MORRISTOWN (WATE) – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer announced on Monday a grant awarded to the city of Morristown.
A grant in the amount of $700,805 transportation alternative grant to the city of Morristown for Phase 5 of the Turkey Creek Greenway.
“One of our big initiatives in the state is to have Tennessee be a healthier state. We were ranked in the bottom five or six states when it comes to health statistics so if we’re going to change that it’s going to mean people making better lifestyle choices and when people have a place they can go out and exercise that just makes it easier and more realistic that they’ll actually carry through,” Haslam said.
He also says creating more outdoor exercise opportunities can also help bring more businesses to our area.
“More and more when we’re recruiting companies they want to know is this a place where my employees will want to live,” Haslam said.
This project will be nearly 6,000 feet of 10-foot wide multimodal asphalt paved path that will connect the trailhead at the Freddie Kyle Trail at Cherokee Drive and travel north to the trailhead at Wildwood Park. The trail will be located within the old abandoned Peavine railroad right-of-way, and will include three crosswalks and two small bridges across Turkey Creek. Morristown currently has more than seven miles of greenway since the start of the Greenway Master Plan.
“Bicycle paths and walking paths are pretty much trending and we have found a route that’s been well received by the public. You can get from one end of the city to another,” said Morristown Mayor Gary Chesney.
The transportation alternative grant is made possible through a federally funded program formerly known as transportation enhancement, and is administered by the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
BULL GAP (WATE) – The owner of Main Street Family Practice in Bull Gap has been charged with running a pill mill operation.
Michelle Dawn Cate, 43, of New Market was charged with unlawful drug distribution of a controlled substance by a Hawkins County Grand Jury. Hawkins County Sheriff’s investigators said over a fourteen month span, Cate wrote more than 6,500 prescriptions for controlled substances without a physician’s supervision.
An advanced nurse practitioner, in order for Cate to prescribe controlled substances she is required to be supervised by a medical doctor. The supervising physician for Cate’s clinic left in October 2012, but investigators said Cate continued to practicing at the clinic without obtaining a new supervisor.
Hawkins County Narcotics Unit started investigating at the end of 2012 after they received several complaints from members of the community. Cate operated Tennessee Pain Consultants in Morristown, then moved her clinic to Bulls Gap under a different name, but failed to register the new business as a pain management clinic with the State of Tennessee, according to deputies.
Main Street Family Practice operated at 113 North Main Street in Bull Gap from May 2012 until it was closed in December 2013. During that time, investigators said Cate routinely prescribed narcotics to her patients without justification and failed to talk with them about the risks for addiction. They said she frequently prescribed combinations of opiods and benzodiazepines.
Cate was arrested last week in Springfield, Missouri and extradited back to Hawkins County. Her advanced nurse practitioner certification was revoked and her registered nurse license was placed on probation. Her license has since expired. She is being held on a $30,000 appearance bond, pending her arraignment in Hawkins County Criminal Court.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – The Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office arrested three men after surveillance footage showed them stealing fishing poles and tackle boxes from a boat.
Brent E. Farris, George Weems and Kakeob Smith turned themselves into authorities on Saturday after one of the suspects saw the footage, according to deputies.
They were charged with theft of property under $500.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – Sykes Enterprises is moving to Hamblen County and creating 300 to 500 new jobs over the next three years.
Andrea Schafer, a representative with Sykes said they plan to have 150 jobs in place this year. “Sykes is happy to be coming to Morristown,” said Schafer. “Morristown has the right kind of people for our superior customer service positions”.
Sykes provides customer support outsourcing. The company has 72 locations worldwide. Marshall Ramsey, President of Morristown Area Commerce said Sykes will host a job fair from noon to 8 p.m. at Morristown’s Rose Center on July 9.
The new center will be located in an Old Food City building on West Andrew Johnson Highway, near Downtown Morristown.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – An event is being held next month at Walters State Community College in Morristown to help adults figure out how to fit college into their busy schedules.
The Walters State Adult Learner Fair is July 7 in the Dr. Jack E. Campbell College Center. The fair begins with a reception from 5:30 to 6 p.m. and is followed by discussion from 6 to 7 p.m.
“Working adults have to balance their home and work responsibilities. Many think getting a degree is impossible. We will show them some creative ways to get on track to earning a degree. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never been to college or if you want to come back, we’ll show you how to get started and what your options may be,” said Cathy Woods, executive director of distance education.
Woods says school officials plan to discuss enrollment, financial aid, choosing a major and being successful. Instructors will also be on hand to talk to would-be students.
RSVPs are not required, but would be appreciated. You can call Woods at (423) 585-2661 or email Cathy.Woods@ws.edu.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – A Former Morristown Police Department investigator has been charged with stealing theft and misconduct while on duty.
Michael Nelson Hurt, 41, is charged with two counts of theft over $1,000; one count of theft under $500 and one count of official misconduct.. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says they began looking into the case on February 2. According to their findings, Hurt received at least three payments on behalf of Morristown police for seized vehicles, but did not deposit the full amount into the department’s bank account.
Hurt designed shortly after the investigation began. He turned himself in after a Hamblen County Grand Jury returned indictments on Wednesday. He was released after posting $10,000 bond.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – Morristown Police Maj. Michelle Jones says police believe a Hamblen County man killed by an officer Saturday night had fired at the officer.
Jones says 37-year-old Michael Shannon Gaby had an outstanding warrant for a probation violation. He was killed after Officer Rocky White pulled over his vehicle and attempted to arrest him.
Jones said Gaby drew a handgun on White. The handgun was recovered near Gaby, and police believe it was fired at least once.
The Citizen Tribune reports Gaby was on parole for felony convictions and faced a return to prison and additional time if he had been caught carrying a weapon.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is probing the shooting. White is on routine paid leave. Both the officer and the suspect are white.
WATE 6 On Your Side will provide updates on the investigation online and on air. Please check back for updates.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) — A special investigation has found that former Morristown police sergeant, Michael Hurt, failed to turn over at least $6,000 in cash he collected while working for the police department.
According to the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office, Hurt was responsible for returning seized vehicles to the owners and lienholders, as well as collecting the storage and towing fees owners were required to pay the department.
During the investigation, Hurt turned over $5,500 in cash. He claimed the money had been in his police vehicle for as long as 35 days. The remaining $500 was not found in the vehicle.
Investigators say Hurt made false entries in police department records in an attempt to conceal his activities. On July 1, Michael Hurt was indicted by the Hamblen County Grand Jury on two counts of theft over $1,000, one count of theft under $500, and one count of official misconduct.
“I find it particularly troublesome when an officer of the law chooses to engage is dishonest activity,” said Comptroller Justin P. Wilson. “It is important that police departments and other government entities understand the risks associated with handling cash in day-to-day operations.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – The Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office set up a fundraiser for Tennessee Highway Patrol Sergeant Joshua Mabe. Even though Mabe was never part of their agency, the Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office has been trying to raise money to help his family.
On Saturday, pictures of Sergeant Mabe were displayed on a table at Frank Lorino Park in Morristown. There were t-shirts with his name as part of a fundraiser to assist the trooper’s family.
In June, Mabe was killed on his family farm when a loader dropped as he was filling it with bales of hay. His family is opening up for the first time since his death.
“He was my partner on the farm and he was my best friend,” said Kenneth Mabe about his son.
His father, a former Hancock County sheriff’s deputy, said law enforcement is a brotherhood.
“You’ve just got a connection to people that if you’ve never met them, never seen them before, you’ve got a connection because you know what they go through each day,” said Mabe’s father.
Family members and friends said his death came as a shock. He served as a THP trooper for 10 years and was recently promoted to the rank of sergeant.
“Good hearted, joking, just a great person,” said Mabe.”
