Stories from Thursday, March 3, 2011

The car owned by a missing Harris Middle School teacher was found burned in Rutherford County late Monday night, Bedford County Sheriff Randall Boyce said this afternoon. Local authorities released information about the teacher's disappearance Wednesday....

Charles Cooper, 67, of Tullahoma died Wednesday at Harton Regional Medical Center. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Tullahoma with the Rev. Elmore Torbert officiating and the Rev. Sandra Avent as eulogist. Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery in Tullahoma. Visitation will begin at noon at the church. J.A. Welton & Son Funeral Home of Tullahoma is in charge of arrangements.

James Ottis Robertson, 84, of Shelbyville died Tuesday. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Doak-Howell Funeral Home with Bobby McGee officiating. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m.

Sebastian Carmelo Ordonez, 28, of Shelbyville died Monday at Heritage Medical Center. Funeral services will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at Gowen-Smith Chapel. His remains will then be shipped to Guatemala to be buried in his family's burial plot. Visitation with the family will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday...

A tight budget year for both the city and county will mean no fireworks display this July 4. Shelbyville and Bedford County have pooled their efforts in the past to sponsor a fireworks display at H.V. Griffin Park for Independence Day festivities. But that won't be happening this year after the city council decided that $4,750 for their half of the contribution for the pyrotechnics is too much of an expense in this tight fiscal year...

Shelbyville's police department is asking for approval to start a driving school to work in conjunction with city court as a way to cut back on officer overtime. In efforts to try to reduce spending in the police department, Lt. Trey Clanton asked the council Tuesday to look at the idea, which would educate the public and perhaps keep a light docket for the city's court...

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- Gov. Bill Haslam got a first-hand look at the damage done by an EF-2 tornado that ripped through a rural area south of Tullahoma, killing an elderly man. Haslam spent some private time speaking with the family of 78-year-old Melvin Hambrick, who died of injuries he sustained when the trailer he lived in was struck by the twister, which packed winds of up to 120 mph...

College basketball fans, get ready. It's nearly time to test your knowledge -- and your luck -- by selecting the winners of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament with the new, enhanced Bracket Breakdown. Sponsored by the Shelbyville Times-Gazette and Kincaid Service Co., Athlon Sports' Bracket Breakdown offers top prizes of a 32-inch Panasonic flat panel LCD TV and Blu-Ray to the local point winner and a national prize of a Jamaican vacation worth $4,000...

An early deficit proved too great of a hole for Webb's lacrosse team to dig out of as the Feet dropped their home opener 11-1 to Pope John Paul II in Bell Buckle on Wednesday afternoon. Webb got on the board in the second quarter on a goal by sophomore Jason Bartlett...