Stories from Wednesday, December 31, 2008

I usually only make one resolution every New Year -- and that's not to make any resolutions. But this year, with my recent health scare, I'm having to make those self-improvement plans I should have been making all along. Lose weight. Stop smoking. Lower my blood pressure. Find the magic spell that lets me do all three at once .....

EDITOR'S NOTE -- When staff writer Sadie Fowler wrote a humorous personal column about visiting her in-laws in Alabama for Thanksgiving, she half-jokingly offered her husband Jack the opportunity to return the favor when the couple visited her relatives in New York. Here is his response....

I can't remember the last time I made a New Year's resolution, but this year I'm making up for my normal lack of participation in annual commitments to better myself. I need to. I'm not sure why, but 2008, as great a year as it was for me personally, has left me spread pretty thin. My holiday vacation (reviewed in full, as promised, by my husband, Jack, elsewhere on this site) was a major indicator as to why I need to make resolutions this year...

MURFREESBORO -- It wasn't for the championship, but it was physical, emotional, and definitely one of the most entertaining games of the Mid-State Christmas Tournament when the Community Viqueens hooked up with host Middle Tennessee Christian in the consolation game on Tuesday night...

GREENEVILLE -- The Shelbyville Central defense continues to dominate while the offense looks to be starting to click as the Eaglettes defeated Knoxville Farragut 59-48 in an elimination game to advance in the 20th annual GreenBank Ladies' Classic Tuesday afternoon...

A client at the Department of Human Services told Shelbyville police her wallet was taken after it fell from her clothing Tuesday at the DHS office. The victim said the wallet, which was found in the parking lot without the money moments later, apparently fell from a coat pocket as she tended to a child...

A woman who knowingly spread the deadly HIV virus to sexual partners in Bedford and Marshall counties 10 years ago has been released from prison. Pamela Wiser of Lewisburg was sentenced to 26.5 years in prison in 1999 for exposing her sexual partners to the virus...

As another year comes to a close, many are no doubt making a New Year's resolution or two for 2009. Some make a resolution to live healthier, while others may vow to be more thrifty. Whatever the case may be, making New Year's resolutions has been an undeclared tradition for many years...

Some people don't make New Year's resolutions simply because they know they won't be able to keep them. The secret, says Susan Gillpatrick, crisis management specialist for Centerstone, is keeping the resolutions realistic, and keeping them day by day...

Bedford County Nursing Home received the worst rating possible in a study released Dec. 18 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, mirroring the state as a whole's lower than average ratings. Wayne Schumann, nursing home administrator, said the death of a resident last May, which landed the facility on immediate jeopardy status with the state, was the main reason for the low rating. The death came as a result of a resident falling out of a lift chair...

The shutdown of local manufacturing facilities was the top local story of 2008, according to a poll of Times-Gazette staff members. The second-biggest story was the decision by another local factory to grant its employees a Muslim holiday instead of a traditional U.S. holiday...

George Tillett Methvin Sr., 68, of Memphis, died Saturday at Methodist University Hospital. Graveside services were held Monday in Iuka, Miss. He was a former Shelbyville resident.

Anna Marie Quint Katz, 94, of Shelbyville, died Tuesday at Bedford County Nursing Home. Funeral services will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at Hillcrest Funeral Home with the Rev. Jack Carney officiating. At her request, her body will be cremated. Visitation will begin at 4 p.m.