Category: News

Tullahoma Police are investigating the vandalism of a church building on East Grundy Street.
Don Newson reported Nov. 29 to Officer Donnie Burnett that when he arrived at the Church of Christ building he found two upside down crosses painted on the front door of the building.
There was no other damage found to the building.
If you have any information that could help, please call Tullahoma Police at 931-455-0530.

Inland flooding poses the greatest risk to the Volunteer State in future years and earned the state a “D” for preparedness against the threat in a report titled, “States at Risk: America’s Preparedness Report Card” by Climate Central and ICF International. Joanne Logan is a member of Climate Knoxville and an associate professor at the University of Tennessee. She says the state is vulnerable to inland flooding from extreme rain events because of recent land development. “If we start having more issues with washouts, you combine that with over exploitation of our resources like over-cutting the forest that will cause less of the water to be absorbed before it finally comes down to the area where it can flood.” Overall when considering factors like drought and extreme heat preparations, the state was given a “C.” Logan says that’s a better grade she thought the state would earn, in light of historically conservative leadership that doesn’t always prioritize climate change. Report analysts gave the state lower marks because of a lack of climate change adaption plans, dedication of state funds to address the issue, and education of the public on the risks. Logan says one of the biggest vulnerabilities she sees in Tennessee and in many states is an outdated infrastructure system that isn’t prepared for extreme weather events including bridges, roads, and other necessities that could make it difficult for communities to operate in an emergency. “It just screams out for something on infrastructure and just making more facilities weather-ready. It’s hospital preparedness,” says Logan. “It’s taking down trees that are dead so that when storms come through you’re not taking out power lines. It’s burying power lines.” Nationwide, extreme weather events are taking their toll. Since the 1980s, the annual number of disasters with damages exceeding $1 billion has nearly tripled.

 

Rep. Beth Harwell, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, made a brief stop in Tullahoma last week to meet with Mayor Lane Curlee. They discussed issues facing the upcoming Legislative Session. Mayor Curlee said he appreciated Speaker Harwell stopping by his office and expressing an interest in Tullahoma. At the Keep Tennessee Beautiful conference last month, Mayor Curlee ran into Speaker Harwell and invited her to visit Tullahoma. A couple of weeks later, a staff person from her office called and said she would like to stop by. Curlee and Harwell served together in the Tennessee General Assembly from 1988 to 1992.

 

Three Coffee County Volunteer Fire Departments assisted the Rutherford County fire department with a semi fire on Interstate 24 Thursday.
The fire occurred at mile marker 96 close to Beechgrove around 1:50 p.m. According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol the right lanes were blocked to westbound traffic and drivers were diverted to alternate routes. Drivers along the busy interstate experienced delays in traffic due to the fire.
The North Coffee, Summitville and New Union Fire Departments along with fire departments from Bedford County assisted the Rutherford County Fire Department. Officials said that there were some 15 firefighters involved in battling the fire in the 18-wheeler.
Cleanup crews needed several hours to not only extinguish the fire but to also clean up the debris from the truck itself.
No one was injured in the incident.

Manchester Firefighters responded to MTEK in the Interstate Industrial Park for a structure fire on Wednesday. The fire was contained to the area of origin, the sprinkler system activated in that area of the facility and contained the fire until Manchester Fire and Rescue could extinguish it. An onsite investigation was accomplished and the cause of the fire was determined.
Off duty firefighters manned the main fire station in the city and provided additional manpower on scene to extinguish and investigate this incident.
Coffee County EMS and Coffee County EMA provided assistance.

The Tennessee Board of Regents says it will invest a $2 million grant received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation into programs that will help increase graduation rates, especially among first-generation and low-income students. According to The Tennessean, the board said in a statement that the grant would help expand and improve services offered at schools. The board includes the state’s 46 public colleges that aren’t part of the University of Tennessee system.
In a statement, TBR Chancellor John Morgan says the money will go toward workshops and training that will encourage faculty and staff across the system to make the most of existing programs.
Each program that the funding will support was developed around Gov. Bill Haslam’s Drive to 55 initiative, aimed to increase the number of college graduates in the state.

