Stories from Friday, June 10, 2005

Graveside services for Jane Conner Parks, 79, of Franklin, who died Thursday at Harpeth Terrace Nursing Home, will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens. Johnnie Hall will officiate. Gowen-Smith Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Funeral services for Daisy Lee Reed Curtis, 85, of Shelbyville, who died Thursday at Glen Oaks Convalescent Center, will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Faith Baptist Church. Dr. Isaac McDuffie will officiate and burial will follow in Willow Mount Cemetery. Hillcrest Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements...

A Shelbyville resident says he'll be home this weekend or next week from Iraq where he was part of a corporate security team he says was taken into custody by U.S. Marines, detained for three days in Fallujah and released without an explanation. Rick Blanchard says he was one of eight former U.S. Marines among 14 security specialists in a 19-man convoy employed by Zapata Engineering of Charlotte, N.C. on May 28 in Northern Iraq where Marines intercepted them and escorted them to Camp Fallujah...

As an employee of a military contractor, Rick Blanchard isn't usually in Shelbyville, although he claims this city as his home and the place where he's raising five children from his ex-wife's previous marriage. A former employer, former co-worker, business acquaintance, fellow church member and a lay minister remember Blanchard and described him for the Times-Gazette...

Trevor Cundiff and mother, Amanda, of Newburgh, Ind., pose after winning the first blue ribbon of the Pony of the Americas Alabama Promo Show this morning at Calsonic Arena. Trevor and pony Cartago placed first in the Lead Line Costume class with the theme "Crocodile Hunter." The Tennessee and Alabama POA clubs teamed up to present three shows in one, with the Alabama Promo Show today, the Tennessee Breeding and Promotion Show on Saturday and the Tennessee Promo Show on Sunday. ...

MANCHESTER (AP) -- Brada Fatherree is considering getting the stream of Bonnaroo fans who pass by her house to sign a guestbook. Fatherree, who lives across the road from the farm where the major music festival is staged, has met visitors from around the world. She and husband Larry rent their cattle pastures to vendors and fans she fondly calls "Bonnaroonies" who don't have a spot inside the festival gates...

Shelbyville American Legion Post 23 was not the most gracious of hosts on Thursday night at Central High School as they sent Riverdale back to Murfreesboro with a pair of losses. Post 23's Clint Alexander led the hit parade in the first game of the doubleheader as he homered, doubled and singled on top of scoring three runs...

Shelbyville City Council voted Thursday evening to ask Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to reroute State Highways 64 and 82 off the public square.