Stories from Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Graveside services for James Edward "Sunshine" Parks, 76, who died Monday at Bedford County Medical Center, were held Monday at Willow Mount Cemetery.

The Community Vikings took the field under less than ideal conditions against the Page Patriots in a junior varsity contest in Unionville on Monday night. The Vikes fell 20-0 in blustery and soggy conditions to the physically imposing unit from Franklin that seemed to thrive on the inclement weather...

Jessica Ensey sent down nine kills and Ali Vincent eight for Community in a four-game match with visiting Lincoln County on Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately for the seniorless Viqueens, it would not be enough as they fell 23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-18 to their Class AAA neighbors...

A golf cart was taken between midnight-5:30 a.m. Monday at a Celebration Grounds barn. The cart, owned by Sheryl L. Skala of Williston, Fla., was found undamaged but out of gas in a field on nearby Barksdale Lane. A barn door may have been left open enough for someone to reach inside the barn and get the key, police said...

Unless the horse show crowd is really hungry and only buys food at the Celebration Grounds from Bedford County service clubs, tens of thousands of dollars might not be available for charitable and community causes. The calculation is an easy extrapolation from officials at only a few of the concession stands at the outdoor arena on Monday night when the only figures that were available were from sales on Sunday night, the first day that bad weather struck...

Owner-Amateur Riders make up about 80 percent of all entries at The Celebration and on Tuesday night they took center stage with nine of 12 classes on the program featuring amateurs. However, the first ones to walk away with the gold on this Tuesday night of The 67th Annual Celebration were John Allan Callaway and Neon Bright in the Four-Year-Old Walking Mares (Canter) class...

Tennessee's walking horses are a topic familiar to most people in this area, but a television show that began on local cable could reach a nationwide audience soon. "What a Horse" is featured on Charter Cable Channel 6 and covers the walking horse world -- one that many folks are unaware of outside of Bedford County. But the show isn't available just here; now it is available in over 2 million homes in Tennessee and may be made available to 32 million more homes...

I view life as a deck of cards. You never know what hand you're going to be dealt when you sit down to play a game of cards. It's what you choose to do with the deck you receive that makes the difference between a winning and losing game. A few years ago I had a friend say that the worst thing that ever happened to her was her boyfriend breaking up with her. ...

I'm sorry -- I've never been thrilled by the Celebration. I'm not saying it's a bad thing ... I'm just not a horse person. It's not that I don't like horses -- I do, but I've never even ridden one. Okay. I'm lying. I did ride once. But it was an old mare (I was told) and as soon as she started walking fast I started screaming, "Stop! Stop!" I could not think of the word "whoa" to save my life!...

Comparisons were being made. After a change due to personal preference, the jersey number was even the same. But, the similarities between the potential of Tennessee freshman linebacker Rico McCoy to senior Kevin Simon are starting to get a little carried away...