 

College students across Tennessee are relishing a break this week because of the holiday, and this year there are more of them, thanks in part to the state’s new Tennessee Promise program. The free-tuition program increased the number of first-time freshmen to more than 50,000 this year, an increase of about 10 percent in the first year of the program. Mike Krause, executive director of Tennessee Promise, said the program is helping to shift post-secondary education in the state in a way that nothing else could. “There was no way we could ever produce more college graduates in Tennessee if the same number of Tennesseans were going to college,” he said. “We needed to grow that number. This data indicates that we have, dramatically.” Tennessee Promise also came in under budget in its first year, costing $2 million less than what was allocated for the program. Krause said that’s largely because many students who applied were eligible to receive federal financial aid, reducing the demand on state funds. In addition to providing tuition, Tennessee Promise also provides a mentoring program to participants. While Tennessee Promise is having an immediate impact on the future of students and their families, Krause said, it ultimately will have a positive impact on the entire state. “For us, the starting point is the economic development effects that it has to have a more educated populace, because that leads to a better workforce. We can recruit different industry to the state,” he said. “It really is kind of an incredible set of second- and third-order benefits that emerge.” The Tennessee Promise scholarship provides two years of tuition-free education at any of the state’s 13 community colleges and 27 technical colleges. Any high school senior who graduates from an eligible Tennessee high school or completes a home school program can apply. The program is available to students regardless of socioeconomic status. More information is online at tennesseepromise.gov.

Estill Springs Police searching for suspect in a Dollar General Store robbery.
Just before noon this past Saturday morning a man wielding a knife walked into the Estill Springs Dollar General Store on 41A and demanded money, and he’s still on the loose.
The frightened clerk opened the cash drawer and gave the man what was inside. The suspect then fled the store on foot and the clerk called police.
Estill Springs Police Chief Alan Rhodes is asking for the public’s help in identifying a vehicle that may have been parked on Cinder Path Road, behind the store and across the railroad tracks between the hours of 11 a.m. and noon on Saturday.
“We believe he parked his car down there and we’re asking anyone who might have seen a car parked there to give us a call,” Rhodes said.
The man is described as wearing dark colored overhauls, with a black tee shirt and scarf and wearing a black wig.
Police do have surveillance footage of the suspect. If you have any information about the suspect or the suspect’s vehicle, please call Estill Springs Police at (931)649-2233.

This Thanksgiving week, advocates for families advise parents to relish time with their children. A new report from the children’s advocacy group Search Institute, stresses the importance of extra family time when it comes to development. Researchers found family time has more of an impact than demographic factors such as race and income. Peggy O’Mara, former editor of Mothering Magazine, says it confirms basic principles of how humans develop. “We really learn by mimicking and by modeling rather than by being told what to do,” she explains. “So when parents interact with their children, when they show interest in them, when they help them realize their potential, the children do that themselves, with their families and with themselves as they grow up. ” The report recommends parents take five essential actions to foster development – express care for the child, encourage personal growth, provide support, share in decision-making and connect a child to opportunities. Enola Aird, founder of Mothers for a Human Future, says the report validates long held societal values of the parent-child relationship, but adds it’s also important to acknowledge the impact outside forces can have on raising children. “No matter how much we may want to foster relationships, no matter how much we want to foster connectedness in our individual families, we live in a culture that is radically individualistic and radically consumer-driven, and those are forces that really do undermine relationships,” she points out. O’Mara says while social programs often focus on improving household income and increasing the amount of child care available to parents as they work, supporting parents as they try to spend more quality time with their child is the most valuable way to further child development. “In this country, oh, it’s just like the wild frontier as far as what parents are so out on their own, and I think supporting families financially in different ways would really be something to take home from this study,” she says. The report recommends that schools further engage families and support their efforts to be better parents.