Stories from Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Facing continuing financial problems -- a March operating loss of $106,000 -- Bedford County Medical Center trustees addressed the difficult task of reducing the number of employees. Finances were the major topic of discussion at Monday night's meetings of the trustees' standing committees...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will make a 38-year loan of $827,000 to the Town of Wartrace to pay for improvements to its water and sewer system, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon announced on Monday. The water system improvements include 4.5 miles of new water lines, a 400,000 gallon storage tank, a pump station upgrade and a new connection to the Town of Bell Buckle's water system...

Bedford County Emergency Medical Services has higher-than-budgeted expenses, but that's offset by the fact that its revenues are even further ahead of budget. BCEMS director Chad Graham told the BCEMS board Monday night that the ambulance service is trying to contain its expenses for the rest of the 2003-2004 fiscal year...

Two local members of the community were present when the state's new tourism advertising campaign was unveiled at Nashville's downtown Sheraton Hotel recently. Larry Lowman and Rodney Simmons attended the event as representatives for the Bell Buckle Chamber of Commerce...