Stories from Sunday, January 19, 2014

Wilderness firefighters developed leadership training last week while attending an academy in northern Bedford County. This was the 12th year for the Tennessee-Kentucky Wildland Fire Academy, the largest such program in the nation, said Deanna Hayes, a business management assistant with the U.S. Forest Service's Cherokee National Forest...

NEW YORK -- A year after Russia imposed a ban on adoptions by Americans, some affected U.S. families are reluctantly looking elsewhere to adopt. Others refuse to abandon flickering hopes of uniting with the Russian children who won their hearts. Russian authorities have spurned requests from U.S. officials to reconsider the ban...

Marty Davis has announced his candidacy for Bedford County Clerk in the May 6 Democratic primary. Davis currently serves as general manager of Bedford County Utility District and was a commissioner for 10 years prior to that. Until this month, he was president of Bedford County Farm Bureau Board of Directors and a member of the Tennessee Farm Bureau Insurance Companies state board of directors. He has retired from both positions...

Gilliland Historical Resource Center Inc. will host its second MLK Luncheon on Monday, the birthday observance of late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The theme is "Keeping the Dream Alive." The event will be at 11 a.m. at Shelbyville Recreation Center. Adult tickets are $15, and children's tickets are $10...

BELL BUCKLE -- Collin Jones, an eighth grader from Normandy, won the 2014 school-level competition of the National Geographic Bee at The Webb School. The event, at which students answered oral questions on geography, was the first round in the 26th annual National Geographic Bee...

A man grabbed a purse from a shopping cart outside Kroger, North Main Street, and ran away Thursday night, police said. "She apparently thought he was collecting the cart," Det. Sam Jacobs said. "He took the purse and ran toward the back of the store."...

The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference will continue during the 2014 legislative session to push for changes in state laws which it says will better enable prosecution of serial child sexual abusers and increase punishment for child neglect...

Shelbyville Deputy Fire Chief Brian Nicholson spoke to a recent meeting of Shelbyville Lions Club. He discussed fire hazards and fire preparedness in the home. The fire department has smoke detectors available for those who don't have them in their home. He said 3,000-5,000 people nationally die in house fires each year...

The District 9-A boys race just got a whole lot more interesting. After falling to Fayetteville (12-7, 7-2 9-A) back in December, the Community Vikings (13-7, 7-2 9-A) settled the score on Homecoming night, 76-53. "This puts us all even with Fayetteville and they have to play MTCS. We have three district games left and two of them are at home. This is big for us," Viking coach Robbie Davis said...

The Community Viqueens increased their lead in the District 9-A race to three games with a dominating, 62-31 win against Fayetteville on Friday night. Though it wasn't an overly dominating night on the offensive end of the floor, the Viqueens' transition defense was a nightmare for the visiting Lady Tigers...

COLUMBIA -- Shelbyville Central let a huge District 8-AAA game on the road slip away in the second half after a 12-point lead evaporated in a 40-35 loss to district leading Columbia on Friday night. "I told the guys that I didn't think the best team won this game and I truly believe that but we know that it's the final score on the scoreboard that counts," Shelbyville coach Stan Eggleston said. ...

COLUMBIA - If facing District 8-AAA leading Columbia on the road wasn't tough enough, add the fact that Shelbyville Central claimed an upset victory earlier in the season. That was the last time the Lady Lions lost and they came out ready to play from the start of Friday's game, handling the Eaglettes 67-47 on Friday night...

The Webb School Lady Feet got started off slow on Friday night, but finished strong as they took down the Hendersonville Christian Lady Crusaders, 53-33. The Lady Feet got off to a slow start on Friday night as they found themselves trailing 8-3 with only a few minutes left in the first quarter...

The Webb School Feet played hard on Friday night but came up a little short, falling to Hendersonville Christian 70-53. The Feet started off in the right direction, playing neck-and-neck with the visiting Crusaders. Pounding the paint was the key for the Feet as Branson Popp and Chuke Williams combined for 19 of their 31 first-half points...

