Category: News

The Motlow College honors program is currently selling cookbooks as its final fundraiser for the academic year, according to Dr. Scott Cook, associate professor of history and honors program advisor.
The cookbook, titled “Food For Thought,” is a compilation of recipes from honors program students and faculty, and contains approximately 250 recipes.
The cost is $15 per copy and pre-orders will be accepted until Friday, Oct. 3. The book can be ordered by contacting an honors student or Dr. Cook. While a text-only copy is available, the printed version will feature the artwork of honors program students.
“This is a student-driven project,” said Cook. “Students submitted recipes and one of our honors scholars, Heather Morris, took the lead and joined me in entering the majority of the recipes. Another honors scholar, Sarah Temple, designed the cover and artwork for the different sections of the book.
“The table has always been a place where the honors fellowship comes together, and to share that experience we have put this cookbook together in the spirit of community that lives within this program, this college, and the service area,” added honors student Robin Keel.
For more information about the fundraiser or the honors program, contact Dr. Scott Cook by calling 931-393-1738 or email scook@mscc.edu.

Actual package left at the Jiffy Burger.. Photo by Barry West. Click on picture to enlarge.

A suspicious package was found at a Manchester business on Monday afternoon. Adayna Pennington an employee at the Jiffy Burger on the Hillsboro Blvd witnessed a man acting strangely walking around in the parking lot carrying a clipboard. Pennington said the man walked to his SUV and came back toward the business carrying what appeared to be an ammo box and placed outside near the backside of the building.
Manchester Police was called to the scene and began investigating. Authorities evacuated the Jiffy Burger, Hardee’s and the library.

Suspect is backing out of the Jiffy Burger parking lot in the small white SUV. Picture is from surveillance video at Hardee’s.

Manchester Police, Coffee County Emergency Management, Coffee County deputies, Manchester Fire and Rescue and Coffee County EMS were all on the scene on stand-by.
Manchester Police blocked off a portion of Hwy 41 (Hillsboro Blvd) so no traffic could drive near the threatened area.
The bomb squad from Christiana, TN was called in to take care of the package. They used a water cannon device to destroy the metal box.
Manchester Assistant Police Chief Adam Floied told WMSR News that authorities discovered that similar devices are used in a game called Geocaching. This is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, anywhere in the world.

Bomb squad member working on destroying the package… Photo by Barry West

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook (with a pen or pencil). The geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little financial value, although sometimes they are sentimental.

Larry Aubrey Price… Photo from the TBI sex offender registry.

A Tullahoma man is being held in the Coffee County Jail under a $500,000 bond after he allegedly kidnapped two children.
46 year old Larry Aubrey Price of Old Tullahoma Hwy was arrested Sunday on the kidnapping charge.
In warrants obtained by Manchester Police Capt. Victor Jones, the custodial caregiver of the children allowed Price to take the two children to the store. When Price returned from the store the children were not with him and he refused to tell police where the children were. The family that called police told them where Price lives. Police say they children were later found safe playing at a trailer park on the Old Tullahoma Hwy.
Price is a registered sex offender.
Price is scheduled to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court on Oct. 6.

Registration of Tennessee high school seniors in the state’s “Tennessee Promise” program stands at nearly 23-thousand. That from numbers released by the Tennessee Board of Regents late last week.
There is a November 1st deadline to apply for the Tennessee Promise scholarship. Dr. MaryLou Apple, president of Motlow College, says it’s a unique scholarship available beginning with this year’s high school seniors.
Apple says college hopefuls can get more information from several application and information sessions at Motlow College campuses. The event at the Smyrna campus will be held Saturday, October 18th at 10am. There is one Tuesday at the Fayetteville teaching center.
Tennessee Promise is part of Governor Haslam’s “Drive to 55″ initiative that calls for the number of Tennesseans who have college degrees or technology certificates to reach 55-percent by the year 2025.
Tennessee Promise will allow high school graduates to attend two-year state community colleges or colleges of applied technology for free. The funding comes from Tennessee Lottery funds. (WGNS)

County unemployment rates for August show the rate decreased in 83 counties, increased in six counties, and remained the same in six counties.
Coffee County was unchanged in August staying at 7.0 percent.
Grundy County went from 9.7 to 8.7 percent. Cannon County went from 7.3 to 6.5 percent.
Bedford County went down from 7.9% in July to 7.2 in August.
Franklin County dropped from 7.5 to 6.4.
In Moore County they also went down from 7.2 to 6.2%.
Warren County’s unemployment rate for August was 7.8 percent, which is a drop of 1.1 percent from the July rate of 8.9 percent.
Lincoln County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 5.3 percent. Scott County had the highest at 13.9 percent.

In less than six weeks, Tennessee voters will decide on a controversial abortion amendment.
Known as “Amendment #1,” a “yes” vote would alter the state constitution and allow state lawmakers to enact tighter restrictions on abortions in Tennessee.
A “no” vote would maintain the status quo.
Voters will be faced with the decision in the State General Election on November 4.
The restrictions would include licensure for abortion facilities, inspections of those facilities, and a 48-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion.
If the amendment passes, basic abortion rights would still be protected under the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade.
The full amendment, requiring a “yes” or “no” vote, will appear on the November 4 ballot as follows:
“Shall Article I, of the Constitution of Tennessee be amended by adding the following language as a new, appropriately designated section: Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.”

Tennessee is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling that TennCare must provide applicants with a fair hearing if it cannot process their requests on time.
States that participate in the Medicaid program are required to determine eligibility within 45 days in most cases. If the state does not meet that deadline, the applicants are entitled to a hearing.
TennCare applicants filed suit earlier this year complaining that their applications had been pending for months and the state had refused to provide hearings.
The state has blamed all delays on the federal government. But in a Sept. 2 ruling, U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell said Tennessee cannot pass off its responsibilities.
Attorneys for the state filed a notice of appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit on Friday.