Category: News

After the State Capitol thaws out from the snow and ice, one bill lawmakers are expected to take up this session is legislation (SB0612/HB0675) that would allow undocumented students who graduate from a Tennessee high school to pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities. Eben Cathey, a spokesman for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, explains why greater accessibility to affordable education benefits the entire state. “I think you can imagine the economic benefits of having thousands and thousands of students who want to get a degree who are very motivated and entrepreneurial, be able to do that,” he points out. “Think about the additions they’ll make to our economy.” Under current policy, undocumented students are not eligible for in-state tuition rates and must pay more than three times as much as their classmates to attend a public college or university, no matter how long they’ve lived in Tennessee. There are 25,000 undocumented students in Tennessee who are not eligible for in-state tuition. Twenty other states have similar programs to the one being proposed. Cesar Bautista has lived in Tennessee since he was 8 years old. Now 26, the Mexican-born resident has been trying for eight years to get his college degree, but because of paying out-of-state rates, it will take him years to get his degree in business. “I don’t want to wait six years to graduate,” he stresses. “I wish I could just finish it in three years just like everybody else. “It’s really frustrating, but the best thing I can do is just keep moving forward and try to take as many classes as possible.” Under the proposed legislation, students would have to have spent at least five years in Tennessee schools and meet the academic requirements for the HOPE scholarships. Cathey says it’s important to remember people like Bautista call the Volunteer State their home. “The vast majority of the students that this would benefit are Tennesseans in every way but on paper because they have lived in Tennessee their whole lives and likely have never been back to their country of birth,” he says. Similar legislation was introduced last year, but failed to pass.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency says that Tennessee remains in a State of Emergency from the extremely cold weather.
The National Weather Service is watching for the potential of more winter weather moving across Tennessee Friday and Friday night.  Forecasts for this incoming system could produce an inch or more of snow followed by heavy freezing rain and sleet. Fatalities Tennessee has ten (10), confirmed, weather-related fatalities:

• Hamilton County – One (1) fatality: 63-year-old male, hypothermia related
• Henry County – Two (2) fatalities: 64-year-old female, hypothermia related; 69-year-old male, hypothermia related
• Hickman County (1) fatality:  male, dialysis patient, unable to get to treatment
• Knox County – One (1) fatality: 30-year-old male, motor vehicle accident
• Overton County – One (1) fatality: 38-year-old female, motor vehicle accident
• Sequatchie – One (1) fatality, 85-year-old male, hypothermia related
• Shelby County – One (1) fatality: 48-year-old male, hypothermia related

Williamson County – Two (2) fatalities: 34-year-old female; 10-year-old male, motor vehicle accident

We have more information on the problems the area received from the winter weather. Tullahoma Utilities Board (TUB) reports that they experienced scattered outages across town due to trees (pine mostly) as they became heavy with ice. Areas that were affected the most were Ovoca Road, Stone Blvd./Westview area, Crestwood/Westwood, Lake Circle/Crosslake/Lakewood, Wilson Ave., Old Shelbyville Hwy, Bragg Circle, Sharondale area, Tara Estates, Old Estill Springs Hwy, Fort Street, Ragan Street, and Silver/Ham streets.
TUB says they had multiple primary wires down, a broken pole, and multiple damaged transformers.
Approximately 1,000 people in total were affected.
Crews worked throughout the night on Monday and finished restoring power to all areas of Tullahoma on Tuesday morning.

Charter Communication also had problems with outages. Around 1,500 costumers lost all or part of their cable, phone and or internet services. Most of Charter Communication services have been restored.

Duck River Electric Membership Corporation had to battle many issues throughout its large service area. A huge amount of the several thousand that lost electric power was in Coffee County but that number was reduced to only a few by Wednesday afternoon.
Nine outside crews with their bucket trucks and equipment rallied to help DREMC. They came from Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative, South Pittsburg; Tri-County EMC, Lafayette; Middle Tennessee EMC, Murfreesboro; Shelbyville Power; and Fayetteville Public Utilities. Crews from Alabama are also in the area including those from Joe Wheeler EMC and Black Warrior Electric Cooperative. Contractor crews round out those assisting local linemen.

