Stories from Friday, May 25, 2012

Alex Rodriguez, 12, of Shelbyville died Thursday, May 24, 2012 in Shelbyville after a lengthy battle with cancer. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Lawrence Funeral Home in Chapel Hill with the Rev. David Adams officiating. Burial will follow at Willow Mount Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4-8 p.m. Saturday.

MURFREESBORO -- It was a very emotional day for Cascade playing in the TSSAA State baseball tournament on Thursday at Middle Tennessee Christian School. The Champions rolled to an impressive 13-3 win in the first elimination game against Decatur County Riverside before a season-ending 8-3 loss to the two-time defending Class A state champions...

Winchester police are accusing a Shelbyville man of kidnapping a 12-year-old Winchester girl. Christopher Blunkall, 32, allegedly took the girl to a Lewisburg motel for an overnight stay. The girl originally told investigators she was kidnapped by two men in a green car, taken to a wooded area and raped. She now is telling police she made up the scenario to stay out of trouble with her parents...

The state has fined the Shelbyville Water System over $3,000 for failure to properly collect bacteriological samples. Last week, the city of Shelbyville received a Director's Order and Assessment from Alan Schwendimann, director of the Tennessee Division of Water Supply, which is part of the state's Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)...

Allstate agency owner Amanda McDonald O'Neal received the Agency Hands in the Community Award for her commitment to helping others. With this award came a $1,000 grant from The Allstate Foundation for the Thomas Magnet School Parent Teacher Organization in Shelbyville, where she volunteers...

Chad West has joined the staff of Pirtle-Howerton Automotive, located at 2006 North Main St. in Shelbyville. West will serve as the new service manager. West has extensive knowledge in this line of work. "I've been in this business since right out of high school," he said. "I grew up around it, and always knew I wanted to be a part of it."...

After college, I plan to come back and teach high school in Bedford County. -- Julie Haynes, Central High

The fastest-growing drug problem in Tennessee doesn't involve marijuana or crystal meth. The fastest-growing drug problem in Tennessee involves a prescription pad. A new report to the state legislature shows that nearly 18 million prescriptions for controlled substances like OxyContin and hydrocodone were dispensed in Tennessee last year -- a 23 percent increase from the previous year...

Bedford County's jobless rate fell in April to 8.4 percent, nearly two percentage points lower than this time last year. According to preliminary numbers from the Department of Labor & Workforce Development, the county had a labor force of 21,660, with 19,850 working and an estimated 1,820 without a job...

Shelbyville police got an unexpected, but potentially explosive surprise Thursday morning, after a local resident turned in what appeared to be a live hand grenade. Chief Austin Swing told the T-G that a man was cleaning out a house of a deceased individual, "and found this under a bed," bringing it to the police department early on Thursday...

Just a month shy of his 13th birthday, Bedford County native Alex Rodriguez ended his struggle with the deadly sarcoma which he had fought for the past five years. Alex passed away at home Thursday morning. The story request, when it came in February, was simple enough. ...

There's a new option for worship in Unionville, and the founders wish to invite new parishioners to attend service at the newly-established Old Time Pentecostal Way Church, 1354 Old Columbia Rd. The pastor, Elder Phillip Sheppard, has been in the ministry in and around the area since he started leading worship at a church in Chapel Hill in 1991...

Rosemary Finley Duke, 79, of Shelbyville died early Friday morning, May 25, 2012 at Glen Oaks Health & Rehabilitation Center. Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Willow Mount Cemetery with Johnny Campbell officiating. Doak-Howell Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

THIS IS MARLI ANMARIELINES BAUMAN. DAUGHTER OF MIKE AND KAYLA BAUMAN. SHE IS HAPPY SHE IS 2 YEARS OLD! NANA AND PAPA'S SWEETHEART. WE LOVE YOUR MARLI! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!