Stories from Sunday, May 15, 2011

To The Editor: As one who has been critical of the school system administration and board, I want to thank the Bedford County School Board for their recent selection of Dr. Ray Butrum as their choice for Director of Schools. I truly believe that at the beginning of the process of selection that several board members had their mind made up and were not intending to follow the selection process. ...

Mark Twain is purported to have said, "The coldest winter I've ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." My wife and I just returned from The City on the Bay, and we heard that quote numerous times while we were there. Friends and family who had visited San Francisco before told us to make sure we brought coats or jackets with us when we went, so we were prepared...

In the lives of believers, sometimes great things are borne in those who are simply able to listen -- and then obey without question. Jeremy and Kimberly Williams were like many American couples. After the birth of their second child, they elected through a surgical procedure not to have any more children...

One of the most rewarding times of our lives can often be one of the most challenging as well, that of raising small children. Shopping with small children can also prove to have moments that leave a mother wondering, "Are the savings worth the effort?"...

A Kentucky man accused of shoplifting an American flag wasn't exactly waving it as he left the Shelbyville Walmart on Thursday, police said. William Douglas Oloane, 22, was detained by store security personnel as he walked from the store. Oloane told police he was in Shelbyville working for a roofing company and was sleeping in the store's parking lot due to lack of money. A Bedford County Jail report shows Oloane as living on Ward Circle...

New trial dates have been set in federal court for three local residents accused of soring horses. U.S. Magistrate Judge William B. Mitchell Carter ruled Friday that Barney Davis, 38, of Lewisburg, Christen Altman, 25, of Shelbyville, and Jeffery Bradford, 33, of Lewisburg will stand trial Tuesday, July 19 in Chattanooga...

The Next Step Home, a transitional home for women which opened in Bedford County in November 2008, has quietly gone about the business of providing services to women in crisis. Nationally, transitional homes average a 20 percent success rate. The local program is exceptional, with 75 percent of the women they assist finding success after treatment...

Incoming Bedford County school superintendent Dr. Ray Butrum has confirmed that he does plan to move to Bedford County, and is looking for rental property here, but said his adult children will continue to live in his home in Murfreesboro for the short term and he hasn't yet decided how quickly he will change his legal residence and give up his seat on the Murfreesboro city school board...

The annual Celebration City Region Antique Automobile Club of America car show was held Saturday on the Celebration Drive parking lots. Frances McClenney, left, and Jan Hammack look over a 1966 Ford Mustang convertible. Hammack said it brought back memories of her first car, a '66 Mustang hardtop in identical colors.

The bottleneck from the vast pool of athletes continues to narrow across the state of Tennessee as the TSSAA postseason draws to a close. Several athletes in Bedford County are still alive and on practice fields this weekend in hopes of earning an opportunity to participate in the BlueCross Spring Fling in Murfreesboro...