Tennessee

TUESDAY

Tanner Headrick remains in critical condition at T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital.

Steven Wright's family will receive friends at the Ralph Buckner Funeral Home in Cleveland Wednesday from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Randy Moomaw

PLEASANT VIEW — Town Attorney Jennifer Noe updated the Pleasant View Board of Mayor and Aldermen last week on state statues that address noise, dust and behavior issues regarding the use of off-road vehicles in residential areas.

Some residents and town leaders have voiced concerns in recent months about noise pollution and reckless use of four-wheelers and dirt bikes in various neighborhoods.

A Cumberland County man who taunted police for several months while remaining on the run was apprehended this week by U.S. Marshals, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Cookeville Police Department. The agencies teamed up to capture a fugitive wanted for committing crimes in a four-county area.

An elusive Charles Eugene Henry, age 44, was captured at 204 Wilson Rd., in Cumberland County by members of the U.S. Marshals Middle Tennessee Joint Fugitive Task Force. Henry had eluded capture several times while running from Marshals and local law enforcement in the Upper Cumberland area during the last several months.

Stanley Dunlap

A Rutherford police officer has been indicted by a Gibson County grand jury after he shot a man accused of stealing an all-terrain vehicle in September, authorities said.

Officer William "Bill" Wetherell has been indicted on one count of aggravated assault and one count of reckless endangerment in the Sept. 6 incident, said John Mehr, special agent in charge with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Jackson.

Nic Corbett

At least three children in the Big Bend were hurt while riding all-terrain vehicles in less than two weeks. Although children under the age of 16 are required by law to wear a helmet and eye protection when riding ATVs, only one of the children injured did so, according to reports from the Florida Highway Patrol.

A state law that took effect in July also requires children under 16 to take an off-highway vehicle safety course if they’re riding on public land.

Megan Trotter

LANCASTER -- Off-road vehicles, such as four-wheelers, are wreaking havoc on the public lands surrounding Center Hill Lake. These vehicles are primarily used by hunters, recreationalists and trail riders to travel into backcountry where no roads exist, or to aid with farm work. However, at Center Hill Lake these machines are destroying fragile vegetation and causing erosion and silt runoff into the lake. The noise they produce also disturbs wildlife and other visitors to the lake.

Illegal use of all-terrain and utility vehicles around Center Hill Lake is tearing up the land and causing significant environmental damage, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The ATVs, aside from disturbing wildlife, are destroying plants and grass, which results in erosion and increased silting up of the lake's water, an official said.