Southern Middle TN Today News with Tom Price 8-14-26

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Southern Middle Tennessee Today

News Copy for August 14, 2026

All news stories are aggregated from various sources and modified for time and content. Original sources are cited.

We start with local news…

Former Giles County Deputy Charged (WKRN)

A former Giles County deputy has been indicted on several charges following an incident involving a Taser during an arrest, officials said.

On Thursday, Aug. 13, Giles County Sheriff Joseph Purvis announced that Stetson Thomas resigned from his position on July 31 during the early stages of an investigation regarding inconsistent courtroom testimony.

The office of District Attorney General Brent Cooper reportedly investigated the incident and presented the case to a Giles County grand jury on Wednesday, Aug. 12. In addition, the Giles County Sheriff’s Office requested the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to commence with decertification proceedings.

According to the GCSO, the grand jury later returned indictments charging Thomas with one count of official misconduct, one count of destruction and tamper of governmental records, one count of perjury, one count of aggravated perjury and one count of assault.

Thomas reportedly turned himself into the Giles County Jail and has since been released on bond.

“The Giles County Sheriff’s Office has dedicated employees committed to protecting the community they serve. We are held to the same standards as the public and face the same consequences. Abuse of authority will not be tolerated. I trust and believe in the criminal justice system, and I’m confident that a Giles County jury will determine the appropriate outcome. I appreciate General Cooper and his staff for conducting the investigation,” said Purvis.

Thomas worked with the sheriff’s office from 2019 until he resigned, officials said.

The GCSO said they are fully cooperating with the district attorney’s office during the investigation, which remains ongoing.

No additional details were immediately released.

Teen Linked to Spring Hill Stolen Car (MauryCountySource)

A report of a stolen vehicle at a Spring Hill hotel led police to a runaway teenager from Georgia and the discovery of a second stolen vehicle connected to the same location.

According to the Spring Hill Police Department, officers began investigating on Aug. 7 after a vehicle was reported stolen from the Home2 Suites parking lot. The owner told investigators the keys had been left inside the vehicle before it was taken.

The stolen vehicle was later located at a fast-food restaurant in Columbia. Working with the Columbia Police Department, officers found a 15-year-old inside the vehicle.

As investigators continued their investigation, they discovered the juvenile was carrying a key fob for another vehicle. That key belonged to a second vehicle that had been parked at the same Home2 Suites and had also been reported stolen from Georgia.

Police identified the teen as a runaway from Georgia.

The teen was charged with motor vehicle theft.

Camper Fire (MauryCountySource)

Maury County firefighters quickly extinguished a camper fire Monday evening after responding to a report of flames near a home on Rick Hight Road.

The Maury County Fire Department said crews were dispatched around 5:40 p.m. after receiving reports of a camper on fire with unknown occupants possibly inside.

When firefighters arrived, they found flames coming from a window of the camper. Crews forced their way inside, brought the fire under control and searched the camper, but no one was found inside.

The department noted the fire was its 12th call of the day, with volunteer firefighters responding after handling several other serious incidents in high heat. No injuries were reported.

Duck River Partnership Okays CPWS Intake (Muletown Journal)

The piece of Columbia's water financing puzzle that had been sitting in limbo just moved, but it did not move unanimously.

The Duck River Watershed Planning Partnership, the advisory group Gov. Bill Lee convened to sort out how the river's water should be shared across the region, voted Monday, Aug. 10, to formally back the downstream intake and raw water transmission line at the center of Columbia Power & Water Systems' long-term water supply plan. It was the second half of a two-part sign-off: the partnership had already approved the utility's water treatment plant expansion the month before. With both pieces now endorsed, CPWS has the partnership's backing for the roughly $520 million program.

That matters because the state board that actually controls the money, the Tennessee Local Development Authority, had been holding off on CPWS's larger financing request specifically until the partnership weighed in. The TLDA approved a $75 million state loan for the treatment plant in late July but set aside a separate $315 million request tied to the intake and pipeline, waiting on exactly this kind of recommendation before it would act. That federal loan comes through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or WIFIA.

Not a Clean Vote

Unlike last month's unanimous approval of the treatment plant, Monday's vote on the intake and pipeline was contested. Maury County Mayor Sheila Butt was one of two members who voted no, with two others abstaining, according to Butt's own account of the meeting. She laid out her reasoning at length, and it was not a rejection of CPWS itself.

