The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has released its annual study dedicated to crime in Tennessee’s public and private school systems, excluding colleges/universities and technical schools. Produced by TBI’s Crime Statistics Unit, the study spans a three-year period between 2009 and 2011 and is based on numbers submitted by Tennessee law enforcement agencies to the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS). The reported number of crimes that occurred at schools decreased by 5.5% from 2010 to 2011 and there was an overall decrease of 6.7% between 2009 and 2011. There were 12,435 crimes reported at schools in 2011 compared to...

Former University of Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer was inducted into the Hall of Fame Wednesday.  However, he was not celebrating in Nashville, Knoxville, or Memphis.  Instead, Fulmer returned to where he played high school football…Franklin County High School. Phillip Fulmer spoke to the Franklin County Christian Athletes Association annual banquet. “It’s a little bit ironic, because I’m back home where everything started,” he said. “There are so many people here that taught me and coached me and helped me get going on this path. It’s neat to come back and relive some of those memories.” He honored long...

The Tennessee Valley Authority is increasing its fuel adjustment charge by 0.7% in June. According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, a typical household power bill will rise 80 cents for the same amount of use. A TVA spokesman said the mild winter that was beneficial to customers allowed the federal utility to credit some of the savings to the monthly fuel charge in February, March and April. Those savings have been used up and the fuel charge for June is more reflective of TVA’s actual costs for producing electricity. TVA said earlier that the mild winter and cheaper...

A brother and sister were arrested after they were allegedly found to be in possession of methamphetamines and to be in the process of producing the drug. 34-year-old Madonna Elam of Lavergne Street in Manchester and 32-year-old Steve Frame of Manchester were arrested by Manchester Police while in a room at the Truckers Inn on Hillsboro Blvd. Investigator Yogi Yother notified Captain Victor Jones, Officer Trey Smith and Officer Bryan Eldridge that the two were possibly in possession of meth in the motel room. They reportedly had the drug in a microwave and Frame had some packs in his...

Church thieves have struck again. This time at the Prairie Plains Baptist Church. According to a report by Deputy Daryl Welch, church pastor Jimmy Parting stated that he went to the church last Saturday and found a back door open. He went in and noticed the doors to the cabinets open and thought a pest control company employee had been in to spray for bugs.  However, when he returned on Sunday, he found the overhead projector was missing. The thieves, according to the deputy’s report, stood on the pews to remove the projector, which is valued at $500. Sheriff’s...

Sales tax collections continue to rise all across Coffee County. In Tullahoma April collections in 2011 were $794,795.  Last month Tullahoma collected $922,985, increasing by $127,190. In the county tax collection went up over $11,600 over April 2011. The City of Manchester saw another strong month with $708,253 collected.  Manchester’s tax collection increased $87,919 over the same month last year. Overall county collections were...

Cheaper gas won’t be enough to get many more Americans on the road this summer. They’re still too worried about their jobs and the economy. Economists and tourism experts are expecting only a small uptick in summer travelers. Gas prices are still high enough to keep some lower-income Americans at home. The job market is improving, but still shaky. And household debt remains high. For Memorial Day weekend, auto club AAA predicts that 34.8 million Americans will take trips of at least 50 miles. That’s up 1.2 percent from summer’s opening weekend in 2011. In Coffee County the average...

The first redesigned Nissan Altima is rolling off the production line in Smyrna, where the best-selling mid-size sedan has been produced for the last 20 years. On Tuesday, Governor Bill Haslam and Nissan officials celebrated the production of the first of the fifth generation of the Altima and the launch of five all-new Nissan vehicles coming in the next 15 months. The plant in Smyrna will also be producing the LEAF electric vehicles and the batteries that power it, as well the next-generation Nissan Pathfinder and Nissan Rogue. The plant employs approximately 5,600 employees and also produces the Frontier,...