Category: News

Bonnaroo Works Fund (BWF), the charitable arm of the world-renowned Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, has named more than 40 nonprofit organizations as 2015 recipients of the Fund’s grants, totaling nearly $200,000.
BWF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that supports local, regional and national organizations that advance the arts, education and environmental sustainability, with a focus on local reinvestment.
Some of this year’s grant recipients include; Coffee County Manchester Public Library, Coffee County Board of Education Anti-Drug Program, Coffee County Schools, Manchester Municipal Arts Commission, Keep Coffee County Beautiful, Park Partners, Hands-On Science Center and Westwood Jr High.
Nina Miller, BWF executive director announced that one of Bonnaroo’s most loyal acts, My Morning Jacket, are this year’s BWF Ambassadors – signing on to elevate the message of BWF’s purpose and impact.
As part of its involvement, My Morning Jacket will help spread the word about Bonnaroo Works Fund, the charitable causes it supports and ways anyone can get involved and help out.
Festival goers will see the power of BWF throughout the festival grounds with the tree adoption program, Root for Roo, and at the Bonnaroo Works Community Center, where they will find a Silent Auction featuring many one-of-a-kind music collectible items. They can also learn about BWF and the organizations it supports and have the opportunity to enter free drawings to win great prizes, including a 2016 Bonnaroo VIP package.
Bonnaroo Works Fund is administered by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. The next grant cycle will begin in the fall.

It’s graduation season, and more Tennessee high school seniors are donning a cap and gown, according to the 2015 Building a Grad Nation report.
The numbers show Tennessee’s high school graduation rate rose slightly in 2013 to 86.3 percent, which is higher than the national average.
Report co-author John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises, says there are clear advantages to earning a high school diploma.
“Students who drop out of high school are disproportionately more likely to be unemployed, more likely to be in prison, more likely to be on welfare, have higher health care costs and sadly to go on to have children who also end up dropping out from high school,” he points out.
According to the report, for the third year in a row, the country remains on pace to achieve the national goal of a 90 percent on-time high school graduation rate by 2020.
To increase the number of students graduating, the report recommends states expand the use of early-warning systems that can indicate a child needs intervention and make state funding more equitable so low-income and affluent students have the same opportunities.
According to the report, graduation rates increased nationally among low-income students over the past three years, but are still lower than for middle and upper income students.
Robert Balfanz, another co-author and co-director of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, says poverty is taxing on a student’s success, making it more difficult to attend and focus.
“They really need mentors and tutors and folks that can help just sort of nag and nurture to make sure if they’re not in school to call them to figure out, ‘Can we get you to school by 10 o’clock, what’s the issue, how can we solve it?’” he stresses.
And while an increasing number of students with disabilities are completing high school, the report found students with disabilities in Tennessee graduate at a rate of 67 percent.

Tennessee officials are looking for more groups to serve summer meals to make sure low-income children don’t go hungry when school is not in session. During the school year, about 650,000 Tennessee children get free or reduced-priced school lunches. But only a fraction of those youngsters participate in summer meals programs. That’s why the agency is looking for more groups to provide free meals during the summer. The groups can include schools, private nonprofit organizations, government entities and nonprofit residential camps.
If your organization is interested in sponsoring the SFSP in your community, or becoming a feeding site under an existing sponsor, please contact Myra Foxworth or Pamela Norton before June 15, 2015 at (615) 313-4749; or by e-mail TNSFSP.DHS@tn.gov.

