Stories from Thursday, January 5, 2006

Funeral services for John Henry Harris Jr., 61, of Bell Buckle, who died Tuesday at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro, will be noon Friday at H. Preston Scales & Sons Funeral Home in Murfreesboro. Ernest Lemon and Paul Elam will offiicate and burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery.

Gerald Gene Tillett Sr., 82, of Shelbyville died Tuesday at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Friday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel with the Rev. Bobby McGee officiating. Burial, with full military honors, will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens.

Pete and Loth Souphom are the proud parents of the first baby of 2006 born at the Bedford County Medical Center. Baby Michael, the couple's first child, was born by emergency C-section at 1:55 a.m. on Jan. 2, weighing 6 pounds 5 ounces, with Dr. Lana Beavers performing the delivery...

Candidates are lining up for a primary in May that will lead to Bedford County's general election in August which will include a race for the sheriff's office, generally perceived as an attraction for greater voter participation. And as the Bedford County Election Commission is scheduled to meet Friday at 5 p.m. to formally call the May 2 Democratic primary for county offices, Bedford County Republican Party Chairwoman Barbara Blanton says, "We do plan to have a primary."...

The Heart of Tennessee Chapter of the American Red Cross will hold its first local training class for disaster volunteers Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the new Emergency Management Agency building on Eagle Boulevard (the official street address is 1304 Railroad Ave.)...

Bedford County has sold the wayward donkey its animal control office took into custody at Unionville and held for three weeks in a corral just south of Lane Parkway. "I calculated our expenses and I think we made about $15 on the sale," said Bedford County Animal Control Director Michael Gregory who captured the donkey with help from a veterinarian, the U-T extension agent and others...

A few random notes to kick off the new year: -- I got a letter this week from a resident of Celebration Way who enjoys playing dominoes. He wanted the newspaper to set up a "domino night" and invite everyone in town to participate, but he didn't want me to mention him by name...

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) -- For nearly two days, the Sago Baptist Church sheltered family members praying for the safe return of 13 trapped miners. For a few hours, it was also a place of celebration after a mistaken report that all but one had miraculously survived...

Janet Lee Brown Hunt of Shelbyville died Dec. 31 at Alive Hospice in Nashville after a struggle with cancer. Memorial services will be 10 a.m. Saturday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Shelbyville. Crawford Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Antioch is in charge of arrangements...