Stories from Sunday, May 6, 2012

The pilot of a small glider attempting to reach the gliderport near Rover was fortunate to escape with his life after crash landing alongside U.S. 41A a few hundred yards short of the landing strip Sunday afternoon. Doug Miller of Franklin was airlifted from Puckett Gliderport to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville after the crash, which occurred shortly after 3 p.m...

Nature

The second session of the 107th General Assembly ended on Tuesday, May 1, 2012. We worked diligently and efficiently to end session on time and save the taxpayers of Tennessee money. This is the earliest adjournment date in 14 years (since 1998). Some important initiatives of this General Assembly were a fiscally responsible balanced state budget, tax reliefs, and stricter laws on prescription and synthetic drug abuse...

A little over six years ago, 11-year-old Ryan Purdom faced an uncertain future. The athletic sixth grader at Cascade developed a cough and began spitting up blood. It got worse. A CAT scan revealed that Ryan had a tumor in his small intestine and when it was removed, it was found to be malignant...

A running duo from Huntsville, Ala. were the overall male and female winners at the 34th annual Strolling Jim Ultramarathon in Wartrace Saturday. Blake Thompson crossed the finish line in the 40-plus-mile race with a time of 5:17 and Kathy Youngren at 6:04...

City council members were briefed this week about the recent dismissal of a codes department employee and what is being done to keep inspections going. On April 20, Scotty Farrar was terminated as building official after a state audit found that he was no longer certified for mechanical and plumbing inspections...

Health insurance rates for Shelbyville's employees will be going up again, but not nearly as much as other neighboring communities. City manager Jay Johnson reported to the council this week that following discussions with Wendall Agnew of the Agnew Agency, which handles the city's policy, the rate increase for next year is only 5 percent, with no changes to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage or deducible...

EAGLEVILLE -- When Cascade needed hits most, two seniors answered the call. An RBI single by Jared Carkuff and an RBI double by Gavin Elmore in the top of the seventh inning gave Cascade the spark needed to lift the Champs to a 6-4 come-from-behind win over district top dog, Eagleville...

The Shelbyville Central Eaglette tennis team concluded its season with a 4-0 loss to Tullahoma on Friday afternoon. Victoria Dugan battled relentlessly against her singles opponent Laura Burke, but in the end she was defeated 8-5. After the first four singles matches had concluded, play was halted since the Lady Wildcats had accumulated enough points to secure the 4-0 victory...

Andy Richards and Gabrielle Hargrove are pleased to announce the birth of a daughter, Madeline Ruth-Ann Richards. Madeline was born on Sunday, April 29 at Harton Regional Medical Center in Tullahoma, weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces...

"You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction." --George Lorimer Last Saturday night I went down to the Howell Community Center in Lincoln County for their Chicken Supper Fundraiser. They had a large crowd and had some fantastic grilled chicken with delicious sides and a great choice of desserts. I hope they made a lot of money to help with their building project at the center...

For those who wind up behind bars, jail can be an eye-opening experience. Jails serve as a punishment for crimes, but oftentimes don't treat the underlying cause for incarceration in the first place. Detox and rehabilitation centers -- for those lucky enough to commit to them before imprisonment -- face the problem of being too short-term. Frequently, residents can find themselves back in their same old circles, facing the same problems and addictions that were supposed to have been treated...

When I was growing up, I knew where home was. I lived at 1107 Sunset Drive in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I lived there with my parents and my brothers and sisters from the time I was about 3 years old until I started high school. That charcoal grey house with the garden in the backyard was home...

Catarena Smith and Nicolas Hall of Normandy are proud to announce the birth of a baby daughter, Aubrey Faye Hall. Aubrey was born on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at Harton Regional Medical Center in Tullahoma, weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 18 1/2 inches long...