Family friends said Mabe always put others before himself.
“He was always about other people. He wasn’t about Josh. He loved his family. His family came first,” said Anthony Maxey, a family friend.
“He was somebody I want my son to be like. He was a guy that if you were around him, at all, you felt a bond with him,” said Ryan Dalton, another family friend.
It’s those kind words that are helping ease the Mabe family’s pain after losing a loved one too soon.
Donations will be accepted until August 1. All of the proceeds will go to the Mabe family to use at their discretion.
A memorial fund has been set up by the Hamblen County Sheriff’s Department in honor of Mabe and his family at Citizens Bank locations in Morristown, Bean Station, Harrogate, Tazewell and New Tazewell. Donations can be made by cash or check in person or by mailing them to:
Citizens Bank
155 Terrace Lane
Morristown, TN 37813
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – The Morristown Police Department is looking for whoever caused around $9,300 in damage to the Morristown Utility System building.
Officers say the suspect or suspects shot the building’s windows out early Monday morning between 2 and 3 a.m. Some of the incident was captured on surveillance camera.
Anyone in the area during that time or with information on the incident should call Cpl. Bob Ellis at (423) 585-4630 or the anonymous tips hotline at (423) 585-1833.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – Morristown Police Department said a sex offender knowingly gave the incorrect address on his registry.
Billy Jack Jarnigan, 37, was charged with falsifying information on the sex offender registry after an investigation by Morristown police.
Jarnigan was previously convicted of attempted aggravated sexual battery and is required to report quarterly to the registry. State law requires offenders to report to local law enforcement within 48 hours of changing their address. His last address was listed as 825 Truman Street in Morristown.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – Morristown police are searching for a suspect wanted in connection with two purse thefts and the fraudulent use of credit cards contained in the purses.
Eight warrants have been issued for the arrest of Jarrod B. Cooper on charges ranging from theft of property under $500, theft of property over $1,000 and fraudulent uses of credit/debit card.
Cooper was last seen driving an older model silver Ford Focus. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Hamblen County Dispatch at (423) 585-2701 or the Hamblen County Jail at (423) 585-2720. Anonymous tips can also be left on the Morristown Police Department’s Anonymous Tips Hotline at (423) 585-1833 or online.
BEAN STATION (WATE) – Leaders from the volunteer fire department in Bean Station say they’ve been given a bad deal by a repair shop in Morristown. The owner of the business says the volunteer department is responsible for a storage fee, on top of the time spent checking over the fire truck.
The owner of the shop says he’s in the right, but the chiefs from Bean Station say all they want is their truck back.
In many areas of East Tennessee, volunteer fire departments protect thousands of homes and their budgets are usually small. They depend on fundraisers a lot. In Bean Station, the volunteer department recently bought a ladder truck. To help defray the cost, they put a 40-year old pumper truck up for sale.
Chief Ron Wonderly
Assistant Fire Chief Randy Meade and Fire Chief Ron Wonderly lead Bean Station’s 16-member volunteer fire department. With six active trucks, the department serves 4,200 households in this part of Grainger County. One of their pumpers is parked in Morristown at a tire and repair shop. The department is told it’s going to cost $1,000 to get it back.
The 1974 pumper was up for sale in early summer and advertised on a website used by fire departments around the world.
“We put the truck in Fenton Magazine. They had a guy by the name of Roger Gonzalez contact me. He was interested in the truck and was willing to give the price that we asked,” said Wonderly.
Wonderly says Gonzalez was from Texas, but first he wanted the pumper checked by a reputable repair shop. Gonzalez asked the firefighters to drive it to Morristown.
“He tells me he contacted Joe from Morristown Tire and Precision,” said Wonderly. “He said bring it down and he’s going to check the truck over.”
Joe Evert is the manager of Morristown Tire and Performance Center.
Assistant Chief Randy Meade
“We never contacted anyone in Morristown. Roger contacted those folks in Morristown. All they asked us to do was get the truck to Morristown and drop it off for them,” said Meade.
