baggie under a vehicle before officers arrived on the scene. In the warrant issued to Officer Jamie Newman, police recovered a baggie with 20 whole xanax pills and 18 partial xanax pills along with 2.9 grams of a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana.
21 year-old Justin Blake Lee of Brookhollow Circle Manchester was charged with theft of property (shoplifting), disorderly conduct, vandalism, schedule IV drug violation and schedule VI drug violation. Lee’s bond was set at $11,000 and he has a court date of Feb. 16, 2016.

If you weren’t a winner in the recent Powerball lottery-there’s another contest, a local sweepstakes that has already shown favor to two local individuals.
H&R Block is putting the “fun” back in Refund Season. Jammy Thompson knows it’s fun because he was a winner at H&R Block in Manchester.
H&R Block is giving away a total of $32 million in the first month of tax season. Anyone who files taxes at a participating H&R Block office by February 15 can be automatically entered into the sweepstakes; thirty-two thousand people will win $1,000 from H&R Block. For more information, visit www.hrblock.com/grand.
H&R Block is located in the Goodwill Shopping Center on Hillsboro Blvd. Call for an appointment or come in at your convenience. Also there was a winner at the Tullahoma H&R Block location. Christa Stamper won $1,000.