Stories from Thursday, September 15, 2011

Pelayo Colima Lopez, 66, of Shelbyville died Sunday at Harton Regional Medical Center in Tullahoma after a short illness. A gathering of family and friends will be held from 6-9 p.m. Saturday at Doak-Howell Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Tlalchapa, Guerrero, Mexico at a later date.

Shelbyville residents experienced a very brief city-wide power outage Wednesday morning, or "flicker" as one utility employee described it, after a power pole near Deery Eakin Elementary School was knocked into a tree by a bush-hogging tractor. One transformer was knocked out, causing a longer outage for customers in the area of Lee Lane and Mead Drive. Utility workers were busy for most of the day replacing the pole. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely)

When T.J. Hall saw some of his 26 grandchildren hauling scrap lumber into the black walnut in his backyard 16 years ago, he thought they had a pretty good idea -- but their engineering skills needed a little bit of help. So he built them a tree house...

What impressed principal Michael Wright most about his first day on the job were the students at Community Middle School. "They were the first ones to greet me, the first ones to shake my hand," he said. Now in his 25th year as an educator, he's spent the last 19 in administration, most recently as curriculum coordinator at Highland Rim School in Fayetteville. ...

County Highway Superintendent Stanley Smotherman, making his quarterly report Tuesday night to Bedford County Board of Commissioners, gave updates on several state highway projects of local interest. The bid has finally been let for long-awaited improvements to U.S. 41A in the area of Community Elementary School and Community Middle School, including a turn lane in front of the schools and a reconfiguration of the intersection between 41A and Unionville-Deason Road...

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and two of his GOP colleagues say they want to scale back some provisions of the No Child Left Behind act which are no longer needed, while preserving its testing, accountability and parent information provisions. "It's time to transfer responsibility back to the states and the cities," said Alexander during a conference call with Tennessee reporters on Wednesday. Also on the call were Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)...

The absence of the county's General Sessions judge this week means that a man charged with arson and attempted murder won't have his second appearance until next month. Roger Eugene Boisseau, 37, made a brief appearance in court Wednesday, but had his next date set for Oct. 12. Judge Charles Rich has been attending a judicial conference this week, so all case on his docket have been rescheduled...

The Cascade Champions are on a mission to rebound from last week's big loss to Wayne County when they host District 9-A opponent Huntland's Hornets at 7 p.m. Friday. "They (Huntland) always come prepared to play football," said Cascade coach Kenny Parker as he readied his team for this week's battle...

Webb School edged Shelbyville Central in a intra-county nine-hole golf match on Wednesday at River Bend Country Club. The Feet carded a team score of 168 while the Eagles posted a 174. Webb's John Wang was medalist with a 39. Sterling Smith led the Eagles with a 40...

Cascade's Lady Champions fell behind 2-1 at the half but came back to hand visiting Forrest a 4-2 loss Tuesday. Cascade controlled the first five minutes of the game, not allowing Forrest to move up in to any type of offensive rush. "We were off last week for the horse show and I think it hurt us, it really does," Cascade coach Monica Lewis said. "We were off our game tonight and the girls knew it."...

Arthur August Alleman, 84, of Shelbyville died Tuesday at Glen Oaks Convalescent Center. A Celebration of Life will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at International House of Prayer with the Rev. Bryan Nerren officiating. Feldhaus Memorial Chapel is handling arrangements.

Melvin Lloyd Brasier, 87, of Shelbyville died Tuesday at Alvin C. York Veterans Hospital in Murfreesboro. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Gowen-Smith Chapel. Burial, with military honors, will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday.

George Criesman Graham, Jr., 86, of College Grove died Tuesday. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Lawrence Funeral Home in Chapel Hill. Burial will follow at Swanson Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4-8 p.m. Thursday.