Stories from Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Funeral services for Gary Eugene Rankins, 50, of Shelbyville, who died Monday at Tennessee Veterans Hospital in Nashville, will be noon Thursday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel. The Rev. John Perkins will officiate and burial, with full military honors, will follow in Mt. Ararat Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be 11 a.m. Thursday until service time.

State Sen. Jim Tracy of Shelbyville spoke with his GOP colleague Ron Ramsey 15 minutes before Tuesday's vote, and Ramsey seemed confident that he would be successful in his attempt to challenge John Wilder for the lieutenant governor's post that Wilder had held since 1971...

Webb Middle's boys picked up their second win of the season with a fourth-quarter rally to down host St. Andrew's-Sewanee Middle 31-29 on Tuesday. Cham Cham Quao led all scorers with 19 points for the Feet, including a clutch effort at the foul line late to put his team up 29-27...

The flames that destroyed the old portion of the former Bedford County Training School/Harris High School building on Elm Street early Monday took more than a building. Carried with them were rooms which held many memories for former students. But those memories -- and the lessons learned and friendships formed within those fallen walls -- survive...

The Community Vikings fell 51-41 to visiting District 9-A rival Middle Tennessee Christian on Tuesday night despite sophomore Dustin White's 15-point effort. The Vikings (7-6, 1-3 9-A) played the Cougars to a 13-13 draw in the first period as White and eighth grader Christian Edmondson combined to hit three 3-pointers...

EAGLEVILLE -- If anybody's got a finger that can point to the reason for Cascade's woes thus far, feel free to drive out to Wartrace and give it a whirl. For the fourth consecutive game, the Lady Champions opened up with a solid first quarter before falling off with six points or less in the second frame to put them in a deep halftime hole. To their credit, they've saved the best for last with solid fourth quarters, but typically the rally has been too little too late...

Webb utilized a strong showing on the defensive glass to hold onto a 44-36 win over St. Andrew's-Sewanee in Bell Buckle on Tuesday. "We really rebounded well in the second half with the exception of one stretch," Feet coach Jeff Mitchell said. "We were limiting them to one shot. We really played good defense on them and the kids competed on the boards...

It is a well known, but unspoken, fact in sports that teams playing at home can enjoy a certain amount of "home cooking" from officials. That wasn't the case Tuesday night as Middle Tennessee Christian enjoyed the privilege in a 69-54 District 9-A victory in Unionville...

EAGLEVILLE -- If you've seen one Eagleville boys game, you've seen them all. Their contests typically include several launches from behind the arc and a constant pushing of the ball up and down the floor. If you let them keep up the pace and develop a hot hand, it's going to be a long night...

Bedford County Board of Commissioners has proposed waiving county permit fees for persons rebuilding after a fire or other natural disaster; the fees will be waived in the specific case of Bain Williams while the commission studies how to implement the change on a permanent basis...

In years past, when Shelbyville Central and Columbia faced one another on the hardwood, you expected a hard-fought matchup with the outcome in jeopardy until the end. For the time being, that has changed as the Eagles (12-5, 5-0 District 8-AAA) took control early in a 52-31 win over the visiting Lions (8-8, 3-3) Tuesday night...

With a potluck dinner fit for a king, and top notch music provided by Jim and Inge Wood, the Flat Creek Community Club held its monthly meeting Saturday night. The night's agenda included comments from four elected officials who were the club's special guests...

A water moratorium was lifted by Bell Buckle's town council Tuesday and changes were made to a resolution passed last month that restricts taps to persons living outside that community's city limits. Several landowners from outside the town's corporate limits took issue with the move, which they claim is taking away their rights to do what they want to with their property...

An estimated 2.06 grams of suspected marijuana were found in a car following a traffic stop Monday night, police said Tuesday. Ysel Gonzalez, 23, Shelbyville Mills, was stopped after she was spotted driving on Madison Street with headlights off, Officer Tory Moore said...

Shelbyville Central's Golden Eaglettes were ranked first in the initial Associated Press poll on Monday, then showed they deserved the ranking with an impressive 71-44 blowout over District 8-AAA rival Columbia on Tuesday night at SCHS Gym. It's always hard to get that No. 1 ranking, but it's as much of a challenge to stay there...

Josephine Gazaway Whitley, 74, of Shelbyville died Wednesday. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m.Thursday at Hillcrest Funeral Home. No services are scheduled.