Man Arrested After Demanding $180 Ransom For Cell Phone

He should have just taken the $100 while he had the chance.

That's really not a bad offer at all.

FRANKLIN — A 26-year-old Franklin man was arrested after police say he attempted to extort a man of $180 in ransom money for the return of a stolen cell phone.

Bradley Vaughn is accused of taking a cell phone accidentally left on a shelf at Walmart on Mallory Lane.

The phone's owner realized he had left his phone when he got to the checkout area. After going back and seeing that the phone had been picked up, he used a Walmart employee's phone to send a text message to his missing phone, offering a $100 reward for its return.

That’s when, police say, Vaughn demanded a ransom of $180 for the return of the phone.

Franklin police said that Vaughn instructed the man to leave the cash under a glass of ice on the bar at the Chili’s restaurant in Cool Springs, and that’s exactly what the phone's owner did — but not before calling police.

A waiting plain-clothes officer saw Vaughan come into the restaurant and head for the restroom before picking up the money left by the victim, police said.

Vaughan, who fought with officers in the bar, was charged with resisting arrest and felony theft.

Officers found the victim’s cell phone hidden in the Chili’s men’s room and have returned it to its rightful owner.

h/t: WilliamsonAM. Cross-posted.

Nothing Headline of the Day: 'Tennessee Climate Change is So Subtle It's Hard to Gauge'

Gee, I wonder why that is?

Could it be because "climate change" - what people in the old days used to call "the weather" - is a completely concocted threat to the environment?

Nah! There must be a more sophisticated explanation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture chief calls climate change "one of the greatest threats facing our planet," but little attention is being paid to it in Tennessee's farming world.

More rain is falling in autumn in the Southeast than a century ago. Droughts have increased in spring and summer, and the temperature has made a slight move upward, particularly since 1970.

It's projected to continue to rise, according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Increasingly extreme weather is likely, such as heavier downpours and more intense droughts in some areas.

Yet change in Tennessee could be difficult to tabulate, according to Joanne Logan, an associate professor of biosystems engineering and soil engineering at the University of Tennessee.

"In Tennessee, everything is pretty subtle," she said, adding that research has not been plentiful when it comes to agriculture and climate change here.

If small changes are occurring under the radar, a trigger point could be reached suddenly where ecosystems as a whole could fail, unable to make changes quickly enough to keep up, she said.

On the other hand, it's entirely possible that the ecosystem will continue to function pretty much like normal. So, you know...

Cross-posted.

Trucker Nearly Chokes to Death on Potato Chip; Fortunately, He Crashes

Henry Heimlich, eat your heart out.

COLUMBIA, Tenn. – A crash likely saved the life of a semi-truck driver Thursday morning in Maury County after he choked on a potato chip.

Around 11 a.m., Columbia police said the driver was eating potato chips while traveling down Highway 43, just west of Columbia.

One got stuck in his throat, and he started choking to the point where he blacked out, sending his big rig into the side of an embankment.

Officers on the scene told News 2 it was the impact of the crash the jarred the food loose.

The semi-tuck, a car carrier, was hauling eight vehicles at the time and overturned, sending the vehicles across the roadway.

Ten bucks says that guy switches to smoothies on his next haul.

Cross-posted.

State of Tennessee Spared Expensive Court Costs

Because this punk who killed one police officer and wounded another took his own life when cornered. The only good thing he has ever done in his miserable life it would appear.

A man suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy and wounding another officer died Friday morning after authorities say he shot himself at the end of a daylong manhunt.

Kermit Bryson, 29, died around 12:30 a.m. at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, said David Trillet, a supervisor at the hospital.

This guy really has some great character references too.

"He's not a bad guy. He had to freak out in some way," said Tim D. Sanders, 30, before authorities found Bryson.

Sanders said he and Bryson spent weekends in jail together last summer and that the slain deputy was the jailer. He said Tate and Bryson were friendly.

Bryson's criminal record includes convictions for theft, burglary and a jail escape in 2001.

Here in Atlanta we are still trying to bring this guy Brian Nichols to trial after he escaped police custody, grabbed a gun and killed a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff's deputy and later a customs enforcement agent. That was three years ago!

Of course this guy did father a child some time ago but to nobody's surprise the marriage only lasted as long as the pregnancy and his mother in law is less then impressed with him.

"I saw it on TV and I just couldn't believe it," Crowe, a 57-year-old from Dayton, said in a phone interview Thursday. "I expected him to steal, do dope and stuff like that, but I never thought he would kill someone."

I am glad he spared the people of Tennessee a long protracted and probably expensive court case and has assumed room temperature.

Georgia Solves its Drought

It is simply a matter of moving our northern border a little. I don't know what the folks in Tennessee are griping about.

ATLANTA - Thirsting for more water in the midst of a drought, Georgia lawmakers took a step Wednesday toward moving the state line and tapping into a powerful river in a neighboring state.

The Senate unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday asserting that a flawed 1818 survey mistakenly placed Georgia's northern line just short of the mighty Tennessee River. The measure also calls for the governor to establish a commission to sort out the dispute.

I hope this doesn't include the part of Chattanooga that has their aquarium. We already got one of our own.

Other critics also point out the proposed Georgia-Tennessee border change goes beyond a simple dip into the river. Not only would Georgia get a chunk of Chattanooga and thousands of residents could have new home states.