Category: News

Many people know the Tennessee Promise offers free tuition to the state’s community colleges. But the money can also be used at four-year schools that offer associate degrees.
WPLN-FM reports those schools are now trying hard to recruit Tennessee Promise students.
Ted Brown is the president of Martin Methodist College in Pulaski. He said they fight tooth and nail to recruit students and it is hard to compete with free. But graduating high school seniors who enroll in the college’s associate degree programs are eligible for Tennessee Promise money.
It won’t make Martin Methodist free, but it will pay a portion – about $4,000 of the school’s $21,000 tuition.
To be more competitive, Brown said the school plans to match the state’s money with its own financial aid funds.

Coffee County Raider Academy will host an academic orientation for all incoming freshmen in 2015-16 school year next Tuesday, March 3rd from 6-8 PM.
Their academic orientation will serve as an opportunity for students and parents to receive vital registration information, tour of the building, and the Raider Academy vision.
They are looking forward to having eighth grade students from both Coffee County Middle and Westwood Middle School to join them for this informational meeting.

As the cold weather moved through the area last week there have been several deaths associated with the weather, one of those in neighboring Moore County.
According to Moore County Sheriff Mark Logan, Bill Barton, 73, was found dead in his Magnolia Street residence Thursday morning.
“He was using a little space heater to heat with but the temperature inside the house was 44 degrees,” the sheriff said. Logan stated that Barton had been in failing health.
To try and prevent deaths the Coffee County Emergency Management Agency in conjunction with the Manchester Fire Department operated an emergency shelter at the Red Raider Academy.
“We had several residents of the county to take advantage of the shelter,” Coffee County EMA director Allen Lendley stated Friday afternoon. They had cots for people to sleep and they provided food.

System damage from the second ice storm to hit Duck River Electric Membership Corp. within a week was more widespread across the service territory. Line crews worked through the weekend to restore power.
This time, wind gusts in the early morning hours brought down trees, branches and limbs already weakened by the weight of un-melted ice from the earlier winter storm. Daylight revealed significant damage in Maury, Marshall, Bedford and Coffee counties.
All DREMC line crews were deployed. Contract crews also have been called in to assist.
The breakdown of members that were out in the district at its peak: Manchester, 1,487; Shelbyville, 843; Columbia, 759; Lewisburg, 535; Decherd, 43; Chapel Hill, 7.
Crews have worked since before daylight to assess the damage and initiate repairs. The outage total began to climb around 3 a.m. when winds picked up.
“This is part of the double-whammy of an ice storm. What our linemen have already repaired might come down again with the thaw,” said Steve Oden, DREMC’s director of member services.
Most of the problems have been caused by large trees growing off the cleared rights-of-way (ROW) on private property. DREMC operates an aggressive vegetation management program aimed at clearing and trimming ROW on regular cycles. However, “danger trees” beyond the clearance zones can reach lines when they fall in high winds or because of ice buildup.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has confirmed 21, weather-related fatalities in the state as a result of the brutal winter weather (11 from hypothermia). Gov. Haslam elevated Tennessee to a Level II-State of Emergency due to the major impacts to infrastructure, power and roads as a result of the snow, ice and heavy rain in the state over the weekend.
Fatalities
• Benton County – One (1) fatality: 64-year-old female, motor vehicle accident
• Hamilton County – One (1) fatality: 63-year-old male, hypothermia related
• Haywood County – One (1) fatality: 40-year-old female, motor vehicle accident
• Henry County – Two (2) fatalities: 64-year-old female, hypothermia related; 69-year-old male, hypothermia related
• Hickman County (1) fatality: 67-year-old male, dialysis patient, unable to get to treatment
• Knox County – Four (4) fatalities: 30-year-old male, motor vehicle accident; 75-year-old male, fire; 68-year-old female, fire; 47-year-old male, fire
• Moore County – One (1) fatality: 73-year-old male, hypothermia
• Overton County – One (1) fatality: 38-year-old female, motor vehicle accident
• Roane County – One (1) fatality, 44-year-old male, hypothermia related
• Sequatchie – One (1) fatality, 85-year-old male, hypothermia related
• Sevier – Two (2) fatalities, 70-year-old female, hypothermia related; (age unknown) male, hypothermia related
• Shelby County – Three (3) fatalities: 48-year-old male, hypothermia related; (age unknown) male, hypothermia related; (demographics unknown), hypothermia related.
• Williamson County – Two (2) fatalities: 34-year-old female; 10-year-old male, motor vehicle accident

