During a meeting of the Coffee County Budget and Finance Committee was told by members of the Jail Review Committee that an endangered species known as the Indiana bat could delay construction of the new jail if the county decides to issue bonds through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to county and USDA officials, the USDA’s rural development bonds require National Environmental Protection Act assessments by several environmental and wildlife agencies for any project involving the clearing of trees, construction or land disturbance. Upon the county’s recent application for rural development bond financing to construct the new jail,...

Just as the rains started around 8:30 Saturday night, a call came into the Communication Center to report a house fire on Gossburg Road. It occurred around the 6 mile marker and the home was totally engulfed when the Sheriff’s Deputies and North Coffee Fire Department arrived. It was reported as a vacant house and the fire department made the decision to let it burn. The department stayed at the scene and made sure the fire was contained. No one was hurt and the cause was unknown at this time. Coffee County Deputies will...

The Tullahoma Beer Board has directed Gregory Jackson of Young, Inc., owner of the Piggly Wiggly store on East Lincoln St., is to appear for a “show cause” hearing at City Hall tonight to explain why the company has not met the conditions established at its complaint hearing in February. The February hearing resulted from a December “sting” operation in which 10 of 27 local establishments with permits to sell beer were caught selling it to an underage female. In lieu of other penalties, Jackson had accepted the option of having his employees and himself complete an approved vendor...

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation last week arrested Jesse Elbert Rogers, 60, on charges of Bribery of a Witness and Solicitation to Compound a Felony. Rogers is employed by and owns Universal Technologies, Inc., located in Estill Springs, TN. He is charged with paying over $5,000.00 to a complainant on an unrelated criminal case in Franklin County. The payment was part of an agreement to have the complainant drop the charges against one of Rogers’ employees, Anthony Lee Carrick. Carrick is currently under indictment in Franklin County for both Aggravated Burglary and Sexual Battery and is out on a...

The City of Manchester had the official ribbon cutting of the new Greenway extension to the Old Stone Fort State Park area last week. The new sidewalk was installed by Hansert Excavating of Manchester. Those in attendance at the ribbon cutting were Mayor Betty Superstein, Alderman Gene Holmes, Alderman Roxanne Patton, and others were present along with members of the Recreation Commission. The City of Manchester Public Works Department employees have been working pouring concrete on the Lynchburg Road Sidewalk Extension project. Estimated cost for this project is $67,029.50. All of the work is to be done by the...

Kimberly Ann Mullins, 37, who was indicted last year for the theft of over $60,000 from the Coffee County Fair Association, was in court this week. Mullins pleaded guilty to the charge and agreed to pay back $165,000. She started paying back the money yesterday (Thursday), making a $10,000 payment. Sentencing for Mullins will be in August. Mullins served as treasurer of the fair board from 2006 until February 2011.  She was indicted June 14, 2011 on theft charges after a three-month investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that alleges she took in excess of $60,000 from the...

Nissan has broken ground on an engine plant in Decherd, Tennessee, that is expected to create up to 400 jobs. The plant will assemble 4-cylinder engines for Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti models when production begins in 2014. The engines will be supplied for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is built at a Daimler plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. An existing plant in Decherd already makes engines for the Infiniti JX. That plant began powertrain assembly in 1997 and manufactures four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines for all U.S.-produced Nissan and Infiniti vehicles. Nissan and Daimler first began a partnership in April 2010. Nissan’s...

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is reminding motorists to buckle their seat belts when getting behind the wheel of a vehicle. In an effort to bring awareness to the growing number of traffic fatalities, officials have begun displaying the number of deaths that occur on Tennessee roadways on interstate signs. As of May 9, 332 people have been killed on Tennessee roadways, which is an increase over the same time period in 2011. Last month the Tennessee Highway Patrol put an emphasis on seat-belt violations. There were some 1,100 citations written in a 24-hour period. The Governor’s Safety Office kicked...