Category: News

The American Red Cross announced the winner of the Battle of the Badges competition between Manchester Police, Manchester Fire Rescue, Coffee County Sheriff’s Department and Coffee County EMS. The Manchester Fire Rescue won this year’s competition by earning 20 of the forty five votes.
The Battle of the Badges blood drive was held December 11, 2014, that had the potential to save over 100 lives. The Battle of the Badges is a friendly competition to encourage community members to join local heroes and perform a heroic duty of their own by donating blood.
All presenting donors were asked to cast their vote for their favorite group. Although this battle was a very close one up until the last hour, this year’s winner, Manchester Fire Rescue will gain bragging rights and the Battle of the Badges trophy.
Manchester Fire Rescue’s Chief, George DeShields, stated that the MFD was happy to help our community and save lives! During an emergency or a blood drive, you can always count on each of the First Responders from Manchester Fire Rescue, Manchester Police Department, Coffee County Sheriff’s Department, and Coffee County EMS.
If you missed this year’s Battle of the Badges blood drive and would still like to donate blood with the Red Cross, call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org to schedule an appointment to donate. Give Something that Means Something this Holiday Season.

PHOTO: The trash generated by the average American household jumps by 25 percent during the holidays, but with some planning before shopping, that doesn’t have to be the case. Photo credit: Peter Corbett/Flickr.

The end-of-year holidays aren’t just a time filled with more cheer, but a time filled with more trash, although some simple tips can help keep that to a minimum. The best way to cut down on the garbage generated over this time and year-round is through what waste reduction advocate Leslie Irlbeck says is called “pre-cycling.” “When you’re at the store and looking for gifts or looking for things to wrap those gifts, it’s nice to keep in mind what will you do with it once it’s served its purpose – can it be reused,” Irlbeck asks. “Can it be recycled? Or will it end up going to the landfill?” Irlbeck says between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the average household produces about 25 percent more waste than normal. When it comes to wrapping paper and greeting cards, Irlbeck says much of it can be recycled. “You want the generic, plain old paper when you’re looking for cards and wrapping paper, because those are the items that can be recycled,” she says. “That means avoiding some of those fun, sparkly, metallic, glittered papers that, unfortunately, cannot be recycled.” Irlbeck also notes old garland should be donated or go into the trash, not the recycling bin, and the same is true for strands of Christmas lights. “There are several mail-in programs and you can do a quick Google search to see what charities or places that you can drop those Christmas lights off to get recycled,” says Irlbeck. “But it’s important they do not go in your recycling cart, because they get wrapped up in the equipment and do, actually, an enormous amount of damage.”

Ice Queen & Snow Princess… Rachel Nichole Photography

There have been numerous sightings of the Ice Queen & Snow Princess of Arendale in Coffee County over the past month. From Christmas Parties to Parades & more, the Ice Queen & Snow Princess have delighted many local children in Tennessee. The fun continues this January when the Ice Queen & Snow Princess return to Manchester on Saturday, January 3rd for an event that will not only excite the children in attendance, but will also help local children in need by raising money for the Coffee County Children’s Advocacy Center. The event on January 3rd will be held at the Manchester Coffee County Conference Center and is known as The Arendale Winter Ball Breakfast with the Ice Queen & Snow Princess. It will include a sing along portion, picture opportunities, breakfast, & more. Limited seating is available and tickets must be purchased in advance online at WMSRradio.com or at People’s Bank in Manchester. The Arendale Winter Ball Breakfast is helping the Ice Queen & Snow Princess do what they love most which is to help children. To find out more, watch the all new Arendale Winter Ball Thunder TV News Video online at WMSRRadio.com.

According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol there was a property damage crash involving two commercial motor vehicles on I-24 eastbound Tuesday morning. The crash occurred at mile-marker 102 in Coffee County at approximately 8:22am. Both lanes of the interstate were shut down at the time of the accident. The interstate was completely operational around 10:30am yesterday morning. During the clean-up, traffic was re-routed onto Hwy 41.
One tractor trailer was driven from scene and the other had to be towed.
The driver’s names are Allen Dalton and Clarence Casey both out of Tennessee. Neither driver was hurt.

Gas prices continue to fall throughout the nation. Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group says, Gas prices fell below $2 a gallon at various filling stations in Georgia and Tennessee last week.
“Gasoline prices are plunging with little sign of slowing down,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “Oil prices dropped for the fourth consecutive week because of increased oil production and low demand, and that’s keeping downward pressure on the price of gasoline. It is unclear exactly how low prices will go, but gasoline will keep getting cheaper as long as oil does.”
When 89.5 million Americans hit the holiday road, they will find the cheapest gasoline since May 2009, and the lowest Christmas day prices since 2008. On average, Americans are saving $13 for a tank of gas compared to this time last year. If prices remain at these levels, households will save $550 next year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The average price per gallon in Tennessee is $2.20 and in Manchester the low price is $2.18 and in Tullahoma the price per gallon has dropped to $2.04.

Rodger Mader

A Shelbyville man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.
Rodger Lee Mader, 33, of Oak Street must serve 30 percent of a 15-year term before he will be eligible for parole, according to a plea agreement he signed.
Mader was indicted by direct presentment to the grand jury in October on 47 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Mader was investigated by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation special agents starting in April, acting on a tip from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
During the course of the investigation, agents developed information that on March 30, Mader uploaded images of child pornography to his Google E-mail account. (Shelbyville Times-Gazette)

Santa got an early start this year in Manchester… Photo by Tiffany Clutter

This week has been very busy for Santa along with his helpers from the Manchester Police department and the Coffee County Sheriff’s department.
Manchester Police are helping at least 200 children including those in the Coffee County Headstart program. They teamed with the Manchester Kiwanis on that project. In total Santa and the Manchester Police helped 200 kids have a merrier Christmas with toys and clothing. Policemen also disturbed at least 60 food baskets.
The Coffee County Sheriff’s department employees have been busy helpers, as over 500 children have been helped out along with at least 250 food boxes for families.
Both departments would like to thank the public for donations to these projects.