Stories from Friday, June 26, 2009

Manny Ramirez has officially started his rehab assignment with Albuquerque and is now just about a week away from returning to the Dodgers after missing 50 games for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. He was caught using HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, which is not a steroid but is a banned substance. The female fertility drug is typically taken by steroid users coming off a cycle to restore normal testosterone production...

Graveside services for Brian Keith Stanley, 51, of Shelbyville, who died Thursday at St. Thomas Hospital after an extended illness, will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Willow Mount Cemetery with John Keith Bradford officiating. No visitation is scheduled. Doak-Howell Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Shelbyville Senior American Legion Post 23 appeared to be cruising to a doubleheader sweep over the Tennessee Thrashers when a solo home run in the fifth and final inning knotted the contest at 3-all. J.T. Nelson apparently had no desire to see the game go to extra innings on a hot Thursday night as he belted a walk-off bast to give Shelbyville a 4-3 victory...

The mayor of Moore County died Thursday afternoon in a single-car crash approximately two miles south of Flat Creek on State Highway 82 South. A worker from a Tennessee Department of Transportation road crew discovered the crumpled Nissan Altima containing the body of Peggy B. Gattis, 63, of Spencer Ridge Road near Lynchburg, about 3:20 p.m., State Trooper Jesse Shumake said...

Anyone who has been in 4-H can tell you the Hs stand for "head, heart, hands and health," but if you ask the hundreds of young people down at the Calsonic Arena right now, there ought to be a fifth H. Horse. The Tennessee 4-H Horse Show is being held on the Celebration grounds, both in the arena and the Champions Arena just behind it. ...

An employee of the Bedford County Highway Department faces charges of manufacturing methamphetamine after sheriff's investigators acted on a tip about a possible lab. Billy Joe Burks, 35, of Highway 82 South, has been charged with initiation of a process intended to result in the manufacture of methamphetamine and possession of a legend drug...

"You are so Shelbyville if ... you know J.R. didn't come from Dallas." "You are so Shelbyville if ... you are trying to change the world from a place most people have never heard of." "You are so Shelbyville if ... you think a traffic jam is having to wait through two lights at Colloredo and North Main."...

A 18-speed woman's bicycle was stolen from the front yard of a Shoma Drive home between 3:30 and 5 p.m. Wednesday, Shelbyville police said. The bike has 'Roadster' imprinted in white letters outlined in blue on the frame and yellow lines on the tires, according to police...

Margaret Ezell Maxwell, 92, of Lewisburg, died Sunday. Funeral services were held Wednesday at Lawrence Funeral Home, Chapel Hill, with the Rev. Eddie Smith officiating. Burial followed at Unionville Cemetery.

William Lance West, 50, of Lewisburg, died Monday at his home. Graveside services were held today at Lone Oak Cemetery, Lewisburg. Feldhaus Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Well, I managed to make it to the gym a couple of times this week, thanks to my friends Sadie and Keri, who like to kick my butt when I slack off. However, I have continued my unhealthy decline, despite those trips to the gym. I've been afraid to get on the scale, but I'm guessing I've gained about ten pounds at least. I'm probably pushing 235 or 240. My lowest weight was 222, but I was hovering around 225 for a long time...

There was a group of 15 of us that made the journey this month from Bedford County, Tenn., to Navajo County, Ariz. We went to a little place along I-40 just off the Navajo Reservation called Jackrabbit. There, a woman by the name of Linda Thompson takes care of abused and neglected Native American children at a ministry called Naomi House...