Stories from Sunday, June 16, 2013

Gavin enjoying some watermelon after playing in the sun. Our summertime favorite.

Sunday is my first Father's Day as a father, a title I assumed three months ago when Corley Rose burst onto the scene. When I sat down to write this column my goal was to pen a touching piece about how awesome it is to be a father. I wanted to show how dads have a tremendous responsibility on their hands, how honorable it is to sacrifice for their families, and whatever other Hallmark sentiment I could muster up. ...

The Mid-State cloggers perform at the 19th annual RC Cola / Moon Pie festival in Bell Buckle. (T-G Photo by John I. Carney)

BELL BUCKLE -- The Webb School recently announced its A and B honor rolls for the fourth quarter of the 2012-13 school year. An independent college preparatory day/boarding school for grades 6-12, The Webb School is the oldest continuously operating school of its kind in the South. The school has a dual emphasis on academic excellence and character development...

Bonnaroo headliner Jack Johnson plays a mini-set in the press tent Friday morning. Johnson stepped in when Mumford and Sons were forced to back out due to a band member's illness. (T-G Photo by Emily-Ann Hill)

More than half of the respondents to an unscientific poll at the Times-Gazette web site say they're growing some sort of fruit or vegetable this summer, but more are growing just a few plants than a full garden. "[It] costs more to plant and water than buying from [a] farmer's market or store," wrote one participant...

Kidney transplant recipient Row McLaughlin was moved to a private room on Friday as he continues to recover from his transplant last Wednesday. Row's labs are great and the doctors say he is right on schedule, according to the McLaughlin family's Prayers for Row Facebook page. Row's surgery was at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt...

Pride and privacy may be keeping many Bedford County residents from taking advantage of property tax relief, according to Bedford County Trustee Tonya Davis. Low-income senior citizens, the disabled, and disabled veterans and their widows or widowers are eligible to receive tax relief. ...

On May 28, Gov. Bill Haslam held a ceremonial bill signing in Crossville for a reduction in the Hall Income Tax for senior citizens. The Hall Income Tax is levied on investment income. The bill, HB 192 / SB 198, raised the income level at which senior citizens are exempt from paying the tax...

Second reading of the 2013-2014 budget was passed Thursday evening by the council, incorporating some changes made last week. The budget will retain the growth rate of three percent that was the topic of debate over the past few weeks, also adopting a pay raise for city employees -- with a 1.5 percent hike in July, and another 1.5 percent awarded in January...

You can take the artist out of Texas, but you cannot take Texas out of the artist, as one mixed media artist proves. Self-taught artist Becky Shelton hails from Euless, Texas, but has not lived in The Lone Star State since 2000. Her Texas roots continue to show in her mixed media collages and acrylic paintings...

You wouldn't throw a cigarette into your glass of water, would you? Then why would you make yourself into a butt and throw a butt or anything else in the river from where your drinking water comes? But, because a lot of people do pollute the Duck River, the city's water source, a group of volunteers band together every year to clean the river and the riverbanks. ...

Dear Editor, In regards to the letter that Grace Bergloff wrote about speeding on Old Unionville Road in which pets are killed: I believe that there is a leash law in Bedford County, which means that you can be charged with "animals running at large."...

Two men were arrested after allegedly "flashing" guns and scaring residents while driving through Bedford Manor Apartments, Barksdale Lane, early Friday, police say. Officers said they spotted a van fitting a description given earlier by residents as it drove through the complex at 2:35 a.m. One passenger jumped out of the van and ran away as the driver left the apartments, reserve deputy Jason Blanton said...

22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit Marines including Bell Buckle native Lance Cpl. Dylan Shuler completed a 10-day, specialized rescue training course at the Center for National Response in Gallagher, W.V., on May 30 in preparation for the MEU's upcoming deployment...

Ginger Tipton and Duane Brown, both of Bell Buckle, were married on April 26 at their home in Bell Buckle in a double-ring ceremony. The groom is the son of Doyle and Carol Brown of Bell Buckle. The bride wore jeans and a beautiful tri-blue top, and held a bouquet of spring flowers surrounded by turkey feathers...

Tracey and James Plemons of Wartrace announce the birth of a daughter, Journie Grayce Plemons, on March 20 at Harton Regional Medical Center. The baby girl weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces. She is the granddaughter of Sherri Darlene Mullins, Roger Smith and Anna Cunningham, all of Shelbyville...

Dennis and Barbara Falkenheim of Decatur, Ill., announce the engagement of their daughter, Alesha Lynn Falkenheim of Bellevue, Tenn., to Joshua Caleb Northcutt of Shelbyville, son of Steve Northcutt and Phyllis Saylor of Shelbyville. The bride-elect is the granddaughter of R.C. and Lenora Thompson of Fairview Heights, Ill., and Roy and LaVerne Falkenheim of Baldwin, Ill...

This Father's Day is a special one for me, because it is also my granddaughter Kori's second birthday. I have come to realize that one of the best things about being a father is that I have also gotten to be a grandfather. I am so proud to say that I am the grandfather of three beautiful and sweet little girls: Charli, Kori and Jolie...

Brittany Lynette Cowan of Smyrna and Matthew Allen Cooper of Wartrace were united in marriage on the morning of May 17 at the Bedford County Clerk's Office in Shelbyville. The bride is the daughter of Joy Lynette Cowan and Mark Elwood Cowan of Miamisburg, Ohio, and the granddaughter of Wanda Lee Zurwell Saylor of New Paris, Ohio, and the late Jerry Jo Zurwell, the late Martha Cowan and the late George Everett Cowan...