Stories from Thursday, July 27, 2006

With so many early voters filing through the office, longer hours and an extra day a week at the office, Bedford County Elections Administrator Anna Clanton might need to be pardoned for her faux pas this week. That came during a meeting of the Election Commission that had to be held in the downstairs lobby of the courthouse because early voting booths were set up in the department's conference room and the 5 p.m. meeting time was when early voting was to end for the day...

A Shelbyville man told police two persons forced their way into his Deery Street home, pushed him to the floor and took his wallet Tuesday morning. Saul Gonzalez, 45, described the intruders as a tall, black man wearing a black jacket and wielding a metal pipe and a short, heavy-set black woman wearing a black sweater. They left in a gray extended-cab truck, Officer Fred Harvey of the Shelbyville Police Department said...

Wartrace approved the annexation of 128 acres next to the city limits, as well as a new zoning classification and plan of services. The property in question lays south of Wartrace along Highway 269 and is contiguous with the town's city limits. The topic had first been addressed in February, when the board passed a first reading of the annexation. ...

Two committees from Bedford County Board of Commissioners are taking different positions on whether the school system should be allowed to keep the former Harris Middle School annex. The commission's budget and finance committee had previously recommended that the school system be allowed to keep only the annex, which it would like to use for the alternative school program. ...

The battle among county commissioners and Bedford County Nursing Home chief executive Wayne Schumann heated up Tuesday night, with raised voices and accusations during the meeting of the commission's budget and finance committee. At one point, the committee deadlocked 2-2 on a proposal that the county take bids on selling the nursing home. Commissioner J.D. "Bo" Wilson threatened to seek an injunction against the county for mismanagement of the facility...

The 2006 Bedford County Fair is in progress through Saturday at the Bedford County Agriculture Center. The schedule for today and Friday: TODAY -- 7 p.m., home ec/ag exhibit open; 6 p.m., Bedford County Idol, Smoker Truck & Tractor Pull registration, Open Beef Show; 6:30 p.m., bicycle competition; 7 p.m., Smoker Truck & Tractor Pull; 5:30-7:30 p.m., Snowbird...

HOOVER, Ala. -- The first session of SEC MediaDays came and went without any bold declarations or gutsy predictions. No rookie coaches will address the media this week as all 12 universities retained the services of their head men. "That made for a very happy spring meeting of our football coaches," SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said...

Arguments that congressmen can't succeed themselves have been set to be heard Friday in Bedford County Chancery Court as presented by a Bell Buckle man who is on Tuesday's ballot to be the Democratic nominee for Tennessee's 6th District representative...

J. Patrick Lyons of Bell Buckle has announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the Sixth District U.S. House of Representatives seat in the Aug. 3 primary. Lyons, 62, is a Vietnam-era veteran and says he, seven brothers and a sister have a combined 102 years of active military duty from World War II onward...

Funeral services for former mayor H.V. Griffin, 89, of Shelbyville, who died Wednesday after an extended illness, will be 11 a.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church, where he was a member and served as an elder, with the Rev. Stephen Caine officiating.