Category: News

With the looming possibility of a federal government shutdown, the Department of Human Services says SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, will not be available for use by recipients if the federal government does indeed shut down. The Tennessee Department of Human Services is over 90 percent federally funded and a federal government shutdown will impact operations.
During the federal government shutdown in 2013, federal SNAP benefits were not immediately affected. Unlike the last shutdown, DHS has been informed that USDA does not have the funding necessary for SNAP benefits to continue in October if a shutdown occurs.
Although the Department is optimistic that the shutdown will not occur, they are doing their due diligence to ensure they are prepared in the event a shutdown does occur.

The Siegel High School Band has announced the 1st annual Stones River Championship band competition to be held on Saturday, October 3, 2015 at Siegel High School in Murfreesboro, TN. Over 4,000 people are expected to attend this one day event! Siegel High School Band will host 19 bands from across Middle Tennessee and Georgia. Gates will open at 11:30 a.m.
General admission tickets for the event will be available at the gate for $10 per person for the full day event. Parking is free at Siegel High School, Siegel Middle School and Northside Baptist Church. There will be a limited number of preferred parking spots available at Siegel High School close to the stadium for $10 per car. Parking spaces for those with a disabled parking permit will be available near the stadium.
The high school bands participating in the 1st annual Stones River Championship are Smyrna, La Vergne, Cascade, Shelbyville Central, Coffee County, Marshall County, Giles County, Cumberland County and several others.

Four people were arrested on theft charges after a man reported theft of a pistol and wallet from his pickup.
According to warrants, Jesse William Culpepper reported on Sunday to Tullahoma Police Officer Joshua Yates that he was sleeping in his pickup truck and when he woke up there was a black male sitting in the front seat of the truck. The man told Culpepper that he was waiting on a friend. The male then got out of the pickup and went to a nearby apartment building.
Culpepper reported to police that his wallet and its contents along with a 1911 Colt 45 were missing from the truck.
When Officer Yates went to the apartment where the man had been he located Culpepper’s wallet in the inside of a vacuum. He also located the pistol under the stove eyes in the kitchen. The occupants of the apartment did not know how the items got into the apartment.
The officer arrested Joseph Reuben Brooks, 24, of Chattanooga, Lebron Terrell Brown, 27, of Chattanooga, Dematrius Latrell Bowman, 25 also of Chattanooga and Yvette Hunter of Silver Street Tullahoma. They were all charged with theft of property and held on a $15,000 bond and are set to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court Oct. 8.
Tullahoma Police Detective Rana Pawlowski is investigating the theft.

On Sunday, just before 6pm Nicholas Q Trevino of Overland Missouri was driving a van owned by Michael Carney of Saint Charles Missouri on Interstate 24. Trevino states he noticed the vehicle smoking and stopped around mile marker 105 westbound in Coffee County. Trevino exited the vehicle as it started to catch on fire. The vehicle was fully engulfed when deputies and North Coffee Volunteer Fire Department arrived.
The totaled vehicle was towed from the scene via Performance Plus Towing.
Carney and his family were traveling in a separate vehicle and were on the scene with Trevino when deputies arrived.
Apparently no one was injured.

Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves and his staff are working to ensure that the new Coffee County Jail will meet each of the minimum standards required by the state for certification in its upcoming inspection. The sheriff said, “It is common knowledge that a new jail is in transition for the first 12 months. He added, “If a jail is certified within that time it’s considered good.”
In Tennessee, jails are inspected in 14 categories: physical plant, administration, personnel, security, discipline, sanitation/maintenance, food services, mail and visiting, inmate programs and activities, medical services, admission and release records, hygiene, supervision of inmates, and classification. According to the sheriff, no requirement is more difficult to fulfill than the other.
The inspection will be conducted by the Tennessee Corrections Institute before December 1st, but Graves is unaware of the exact date.

According to statistics from the Tennessee Department of Health, over 1,200 Tennesseans died in 2014 from opioid overdoses despite measures designed to stop the addiction.
The Tennessean reports there were 97 more deaths caused by opioid overdoses last year than in 2013. Statistics show more people died in 2014 from opioid overdose in the state than in car accidents or by gunshots.
Spokesman from the state’s health department David Reagan says the highest frequency of overdose deaths are found in men and women ages 45 to 55.
Opioids are found in heroin and prescription painkillers, which officials say are easily attainable illegally.
In 2012, the state began new oversight over pain management clinics. In July, the state will require chief medical officers of pain clinics to be pain specialists.

Jess Coker of Estill Springs and Brian Lee Fielding of Manchester were arrested after a search warrant was executed at a home in Tullahoma late Thursday night.
Coker, 28, is charged with two counts of manufacture/sell/delivery of a controlled substance, possession of schedule IV and schedule VI, and drug paraphernalia. His bond was set at $218,000,
Fielding, 34, of Manchester is charged with two counts of manufacture/sell/delivery of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, schedule IV and schedule VI. His bond was set at $215,000.
According to Manchester Police Investigator Jackie Matheny, officers received information that crystal ice could be found at a residence on East Grundy Street in Tullahoma. Officers from Manchester and Tullahoma Police, deputies from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department, THP and the FBI entered the house around 10 p.m. According to Investigator Matheny, Coker was in possession of 51 grams of the crystal ice and Fielding was in possession of 44 grams of the drug. Also discovered was $14,000 cash. According to the investigator, the drug had been shipped into the country from Mexico to Atlanta and then to the Coffee County area.
Both men are scheduled to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court Oct. 27.

A 5-year-old boy, injured when the car he was riding in collided with a Franklin County school bus Thursday at the Highway 130-Awalt Road intersection in north Franklin County, has died, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol reports.
The boy was identified as Maddox Mason, a student at Northlake Elementary School. He was riding in the back-seat driver’s side of a 2000 Honda Civic driven by his mother, Aprille L. Rexroade, 29, of Tullahoma.
Reports said Rexroade was driving the Civic when she pulled away from Awalt Road and in front of the school bus operated by Loretta Stafford, 72, of Winchester.
According to the report, Maddox was removed from the vehicle by the North Franklin County Fire Department and flown by a LifeForce medical helicopter to the TC Thompson Hospital in Chattanooga where he was pronounced dead on Thursday night.
Rexroade and another son, Seth Shelton, 10, of Tullahoma, were transported to Southern Tennessee Medical Center in Winchester for treatment. Her son Conner Mason, also 5, of Tullahoma, was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center by LifeFlight medical helicopter for treatment of injuries.
Stafford was not injured in the accident.
According to a report by Trooper Corey Stewart, Rexroade has been issued citations for child restraint law violation, seatbelt violation, failure to stop and due care. The investigation is continuing.

County unemployment numbers for the month of August show the rates decreased in 93 counties and increased in only two.
Coffee County’s unemployment rate for August was 5.4 percent, down from the 6% rate in July.
Warren County dropped from 7% to 5.9 percent.
Bedford County had a big drop, going down 1.2% to 6.5.
Franklin County fell from 6% in July to 5.3 in August.
Down in Moore County they had one of the best unemployment rates in the state at 4.4%, down 1%.
Grundy County went from 8.9 to 7.2, and Cannon County went from 6.3 to 5.7 percent.
Williamson County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 4.1 percent, while Hancock County had the highest at 10.7 percent.