Stories from Sunday, December 7, 2008

As the mother of a teenage son, Kristina Howard's worst nightmare came true March 15, 2008. "It was about 2 a.m. when Vanderbilt called," Howard said, still tearful of the memory. "They told me that they thought they may have Zack and told me they needed me to come to ID him. They wouldn't tell me if he was dead or alive. They said, 'Can you get here, and can you get here fast?'"...

Jan. 8 will be an important day for an auto racer and his brother, as they will face the decision whether to make a plea or go to trial in a case stemming from an incident at Duck River Speedway this past summer. Marvin Bobby Parker is facing two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of reckless endangerment and one count of assault. His brother, Michael Ray Parker, has been charged with one count of aggravated assault...

Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration CEO Doyle Meadows confirmed over the weekend that former Celebration show ring announcer Bobby Sands will return to the center ring microphone for the Spring Fun Show and The Celebration in 2009. Sands announced The Celebration from 1984 through 1997, and was inducted into the Celebration Hall of Fame in 1999. He has announced numerous other walking horse shows...

A suspect was charged following the robbery of a Madison Street convenience store early Friday, Shelbyville police said. Edward Lewis Allen, 51, Lane Parkway, is accused of entering the Kangaroo store at the Madison-South Hillcrest Drive intersection about 3 a.m., threatening the clerk and demanding money from the cash register...

Shelbyville's planning commission gave a recommendation to the city council to expand the city's growth boundary and also recommended a 20-year growth plan Thursday night. The commission, however, voted to table new design guidelines so that the matter could be studied further. A public hearing was opened for the proposed growth plan for the city, but not a single citizen attended the meeting...

A strategic planning meeting slated for Monday afternoon in Bell Buckle has been canceled because of travel restrictions recently placed on state employees, according to City Recorder Janet Robinson. Michelle Williams and Jamie Stitt, state employees who have been helping the town with its planning, were unable to make the trip because of those restrictions...

LAWRENCEBURG -- The Lawrence County High School gym had an intense atmosphere Friday night as the Shelbyville Central Golden Eaglettes traveled there for both teams' first District 8-AAA matchup of the season. "Lawrence County is one of the toughest places to play," Shelbyville coach Lynn Burkey said. "We came in knowing the pep band was going to be playing, the student section was going to be yelling. We had to overcome that home court advantage."...

LAWRENCEBURG -- The Shelbyville Golden Eagles captured their first District 8-AAA basketball battle of the season Friday night, 60-52 at Lawrence County. "Anytime you go to Lawrenceburg and come off with a win, it's big," Eagle coach Kevin Thomas said. "It's a tough place to go play. We came into the game really and truly wanting to play Eagle basketball and we did that."...

It was with heavy hearts and thoughts that a somber Community Viqueen team took the court to play Middle Tennessee Christian on Friday night. They lost 55-45 despite a gutsy performance, but on this night they had something more important than a basketball game on their minds...

The Community Vikings held Middle Tennessee Christian to just 11 field goals in their season-opening District 9-A game Friday night in Unionville, but were unable to overcome 42 Cougar free throw attempts and fell 49-41. The Vikings (3-1, 0-1 9-A) were whistled early and often for transgressions, however real or imagined, and played without several key starters in what was still a close game into the fourth quarter despite several freshmen on the floor for a majority of the game...

MCMINNVILLE -- Cascade turned ice into water in a District 9-A match when they defeated Boyd Christian Friday night. The 63-45 victory was hard fought to the end. Christian Edmondson led the Champs (3-4, 1-0) with 18 points, two of which were tacked on from the 3-point line. Jacob Carkuff also went into double digits with 15 points. Carkuff had five buckets and was 5-6 from the free throw line...

MCMINNVILLE -- It was below freezing Friday night, but things really heated up when the Cascade girls took on Boyd Christian and came away with a 75-33 win. The Lady Champs (4-3, 1-0 District 9-A) demolished Boyd Christian (0-5, 0-1) in several facets of the game during the first game of their District 9-A schedule...

Webb hit the road looking for a challenge and they found all they were looking for and more as Montgomery Bell Academy downed them 67-31 on Friday night. "It was good for us to play a little bit of a bigger, stronger school," Webb coach Jeff Mitchell said. "The speed of the game kind of got us in the beginning."...