Stories from Tuesday, May 18, 2004

If Shelbyville's players had to lose in Monday's regional individual tennis semifinals, at least they fell to the eventual champions. Mary Beth Gunn, the girls doubles team of Rachel Harris and Amie Anthony and boys doubles team of Ross Beavers and Zach King were downed in matches at H.V. Griffin Park...

Circuit Court Judge Charles Lee handed down 36 years in prison for two defendants during Monday's regular court setting. Jesse Ross Smith, 23, of Shelbyville must serve a minimum of 9.1 of the 26 years Lee meted out before he will be eligible for parole. Smith was convicted of aggravated assault and aggravated robbery in the October 29, 2003 holdup of an undercover confidential informant and Bill Ostermann of the 17th Judicial District Drug Task Force...

Bedford County Emergency Medical Service's personnel must be on their toes and prepared for anything at all times. This reporter had the pleasure of working a shift with these professionals at the main Union Street station to see what their lives entail...

The early years of school integration were anything but a bed of roses. Fortunately, Bedford County was spared much of the turmoil seen in Nashville and throughout the South. "In 1954, the court ruled school segregation was illegal. Some schools started on a slow pace to integrate, but if states didn't want to act without any haste, they didn't," Donald Cleveland recalls...

A Shelbyville man was flown directly from the scene of an accident at Davis Hill on U.S. 41-A South to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville early Monday night. Darrell Martin, 55, Bethany Lane, was in stable condition at VUMC's trauma unit this morning, said a spokesperson...