Category: News

We have an update on the Grundy County assistant football coach and teacher at Swiss Memorial Elementary School that is facing statutory rape charges.
Deputies arrested Tommy Andrews, 41, on Sunday and charged him with one count of aggravated statutory rape and one count of aggravated statutory rape by an authority figure.
Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum says, “We received a complaint last week and we presented the case to the district attorney’s office before charges were filed”.
Shrum says during the process of his department’s investigation his officers learned a complaint was made to the Department of Children’s Services about Andrews on May 7.
In new information, Shrum said in a television interview that his office had collected hard evidence against Andrews. The arrest report states that Andrews picked up the 14-year-old victim from a friend’s house in November and had sex with her in his truck.
Andrews has been released from jail on a $60,000 bond. As part of the conditions of his bond, Andrews must wear a GPS monitoring device to ensure he stays away from the victim in the case.

Bedford County authorities have recaptured an inmate who escaped from their jail on Tuesday night.
The Bedford County Sheriff’s Department posted on Facebook on Tuesday night that Harley Caffee escaped and was captured early Thursday morning. He was originally arrested on burglary charges. He will now face charges for escape.

The parent companies of two of Shelbyville’s major employers are combining in a $13.2 billion deal.
Newell Rubbermaid, which operates packaging and distribution centers on Railroad Avenue, is buying Jarden Corp. It was only two months ago that Jarden reached an agreement to buy Jostens, which has a plant on Union Street. The sale of Jostens to Jarden closed in November.
Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association (mtida.org), in its 2015 community data profile, lists Newell Rubbermaid as having 800 employees in Shelbyville and Jostens as having 375.
Jostens has operated in Shelbyville since 1960, producing school diplomas and other recognition products.
Newell Rubbermaid, through various acquisitions, is the heir to a company many remember as Empire Pencil Company.
The company used to have a manufacturing plant on Pencil Street in Shelbyville, but a re-organization of the company’s manufacturing workflow resulted in that plant closing, so the company no longer has any manufacturing presence in Shelbyville. A state-of-the-art Liquid Manufacturing and Technology Center (LMTC) is now located in Coffee County’s Interstate Industrial Park in Manchester, Tenn. The Liquid Manufacturing and Technology Center manufactures ink for the company’s office products brands. (Shelbyville Times-Gazette)

Motlow State Community College continues to make headlines as one of the state’s top performing institution for the Tennessee Promise scholarship program. After leading all colleges in Tennessee in enrollment growth for the fall 2015 semester, Motlow recently topped all Tennessee community colleges in another important category.
Of the 13 participating institutions in the state, Motlow had the highest percentage of students completing their community service requirement for the upcoming spring semester. Eighty-eight percent of the students enrolled in Tennessee Promise at Motlow completed the minimum of eight hours of community service required by the Dec. 1 deadline.
When Motlow led all Tennessee colleges in growth at the beginning of the fall term, it was recognized that the biggest challenge moving forward would be retaining students under the requirements of Tennessee Promise. Achieving the highest percentage of students completing their community service indicates Motlow is well on its way to meeting this challenge.
For more information about the Tennessee Promise at Motlow, visit TNPromise.mscc.edu or contact Jonathan Graham, Motlow Tennessee Promise coordinator, at Jgraham@mscc.edu or 615-220-7839.

A woman and man have been arrested on charges of child abuse or neglect by Tullahoma Police.
Kaitlin Danielle Taylor, 20, David Dewayne Ditto, 23, both of Silver Street were arrested on the charges.
Ditto was charged with abusing a small child that was approximately 1-year-old. While Taylor was accused of not reporting that the child had been abused by her boyfriend.
Investigator Harry Conway alleges that medical personnel determined that the child had injuries consistent with child abuse. The father took the child to the Mountain Medical Clinic in Monteagle for bruising. The clinic notified Franklin County Sheriff’s Department who determined that the allege incident occurred in Tullahoma. The child was taken to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga where doctors determined that the injuries were not caused by an accident.
The couple was booked into the Coffee County Jail under a $25,000 bond each. They are to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court Dec. 17.

