On Sunday morning at approximately 8:15am Coffee County Deputy David Grouch responded to a house fire at 5320 Shady Grove Rd. in Summitville. When the deputy arrived the Summitville Volunteer Fire Dept. was on scene. Black smoke was coming from inside the structure and the fire department was able to bring the fire under control and extinguished. The house was burned completely inside. The Summitville Fire Chief stated that the fire looked suspicious. Norman S. Harrell the owner of the house was not sure if he still had insurance on the house as it has been vacant for the...

Tina Juanita Smith of Decherd was killed in a traffic accident on Sunday night. Smith, age 41, was hit by a car as she was walking along Highway 41A near the Montana Drive-in. According to a police report, Smith was walking to retrieve an item that had fallen from the pickup she was driving. Before she could return to her car, she was hit by a Dodge Charger. The Estill Springs Police Department is still investigating the...

The winds of change are blowing – with the U.S. Department of Energy’s approval of the Plains and Eastern Clean Line transmission project. The cross-continental project would deliver energy generated by large wind turbines in western Oklahoma to states such as Tennessee and others in the Southeast. While the Tennessee Valley Authority has provided energy to the state for generations, John Wilson, director of research for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said this would provide another valuable source. “This wind would be very different from the wind that TVA currently has in Tennessee,” he said. “It blows year-round....

Nashville and its surrounding areas are leading the state in population growth. According to the Tennessee State Data Center, the Nashville metropolitan statistical area, which includes Murfreesboro and Franklin, had a 2015 population of more than 1.8 million people. That’s about 28 percent of Tennessee’s total pollution of 6.6 million. Nashville ranked 36th out of 412 metropolitan statistical areas nationally for one-year growth from 2014 to 2015. The top 10 fastest-growing counties in Tennessee were either located in or bordered the Nashville area. They were Rutherford, Williamson, Wilson, Maury, Montgomery, Sumner, Dickson, Bedford, Davidson and Smith counties. The Tennessee...

A hit and run accident occurred recently on I-24 between mile-markers 110-111 in Coffee County. This was a two-vehicle accident with two people being injured. In an arrest warrant, Tennessee Highway Patrolman Lazaro Serna says Thomas Eugene Roach age 41 of Mattie Lane in Summerville, SC left the scene of the accident. He was later captured by deputies with the Grundy County Sheriff’s Department at a gas station. Roach was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and immediate notice of an accident and later charged with violation of probation. He was booked into the Coffee County Jail...

A man was taken into custody Friday in connection with two separate thefts that occurred at a Bedford County construction site. Investigators with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office arrested David Wilson, 34, of Shelbyville, for the thefts from the site on Sims Road in March. Several thousand dollars worth of stolen equipment were recovered during the investigation. The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office and Lewisburg Police Department assisted in recovering the stolen property. Wilson was charged with burglary and two counts of theft over $1,000. His bond was set at $40,000 and he is scheduled to appear in court April...

The Moore County campus of Motlow State Community College will host an annual Hiring Fair Thursday, Apr. 7, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The fair will be held in the Forrester Student Center, Lincoln County Bank Dining Hall. The fair is open to all students and the public. “The purpose of the hiring fair is to connect potential employees with prospective employers,” said Brenda Cannon, director of student and campus relations. “With hundreds of Motlow students preparing to graduate in May, this could be the skilled, job-ready pool of applicants employers seek. We encourage job seekers to come prepared...