Stories from Thursday, December 15, 2005

Several items were stolen between Dec. 3 and Monday from a home being vacated on Lafayette Street. Ten Dickens Christmas houses with a total value of $1,000, jewelry and clothing belonging to Edna Nash of Shelbyville are missing, police said. A four-wheeler was taken from the property of Kenneth Wiser, U.S. 231 North, between 3 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. Tuesday...

A Bedford County jury convicted a Shelbyville man Tuesday on burglary charges and he says he'll appeal, apparently because of the nature of the scene of his crime, a laundry that's wide open 19 hours a day. William Marshal Coady Ferguson, 29, pleaded guilty of theft and vandalism charges in connection with three of the nights of crimes at North Main Laundry, but he contested the value of the damage to one of the vending machines he robbed...

With officials from all over the state present to see him off, Joe McBee retired from decades of work with the Tennessee Rehabilitation Center, a task begun in Shelbyville that ended with him overseeing all centers in the state. A luncheon and reception was held at the Shelbyville center Friday, where co-workers and friends recalled stories about his work in the field...

Hoping to pay for state mandated sewer upgrades, Bell Buckle's town council voted to reapply for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and to request Rural Development funding. The council voted to apply for the CDBG with the town to pay 30 percent, about $161,700 with the grant side at $377,300...

Bedford County Board of Commissioners, meeting Tuesday night, went along with the recommendations of Bedford County Planning Commission on two zoning requests -- allowing one and denying the other, just as planners had recommended. Grady L. Cunningham had requested to rezone property on U.S. ...

Fifth of a five part series of Jack Culpepper's memories of growing up in Phenix City, Ala., widely known for years as the most corrupt city in the nation until 1954. Culpepper, 83, now resides in Tullahoma. It wasn't until nearly a year after the murder that Jack Culpepper wrote to the new sheriff of Russell County, which had been installed by the National Guard, and told him everything he had seen. ...

Funeral services for Mrs. Edna K. Holden, 97, of Unionville, who died Tuesday night at Glen Oaks Convalescent Center after an extended illness, will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Doak-Howell Funeral Home with Mark Hall and Melvin Collins officiating. Burial will follow at Smotherman Cemetery in Midland.

Janie Earle Messick, 63, of Shelbyville died Tuesday at her home. Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Friday at Woodfin Memorial Chapel in Murfreesboro with Jeff Adcock officiating. Burial will follow at Miller Cemetery.

Funeral services for Iris Stout Hackemann, 88, of Shelbyville, who died Wednesday at Bedford County Medical Center, will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel. The Rev. Stephen Caine will officiate and burial will follow in Hillcrest Memorial Gardens.

Community multi-sport standout Ryan Zindars, a unique young man mature beyond his years, not only embraces his role among peers but conducts himself in a way that prepares him for life's future challenges. He is an honors student, and to merely imply that he plays sports would be a vast understatement...