 

The Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Governors Highway Safety Office began a new program in the summer and began the program in Coffee County on Tuesday.
The THP, Coffee County Sheriff’s Department, Manchester Police, Tullahoma Police and other area law enforcement agencies joined together to highly encourage those who choose to drink during the holidays to not drive. Designate a sober driver or find an alternative way to your destination, like a taxi. The goal is to have a crash and injury free holiday season.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol and local enforcement officials need your help by accomplishing a record setting year by reducing fatal crashes statewide.
Three things you can do to help:
• Wear your seatbelt
• Don’t drink and drive
• And don’t be a distracted driver
The Tennessee Highway Patrol says it’s very appropriate for them to be at the Coffee County Jail to begin this enforcement. If you choose to drink and drive the THP, Coffee County Sheriff Deputies or patrolmen from Manchester and Tullahoma are ready to bring you to jail. “You Choose Your Ride”.
To send drivers a strong message: if you’re impaired, either pay up to $50 and call a cab or pay up to $1,500 in fines and spend up to 48 hours in jail.
In 2014 alone the Tennessee Highway Patrol made 204 DUI arrests in Coffee County. City of Manchester patrolmen took 61 impaired drivers off the road in 2014, Tullahoma 38 and deputies in Coffee County made over 150 arrests.
Sheriff Steve Graves says with 30 miles of interstate and nearly 700 miles of roads in the county law enforcement is doing its best to control the problem of drunk driving.
Manchester Police Department will be increasing traffic enforcement and will be conducting several traffic enforcement patrol saturations.
“We can’t stand to see this tragic loss of life again and again,” said Manchester Police Chief Mark Yother. “The hardest part of the job is making that house call and telling a family that their loved one is gone because someone chose to drink and drive.

Tennessee authorities announced Monday the fines for seat belt violations will more than double beginning Jan. 1, 2016.
The fine for a first offense will be raised to $25 and a second and every offense after that will be $50.
Officials hope the increase will be an effective additional tool to curb traffic fatalities.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol will also be out in force during the holiday period to ensure travel safety.
State troopers will focus their attention on traffic violations that place motorists in jeopardy, such as distracted driving, speeding, impaired driving and lack of seat belt usage.
The holiday enforcement period will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 24 and conclude at midnight on Dec. 27.

Low oil prices should deliver cheaper prices at the pump this week. The average price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.02 nationwide and $1.81 in Tennessee.
The national average is at its lowest price since 2009 and is near the $2 per gallon threshold. Retail averages have fallen for 32 of the past 36 days and today’s price of $2.015 per gallon is down 2 cents since last week. Drivers continue to benefit from noticeable yearly savings and are saving 57 cents per gallon versus this same date last year.
The low price per gallon in Manchester this week is $1.68 and in Tullahoma it’s $1.71.

Authorities in Franklin County have announced that the accused shooter of Sienna Dusk Owens the 11-year-old girl who was found shot over the weekend is a 12 year-old classmate.
According to police, North Middle School student Sienna Dusk Owens was shot in the back around 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
Sienna was taken to Southern Tennessee Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
The district attorney’s office will determine if charges will be filed.
A visitation for Sienna will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Moore-Cortner Funeral Home and funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Burial will be held at Franklin Memorial Gardens.

On Sunday in Tullahoma, Officer Justin Smith observed a man crashing his vehicle into a guardrail on East Lincoln St and kept on driving. According to a warrant, upon making a traffic stop Smith said the man had a smell of alcohol coming from inside the truck and the man admitted to drinking some beer. Upon exiting the vehicle the subject was very unsteady on his feet. The warrant says that he was given three field sobriety tests doing poorly on all three, he was taken to Harton Hospital for blood tests with results pending. A check of his driving privilege revealed it to be revoked 3rd offense. Upon placing the subject under arrest the subject refused to comply with officers about something in his mouth. The warrant goes onto say that the officer attempted to place handcuffs on the subject and he became aggressive with the officer and he had to be tazed. The subject allegedly had a baggie of methamphetamine that he was attempting to swallow in his mouth. The subject told officers that he had the meth.
Brady Gordon Cunningham age 35 Walter Barnes Lane, Manchester was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, resisting stop frisk, halt, arrest or search, failure to report, leaving the scene of an accident, driving on revoked or suspended, driving under influence, driving while in possession of meth, schedule II violation and tampering with or fabricating evidence. His bond was set at $37,000 and he has a court date of 1-21-16.