"I will be voting 'no' today and not because I don't appreciate CPWS and what they do for Maury County," Butt said at the meeting. "They have a lot of dedicated people there who keep us in water. They are my friends and constituents. I appreciate what Spring Hill is doing as well."

Her objection was to the process behind the roughly half-billion-dollar decision, not the engineering. "What I am voting against is a flawed process that allows one city legislative body to make the decision to borrow over $500 million dollars and increase water rates 149% in a County that has thousands of people who were disenfranchised by having no representation in that vote," she said. "Many farmers, rural communities, and cattle producers had no representation. They are Maury County as well and had no voice in that legislative body."

Butt argued the underlying issue is bigger than one project. "Water should not be a privately owned resource," she said. "It belongs to everyone in the State of Tennessee and should be shared and governed equally in the watersheds across the State. Until we make that happen legislatively, the one who gets there first, with the biggest bucket, the most money and the most influence will control this natural resource."

She pointed to a WFX study she said points toward a path to real regionalism, including shared governance and economies of scale across the utilities that draw from the Duck River, and said she intends to pursue legislation to get there. "That is the answer to the blatant disenfranchisement," she said. "Until we do that, we are leaving thousands of Tennesseans across the state without a voice. Today, I am speaking for those people in Maury County who had no voice."

Butt said she raised similar concerns with the state's own funding board a month earlier, warning that without legislative fixes to how water governance works across county lines, Tennessee's brewing "water wars" will end up hurting ratepayers and the state as a whole.

What Happens Next

The partnership's vote does not undo the objection Butt raised, and it does not change what Columbia ratepayers are already facing. City Council approved rate increases of up to 20 percent a year for five years back in January, and those increases move forward regardless of how the rest of the financing shakes out. What Monday's vote does is clear CPWS to go back to the Tennessee Local Development Authority and pursue parity status for its $315 million WIFIA loan, a condition the EPA requires before the loan can close, and the piece of financing that had been stuck without a state decision either way.

The utility's interim president and CEO, Jack Baxter, framed the outcome as validation. "This full affirmation from the Duck River Watershed Planning Partnership validates years of diligent planning and science-based forecasting," he said. "Securing our community's water future while safeguarding the Duck River's delicate ecosystem must go hand in hand." Baxter stepped into the role on an interim basis after Jonathan Hardin resigned for personal reasons.

The intake project itself would raise CPWS's withdrawal capacity from the Duck River from 20 million gallons a day to 32 million gallons a day, giving the utility more water for a growing service area and a backup source if drought or an emergency strained the river elsewhere. Whether Butt's disenfranchisement concerns slow that down at the state level, or simply become a talking point in the debate that follows, is the next thing worth watching.

SRTC Grand Opening (Press Release)

Columbia State Community College, alongside partners, Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology - Hohenwald and Pulaski, will host a grand opening and drone show for the new Southern Regional Technology Center on Friday, Aug. 21.

The community is invited to attend this celebration, which will be packed with innovation, live music and a spectacular 300-drone light show over the Columbia Campus.

“The SRTC reflects what can happen when communities come together around a shared purpose,” said Dr. Janet F. Smith, Columbia State president. “This facility will serve students across southern Middle Tennessee while bringing together Columbia State and our TCAT partners under one roof to create unprecedented opportunities for technical and workforce education. The impact of this investment will be felt for generations through stronger families, stronger businesses and stronger communities.”

The new SRTC will serve as a regional hub for hands-on training and career education in high-demand fields like nursing, welding, HVAC, automotive technology, respiratory care, engineering systems technology and more. 

“TCAT Hohenwald is delighted and honored to be joining the Columbia State SRTC to offer Automotive Technology and Practical Nursing to our region,” said Dr. Kelli Kea-Carroll, TCAT Hohenwald president. “Both TCAT programs are defined as ‘in-demand’ career occupations programs, which offer the competencies, certificates and industry credentialing necessary for student completion and student success to contribute to our southern Middle Tennessee workforce development needs associated with business and industry.”   

Built through a partnership between Columbia State, TCAT Hohenwald and TCAT Pulaski, the center is designed to strengthen workforce development across the region.

