Stories from Friday, March 4, 2011

The difference between alpacas and llamas is like the difference between cats and dogs, says Gerdi Laems. She should know -- she has several alpacas, llamas, cats and dogs in her Sims Spring Road farm. "Llamas, like dogs, will come up to you and always want attention," she said. "Alpacas are more like cats. They'll pay attention to you if they want attention, otherwise -- no."...

Cascade Middle's softball team brought its sticks along for the trip to Manchester for the season opener. The Lady Champions cranked out 17 hits en route to a 14-5 win over Westwood Middle on Thursday. Heather Hart singled three times, tripled and scored a pair of runs to lead Cascade's offense. Kendall Durard plated a trio of runs. Juli Jones and Sarah Beth Thomas touched home twice each...

Funeral services for Barbara Jean Bearden Brown, 67, of Shelbyville will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Doak-Howell Funeral Home with Bobby McGee officiating. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens. Visitation with the family will be held from 5-8 p.m. Saturday.

Rosa Mae Smith Statum, 95, of Gallatin died Friday at Sumner Regional Medical Center. Graveside services will be held at 3:30 p.m. Monday at Willow Mount Cemetery with Wesley Binkley officiating. Visitation will be held from 1-3 p.m. Monday at Hillcrest Funeral Home.

Joseph Bauer, 46, of Shelbyville died Thursday at Heritage Medical Center. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Feldhaus Memorial Chapel is handling arrangements.

A creek near where missing teacher Shelly Lynn Mook's burned car was found in Rutherford County was searched Thursday, investigators said. Mook, 24, an eighth-grade reading teacher at Harris Middle School, was last seen Monday afternoon after dropping off her child at the home of her ex-husband on Nashvillle Dirt Road near Shelbyville, police said Wednesday...

If all goes as planned, there will be a new and improved Blackberry Ridge in the future. Developer Kevin Tucker and several of his associates attended the Bedford County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday night to begin the application process for permits to improve and further develop the U.S. 231 North subdivision...

Bedford County Education Association president Tamra King, a teacher at Community Elementary School, estimates that 10 to 20 local teachers will attend a Tennessee Education Association rally Saturday in downtown Nashville. The rally is in response to legislation which TEA calls "anti-teacher" aimed at issues such as tenure and collective bargaining...

InSub Chung put on a scoring display to lead Webb Middle's soccer squad to an 8-0 victory over visiting Riverside Christian Academy on Thursday afternoon. Chung blasted five goals to help the Feet improve to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in Central Tennessee Conference play...

Liberty Middle's baseball team worked its way out of a seventh-inning jam to down Riverside Christian Academy 5-2 in their season opener Thursday. The visitors from Fayetteville loaded the bases in the final frame before right-hander Jacob Davidson entered to provide relief work on the hill for the Patriots, allowing just one inherited runner to score to pick up the save...

Johnson Thompson III, 83, of Shelbyville died Wednesday at Heritage Medical Center. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mt. Zion Baptist Church with Elder Willie Lee Rippy as eulogist. Burial will follow at Willow Mount Cemetery. No visitation will be held. J.A. Welton & Son Funeral Home of Tullahoma is in charge of arrangements.