Here is your Cleveland, Tenn. | Bradley County, Tenn. news on mymix1041.com, sponsored by Toyota of Cleveland: From the Cleveland Daily Banner… Tim
Here is your Cleveland, Tenn. | Bradley County, Tenn. news on mymix1041.com, sponsored by Toyota of Cleveland:
From the Cleveland Daily Banner…
Tim Siniard reports: An Alabama man was arrested by the Cleveland Police Department for allegedly possessing an AR-15 rifle, as well as canning jars filled with marijuana, when they arrived to conduct a welfare check after receiving a call alerting them he had been asleep in his vehicle at a fuel pump for an hour.
Police also discovered multiple rounds of ammunition.
The incident took place at 3:30 a.m. Sunday at Valero gas station on Paul Huff Parkway.
Cezar Fernie Gamez, 31, of Prattville, Ala., was arrested for unlawful carrying or possession of a weapon, Schedule II drug violations, and unlawful drug paraphernalia.
The person who contacted police told them the man “appeared to be asleep and not moving.”
When an officer arrived, Gamez was found hunched over his steering wheel and “appeared to be unconscious.”
After knocking on the vehicle’s window, police opened the unlocked car door and saw a large canning jar “full of what appeared to be marijuana at his feet.”
After awakening Gamez, the officer grabbed the jar and asked the man to step out of the vehicle.
While he was detained, Gamez told police he had gotten off work and was “heading home to Alabama and had just pulled over because he was tired.”
During a search of Gamez’s vehicle, police found another canning jar in the back seat containing what appeared to be marijuana, as well as a “case that contained an AR-15 loaded with armor-piercing rounds.”
Five magazines of armor-piercing rounds were also discovered, along with a tactical plate carrier with two additional full magazines of armor-piercing bullets; a Polymer 80 case with a broken down 9mm pistol; an electronic scale; a glass pipe, with what appeared to be brown wax; a wood pipe; two ammunition cans with more than 1,000 rounds of AR-15 ammunition, as well as 150 rounds of 9mm and 40 caliber ammunition.
Police said the recovered rifle and the pistol did not have serial numbers.
A full box of 200 rounds of armor-piercing rounds was also located in one of the ammunition cans, according to police.
When Gamez was asked what the weapons were for, he told police “he just liked to shoot guns.”
In addition, he said the truck and its contents were not his and belonged to his mother.
After his arrest, Gamez was transported to the Bradley County Jail, where he was held without bond.
Tennessee’s top legislative leaders on Tuesday announced they have enough support to call a special legislative session to address COVID-19 measures after Republican Gov. Bill Lee declined to do so.
Senate Speaker Randy McNally and House Speaker Cameron Sexton say the special session — the third one lawmakers will have held this year — is scheduled for Oct. 27.
Lee, a Republican, has repeatedly resisted requests to hold a special session focused solely on COVID-19 even as GOP lawmakers have become steadily disgruntled at local mandates that have been implemented sporadically around the state.
Instead, the governor has pointed to an executive order he signed earlier this year allowing families to opt their children out of school mask mandates. The order has been blocked by federal judges in three counties.
The COVID-19 special session will take up a wide range of bills, none of which have been made public yet. However, topics include addressing mask mandates, employee vaccination requirements and the federal government’s ability to penalize those who violate COVID-19 rules.
The General Assembly will also consider legislation targeting the authority of local officials to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to a minor without parental consent and school board elections.
From the Chattanooga Times Free Press…
Former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt gave the university an ultimatum earlier this month to either reach a settlement by Oct. 29 or face a lawsuit that would reportedly hinder the school’s athletic department in the years ahead.
Michael Lyons, the attorney representing Pruitt, told the USA TODAY Network on Tuesday that “this is the only choice they’ve left him with.”
Tennessee fired Pruitt back in January after an internal investigation revealed NCAA Level I and II violations that he had committed along with defensive assistants Shelton Felton and Brian Niedermeyer, who also were terminated. By firing Pruitt with cause, Pruitt was unable to collect any of his $12.6 million buyout.
The Lyons-led lawsuit, according to the USA TODAY Network, would “aim to embarrass the university and unmask widespread rule-breaking behavior that extends above and beyond Pruitt’s football staff.”
Pruitt was 16-19 during his three seasons as Tennessee’s coach. His 2019 team went 8-5 and won the Gator Bowl over Indiana, but he went 0-9 against the trio of Alabama, Florida and Georgia with nine double-digit losses.
