Stories from Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Quick response from Wartrace's Volunteer Fire Department garnered praise from one of the town's aldermen at the board meeting last week. "I ran up on a fire about three weeks ago," said Scott Claxton. "We called and they were there in 7 or 8 minutes and they worked their butts off."...

Margaret Lorene Pentecost Robinson, 78, of Winchester, died Sunday at her residence. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Elk River Tabernacle with James A. Crutchfield as eulogist and Gary Hill officiating. Burial will follow at Mt. Zion Haley Cemetery...

Robert Emmet Pollard, 61, of Shelbyville, died Saturday at Centennial Medical Center, in Nashville, after an extended illness. A celebration of life service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at VFW Post 8422 in Smyrna. Doak-Howell Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements...

James 'Jim' Evans, 78, of Wartrace, died Sunday at his home after an extended illness. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Woodbury Funeral Home. Burial will follow at the Evans family cemetery in Wartrace. Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. today...

Albert-George Schram, resident conductor of the Nashville Symphony, looks forward to his second visit to Calsonic Arena when the symphony will perform its annual Shelbyville concert on May 5. "I like the arena," said Schram, during a recent radio interview on WLIJ-AM. "I think it's just a real fun venue ... The orchestra sounds good, and the audience can see well, so I think it's all fun."...

In tough economic times, some luxuries -- such as a night out at the movies with dinner before or after -- get put on hold. "My kids took me to see a movie for my birthday last year -- it cost about $75," said Michael Bell of Shelbyville. "In these times people can't afford to go out and do things like that."...

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, is fighting a request by Oklahoma's attorney general to depose its chairman in a federal court case over poultry litter pollution. Earlier this month, Tyson filed a motion for a protective order in attempts to keep company chairman John H. Tyson from being deposed...

The United Methodist Church designates one Sunday each year, preferably the Sunday closest to Earth Day, which is Wednesday, as a Festival of God's Creation. This past Sunday, The Rev. Lloyd Doyle of First United Methodist Church of Shelbyville gave a sermon on being good stewards in recognition of the festival...

Shelbyville Central fell 5-0 to host Lawrence County in a District 8-AAA softball contest Monday. Freshman Lauren Warren ripped a triple and single to pace the Eaglettes' four-hit effort at the plate. Alyssa Moore went the distance on the rubber for Shelbyville giving up seven hits over seven innings...

Leigha Carter limited the Community Viqueens to four hits and Torey Hornberger broke open a close game with a two-run double in the fifth inning to pace the Cascade Lady Champions to a 9-3 District 9-A win Monday afternoon. Community set the pace early in the game with a leadoff walk by Courtney Vassar, who promptly stole second base, and a clutch two-out double by Meaghan Therrien to lead 1-0...

Cascade scored three runs in the first inning and then held on for an 8-2 road win over Community on Monday behind a solid outing by senior left-hander Josh Brown. Jared Carkuff got the Champions (24-1-1, 11-0 District 9-A) going with a leadoff single. Brown followed with a base knock and Tyler Bowen reached on an error. Jay Bishop then cleared the bases with a shot into the right-center field alley to make the score 3-0...

A total of 32 individuals were indicted Monday by the Bedford County grand jury. Chad and Christina Tucker were not indicted, however, because of pending federal charges against them, according to court officials, even though their case went before the grand jury during the previous two months...

Thomas Marvin Barber, 77, of Nashville, died Sunday at Baptist Hospital in Nashville. Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens with the Rev. Ronnie Johnson officiating. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. at Hillcrest Funeral Home.

The Shelbyville Central girls tennis team took another step toward a high seed in the upcoming District 8-AAA tournament by downing Tullahoma 7-0 at H.V. Griffin Park on a breezy Monday. The Eagles weren't as fortunate, falling 5-2 to the Wildcats. "This is the point in the season where you look to your experienced players to pull your team through," Shelbyville coach Doyle Hutton said...

Back in 1970, when the first Earth Day was organized, it seemed as though "Big Business" and industry were the enemies of environmentalists everywhere. They dumped toxins into the water; they loaded landfills with garbage that break down slowly, if at all, and they pumped pollutants into the air...