With the tragic shooting last week in Connecticut, the Coffee County Emergency Management Agency will be conducting safety checks at the various schools in Coffee County. EMA Director Allen Lendley stated that his office will be working with all of the schools in the county to make sure they have the necessary tools in place to make the schools a safe place for learning. Suggestions will be made if problems are...

Gas prices have steadily declined since November 1, when the national average was $3.51. The current national average is $3.26, 25 cents less. Prices in the Southeast region followed the same trend. On November 1, regular unleaded gasoline averaged $3.34 in the Southeast, since then the average has dropped 20 cents to $3.14. Some areas in the Southeast have already seen gas prices dip below $3 a gallon. A barrel of oil settled Friday at $86.73 on the New York Mercantile Exchange—80 cents more than the week prior. The national average price of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.26, 9...

49 year old Jerry Butcher a Warren County man accused of raping a teenage girl last year pled guilty to the crime in Warren County Circuit Court and was sentenced to ten years in prison. Butcher must serve the entire ten years with no chance for parole. Butcher will then be listed on the state’s sexual offender registry for the rest of his life. Butcher and the victim were co-workers at a local nursery, when he followed the girl inside a building and sexually assaulted her. He then reportedly warned her not to tell...

Hurricane Sandy was a hurricane that devastated portions of the Caribbean and the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States during late October. Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) recently offered employees a chance to help victims of Super Storm Sandy. Employees donated vacation hours and ATA turned it into cash for the victims along the upper east coast. The employees gave a check for $14,695.36 to American Red Cross CEO Mike Cowles. Damage in the US is estimated at over $63 billion and 131 people lost their...

A 28-year old Murfreesboro Police Officer has passed away. Officer Adam Pewitt died at his home on Friday of natural causes. Pewitt lived in Manchester. Adam became a Police Officer with the Murfreesboro Police Department in 2008 and was a United States Marine Veteran from 2002 until 2006, serving one tour of duty in Iraq. Adam earned his Associate Degree in Criminal Justice from Motlow State Community College and was continuing his education for his Bachelor’s Degree. Adam is survived by his wife, Sarah B. Griffin Pewitt and his four year old son, Connor Pewitt of...

Motlow College will close for the Christmas and New Year holidays at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 24, and will reopen on Jan. 2, according to college officials. The closing applies to computer labs, libraries and other facilities at all Motlow College sites, which include the Moore County campus and the Fayetteville, McMinnville and Smyrna centers. Spring classes begin on Jan. 17. Students enrolled at Motlow this semester can register now for spring 2013 classes and are encouraged to do so, said Greer Alsup, director of admissions and records at the college. “Registering now will increase students’ chances of getting...

A court-ordered mental evaluation will delay a prosecution decision on whether to seek the death penalty for Donnie Frank Jones, Jr. in the July kidnapping, rape and slaying of Tullahoma nursing student Megan Sharpton. District Attorney Mike Taylor says that his office still is considering whether or not to filing of a notice that prosecutors will seek the death penalty. The 37-year-old Jones of 1912 Bel-Aire Drive in Tullahoma is charged with first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape. He pleaded not guilty during a Franklin County Circuit Court hearing in November and remains in the Franklin County...

Tullahoma Parks and Recreation director Kurt Glick, briefed city leaders recently about the a Frisbee golf course and how city-owned land adjacent to East Middle School could be used to accommodate an 18-hole disc golf course. The recreation director stated that the course would probably cost approximately $35,000 to develop. But he pointed out that much of the work could be done by the Public Works and Parks and Recreation departments, cutting the price in half. Glick said that in recent years interest has grown in disc golf to where more than 3,000 courses have been built in the...