Stories from Saturday, February 13, 2010

VIDALIA, La. (AP) -- A Shelbyville man and his grandson were killed in a crash early Friday in Concordia Parish, La. Ronald Dickson, 58, and 4-year-old Bradley Dickson died, according to a Concordia Parish Sheriff's Office release. Investigators say Bretton A. Dickson, 32, of Shelbyville lost control of his 1999 Chevrolet Suburban about 4:30 a.m., left westbound U.S. 84 and entered Cross Bayou. The Suburban was completely submerged...

Mamie "Altie" Pinkston Rogers, 83, of Bell Buckle died Friday at Christian Care Center of Bedford County. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel with the Rev. Ron DeWitt officiating. Burial will follow at Willow Mount Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

As Shelbyville Central winds down the regular season and prepares for the postseason, coach Kevin Thomas believes his team's best basketball is still ahead. After finishing runner-up in the District 8-AAA and Region 4-AAA tournaments, the Golden Eagles fell two points shy of the TSSAA state tournament after a 71-70 loss at Walker Valley in the sectional last season...

Shelbyville Central coach Lynn Burkey knew this was going to be a challenging season. With the majority of the scoring gone from last year's team, young and inexperienced players had to develop and others would have to take on new roles. Ceny Phelps and Hannah Dawson graduated and moved on to the next level, taking a lot of points and experience with them but leaving the opportunity for others to step up...

Recent tournament history hasn't been kind to the Cascade boys. Two years ago, the Champions lost three straight postseason games to end their year on a sour note. It looked like they'd set themselves up quite nicely last season after earning a first-round bye in the district tournament. Unfortunately, they were upset in their first game by Forrest before being embarrassed 44-29 by Bedford County rival Community in the consolation game...

Friday the Cascade girls attempted to do something no one on the roster has ever done -- win a postseason game. After losing in the Nos. 4-5 seed game the last two seasons to rival Community, the same pair were set to tip off in yet another elimination showdown in the opening round of the District 9-A tournament at Forrest High School...

The 2009-10 season has elicited a cornucopia of emotions for Community Viking faithful as their young team has taken them on a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs. The Vikings (6-19) start three underclassmen and on any given night there may be a combination of as many as four freshmen or sophomores on the floor making a very competitive and veteran-laden District 9-A into a classroom of hard knocks on most nights...

A season that started with a bang has slowed some but the Community Viqueens continue to show that they can play with anyone on any given night. The Purple and Gold sport a 14-12 record after opening the season with five wins in their first six starts. They have had three streaks with three or more wins and had never suffered more than back-to-back losses until Cascade (in overtime), Forrest and Moore County defeated them the week of Jan. 26...

The Webb girls hope to do damage in the Division II-A East/Middle Region tournament once it kicks off on Saturday. The Lady Feet, who won four league games during the season, will have their work cut out for them as they enter the tournament as the No. 9 seed and travel to St. Andrew's-Sewanee on Saturday at 2...

Douglas Wayne Smith, 66, of Shelbyville died Thursday at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville after an extended illness. Private graveside services will be held Saturday at Mt. Hermon Cemetery. Hillcrest Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.