Stories from Thursday, June 23, 2011

As family members of the three missing persons from Shelbyville were interviewed for last week's series each expressed a common desire: to meet one another. On Friday, at the invitation of the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, those families were invited to a private luncheon at a local restaurant. With initial introductions made, T-G staff left our guests to speak privately...

Claude Morgan "Dink" Aldridge, 62, of Shelbyville died Wednesday night at Alive Hospice at Skyline Madison Campus after an extended illness. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Doak-Howell Funeral Home with Randall Harmon officiating. Burial will follow at Old Beech Grove Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5-8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

Jeremy Ray West, age 33, of Shelbyville, died Wednesday at Heritage Medical Center. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel with the Rev. Charles "Buddy" Pope officiating. Burial will follow at Willow Mount Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4-8 p.m. Saturday.

J. Oscar Caldwell, 92, of East Ridge, a Shelbyville native, died Sunday. Graveside services, with military honors, were held Wednesday at Chattanooga National Cemetery. Chattanooga Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

James Paul Nelson, 67, of Shelbyville died Wednesday at Heritage Medical Center. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel with the Rev. Mike Hannah officiating. Burial will follow at Willow Mount Cemetery. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m.

The boil water notice issued by the town of Wartrace Tuesday has been lifted, according to a release from Ron Stacy, the town's mayor. After extensive flushing, water samples tested free of the E. coli and fecal material that prompted the warning earlier this week...

Bedford County Jail, which was inspected recently by the state, will need to be re-inspected because of concerns about the facility and about overcrowding in the women's wing of the jail. County officials, speaking at this week's meeting of the county commission's law enforcement and workhouse committee, say the facility's problems are being addressed and that they are struggling to find ways to address the population concerns...

"With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain ...." When William Shakespeare penned this line for "Twelfth Night," he must have been peeking into the future, when Lane Davies would produce his plays on the grounds of Webb School. The end of the quote is "For the rain it raineth every day," which has been the case as the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival gears up for opening night on Friday...

The disc golf course at H.V. Griffin Park will host its first tournament Saturday since the tournament which accompanied the facility's grand opening in 2009. But that doesn't mean the course isn't being used. "It's worn a path," said Bryan Dial of Shelbyville Parks and Recreation. He said response to the course has been terrific, both from local citizens and disc golf enthusiasts from surrounding areas...

Shelbyville Team Camp No. 2 finished up its final day of girls high school basketball games on Wednesday. Shelbyville Central finished off a highly-successful camp of basketball by defeating Watertown 43-27. Cascade had one of its remaining games canceled but still got in a contest versus Clarkrange, which the Lady Champions won 35-31...

In 2009, nearly half of all children in Bedford County qualified for free or reduced-price school lunches. But what happens to those children when school is not in session? This is the fifth summer for Johnson Residential Homes in Shelbyville to host a summer feeding program for local youth. The actual food is paid for with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but transportation is being provided with the assistance of local churches and agencies...