In a message on June 26, Evert told Gonzalez the charge will be $69.99 to look over the pumper.
“[Gonzalez] wanted to make sure the truck was roadworthy because he was actually going to drive the truck back to Texas,” said Meade.
Bean Station’s engine 353 is checked at the shop in Morristown. As the weeks go by, Gonzalez wrote in August to Evert that the deal is off. It’s going to be too expensive to move the fire engine to Texas.
“He decided not to buy the truck, but [Gonzalez] admitted he owed the $70 tab and he would pay that, but he never did,” said Meade.
Six weeks ago, Meade and Wonderly were told the volunteer fire department will have to pay nearly $700 to get their truck back because a $10 a day storage fee was added to the tab. Chief Wonderly says he was told last week the bill had gone up to $1,000.
The entire yearly budget for the volunteer fire department is $30,000.
Tim Goins, the owner of Morristown Tire and Performance Center. says since Chief Ron Wonderly and others drove the truck to his shop, Bean Station’s volunteer department is ultimately responsible for the inspection plus storage, but it was not going to cost $1,000.
“Ron [Wonderly] just, he stirs things, you know. No, it’s not it’s not going to cost a thousand dollars,” he said. “I’ll have to go in here to find out [how much]. I’m not exactly sure.”
A few moments later after checking records, Goins lowered the price. He said he wants the truck gone because it’s taking up valuable space.
“If they bring $500, I’ll let it go,” he said. “I want done with Grainger County all together because of the fact of their integrity.”
He’s spent an hour, or an hour and a half going over the truck, didn’t make any repairs. Let us pay the $70 bucks. Give us our truck back,” said Meade.
Chief Wonderly now says after speaking with Goins again Wednesday, the bill is again at $1,000. and if the money is not paid by the end of this month, a mechanic’s lien will be filed and the truck will be sold at auction.
Goins says he and his shop have done nothing wrong; it’s the fire department’s responsibility to pay the bill.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – A Hamblen County father faces several charges after deputies say he shot his 8-year-old girl with a pellet gun and carved an “M” into her right arm.
Jose De Jesus Jimenez-Merchant, 22, is charged with aggravated assault and child abuse.
An incident report from the sheriff’s office says a school nurse was notified Wednesday that the girl said he father shot her in the stomach with an air soft pistol. Deputies say the girl had injuries matching a shot from a pellet gun and an “M” cared into her right arm.
The girl said her father made fun of her because of her last name and has shot her twice before. She said the “M” was to “label her as a Merchant now.”
Merchant was arrested and taken to the Hamblen County Jail. Twenty-one air soft pellets were recovered from the front porch of his home.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – Hamblen County deputies arrested a man for aggravated statutory rape, after an investigation into a report from a 16-year-old victim.
James Tarlton, 43, was arrested Thursday. Hamblen County detectives began investigating on Wednesday the teen filed a report with a school resource officer in Jefferson County.
It is alleged that Tarlton told the victim that having sex with him would rid her of visions of demons, according to deputies. Investigators say two of the assaults happened in the parking lot of a community center, the other two assaults happened in Tarlton’s home in Whitesburg.
He is being held on a $125,000 bond. More charges are expected as the investigation continues.
Tarlton has no previous criminal history in Hamblen County, but has previous charges in Washington and Sullivan County and is currently on probation, deputies said.
WHITESBURG (WATE) – A man has died after he was electrocuted on an assembly line at Koch Tennessee Inc.
Hamblen County coroner Eddie Davis said Jeffery Hensley, 26, was pronounced dead at 3:23 p.m. Wednesday. Davis said Hensley was operating an electrical saw at the company when he was shocked.
Hensley worked on an assembly line at the facility, but because he was out of view from his co-workers, Davis said it is unclear how long he was exposed to the current. At some point, Davis said his co-workers realized parts were not moving Hensley’s station. He says they went to check on Hensley and found him slumped over his machine.