TNStars College Savings 529 plan has just been recognized as the top direct-sold plan in the nation. TNStars™ is a program of the Tennessee Department of Treasury. The number one ranking comes from SavingForCollege.org, who analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst. The latest report released compares one-year investment performance as of December 31, 2014. TNStars™ investment options rank number one in the nation.
TNStars™ is designed to give Tennessee families high quality investment options at a low cost to help them put aside money for higher education expenses, while enjoying certain tax advantages and special incentives. Tennesseans can invest directly with the program, without having to go through a financial advisor. Money can be withdrawn from a TNStars™ account tax-free as long as it is used for qualified post-secondary education expenses.
Currently, all families who open savings account with TNStars™ can receive up to $375 in incentives. Some families will qualify for a four-to-one match of up to $1500 per child. Money saved in a TNStars 529 account, including any extra incentives, can be used not only for post-secondary education tuition and fees, but also additional related expenses such as course books, room and board, and equipment and supplies required for attendance and enrollment at a qualified institution.
To learn more about opening a TNStars™ account or participate in this nationally top-ranked college savings program, visit www.TNStars.com.

John Nicoll was sworn in as Coffee County’s Public Defender on Friday. He was sworn in by Judge Craig Johnson.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam appointed John E. Nicoll as the public defender for the 14th Judicial District, which covers Coffee County.
Nicoll fills the vacancy left by the late B. Campbell Smoot, Jr., who passed away November 18, 2014.
Nicoll, 41, is founder and managing partner of the Nicoll Law Firm, PLLC, in Manchester. He has represented more than 200 indigent criminal defendants in the state and federal courts of Tennessee and has served as a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panels for the U.S. District Courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Tennessee.
As a U.S. Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps officer from 2000-2004, Nicoll successfully prosecuted more than 150 felony cases.

47th District State Rep. Judd Matheny was presented an award on Friday by TN911. This is a not for profit corporation association of 911 districts.
A ceremony was held at the Coffee County 911 Center in Manchester.
The award recognizes Representative Judd Matheny for legislative excellence and leadership. The award was presented by TN911 President John Stuermer (Hamilton County), Executive Director Phillip Noel (Bedford County) and Jimmy Bradford, Chairman of the Coffee County 911 Board.
“Representative Matheny has been rightly called the ‘Lion of 911′ by many leaders of the emergency communications community, for his leadership over the past decade in fostering legislative changes to restructure, modernize, and protect the life-saving 911 system upon which all Tennesseans depend,” Mr. Stuermer said.
Chuck Haston and Steve DeFord, Directors of the 911 Districts in Warren and Coffee County, noted that Rep. Matheny’s efforts have provided fairness in funding the 911 service, culminating in historic legislation enacted last year, which made Tennessee a national model for 911.

Monday’s winter storm left more than 13,000 members of Duck River Electric Membership Corp. in the dark and cold. Mutual aid crews from other electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and contract companies assisted DREMC line workers in getting the lights back on.
“I am very proud of what was accomplished,” said Michael Watson, DREMC president and CEO. “The line crews worked safely and managed to restore power to most of our members on Wednesday.”
DREMC’s Facebook page buzzed with thanks for the men in hard hats who wrestled with ice-laden power lines and utility poles, dodged falling trees and limbs, and contended with freezing wind chill and plunging temperatures to get the job done.
On Wednesday, more than 200 linemen and other personnel fanned out in Bedford, Marshall and Coffee counties to continue clearing storm debris from rights of way, replace broken poles and raise fallen power lines.
“It is remarkable what they achieved,” Watson said. “After starting the day with more than 2,800 folks still out of service, they whittled the number down to only a few.”
The contribution of the entire DREMC team, from radio dispatchers to those who answered tens of thousands of telephone calls, made him proud, Watson said.
What co-op employees called the “February Freeze of ’15” was the worst winter storm to hit DREMC’s service territory since the late 1990s, according to veterans of both events.
The damage and outages were mainly along a diagonal swath cut through the middle of the service area. The Lewisburg (Marshall County), Shelbyville (Bedford County) and Manchester (Coffee County) districts were hardest hit.
Today (Friday), another round of winter weather is predicted by forecasters, with more snow, sleet and freezing rain in the offing before a warmup with rain over the weekend.
The problem is the possibility of more ice buildup on lines and trees. There will be little or no melting before the next front hits. The worst-case scenario, which DREMC must plan for, is a repeat of power outages on some scale.
Watson pointed out that DREMC rights-of-way are kept clear on a regular trimming cycle, but most of the outages this week were caused by large trees off the ROW bending, breaking or falling toward the power lines.