Southern Progressives

National News:

State News:

Local News:

McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy recently brought attention to a potential act of destructive vandalism on local roadways.

According to a post Guy made on Facebook, the McMinn County Sheriff’s Department and the Tennessee Department of Transportation have responded to multiple incidents involving nails dumped on the road over the past week.

He noted the incidents involved large quantities of roofing nails being dumped onto roadways.

“So far, our deputies and TDOT have been able to respond and clear the nails from the roadways before any damage has been done to citizens’ vehicles,” Guy said in the post. “This has occurred in McMinn County on Highway 30 West, Highway 305 and I-75 exit/entrance ramps. Similar nails have been reported on roads Meigs County and Bradley County.”

Guy urged everyone to use caution, stay alert and encouraged people to call 911 should they find nails in the roadways.

”The number and scope of the incidents indicate that this is being done intentionally,” he expressed. “These incidents are under investigation. If you have any information about persons or vehicles involved in this vandalism call the McMinn County, Meigs County or Bradley County sheriff’s office.”

Suspicion of these incidents being intentional further break down to the consistency of high volumes being dumped and the nails all being both new and of the same type.

”We have had some people report already that they’ve had nails in their tires recently or had to get new tires since the post had been made,” Guy noted. “The nails aren’t used, they are obviously new, so we are checking to see if any large quantity of nails had been sold anywhere and we welcome the public’s help to get to the bottom of this.”

Currently the offender is looking at a minimum of vandalism charges, according to Guy, however more charges could be added on by the time an arrest is made.

For anyone with information regarding the nails, vehicles or person(s) involved, call (423) 442-3911 for the McMinn County Sheriff’s Office, (423) 334-3163 for the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office or (423) 728-7300 for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office.

The Arts: