Charla Daly, Executive Director for the Coffee/Grundy County USDA Farm Service Agency, has announced that continuous sign-up for the Highly Erodible Land Initiative under the Conservation Reserve Program continues. Tennessee received a total allocation of 23,300 acres to enroll in the program. Offers will be accepted until either the state acreage allocation limit is reached or September 30, 2012 whichever occurs first. Producers can stop by the Coffee/Grundy County FSA office at 1008 East End Rd Manchester, to determine if their land qualifies for the Highly Erodible Land Initiative and to receive additional location-specific details. Conservation Reserve Program contracts...

Manchester, TN. First Vision Bank is holding an official ribbon cutting at its new office in Manchester today. While dignitaries from Manchester City Government, the Chamber of Commerce and Coffee County Government will be in attendance, First Vision wants to invite the public to attend the event as well. The new First Vision Bank office is located at 2134 Hillsboro Boulevard in Manchester, TN, 37355. First Vision Bank’s Manchester President, Jon W. Bell, stated, “First Vision Bank saw an opportunity to provide the Manchester community with a trusted, financial partner. This dedication to the community is evident in the...

Matthew Perkins of Tullahoma plead guilty of killing a mother and her two children.  Monday morning (July 30, 2012) Perkins plead guilty of the murders of Stephanie Hershman, Jathan Hershman, and Jaylon Hershman.  According to assistant district attorney Ken Shelton, the autopsies showed the victims died of multiple blunt force trauma and knife wounds.  In September 2010 the victims’ bodies were found in a bedroom closet of their Skinner Flatt Road home in Manchester. Perkins entered a plea of guilty on three counts of murder.  He is sentenced to three counts of life without parole.  He will serve the...

Coffee County authorities are continuing to investigate a robbery Saturday night of the Lank and Nick’s store located in Hillsboro. According to a store clerk, a black male walked into the store wearing a dark hoodie and armed with what appeared to be a rifle. He demanded money, and when the clerk gave it to him ,he fled on foot. An arrest of a local juvenile was made on...

A two-car crash occurred Friday night at approximately 9:30 on McArthur Drive in Manchester. A black Cadillac was in the turning lane traveling west in front on Ascend Federal Credit Union and a white Dodge traveling east in the left lane collided almost head-on. According to Manchester Police it appears that the Cadillac veered into the path of the Dodge. The male driver and the lone female passenger in the Dodge were airlifted to a Nashville hospital. A male driver was the only person in the Cadillac and refused transport by ambulance and was taken by police to United...

Coffee County investigators Saturday night busted another meth lab, this time in Manchester. The lab allegedly was being operated by a father and son. Deputies took Joshua Lee Phipps and his father, Danny Lee Phipps, and booked them into the Coffee County jail. The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department searched the home on Hendrixson Drive and found the meth lab as well as marijuana...

County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for June 2012 show the rate increased in all 95 counties. Tennessee’s unemployment rate for June rose to 8.1 percent, up from the May revised rate of 7.9 percent. The national unemployment rate for June 2012 was 8.2 percent, unchanged from May. The state unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted while the county unemployment rates are not. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that eliminates the influences of weather, holidays, the opening and closing of schools, and other recurring seasonal events from economic time series. Williamson County continues to have the states lowest rate at...

Murfreesboro Police arrested a suspect on an outstanding warrant in Coffee County and also charge the man on drug possession. Authorities went to a home in the 14-hundred block of Dodd Trail in Murfreesboro in reference to a subject on Rutherford County’s Most Wanted list. Officer Levy spotted a vehicle, fitting the description of the one thought to be used by suspect Jeremy McCullough. The officer also reviewed the photograph of McCullough on the sheriff’s department Android app. When the subject arrived at the address, Levy made a stop and the suspect was placed under arrest. McCullough told the...