Category: News

Jurors in Rutherford County have found Jacob Pearman guilty of murdering his wife Carla at their home in Murfreesboro on Valentine’s Day 2013.
Pearman was found guilty of first degree murder. A first degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence.
He was also found guilty of aggravated assault and child abuse against Carla’s then 7-year-old son.
Sentencing on those charges is set for March 16.
Pearman’s trial began last Monday, testimony concluded Saturday and the jury heard closing arguments Monday morning.
The prosecution had a videotaped confession in which Pearman admits he choked Carla to death while the two argued about the child abuse charges he faced. He was scheduled to appear in court on those charges just hours after Carla’s murder.
Pearman himself did not testify during the trial. His defense attorneys argued he was troubled, depressed and mentally ill.
Carla is the former Carla Dillard of Manchester and was a 2002 graduate of Coffee County High School. (WKRN)

An employee of Wal-Mart on North Jackson Street in Tullahoma has been arrested for taking food from the deli without paying for it.
Angie Hise of the store’s loss prevention reported on Jan. 19 to Officer George Dodson that Amber Lynn Tkaczyk, 24, had been observed taking food. When Officer Dodson spoke with Tkaczyk she admitted to taking $111 worth of food from the deli. She was arrested and transported to the Coffee County Jail where she was charged with theft of property. She is scheduled to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court Feb. 12 on the charge.

The Manchester City School board held a special called meeting Monday afternoon. Because of the large amount of people in attendance, the meeting was held at city hall.
The school system is making proposals that includes cuts in its budget. The proposal also called for cuts in administrative pay and cuts to school system staff. Another part of the school system proposal is a reduction in the director of schools salary. Dr. Keith Brewer’s pay would drop from his current $120,000 per year to $80,000. This is Dr. Brewer’s idea.
Attorney Clifton Miller was asked by the board to look at terms to present to the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen to avoid a public referendum on merging the city system with county schools along with legal ramifications. Miller recommends to slow things down.
City leaders asked a question about dropping lawsuits the school system has against the city and county. The Manchester City School Board has sued because they say tax money from liquor-by-the drink sales is owed them. The school board recently made a settlement offer but not vote has been taken by either city or county leaders.
Manchester Alderman Tim Kilgore asked why it took so long to get a budget breakdown from the city school board, since it does fall under the open records law. City leaders asked for this information for around 4 months ago. Dr. Brewer said he didn’t want people’s salaries on social media, so individual information was not provided.
A motion was made to delay any action at this time.
Another public meeting is planned for 5:30pm Thursday night at Westwood Middle School. WMSR News has learned that several teachers plan on speaking.

Crash scene photo by Barry West

A Winchester teenager was killed in an accident on I-24 eastbound in Coffee County Sunday afternoon.
Tennessee Highway Patrolman Jason Boles says 18-year-old Haley Cardenal was killed when she veered off the left shoulder of the roadway and overcorrected. Her Chevrolet traveled across the interstate, entered into a slide traveling off the right side of the roadway, down an embankment and struck a tree in the driver’s side door.
Cardenal, who was from Winchester, was wearing her seatbelt.

Homeowners across Tennessee are being urged to take action this month by testing for radon. Image credit: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

It really is a matter of out of sight, out of mind, but radon is a deadly danger in many homes across the state, and the message on the importance of testing is clear. Jan Compton, manager of the Office of Sustainable Practices with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, says it’s estimated that more than 70 percent of the state’s population lives in moderate to high risk areas for the radioactive gas, which is the second leading cause of lung cancer. “Although some regions of the state are at higher risk and are more likely to have higher radon levels, we urge everyone to test because each home can be different,” Compton says. Radon test kits can be purchased at most hardware stores, and during January, which is National Radon Action Month, some are available for free through the Tennessee Radon Program. If a home is found to have high levels, Compton says the fix can be relatively simple with a radon mitigation system. “They mostly use a system with PVC pipe and a fan that pulls the radon out either through the roof (or) some of them are pulled out through the side of the home,” she explains. Radon is a naturally occurring gas that comes up from the ground from the decay of uranium.

A meteor shining as bright as a first-quarter moon prompted numerous sightings across Tennessee and neighboring states before burning up in the atmosphere above Mississippi on Saturday night, according to NASA.
The object initially was spotted shortly before 9 p.m. as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere southwest of Tupelo, Miss., according to Bill Cooke, with NASA’s office in Huntsville, Ala.
Cooke’s office received reports of the event from locations that included Memphis; Boaz, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; and Cowan, Tenn.
There were unconfirmed sightings in East Tennessee as well.
The object, estimated to be about 6 inches in diameter and weighing approximately 15 pounds, was detected at an altitude of 45 miles by three NASA meteor cameras located in Huntsville, Tullahoma, Tenn., and Chickamauga, Ga.
The meteor moved northeast at about 54,000 mph before burning up at an altitude of 15 miles.

State Collaborative Reforming Education, or SCORE has released its annual State of Education in Tennessee report.
The report states that Tennessee became the fastest improving state in the nation in fourth and eighth grade math and reading on the National Assessment for Educational Progress in 2013.
In 2013, 4th graders in Tennessee were ranked 37th for improvement in math, up from 46th in 2011. That was due to a ten percent increase in math proficiency, according to the report.
The average composite ACT score also improved to a 19.8 from a 19.5 earlier.
Westwood Elementary was a SCORE prize finalist. A banner presentation will take place on Friday, January 23, at 2:00 P.M. at Westwood Elementary gymnasium. SCORE’s Dr. Jared Bigham will present the banner in recognition of this honor.

Last week we told you about the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen looking at the possibility of a referendum vote to merge the city school system with the county.
On Thursday the city school board came up with a plan they hope will stop the merger talk.
The proposal includes $600,000-worth of cuts that the city would no longer have to provide the schools. The proposal also called for cuts in administrative pay and cuts to school system staff. Another part of the school system proposal is a reduction in the director of schools salary. Dr Keith Brewer’s pay would drop from his current $120,000 per year to $80,000. Apparently this is Brewer’s idea. Also included, the board would break a controversial three-year, contract with board attorney Mark Williams that moved the central office into the 7,000 square-foot building that formerly housed Williams’ law office. The lease would have cost the system just under $150,000 over three years. The ideas were presented to the finance office on Thursday by school board member Travis Hillis. According to sources no full time teaching position would be cut.
One big question remains, the state Board of Education approved the school system’s current budget and that big of a change may be impossible to do this year.
The Manchester board of Education will meet Monday in special called meeting at 4pm.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen are set to meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20 with no school business on the agenda at this time.