The Coffee County Emergency Management along with support of the Manchester Fire Department have been operating an emergency shelter at the Coffee County Raider Academy.
The shelter remains set up if needed but is not being manned at the current time. Low temperatures are expected to dip to single digits Thursday night so emergency personnel want area citizens to understand there is a place for them to stay warm. If you need a place to stay please call the Coffee County Communication Center at 728-9555 and volunteers can have it open in a matter of minutes. 17 people used the shelter on Tuesday night.
The Red Cross has provided cots and the school does have restroom facilities and showers in the locker rooms. They are also prepared to feed if necessary.

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reports that Tennessee now has six (6), confirmed, weather-related fatalities:
• Knox County: One (1) fatality, 30-year-old male, motor vehicle accident
• Overton County: One (1) fatality, 38-year-old female, motor vehicle accident
• Williamson County: Two (2) fatalities: 34-year-old female and 10-year-old male, motor vehicle accident
• Hamilton County: One (1) fatality, 63-year-old male, hypothermia related
• Shelby County: One (1) fatality, 48-year-old male, hypothermia related

The Tennessee Valley Authority is asking customers to conserve energy as some of the coldest temperatures in more than a year hit the area.
TVA said in a statement on Wednesday that the request is one step in helping to ensure that safe and reliable electricity is available. It is expecting peak demand for power to occur sometime early Thursday.
The statement says turning down a thermostat by a single degree can help and save customers up to 3 percent on power bills.
TVA says it is taking its own advice and lowering thermostats in all facilities, as are many local power companies.
The nation’s largest public utility serves 9 million people in parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has 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.
“John’s strong academic record and broad experience in criminal cases, both as an Army JAG officer and as managing partner of his own firm, will serve him and the citizens of Coffee County well in this important role,” Haslam said.
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.
”Campbell Smoot served this community well for more than two decades, and his passing is a great loss.  I am honored and humbled to receive Governor Haslam’s appointment and to assume the duties of public defender,” Nicoll said. “I am blessed to have inherited an office filled with an experienced and professional staff dedicated to serving our community.”
Nicoll is a 1999 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he received numerous certificates for academic excellence and the James L. Powers III Excellence in Criminal Advocacy Award. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Furman University in 1996.
He and his wife, Chasity, live in Manchester with their son. Nicoll, along with his wife and other volunteers, helped establish the Coffee County Humane Society, and he enjoys coaching youth basketball and football teams.

Mutual aid crews are flooding ice storm-damaged Duck River Electric Membership Corp. service territory today as efforts double-down to restore power to homes, farms and businesses in Marshall, Bedford and Coffee counties.
Boynton Valley substation was a related crisis that DREMC had not expected. One of TVA’s 161-kV steel transmission poles crumpled under the weight of ice-coated lines and fell on the substation’s tap. DREMC was able to back-feed some of the area served by Boynton. In the meantime, TVA was sending a replacement pole from Muscle Shoals.
Some co-op members might not be reconnected until later today or Thursday. Due to below-zero temperatures forecasted for the evening and early morning hours of Feb. 18-19, DREMC urges those still affected by outages to take steps to protect themselves and their families from potentially dangerous conditions. A shelter is open have opened in Manchester.
Nine outside crews with their bucket trucks and equipment rallied to help DREMC. They came from Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative, South Pittsburg; Tri-County EMC, Lafayette; Middle Tennessee EMC, Murfreesboro; Shelbyville Power; and Fayetteville Public Utilities. Crews from Alabama are scene include those from Joe Wheeler EMC and Black Warrior Electric Cooperative. Contractor crews round out those assisting local linemen.

An employee with a contract cleaning company was killed early Tuesday morning in an accident at the Tyson plant in Shelbyville.
A spokesperson said the plant was not operating at the time of the accident. The person killed was cleaning and sanitizing equipment at the time of their death.
The victim’s identity has not been released.
The investigation is ongoing by police and Tyson Foods.
Additional information will be released at an appropriate time.