One person was shocked trying to help him. Eventually, the power was turned off, first responders were called and employees started CPR.
Life saving efforts continued while Hensley was transported to Morristown-Hamblen Heatlhcare System. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Davis said Occupation Safety Health Association was notified of Hensley’s death.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – An 85-year-old man was killed after Morristown Police Department said he failed to yield to a Jeep that had the right of way.
The crash happened Thursday at the intersection of U.S. Highway 25E and South Davy Crockett Parkway at around 11:38 p.m. Officers said R.L. Taylor died at the crash.
According to the police report, R.L. Taylor, driving a Chevrolet Malibu, attempted to cross over U.S. Highway 25E, pulling into the direct path of a Jeep, driven by a 16-year-old girl. After the two cars hit, R.L. Taylor’s car rolled and the Jeep overturned.
The passenger in the Malibur, Tiffany Taylor, 25, and the passenger of the Jeep, a 13-year-old girl, were both transported by ambulance to a Morristown-Hamblen Healthcare System Hospital.
KNOXVILLE (WATE) – Walmart has opened a temporary hiring center in Morristown for their new Neighborhood Market scheduled to open this winter.
The hiring center is located at 1907 West Morris Boulevard. Applications will be accepted from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Walmart said they plan on hiring up to 95 associates. According to store manager Greg Holt the store will be hiring both full- and part-time associates. He said the majority of new associates will begin work in November to help prepare the store for its grand opening.
“We are excited to bring this new store to Morristown and look forward to meeting potential applicants as we build our team of associates,” said Holt.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – The CDC reports roughly 40,000 babies are born each year with a congenital heart defect. One little boy who calls Morristown home was one of those babies eight years ago.
He’s growing up happy and healthy despite his diagnosis and is participating in the Superhero Heart Race in Alcoa. It’s funny how a cape can change your outlook.
“It makes me a very happy, energy, hero,” said Joshua Akins, 8. “My heart is special.”
Joshua and his twin brother Kelby were diagnosed before they were born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
“It was terrifying,” said their mom Mitzi Akins.
Akins had to watch her babies go through a number of open heart surgeries. Sadly, Kelby passed away at almost eight months old after a number of complications and pneumonia.
“He was very strong and very brave, and he fought very very hard as long as he could,” said Mitzi.
Joshua and his twin brother Kelby were diagnosed before they were born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
The Akins now want more people to know about congenital heart defects to encourage more research and maybe even a cure.
“The surgeries my sons have had were not available even 35 years ago. They’re very new and without the research he wouldn’t even make it,” she said.
The family takes each day at a time.
“We do what we have to do for his health, but we try to enjoy the good moments as well,” added Mitzi Akins.
Because he’s a little boy who’s beating the odds and one with a superhero angel.
“I’ve missed Kelby a lot,” said Joshua.
This Saturday’s Superhero Heart Run is the first in our region. It’s a 5K run, 2K walk and it’s too late to pre-register, ut anyone can come by to Springbrook park in Alcoa around 8:30 Saturday morning and be able to participate. If you’re interested, click here for more information.
MORRISTOWN (WATE) – Three people were arrested at a Morristown hotel Monday after police discovered a room full of people and over $4,500 in marijuana.
Zachariah Hatch, 23, of Washington; Michael Nicholson, 22, of California; and Ashlyn Reed, 23, of Morristown; are each charged with delivery, sale and possession of a controlled substance.
Officers responded to a call of suspicious activity early Monday morning at a hotel on East Andrew Johnson Highway. Officers discovered six men and a woman in a room where they smelled a strong marijuana odor.
Police discovered jars and bags containing around 4.5 pounds of marijuana. The three people arrested were carrying more than $4,000 in cash.
Reed told officers they had all been working on a marijuana farm in California. They had been paid wages in the form of marijuana and were hitchhiking across the country.
All three are being held in the Hamblen County Jail.
