Stories from Tuesday, December 4, 2007

A man who allegedly stole a car from Bedford County Medical Center was captured when he attempted to run after wrecking it between Wartrace and Bell Buckle, investigators said. Dustin Danyale Darnell, 21, Purdy Court, allegedly stole the car belonging to Elizabeth Wendel early Sunday morning...

Shelbyville's Charlie Green was presented the prestigious title of Trainer of the Year during the Walking Horse Trainers' Association (WHTA) Horse of the Year Awards Banquet on Saturday night. The banquet and presentations concluded the official year-end meetings for the association, during which Link Webb of Lewisburg was elected as WHTA president. ...

The annual Linda Hayes Nursing Home Gift Drive is now in full swing, with donations and gifts coming in, not to mention volunteers donating their time for the effort. Organizer Lindsey Sudberry said the drive was going well but that not many gifts have come in yet. However, she expects donations to begin pouring in over the next two weeks...

Christmas is all about caring, and sharing, according to Toni Boss, who has decided to pull off something she's always wanted to do in place of giving an overabundance of gifts to her family this year. She and her friend Barb Stull are hosting "Christmas with Santa" at Boss' home, located at 108 Cottonwood Dr., Dec. 22 at 6 p.m...

Emotions run highest when individuals experience personal tragedy. I appreciated Dickie Gardner being willing to talk to me as his stables burned to the ground last week. I can fully understand the emotions he must have felt knowing championship horses were in the ruins of the enterprise he'd worked so hard to build, and having to see his wife emotionally upset as well...

Webb Middle broke free of the shackles placed upon them by Liberty Middle with a 36-20 win in Bell Buckle. It was the first victory by the Feet between the Bedford County rivals since Jan. 6, 2000. "It feels good just because we hadn't beaten them in awhile," Webb coach James Garcia said...

I'm very glad it's over. But I also miss it terribly. Back in October, I wrote a column about "National Novel Writing Month," a writing exercise in which participants try to put out a 50,000-word novella entirely during the month of November. It's a crazy, breakneck kind of event, more about word count than quality. ...

Bedford County celebrated two centuries on Monday night, with a rousing choral performance by the Area-Wide Fellowship for Christ Choir, and official proclamations marking the occasion. Monday was the actual 200th anniversary of the county's founding, and a public celebration was held in the Blue Ribbon Circle on the Celebration grounds...

Barney Gordon, 61, of Manchester died Sunday at Harton Regional Medical Center in Tullahoma. Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Wednesday at Manchester Funeral Home with William Pritchett and Franklin Brown officiating. Burial will follow at Beechgrove Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be 5-9 p.m. today.

I have always been a lover of all things exercise. I'd call myself an "avid" exerciser, but that wouldn't be entirely true because over the last 10 years I have had a few relapses from a steady exercise routine, mostly related to things that have altered my daily routine. For the most part, however, exercise has been a very important part of my life -- and my sanity...

Harris Middle's defense turned out to be their best offense as the Eaglette 'D' caused 30 Tullahoma West turnovers, then converted them into a number of uncontested layups en route to a 49-13 Central Tennessee Conference win on Monday night at home...