On October 23, 2013 a Giles County Corrections Officer was sent to TN Mental Health to pick-up a female inmate and transport her back to the Giles County Jail. While enroute back to the Giles County Jail, the Corrections Officer pulled off of I-65 at exit 32 in Marshall County behind a vacant building and had inappropriate sexual contact with the female inmate. A short time after the female inmate returned to Giles County, she advised the Giles County Officers of what had occurred. Since the incident happened in Marshall County, Assistant D.A. Eddie Barnard was contacted by Giles County authorities and he, in turn, released the information he was given to Sheriff Norman Dalton. The investigation was turned over to Detective Jimmy Oliver. As a result of Detective Oliver’s investigation on November 20, 2013 the former Giles County Corrections Officer, Michael Wade Brown, white, male, age 52, of 779 Garner Hollow Road, Pulaski, TN, was arrested and charged with Sexual Contact with an Inmate. Bond has been set at $6000.00 and court date has been set for December 10, 2013. The female is as of this date an inmate at the Giles County Jail.

NASHVILLE- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested a Marshall County man in Lewisburg yesterday on a multiple count indictment handed down by the Marshall County grand jury for sexual crimes committed against a female child. 

Stephen Douglas Smith, 52, of Cornersville, Tenn. was indicted on one count of rape of a child under age 13, four counts of aggravated statutory rape of minor and 40 counts of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor. The 17^th Judicial District Attorney General requested TBI investigate Smith in May 2013. The investigation revealed that between May 2008 and November 2011, Smith committed crimes against the victim. He was considered a friend of her family.  

Smith was booked into the Marshall County Jail yesterday on $100,000 bond.

Adventure Cycling Association and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Official announced that AASHTO’s Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering has approved U.S. Bike Route 23 in Tennessee. 

This Route in Tennessee covers 154 miles between the Kentucky border, where it joins Kentucky’s existing Mammoth Cave state bicycle route, and Alabama. Heading south from Kentucky, DSBR 23 begins in rural Robertson County. The route cuts through the heart of Nashville’s music scene and continues south of Franklin. A second spur connects to food and lodging at Henry Horton State Park in Chapel Hill and Lewisburg. Further south, cyclists may travel for an hour or more and not see an automobile. U.S. Bicycle Route 23 enters Alabama at Ardmore, a city whose main street is also the Tennessee-Alabama state line. 

Mayors Liggett and Bingham, extends their thanks and appreciation to the scores of cycling individuals and clubs, city, county and state officials, and many other interested stakeholders that invested hundreds of hours creating, vetting, reviewing and approving this route.  TDOT is now adding this route to their official Tennessee state website.

Already known as a voice for area businesses, bank deepens its commitment to local companies                                                                                                      

COLUMBIA, Tenn.  (November 19, 2013) – First Farmers and Merchants Bank today announced the organization of a specialized business banking team to help businesses better understand how to utilize financial services and systems to run their own businesses more efficiently and profitably.

The group is comprised of seven relationship managers who will be located in Middle Tennessee counties served by the bank.  In addition to lending, the seven will provide strategic guidance for business services such as online bill pay, cash and treasury management, payroll support, remote deposit, business checking and credit cards. 

“We’re fully convinced that our nation’s economic recovery will be led by local businesses, one employee at a time,” said Tim Pettus, president, First Farmers & Merchants Bank.  “We’ve long been known as a leader in business banking in Middle Tennessee and this move will help us focus more intensely on this client segment that we know so well.  Together, these banking veterans have over 150 years of business experience and truly understand the challenges that companies face today.  Our goal is to turn that collective knowledge into financial horsepower for each of their clients.”

            Brenda Wolaver, who is located at the First Farmers branch in Lewisburg, is a member of the new team.  She has worked in banking for 32 years and has been with First Farmers since 2004 in consumer mortgage lending. 

She joins other team members that include:  Shela Chessor, Suzanne Estes, Cathy Mashburn, Archie Morrow, Judy Musgrave and Stacey Shedd.

Numerous sources are reporting that at least one person was severely injured in an explosion late Monday morning in Shelbyville.  

Local police evacuated an area within one-half mile of a bio-diesel tank which exploded and burned at the Southern Energy facility on Lane Parkway.  News reports indicate that one victim has been transported to Vanderbilt via Life-Flight after the explosion which occurred at about 10:30. 

Bedford County Sherriff Randall Boyce told media outlets that 69 inmates had been moved out of the County Workhouse and that students at Thomas Magnet School were evacuated and taken by bus to Harris Middle School as a precautionary measure.  Other businesses in the area were also evacuated, including the City Courthouse and the County Animal Control building. 

The explosion created a black plume of smoke that rose, according to some reports, as high as forty feet in the air. Two other people are reported to be injured.  Power and traffic signals in the area have been disrupted.

Follow Up:

Authorities in Bedford County continue to investigate the explosion and subsequent fire in Shelbyville Monday morning.  One man, apparently the driver of a tanker truck that was unloading a solvent, was transported to Vanderbilt Medical Center by Life-Flight with serious burns over fifty percent of his body.  The victim has not yet been identified.  Despite chaotic reports from the scene Monday, no other injuries were reported. 

Local officials had evacuated the area within one-half mile of the explosion at the Southern Energy facility on Lane Parkway.  Businesses, schools, and government offices in the area reopened Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.  Traffic control and electric service to the area, except in the immediate vicinity of the explosion, have been restored.  

Gates along a Duck River tributary had been closed to prevent chemicals and water, used to extinguish the flames, from entering the watershed.  Personnel from neighboring Rutherford County assisted in the evacuation and later re-housing of animals at the Bedford County Animal Control building.