Stories from Thursday, August 28, 2008

Months of grueling preparation and long-awaited anticipation come to fruition for the Community Vikings on Friday night as they host Cornersville, a team with whom they have a budding rivalry -- and one that gave them a bitterly disappointing loss in last year's opener...

Renai Herman Cole, 36, of Tullahoma, died Thursday. Graveside services will be held at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Hollywood Cemetery in Wartrace. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel.

A Colorado lawman, complete with a cowboy hat and a real gun, swaggers into the Champions Arena on a spotted horse. Faster'n you can say "John Wayne rules," she's galloped across the dirt and fired that gun, hitting every target with a loud bang. She?...

Seeing a rider on a big black horse on the Celebration grounds is hardly unusual -- but this horse was. Instead of the familiar running walk, this 3-year-old gelding was floating along in an extended trot called a passat -- and everybody knows walking horses don't trot!...

Wednesday marked the final night of preliminary classes at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, and that means championship classes will fill the ring for the final three nights of competition. The Wednesday night schedule featured 12 classes, highlighted by three sections of Owner/Amateur Riders on Three-Year-Old Walking Mares or Geldings; Aged Geldings; Fine Harness; and Mare and Foal. The rain of the previous two nights gave way to drier, though still cloudy, conditions...

Former Liberty School teacher Dawn Bobo has returned to work in the Bedford County school system after being suspended last year for carrying a firearm to school. The veteran teacher was placed on pre-trial diversion in February and sentenced to 11 months, 29 days of probation, had to forfeit the weapon, and pay fines and court costs. If all terms of the pre-trial diversion are met, the Class "A" misdemeanor charge will be expunged from her record...

An amended proposal to place a volunteer-run homeless shelter and child care center on North Main Street will be presented to the Shelbyville City Council next week, removing a request for rezoning, meaning there are no plans to place trailers at the location...

Three suspects were charged with possession of marijuana at a Davis Estates home after Shelbyville police said they received an anonymous tip. Officer Jeff Goodrich said he could smell marijuana as he approached the apartment and saw the substance in a plastic bag on the floor as Javier Rojas Rodriguez, 18, Deery Street, answered the door Tuesday...

I wrote a column last week about an acquaintance of mine assuming I was pregnant because of a shirt I was wearing. I did not write the column to make her feel bad about the awkward situation, but rather, because I thought many women would be able to relate to the column...

Evidence is in the fresh tags, shiny numbers and lack of holes. Problem is, there's an awful lot of them. When football players graduate from Cascade, coach Kenny Parker allows them to take their practice top and a game jersey with them. If it takes a couple boxes of new uniforms to replace those given away, the Champions could be in for a long season...

Julie Wharton, 63, of Winchester, died Wednesday at Southern Tennessee Medical Center. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church in Winchester with the Rev. Randy Brown officiating. Moore-Cortner Funeral Home, Winchester, is in charge of arrangements.