Stories from Friday, April 29, 2011

The flood-swollen Duck River is receding after nearly reaching its 25-foot flood level on Thursday. The intense storms that pelted the South on Wednesday resulted in the river reaching 24.37 feet on Thursday before it began to slowly fall below its banks, but not before the waters inundated Fisherman's Park.

Community softball wrapped up its District 9-A slate with an 11-2 loss to Eagleville on Thursday night in Unionville. The Purple and Gold finished the regular season 1-12 overall and 0-12 in 9-A. Prior to the game, a ceremony was held to honor Viqueen seniors Stacey Bailey, Brittany Haynes, CorrieAnn Hickerson and Haley Milliken...

Middle Tennessee Christian secured its second District 11-A/AA soccer win this season by downing Community 4-1 on Thursday in Unionville. Clark Nichols scored on a header for the first goal for the Cougars, who improved to 2-2-1 in 11-A/AA. Daniel Arnette doubled their advantage by scoring on a through ball. Garrett Wilson thinned the twine in a breakaway to make their upper hand 3-0. Jacob Haley put in the visitors' final goal...

Good teams seem to always get the big hits when needed and that proved to be ever so costly for Shelbyville Central on Thursday night. Visiting Lincoln County scored three runs off three two-out hits to claim a 4-1 win over the Eaglettes in a District 8-AAA matchup...

The newest of drugs being abused by today's youth are probably in your own home. Misuse of prescription drugs has grown, and now ranks behind only alcohol and marijuana as most-abused by middle and high-school students. Bedford Against Drugs (BAD) is joining hundreds of other communities who will participate this weekend in the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (USDEA) National Take Back Initiative. ...

A pair of left-handers and two air-tight defenses made sure the baseball fans in Unionville didn't get too much sun on Thursday afternoon. Cascade's Ryan Rippy fired a three-hit shutout to help the Champions nip Community and starter Tom "Bird" Nelson 3-0 in a contest that lasted less than an hour and a half...

A number of Bedford County residents notified the Times-Gazette on Thursday that they had debris in their yards from Alabama or Georgia as a result of Wednesday night's tornadoes. Judy Moore of Wartrace found photos and a cancelled check in her yard. The check bore a Decatur, Ala., address...

Shelbyville motorists will be able to say goodbye to traffic headaches after TDOT announced the widening of North Main Street is scheduled to start during fiscal year 2013-2014. TDOT released the state's three-year transportation program on Thursday, which also included the replacement of the Duck River bridge on State Route 130 (Old Tullahoma Highway) in the upcoming 2011-2012 fiscal year...

Dr. Ray Butrum, the last of four candidates being interviewed for the position of Bedford County School Superintendent, said that if he is chosen, he plans to spend a big part of his first year in the schools, evaluating them. Butrum is the assistant principal at Barfield Elementary School in the Rutherford County school system, teaches classes at Middle Tennessee State University and is a school board member for the Murfreesboro city school system. ...

Shelbyville police removed 48 card machines District Attorney Chuck Crawford says are illegal from 10 Shelbyville convenience stores Thursday. The distributor and manufacturer of the machines went to court today asking that they be declared legal. "We've gone around getting payoffs from them," Shelbyville Police Chief Austin Swing said. "Today we went around and confiscated these machines."...