Stories from Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Larry James Crismon, Sr., 57, of Murfreesboro, pastor of Bright Temple Church of God in Christ in Shelbyville and Higher Ground Worship Center in Murfreesboro, died Monday at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro. Funeral services will be held at noon Friday at Bright Temple with Bishop Jerry L. Maynard of Tennessee Fourth Jurisdiction COGIC as chief officiant and eulogist. Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery in Murfreesboro. The body will lie in state beginning at 10 a.m. Friday at the church. A memorial service will be held Thursday night at 7 at Bright Temple. Feldhaus Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Strongman Mike "The Machine" Bruce told Harris Middle School students on Monday about his childhood of abuse, urging them to find a way out of their own personal struggles by making wise choices. Bruce performed Monday at Harris and at Central High School, and will perform tonight at Community High School and Wednesday night at Cascade High School. ...

It didn't come easy, but Shelbyville Central edged visiting Tullahoma 8-7 in eight innings to claim its first win of the season in a District 8-AAA matchup. Junior shortstop Shelby Lamb singled home Tiffany Smith for the game-winning run. Smith came in to pinch run for Haylie Spence, who was hit by a pitch...

Maye Bennett Taylor, 97, of Eagleville, died Monday at her home. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Lawrence Funeral Home, Chapel Hill, with Spencer Loyd and the Rev. Judy Sides officiating. Burial will follow at Bennett Cemetery near Eagleville. Visitation with the family will begin at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Walks and fielding errors are not a good recipe for wins and Shelbyville Central experienced firsthand in a 6-5 loss at Warren County Monday night. "If we're going to walk batters then make a few errors in the field, we're not going to win many games," Eagle coach Brad Frasier said...

Shelbyville Central came up a little short in a non-district soccer match against visiting Riverdale Saturday night as the Eagles fell 3-2 to the Warriors. The Eagles (2-1) entered the game undefeated and unscored on. Riverdale scored a pair of goals in the first half and added a goal off a penalty kick in the second...

Harris Middle remains undefeated with a 5-0 win over visiting Warren County Monday afternoon in a Central Tennessee Conference matchup. J.W. Burton found the back of the net first for the Eagles off a corner kick. Sterling Smith, Andres Gonzalez, Jesus Cervantes and Alfredo Juarez each added a goal apiece in the second half for the Eagles (5-0, 3-0 CTC)...

The Community Viqueens fell to Boyd Christian 4-1 in McMinnville on Monday afternoon despite a well-pitched game by sophomore Brittany Haynes. The Viqueens (1-4, 1-4 District 9-A) played excellent defense behind their young pitcher, but the Lady Broncos managed to put together enough hits in the fourth inning to score all of their runs...

Josh Brown and Kyle Saylor combined for 18 strikeouts in a one-hit shutout over visiting Van Buren County in the first portion of a District 9-A doubleheader on Monday afternoon. Only a walk and an infield hit prevented a perfect game. Brown (3-0) started and went six complete innings, fanning 16 and issuing one free pass. Saylor closed the door with a pair of Ks in a perfect seventh...

An 18-month-old boy was killed on a rural road in the Fosterville area Monday evening after he fell out of his father's pickup truck and was run over, state officials said. Elam W. Ferguson, of Fosterville Road in Bedford County, was killed sometime after 7 p.m. Monday after he fell out of a truck driven by his father, 32-year-old Jeremy D. Ferguson, according to a report by State Trooper Michael Morgan...

A Marshall County couple who were engaged to be married died as a result of a one-car crash early Saturday morning at Interstate 65 Exit 37, State Route 50 between Lewisburg and Columbia, according to police reports. Lloyd L. Copeland II, 28, of Lewisburg, was driving the 2006 Mazda owned by his fiancée, Jillian Garrett, 29, of Chapel Hill, onto the northbound off-ramp at 1:58 a.m. when he apparently lost control while driving around a curve, Highway Patrol dispatcher Jennifer Goodwin said...

The Shelbyville Central girls tennis team continues to roll through opponents early this season. They swept Warren County 7-0 at H.V. Griffin Park on a gorgeous Monday. "Our girls put in a strong performance and were just more experienced in match play, but they also played quality tennis out there today," Shelbyville coach Doyle Hutton said...

Baseball season is in full swing, and so are the Community Vikings, winners of three of their last five outings after pounding District 9-A opponent Boyd Christian into submission with a 16-1 road win Monday. The Vikings (3-4, 2-4 9-A) knocked 13 hits to make a winner out of starting right-hander Cody Pierce (1-1)...

A Bedford County judge has overturned a decision by the state's environmental agency that fined a local farmer nearly $10,000 for constructing a pond on his land. Chancellor J.B. Cox ruled on March 16 that the Tennessee Water Quality Control Board, a division of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), applied its own views instead of adhering to state law in a case against Bill Lancaster, formerly of State Highway 64 West...

The members of the 2008-09 class of Leadership Bedford have an ideal warm-up program for a chilly spring morning. Saturday, with temperatures barely above freezing, the men and women of the group gathered, along with friends and family they could recruit, in the back yard of Next Step Home to build a prayer garden. The Next Step Home opened last December as a place for women who have been incarcerated or rehabilitated to live and begin their second chance at life...