LEWISBURG -- After trailing 25-19 at the half against Marshall County on Friday night, the Lady Champions stormed back in the third quarter and contested the game down to the final buzzer. But as the fates would have it, Marshall County had a little more gas in the tank and was able to claim the barn-burner victory, 40-38...

LEWISBURG -- The Cascade Champions (14-3, 3-2 12-AA) have been rolling as of late, sitting firmly in second place in the District 12-AA standings. But on Friday night, the Champions never could get the offense rolling and Cascade suffered a tough, 67-53 defeat at Marshall County (12-5, 3-0 12-AA)...

I made a blog post on this topic the other day at t-g.com, but I kept thinking of more things to say about it, so I'm going to expand on it here. If you've already read the blog post, I apologize for any repetition. From time to time, one of the big cable or satellite operators will get into a conflict with one of the big conglomerates that owns and operates cable channels. ...

A love of yarns brought together more than 30 women last Monday to knit, stitch, teach and talk. The Fleece on the Duck (River) Fiber Guild met at The Fly Arts Center. Members offered their expertise to teach novices about a variety of fabrics. Akelah Rowe was one of the newcomers. She attended the meeting to try knitting for the first time ever, she said...

The morning my granddaughter Koriana Lynn was born, I was getting ready to fly to Arizona for a board meeting at the Native American children's home I am affiliated with. Kori was born at about 4:30 a.m. at Harton Hospital in Tullahoma. My ride to the airport was coming to pick me up at 6:30 a.m. here in Shelbyville...

You hear a lot of people--when you are pregnant--intentionally try to scare you. At least, it feels this way. A little while into the pregnancy and you start to catalogue all the little bits of wisdom people decide to share. It seems everyone feels obligated to warn you of the approaching storm...

Dan Brown lives in Bedford County, but he'll go anywhere if he means there's a great photo opportunity involved. The most recent venture for Brown, who moved to Tennessee from New York after he retired from a career in education, was to Canada where he added more than 1,500 photos of some female owls to his incredible collection...

Lynn Dezotell, originally from Huntsville, Ala., is married to local columnist and pastor Doug Dezotell. She is a registered nurse who specializes in labor and delivery at Harton Hospital in Tullahoma. If you have a nomination for Sunday Conversation email sfowler@t-g.com...

In case you haven't noticed, today, Jan. 19, we're celebrating the babies of 2013 in this edition of the Times-Gazette's Life & Leisure. I am stunned when I step back and think about what I was doing exactly four years ago from today when my own world was rocked in a way words can hardly describe...

My tastes and goals in the kitchen have greatly evolved over the years, and so has the way I plan my weekly meals. It seems just a few years ago I found myself purchasing a cookbook every time I entered a bookstore, calling Mom for old family favorites when I needed a dish to make, and occasionally searching the web for a new idea...

Brittany Bryant of Chesterfield, Mo., is engaged to Kean Barclay of Chesterfield, Mo. The bride-elect is the daughter of John and Beverly Chambless Bryant of St. Peters, Mo. She is the granddaughter of Sarah Evelyn Chambless Loehle of Shelbyville, Imogene Bryant of Madison, Tenn., the late Charles Chambless and the late John C. Bryant Sr...

Pamela Sue Brooke Bennett of Shelbyville is engaged to Jerry Lee Thompson Jr. of Shelbyville. The bride-elect is the daughter of Joe and Tracey Bennett of Rover. She is the granddaughter of the late Robert "Greenie Bob" and Faye Bennett. She graduated from Community High School. She attended Motlow State Community College in Lynchburg. The bride-elect works for National Pen Co...

Matt and Beth Keele of Wartrace announce the birth of a daughter, Hayzlee Marie Keele, on Nov. 26 at St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro. The baby girl weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces. She is the granddaughter of Sam and Terry Davis of Shelbyville, and Shannon Keele of Wartrace and the late Buster Keele. She is the great-granddaughter of Fred and Betty Davis of Shelbyville...