Micro Craft of Tullahoma has been awarded $25,000 in Incumbent Worker Training Grants from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Commissioner Burns Phillips announced last week. According to company officials the grant is to mainly update people’s skill or to add new skills if there’s new software out there on the market that we buy for programming or drafting. The company will target its newest employees for training first, beginning with those hired directly from Tennessee technology...

Williamson County made headlines when the district’s public defender said her assistants will not be taking on new cases because of their existing case load. The Tennessee District Public Defenders Conference – charged with filling the state’s obligation to provide a lawyer to those who can’t afford one in criminal cases – says the problem exists throughout the state. Paige Edwards, the conference’s assistant executive director, says she hears from many who are overwhelmed with cases. “The fact that more courts have been created and you only have limited staff to go to all those courts, it’s stretching the...

This week the Tennessee Military Department, Tullahoma and surrounding counties will once again be experiencing the Ice Storm of 1998. In an effort to improve communication and coordination between local and state agencies, the Tennessee Military Department including the Tennessee Army National Guard, the Tennessee Air National Guard, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) and the Tennessee State Guard – will conduct a series of maneuvers across the state, the likes of which have not been seen since World War II. Rather than preparing to fight a war, though, the department will be conducting one of the largest statewide...

After a long grueling process the Manchester Board of Education decided in a 4-1 vote to offer Dr. Don McPherson a two-year contract for Director of Schools. The contract will include an $110,000 annual salary for McPherson the former superintendent of Alabama’s Coffee County Schools. The Coffee County, Alabama Board of Education and McPherson agreed to a separation agreement in July of last year, which resulted in the superintendent’s term ending after 4 ½ years, with 4 years remaining. McPherson’s attorney, Thomas Brantley, reportedly called the situation a witch hunt. The Manchester Board of Education hopes to have a...

Four men were arrested last week with sex crimes by Franklin County authorities, including two that live in Coffee County. Ryan Nathan Henley, 1478 Hurricane Road, Tullahoma, was arrested for aggravated rape, aggravated sexual battery, rape, sexual battery, commit rape, commit aggravated sexual battery and commit sexual battery. Daniel Paul Barbeau, 70 Turkey Creek Drive, Tullahoma, was charged with facilitation to commit aggravated rape, facilitation to commit aggravated sexual battery, facilitation to commit rape, facilitation to commit sexual battery. Eddie Lee Hatfield, 412 S. Main St., Estill Springs, has been charged with rape of a child less than 13...

An AMBER Alert is still in effect for 9-year-old Carlie Marie Trent. Carlie was removed from school last week by her uncle by marriage, Gary Simpson, under false pretenses. He has no custodial rights to Carlie. Currently their whereabouts are unknown. Carlie is 4’8″ tall, weighs 75 lbs with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a black and grey tank top and blue jeans. Simpson is a 57-year-old white male, 5’10” tall, weighing 157 lbs. He is balding and has brown hair and eyes. He was last seen wearing a brown cap, a dark colored...

The University of Tennessee recently honored Coffee County Trustee John Marchesoni as a Certified Public Administrator. To achieve the designation, Marchesoni completed 80 credit hours in the County Officials Certificate Training Program. The program is administered by the UT County Technical Assistance Service. “This is a unique program that offers a broad spectrum of training to county officials and employees to provide them with the knowledge to better serve their constituents,” said Robin Roberts, executive director of CTAS. Each program is designed to aid county government officials in performing their jobs and efficiently administering county...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of communities that will participate in the Cool & Connected planning assistance program, an innovative initiative to help people use broadband service for downtown revitalization and economic development. Partner communities will receive direct technical assistance from a team of experts to develop strategies and an action plan for using planned or existing broadband service to create connected, economically vibrant main streets and small-town neighborhoods. Tullahoma will receive technical assistance to market downtown Tullahoma as a free Wi-Fi zone and develop a physical work-share space to...