A news release from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department states: On January 20, 2019, at approximately 5:30pm, Coffee County Sheriff’s Department along with Hickerson Station VFD and Tullahoma Fire Department responded to a travel trailer fire at the Barton Springs recreational area on Frank Hiles Road. The trailer was fully engulfed in flames upon arrival. After the fire was extinguished, firefighters found a body of an individual in the remains. Coffee County investigators responded along with Tennessee Bomb and Arson, TBI, and Coffee County EMA. The identity of the individual is currently unknown and awaiting positive identification from the...

Visitors at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and others across the country have seen trash, overflowing toilets and damaged property during the government shutdown. Some park advocacy groups want the Inspector General to investigate an Interior Department decision to keep some parks open, even without enough staff to ensure visitors and natural resources are protected, calling it “reckless.” Kristen Brengel, vice president for government affairs with the National Parks Conservation Association, said the last thing the department should be doing is inviting more people into potentially dangerous situations. “They’re essentially manufacturing a crisis here by allowing parks to remain...

The Manchester Parks and Recreation Commission has decided to up the rate on the rental of the Ada Wright Center. The new policy, which will go into effect for all new reservations on March 1. The new cost will be $200 per day, or $100 per day for nonprofits. Currently you can rent the center for $50 for the first hour and $10 for every hour after that, allowing for more than one event per day. Recreation staff was only available to clean it during the morning and are not able to provide any type of...

Sunday evening around 6pm Hickerson Station Volunteer Fire Department was called to the scene of a pull behind camper fire at Barton Springs camping area at Normandy Lake. When they arrived, the camper was fully engulfed in flames. While extinguishing the fire a body was discovered. Coffee County Sheriff Chad Partin responded to the scene and told WMSR News that the body has not been identified to be male or female because it was burned so badly. The sheriff’s department secured the scene until the state bomb and arson team arrived to investigate. They will look into the cause...

Will the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center (MCCCC) be sold? Some people have voiced that opinion for a long time because the center has had financial troubles for many years. In a twist that some leaders did not see coming, County Mayor Gary Cordell wants to see if the City of Manchester would take on the center. Question is, who makes the decision to sell? According to the agreement signed in November of 2000 between Coffee County and Manchester the two parties agreed to fund on an equal basis the construction and operation of the conference center. According to the...

  Shelbyville Police report that one of two men charged with robbing a Shelbyville convenience store last week is a convicted murderer. Leslie Lamont Coleman, 51, and Deontre Farris, 18, who share a Landers Street apartment, were arrested Wednesday by Detective Lt. Charles “Chucky” Merlo and Detective Cody Swift of the Shelbyville Police Department. The suspects allegedly robbed the Circle K convenience store, Madison Street and Wartrace Pike, at knifepoint around 1 a.m. last Monday. Coleman is on parole after being found guilty of first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery in 1991 in Nashville. The Nashville incident is similar...

The Tennessee Department of Education says that 76.1 percent of the state’s public high school class of 2019—53,478 students—participated in the department’s third ACT Senior Retake opportunity in October 2018, the state’s highest participation rate on record. Of those seniors who retook the ACT in 2018, more than 50 percent increased their composite score from their junior year score, a 10.2 percent point increase from 2017. Also, the average ACT composite score increased by 0.5 points for students who took the ACT during their junior year and through the ACT Senior Retake in 2018. Additionally, 3,825 seniors raised their...