Michael Allen Davis of Manchester is facing several charges after being arrested over the weekend.
Davis, 65, of Miller Lane, Manchester was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated burglary and kidnapping.
According to a report by Coffee County Sheriff’s Deputy David Reed, Davis had agreed to rent a bedroom from Charles Droysen and Mary Abel on May 21 but returned on May 23 armed with a pistol and told the couple that he wanted his “stuff” back. When he entered the house he, according to the deputy’s report, asked Droysen where his baseball bat was, which he normally kept in the house. He also allegedly kicked the man. Droysen then left the house.
Davis then is accused of waving the pistol in the direction of Abel and told her he was getting his belongings, which he proceeded to do.
When Reed and Corporal Jim O’Neal arrived Davis was getting back out of his vehicle after placing some of the items in the car.
The officers then talked with all three people to get their version of what happened. After listening to the three of them, the officers looked in the trunk of Davis’ car and found several weapons and ammunition. He told the officers that he had been staying at his mother’s and she didn’t like the weapons in the house so he had placed them in the trunk.
The officers then drove Davis to the Coffee County Jail and charged him. He is being held under a $35,000 bond and is to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court July 6. (Tullahoma News)

On Saturday Corporal Jim O’Neal of the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department was in route to answer a call when he drove by Ben’s Lakewood Market, 53 Lakewood Park Drive. O’Neal observed a small four wheeler on fire in the parking lot and it was fully engulfed. He advised the Coffee County Communications Center of the incident and asked for the fire department to be in route due to the close proximity of diesel tanks and gas pumps to the fire.
A bystander, John Foster ran to the incident and removed the pump nozzle and pushed the four wheeler down the parking lot to an area where other damage to property would not occur.
Several attempts were made to extinguish the fire prior to the New Union Fire Department’s arrival and it had been reduced in size when they arrived and the firemen were able to extinguish the fire completely.
The Yamaha 50 cc four wheeler was a total loss and belonged to a female living at 75 Vista Dr. She advised that she was filling the tank with fuel with the engine running when it caught fire at the pump.
No injuries were reported.

As Elk River Public Utility District prepares to wrap up FY2015 and pass its FY2016 budget, general manager Mike Gundersen says that gas customers can expect fiscal-year-end rebates again this year and no rate increases for the year to come.
In fact, the rebate amount will effectively credit customers for two month’s service charges, returning approximately $400,000 to its customers.
Residential customers, who pay between $9 and $12 each month depending on service, will see their bills drop by $18 and $24 respectively in June.
Industrial processing customers are most likely to notice the rebate without any such notation. Those customers, who pay a minimum $200 charge each month, will see a $400 drop in June.
Large commercial customers, who pay a minimum $50 charge each month, will notice a $100 drop in June.
The last rate increase ERPUD came four years ago in July 2012.

Attendees at the “Red White and You” event in Winchester on Saturday saw something they were definitely not expecting. A skydiver hit power lines and fell to the ground.
The accident occurred at 5 p.m. during the National Anthem at Winchester City Park, next to Tims Ford Lake. Three jumpers were involved in the descent.
John Pitts, who hit the power lines was taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center where he was released on Sunday.
The event featured “Fly Like You Mean It” skydiving team, the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall and Lee Greenwood in concert. A crowd of around 3,000 attended.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident.

Two teenagers’ late-night visits to Blankenship United Methodist Church are over.
A Bedford County deputy woke them up Wednesday just before midnight after a security camera system was installed.
The teens, a boy and girl, admitted entering the building numerous times since Monday, May 11, Deputy Trey Green said.
Authorities were notified by the man overseeing the security system that the pair had entered and were inside the building.
The boy was told to clean up cigarette butts and marks on the windows where he’d crushed out the cigarettes. He admitted taking a projector earlier in the week, which was recovered at his nearby home.
Both teens, whose names are not being released due to their ages, were charged with burglary, theft of property over $500, vandalism over $500 and violation of curfew. The girl is charged with burglary and theft of property because she told investigators she knew he took the projector and did nothing to stop him. (Shelbyville Times-Gazette)

James Joseph Odell is currently wanted by the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office for Violation of Sexual Offender Registry Law. Odell is classified by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation as a violent offender and has failed to report to Bedford County Sheriff’s Office as required by law.
Odell also has two outstanding drug warrants in Bedford County. If you know the whereabouts of James Joseph Odell, please call Bedford County Sheriff’s Department at 931.684.3232.