Stories from Sunday, June 19, 2011

When the members of the Embroiders' Guild of America gather once a month, they're doing much more than visiting, nibbling goodies and having fun. They're preserving an art form, encouraging readers and soothing frightened children. Of course, they're also visiting, nibbling and having fun. A lot of fun...

Happy Father's Day! I will be in Jackrabbit, Arizona, this weekend for the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of NAOMI (Native American Outreach Ministries, Inc.). I serve as the vice-president on that board. The ministry provides a safe Christian home for abused and neglected children from the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona...

Whatever logic drives the shuffle function on my iTunes, each time the song arrives on my speakers, my heart catches and I pause. Every time - whether I'm driving, cleaning or typing -- the lyric conjures the image of two boys, ages nine and 11: I'm gonna wrap my arms around my daddy's neck...

Father's Day. I can smell Old Spice aftershave and chocolate covered cherries. I can feel the polished silk of the new tie. If I close my eyes, I can see my dad again, leaning in the door way, laughing. It's been 33 years since I was able to give him one of those stock gifts -- the only things he asked for, the only things he'd accept -- but I've wished him a happy Father's Day every time it rolls around. He may have gone on ahead of me, but he left enough behind that he still guides my life...

Taxes avoided To The Editor: Some of the biggest U. S. corporation pay no tax at all though they drive the roads, fly from the airports, call the police when there's trouble, summons the Coast Guard to clean up their oil spills, use the trade representative to negotiate their trade deals, take billions from the federal treasury when they're about to collapse and rely on the U.S. military to protect their overseas factories, offices and oil fields...

From time to time while driving to work in the mornings I like to listen to 104.5's The Wake Up Zone with Mark Howard, Frank Wycheck and Kevin Ingram. They are very entertaining, provide a lot of sports knowledge and allow the listeners to chime in with their opinions...

The second of two Shelbyville Team Camps this summer tips off today at various locations around Shelbyville. Some of the best girls high school basketball teams from across Tennessee and Alabama will take part. Each scrimmage, played under game-like conditions with officials present, is open to the public...

If there was a team that the higher seeds did not want to play in the District 9-A baseball tournament back in May, it was the Community Vikings. Young, talented players were gaining confidence and learning how to win, picking up late-season victories over both Cascade and Forrest...

Georgia Ralston is no stranger to horse shows. She has been showing in county shows, Academy shows and 4-H shows since she was only 3, when her aunt plopped her into the saddle for lead-line competitions. "My dad was a big cattle farmer and he didn't like horses. They don't make money," said the teenager, laughing. "My aunt really pushed it."...

"Here comes Peter Cottontail, Hoppin' down the bunny trail..." Most people know the song, but do they know the play? If they get to the Fly next weekend, (June 24-26), they will. The children's theater group is putting on their own version of "Peter Cottontail," and it's got less to do with "hippity-hoppity" and Easter than it does with B'rer Rabbit and B'rer Fox...

Are you thinking about having a child or two? Or three or four? You might want to start putting money away now. According to the USDA's annual report "Expenditures on Children by Families," a child born in 2010 will cost close to a quarter of a million dollars to raise -- and that's not including college...

A non-faculty assistant for the Community High School girls soccer team has been arrested for allegedly providing alcohol to minors. According to warrants filed by Deputy Steven Daugherty of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department, 24-year-old Rebekah L. Gregory was charged with three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor on June 6...

Kelsey Wells sits outside the Designz By You coffee shop and serenades visitors to Bell Buckle's RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival. Thousands turned up for the annual tongue-in-cheek tribute to Southern snacks and sodas despite forecasts of thunderstorms. Mother nature must like Moon Pies, though, because for the second year in a row, storms blew around Bell Buckle most of the day, with only a few rain drops here and there.

Everyone who has ever shopped has probably heard the term "BOGO" (buy one get one free). Sounds like a great deal, but there is a lot to know when it comes to "BOGO shopping." BOGO is a great way to build your stockpile of bargains quickly and will become one of your favorite words, but it is important to use it wisely. Let's look at some of the specifics of "BOGO shopping"...