“The SRTC represents a transformational partnership that expands access to workforce training where students need it most,” said Mike Whitehead, TCAT Pulaski president. “By bringing TCAT Pulaski's Welding and HVAC/R programs to Columbia, we're removing barriers to education while strengthening the skilled workforce across southern Middle Tennessee.”

The evening will feature:

•    Live music by Merchants of Cool

•    Open house tours of the new facility

•    Celebratory drone light show 

Event schedule:

•    6:30 p.m. — Grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting

•    7–8:15 p.m. — Explore the new center, enjoy live music and learn about the exciting career programs coming to our region through this partnership.

•    8:30 p.m. — Evening ends with a 300 drone light show celebrating the grand opening, Columbia State's 60th Anniversary and America's 250th birthday! 

Guests should bring lawn chairs or blankets and are welcome to bring food, as they celebrate a special evening that marks a milestone for the region.

County Election Recap (MSM)

Republican nominee and incumbent Maury County Mayor Sheila Butt won re-election to her second four-year term on Aug. 6.

Butt started out with a lead of 4,743 early votes to independent challenger Gabe Howard’s 3,484, and on final tally Butt secured 9,403 votes to Howard’s 7,331.

In her victory speech, along with expressing gratitude to her team of supporters, Butts said, “We need Maury County to keep moving forward and to keep the kind of culture that people come here for and that we love.”

Butts added, “The most important thing to me is that we stay genuine, that we stay honest and that we stay God-fearing, and that we’re still for many years to come the county that everyone wants to come to because we stand strong for faith, family and freedom.”

The Maury County Commission got a half-new roster, with nine incumbents not running for re-election and two more — Brandon Nutt in District 5 and Tommy Wolaver in District 10 — losing seats they had held last term.

“Shout out to all the outgoing commissioners, we’ve done some really good work and I’m going to miss them,” said Commission Chair Danny Grooms. He singled out Tommy Wolaver, his colleague representing Mount Pleasant, who finishes his fifth term on the commission this month. “Tommy Wolaver was my football coach in high school, he’s served the community a long time.”

Election Commissioner Chris Mackinlay told Main Street Maury that 17,636 ballots were cast in this election, totaling 25.2 percent of the county’s 17,636 registered, active voters.

“This is roughly five percent higher than I realistically expected,” Mackinlay said. The proportion is slightly higher than the 23.99 percent turnout of August 2022 and much higher than August 2024’s rate of 18.39 percent.

Mackinlay reminded candidates in city races, which this year are for mayor and vice-mayor of Columbia and half of Mount Pleasant’s City Commission, face a qualifying deadline of Aug. 20. Early voting in the November elections is open from Oct. 14-29 before Election Day on Nov. 3.

TN Historical Commission Grants Awarded (MauryCountySource)

The Tennessee Historical Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, awarded 28 matching grants totaling more than $1.1 million from the Federal Historic Preservation Fund to nonprofits, local governments, universities and civic organizations across the state to help preserve historic and archaeological resources.

The grants reimburse 60% of eligible project costs, with recipients providing a 40% match. According to the Tennessee Historical Commission, the funding supports projects that document, restore and preserve historic sites across the state.

“We are pleased to be able to provide Historic Preservation Fund grants that will help document and restore the important places that make our state so unique,” said Miranda Montgomery, State Historic Preservation Office and interim executive director of the Tennessee Historical Commission. “The Federal Historic Preservation Fund grant program allows the Tennessee Historical Commission to make tangible progress in the preservation and study of our state’s treasured historic places.”

This year’s grants will fund a variety of preservation and restoration projects, including continued stained-glass restoration at the Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ in Nashville and preservation planner positions in seven of Tennessee’s development districts.

The commission also prioritized projects in Certified Local Government communities, which participate in the federal historic preservation program. Five certified communities received funding this year, including the Town of Dandridge for restoration work at the Hickman Tavern and Hickman Tavern Coach House in Jefferson County.

Projects receiving restoration funding must involve properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The next Federal Historic Preservation Fund grant cycle will open in January 2027.

Middle Tennessee grant recipients include:

Maury County

• African American Heritage Society of Maury County: $9,000 for foundation restoration of the Mrs. A.J. Morton & Son Funeral Home.

• Maury County Government: $60,000 for roof restoration of the War Memorial Building.

Spring Hill Repaving Project (MauryCountySource)

Several neighborhoods and major roadways in Spring Hill will be repaved after the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the city’s annual paving plan for the 2027 fiscal year.

The projects were selected following the Public Works Department’s annual road assessment, which rates streets from “Very Poor” to “Very Good” to help prioritize maintenance needs.

Roads and neighborhoods included in this year’s paving plan are:

• Buckner Place Subdivision

• Deerfield Subdivision

• Golf View Estates

• Hunters Pointe Subdivision

• Augusta Trace Drive

• Derryberry Lane

• Jacob Drive

• Kedron Road (from Saturn Parkway to I-65)

• Loudenslager Drive

• North Old Port Royal Road

• Prescott Way

• Stewart Campbell Point

The City of Spring Hill said paving work is expected to begin soon and continue throughout the fiscal year.

And now, Your Hometown Memorials, Sponsored by Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home…

Mr. Kenneth Orman Knox Sr, 98, resident of Columbia passed away on Sunday August 9, 2026 at his home. Funeral services will be conducted on Saturday at 1:00 PM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Polk Memorial Gardens. The family will visit with friends on Saturday from 11:00 AM till the time of service at the Funeral Home.

And now, news from around the state…

DC Blox Sues City of Nashville (Tennessean)

DC BLOX has filed a federal lawsuit against Metro Nashville, alleging city officials deliberately blocked the company’s controversial data center next to the Nashville Zoo despite a determination that the project had a vested right to move forward.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, challenges Nashville’s recently passed data center moratorium and seeks to force Metro to resume processing permits for the proposed development on Grassmere Park Drive.

The company noted in its suit that the city's own zoning administrator determined the project had a vested right to continue the project.

The 29-page complaint escalates a monthslong battle and comes after the Metro Nashville Council on Aug. 4 authorized the city to potentially acquire the 23.49-acre property through eminent domain.

In its suit, DC BLOX alleges Nashville leaders used “every tool” and “every avenue” available to stop a project that was legal under existing zoning rules when its permit applications were submitted.

The lawsuit cites Council member Courtney Johnston, who sponsored the moratorium and publicly said she was “doing everything I can, legislatively and otherwise, to prevent this project from coming to fruition.”

DC BLOX also alleges that during a June 12 phone call, then-Metro Law Director Wally Dietz told one of the company's attorneys the city “would do whatever it could to ensure that the DC BLOX Project was not developed.”

Metro Law Director Tyler Yarbro in a statement said the city is reviewing the lawsuit and is “confident that Metro has acted lawfully in its dealings with DC Blox and in the enactment of the moratorium on data center permitting.”

DC BLOX said in a statement that the suit “speaks for itself.”

At the heart of the lawsuit is whether DC BLOX secured legal rights to develop the property before Nashville changed its rules governing data centers.

The company entered an agreement in November 2025 to buy the Grassmere property for approximately $23 million and says it spent substantial money on engineering, environmental work and other preparations before closing on the property July 16.

The site had previously housed office and data center operations for Asurion, according to the complaint. DC BLOX argues that history gives it an additional legal right to continue and expand the property's previous data center use.

Nashville's Council passed a moratorium July 21, halting certain data center permits and appeals through as late as Dec. 1. The measure was intended to give the city time to address concerns about data centers’ electricity demands, cooling systems, environmental impact and proximity to homes, schools, parks and the Nashville Zoo. 

Before Nashville adopted its new data center regulations, the city's zoning code did not have a separate land-use classification for data centers. The city instead classified them under existing categories such as general office or warehouse, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges Metro Legal said the moratorium would halt even projects with vested rights. But at the same time, Metro Legal acknowledged that vested projects retain the right to build under the rules in place before the moratorium.

The company says Metro has since placed its permits on hold, delaying construction and jeopardizing customer commitments and other obligations. It alleges Metro refused to issue grading and demolition permits even after reviewing agencies approved them.

Final Story of the Day (Maury County Source)

Dave Matthews Band has announced its 2026 Fall Tour, including a stop at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on November 6th. 

Since forming in 1991, Dave Matthews Band has sold more than 25 million concert tickets and was recently ranked No. 4 on Pollstar’s list of the “25 Most Popular Touring Artists of the Millennium.”

Dave Matthews Band is also continuing its support of The Nature Conservancy’s global reforestation efforts. By the end of 2026, the band says the partnership will have helped plant a total of 7 million trees.

Get your tickets now at www.davematthewsband.com.