The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department is searching for a utility trailer that was apparently stolen from the Mt View Road area of the county between Tuesday October 23, 2018 and Sunday October 27. The trailer is 12 feet in length with a new floor and side rails. Anyone that has seen this trailer or has any information regarding this alleged theft please contact Coffee County Sheriff’s Department Investigator James Sherrill at...

Coffee County Children’s Advocacy Center will conduct the 11th Annual Safe on the Square on Wednesday, October 31st, 2018 from 2:30 PM-5:00 PM. Safe on the Square is a family friendly trick-or-treating event for children on the historic Manchester Square. Around 2,000 trick or treaters are expected. The Coffee County Children’s Advocacy Center would like to thank everyone including the many businesses who come together each year to make this event possible for our...

Story and photo by Dennis Weaver In a special called business meeting on Monday afternoon, the Coffee County Election Commission met at the Election Commission office in the Coffee County Administrative Plaza. On the agenda for the meeting, the 5 election commissioners were set to appoint a new Administrator of Elections to replace outgoing administrator Vernita Davis. Davis has expressed her desire to retire from her position at the end of the calendar year. Earlier in October, the commission selected Donald Andrew (Andy) Farrar for the position in what Election Commission chairman Sandra Soesbe called “a secret ballot vote.”...

Newly-released data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development shows the vast majority of Tennessee’s 95 counties experienced lower unemployment rates in September when compared with the previous month. Rates decreased in 70 counties, increased in 10 and remained the same in 15 counties. Coffee County’s unemployment rate for September was 3.8 percent, which is up slightly from the August rate of 3.7. Bedford County’s rate fell from 4.2 percent to 4 percent. Franklin County dropped from 3.7 percent to 3.6 percent. Moore County stayed the same at 3.3 percent. Warren County’s unemployment rate for September was...

The principal at Sequatchie County High School in Dunlap has been transferred to a teaching position after 24 years as the school’s leader. Tommy Layne had hoped to retire after this school year with fifty years of service. The school was recently involved in a controversy with Grundy County High School after an incident in which Sequatchie football players apparently held up the jerseys of teammates who were not allowed to play in the Sequatchie-Grundy game. The students were reportedly Grundy transfers who may have been involved in an assault which led to their dismissal from Grundy County High....

More than 5,000 new cases of breast cancer were reported in Tennessee in 2017, according to the Tennessee Breast Cancer Coalition. Women whose breast cancer is detected in its early stages have a 93 percent survival rate, so screening is particularly important. Because of a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, qualifying women can benefit from the Tennessee Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program. Kelly Luskin, director of Reproductive and Women’s Health for the Tennessee Department of Health, says beyond screening, appropriate follow up from doctors is important. “Early detection is key, and I think having...

The Coffee County Election Commission will meet on Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, at 4:00 PM in the Election Commission office in the Administrative Plaza at 1329 McArthur Street, Suite 6 in Manchester. The purpose of the meeting will be to appoint a new Administrator of Elections. Apparently, this will be done to revote for the administrator position in a public meeting. In a story we first reported on October 9, the Coffee County Election Commission voted in an apparent secret ballot to give the position of Administrator of Elections to current Coffee County Government Purchasing Agent Andy Farrar. Current...