Stories from Monday, December 4, 2006

What a difference a year makes. That, along with a new head coach and coaching staff. After a very disappointing 2005 season in which Middle Tennessee finished 4-7, athletic director Chris Massaro decided to make a change at the top of the Blue Raider football program...

Funeral services for Dorothy Haynes Alexander, 88, of Murfreesboro, who died Monday at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro, will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at Hillcrest Funeral Home with the Rev. Joe Vinson officiating. Burial will follow at Willow Mount Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be 4-9 p.m. Tuesday.

Mattie Faulk Swing, 88, of Shelbyville died Sunday at Bedford County Medical Center. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at Hillcrest Funeral Home with the Rev. Jim Tedder officiating. Burial will follow at Willow Mount Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be 4-8 p.m. Tuesday.

The annual Shelbyville Christmas Parade, which this year served as the first official event of the 2007 Bedford County Bicentennial Celebration, went off smoothly on Saturday night, with crowds braving the chilly temperatures to vie 90 parade entries ranging from horses to fire trucks...

A car show to raise money for the Center for Family Development is planned on Shelbyville's public square on Saturday, according to event organizers and Bedford County Mayor Eugene Ray. "They want to park the cars around the courthouse on the inner ring of the square on that Saturday to generate business around the square and to get people downtown," Ray explained...

NASHVILLE -- Just another day at the office. That's the mentality Titan kicker Rob Bironas had as he walked onto the field to attempt a 60-yard game-winning field goal with the wind to his back. The kick sailed through the goal posts to give Tennessee a 20-17 win over division-leading Indianapolis at LP Field on Sunday afternoon...

Bedford County leaders have begun a series of meetings to reconsider their urban growth plan which was adopted several years ago and their approach is with the help of a professional planner. The consultant, Doug Tennant of Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon Inc., Nashville, met with a panel he's calling the "PC 1101 Plan Advisory Committee." They're members of the community's Joint Economic Development Committee...

Bedford County Utility District customers handed a decisive victory to a candidate elected to the Board of Commissioners on Saturday. David Dickens, 41, of U.S. 231 North received 84 votes to succeed Marty Davis who resigned in September to be the utility's general manager. Dickens won over Donald Taylor, 70, of Airport Road, who received 20 votes...

Funeral services for Faye Renee Cochran Baker, 86, of Shelbyville, who died Saturday at Bedford County Nursing Home after an extended illness, will be 1 p.m. Tuesday at Doak-Howell Funeral Home with Reedus Baugher officiating. Burial will follow at Crowell's Chapel Cemetery in Halls Mill...

Mary Lou Chilton, 68, of Wartrace died Saturday at Bedford County Medical Center. Graveside services will be noon Tuesday at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens with Jimmy Gray officiating. Visitation will be 4-8 p.m. today and 10-11:30 a.m. Tuesday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel...