Stories from Sunday, April 1, 2012

Imagine a child, living in fear of his parents' rage, abuse and neglect; not knowing when he will eat again, or if there will be enough food to fill his empty stomach. Imagine a child, living in fear that her mother will never wake up from her drunken sleep, no matter how much she shakes her and tries to wake her up...

Each Tuesday, Ann Peek and her daughter, Vonda Grey get together with their friends at the Shelbyville Recreation Center. They're a close knit of friends; several of them have been meeting there for as many as 10 years....

There was a point in time many years ago in which I very consciously made a decision to do something I knew to be wrong. In fact, I was praying to God just before I got out of the car, "Please help me not do this thing." The skies didn't darken, lightning didn't rend the air, and the earth didn't open up and swallow me. So I did it...

Roots are described as "the essential core of something." The roots of a tree anchor it to the ground, from which it receives its nourishment, its life source. If at anytime the root is broken away from the tree, it begins to die. It cannot survive without the sustenance that the root provides. ...

The West Tennessee Quarter Horse Association's spring show was in progress Saturday and continues today at Calsonic Arena on the Celebration grounds. (T-G Photo by John I. Carney)

Community Outreach Partnership of Bedford County has moved and is now occupying space on Depot Street in the former Clifford's Furniture building. They had been on Madison Street since opening two years ago. The two-year-old faith-based non-profit represents a group of local churches of varying denominations who work together to assist families in need. ...

The Bedford County Board of Education met Tuesday evening in a special called study session to discuss proposed rezoning for elementary grades and certain school board policies. The session was tentatively scheduled at the end of the March board meeting, with the board notifying the Times-Gazette by email on March 23. A meeting announcement was not made on the county website or by paid advertisement...

A Shelbyville company has created a new Facebook-style social networking site for intelligent horses. KeyBook, named for famed Shelbyville horse Beautiful Jim Key, is based on the concept that other horses, like Key, may be able to spell out words and communicate with others...

Harris Middle struck out 12 times and left a dozen on base in a 12-11 loss at Coffee County on Wednesday. Coffee County scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim the win. Harris started Keyshawn Morton on the mound, He pitched two innings, allowing four hits four runs, a pair of strikeouts and five walks...

Shelbyville Central picked up a non-district win by defeating visiting Warren County 4-2 on Thursday night. Luis Rodriguez scored a pair of goals for the Eagles. Steven Quinonez also found the back of the net while Adbel Grajales added a goal on a penalty kick...

A newly released TDOT review of the Shelbyville bypass makes a number of recommendations to make the new highway safer for motorists. The best part about the report is that it won't cost the city a dime for improvements to State Route 437, but the city manager said the deal is not yet done...

Every time the Cascade Middle Champs and Community Middle Vikings step onto the field, it's an all-out slugfest to see which team can get the win. Friday's afternoon game was no exception. The Vikings capitalized on a four-run first inning to down the Champs 8-3...

For the first few weeks of the season, Cascade's Daniel McBee had to watch his team play from the dugout. Eager to make a big statement in his return to the starting lineup, McBee changed the entire pace of the game with one swing of the bat in Friday's 7-2 victory over the Murfreesboro Central Magnet School...

One-run losses are hard to take. For the third time in four games this week, Shelbyville Central came up on the short end of a one-run game, falling 8-7 to visiting St. Benedict in the Warrior Classic on Friday night. St. Benedict, the home team in this game, rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim the victory...

These tulips are pretty in pink after a spring shower in the back yard of Christina Hale.

Beautiful Iris

Enjoying the wonderful weather walking in the shallow part of the river. Gavin had just fell and gotten his face wet.

Evan had no problem sitting on this fluffy Easter Bunny.

Here comes the old man voice. "In my day, we had to walk uphill to school. Both ways! And the cafeteria ladies fed you leftover slop in a trough, and you liked it!" Well, times have changed. It's too dangerous for kids to walk to school, and that's not the way they do things at the Learning Way Elementary cafeteria. The ladies there are dedicated to serving tasty, healthy and nutritious meals to their students...