John Coffelt, Editor

On New Year’s Day local Children’s Minister Jessica Jernigan parked on the office side of First United Methodist Church.

She was running a bit behind and had a lot of items to carry in to her class, but though she left her wallet in her SUV, she did lock the car doors.

When she came out of the 8:25 a.m. service just over an hour later, she found shattered glass and items missing from the vehicle.

“Mine was the only car that was hit,” Jernigan said. “It was strange because I was parked at the side … across from the police station.”

The thieves grabbed her wallet, then went to Walmart and emptied her bank account before Jernigan realized the break in happened.

Police suspect that the crew pulled off the interstate and hit a few cars and left the area.  Investigators told Jernigan that the thieves were three black males driving a white van. There’s surveillance 

Other cars were hit in Manchester, where the thieves grabbed, among other items, a firearm. 

“I actually locked my car and they busted the window,” she said. “If I had any advice, it would be, don’t leave anything in your car.

Jernigan said she feels safe living in a small town.

“That’s the neat thing about living in a small town, you feel like you don’t have to lock everything up,” she said.    

“If you see something unusual, say something,” Jernigan suggests. “We just have to look out for each other.”

She’s remained optimistic despite the break in.

“I still think we have a small town.”

The teens at the church cleaned up the pieces of broken glass, and a fellow parishioner just handed her some cash to hold her over.

“Taking care of each other is the neat thing about living in our small town. It’s nice that we can still look out for each other.” 

“The best thing that we’ve done in my neighborhood is everyone has gotten cameras,” Jernigan said.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.