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Teen caught passing fake bill at fair
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A local teen was charged with passing counterfeit money at the Warren County A&L Fair after he was identified moments after he passed his latest fake bill Wednesday night.
The suspected counterfeiter, Jack Dylan Howard, 18, is charged with one count of criminal simulation for an incident that happened at the Band Booster Club food booth Wednesday night. Sheriff Jackie Matheny says he will also likely be charged with the passing two fake $20 bills earlier this week at the Lucky CIC food booth.
The teen was charged after a volunteer at the Band Booster Club food booth discovered a $20 bill taken there was fake.
“Everyone has those pens and they’re checking them closely,” said Matheny, noting food booths were being extra careful to check $20 bills since two fake bills were passed at the Lucky booth.
Matheny said the pen, which shows if a bill is counterfeit, showed the $20 bill was fake. One of the workers then found the sheriff at the fair and told him they had just taken a fake bill. They were able to provide a description of the suspect who passed the phony bill.
“We were looking for him and all of a sudden the lady from the booth comes up to me and points him out,” Matheny said. “He was standing over by the cotton candy stand.”
Armed with a positive identification, lawmen questioned the teen and ended up making an arrest.
“These really weren’t very good fakes,” said Matheny, noting Howard took advantage of how busy volunteers were at the food booths.
While stopping short of claiming Howard made the fake bills himself, Matheny said it is likely the counterfeits from the Lucky CIC booth will be laid at his doorstep once the cases go to the grand jury.

Local law enforcement on the lookout for distracted driving
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April is National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Distracted Driving Awareness Month and McMinnville Police Department (MPD) is on the roads to educate motorists about appropriate hands-free driving.

The amplified focus of cracking down on distracted driving is a nationwide initiative, with many states taking part. MPD Officer Mark Mara indicated the local department is increasing patrols, funded by overtime grants, to enforce and educate about Tennessee’s Hands Free Law.

“We’re trying to get people to change their habits,” Mara said. “There’s a lot of people that are distracted while driving, whether its their cell phones or not. When driving, there are already so many distractions, so having electronics in your hands while you’re driving down the road is dangerous. We need to focus on getting where we need to go and getting there safely.”

According to its records, NHTSA estimates 3,308 lives were lost in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2022 and 8% of all fatal crashes could be attributed to the same. To illustrate the point on a larger scale, it approximates over 32,000 people have died and nearly 290,000 were left injured from crashes attributed to distracted motorists between 2013 and 2022.

Violation of the Tennessee Hands Free Law is a Class C misdemeanor and traffic citations based on the violation are considered moving traffic violations. A first-time offense is typically $50 with third-time offenses and violations resulting in a crash rising to $100; citations received in a work zone while workers or present or in a marked school zone while flashes are in operation carry a penalty of $200. Three points are also added to a motorist’s driving record for each violation with 12 points leading to license suspension.

While the law specifically mentions hands in its name, it is similarly illegal to prop the phone up with any other part of their body.

“We’re going to be stopping vehicles whose operators are distracted by using their cell phones or other electronic devices,” Mara said. “It is against the law for a motorist to be holding their electronic device or having it on their body, so if you’re holding it to your ear or with your shoulder, it’s against the law all the same.”

When using GPS technology, Mara recommends investing in windshield-, vent- or dash-mounted mobile device holder to support the phone while using it for those purposes so your hands can remain on the wheel without compromising your ability to navigate to a destination.

“I understand that your cell phones are a lifeline and we get that — we use them ourselves for GPS. If you have an important phone call that’s coming in and you really need to focus on talking to that person, just pull over to the side of the road and turn on your emergency lights,” Mara said. “When you’re on a phone call, you’re not paying attention to all of the things you need to. You’re going to be concentrating on that conversation and you’re going to find yourself drifting in your lane, going through a stop sign or not stopping properly before a red light.”

Mara additionally recommended drivers sync their phones to their vehicles in models with Bluetooth capabilities and to use phone mounts that do not obstruct vision of the roadways through the windshield.

“The greatest danger of distracted driving is ending up in a crash that was absolutely avoidable, which might hurt yourself or someone else,” Mara said. “You’ve got a lot in front of you when you’re driving and a vehicle is a piece of machinery. We want all motorists to be driving safely on the roads and getting to their destinations without misadventure.”

Warnings and citations will be rendered at officers’ discretion during the increased patrols.