Stories from Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Everleigh enjoying the nice weather on her new Swing Set she received for her 3rd birthday!

Helen Jouiese Johnson Smythe "Queen Bee" Holland, 81, of Shelbyville died Saturday, March 29, 2014. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 5 at Galilee Primitive Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Willow Mount Cemetery. Lie-in-state will begin at noon with family visitation at 1 p.m. Nelson & Sons Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

John "John Boy" Bingham, 41, of Tullahoma died Sunday, March 30, 2014 at Heritage Medical Center in Shelbyville. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Daves-Culbertson Funeral Home in Tullahoma. Burial will follow at Hazel Cemetery in Bell Buckle. Visitation will be held from 5-8 p.m. Thursday. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to the memorial fund at the funeral home.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) are introducing a horse protection bill similar to the one U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Brentwood) and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky) have introduced in the House, only with a few additions...

Elizabeth Driver Vickers, 94, of Shelbyville died Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at Christian Care Center of Shelbyville. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Hillcrest Funeral Home with the Rev. Jimmy Gray officiating. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be held from 4-7 p.m. Thursday.

Raquel E. Corkern, 70, of Petersburg died Monday, March 31, 2014 at her home. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lone Oak Church of Christ with Harold Davis officiating. Burial will follow at Foster Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday at Gallant-Riverview Funeral Home in Fayetteville.

Ruth Carolyn Lewis, 71, of Kirksville, Mo. died Tuesday, March 31, 2014 at University Hospital in Columbia, Mo. Private services will be held at a later date. Memorial Funeral Home in Columbia, Mo. is handling arrangements.

It took less than a year to complete the work, and aeronautics officials from across Tennessee gathered Friday to officially cut the ribbon at Shelbyville's airport and recognize around $3.5 million worth of upgrades. Airport manager Hank Williamson told the crowd one of the people instrumental in making the improvements happen was city manager Jay Johnson...

Because of 2014's stubbornly cold temperatures, Bedford County Schools have come up with a program to announce and account for "snow days" during summer vacation. According to scheduling coordinator Loof Lirpa, in the event that temperatures are too cool for traditional vacation activities, a snow day will be announced. Eight snow days have been built into the vacation calendar, and if more than that are needed school will have to start later to accomodate the change in schedule...

Bedford County's jobless rate rose slightly in February to 6.8 percent, according to preliminary numbers released by the state department of labor and workforce development That's only a hike of one tenth of one percentage point from the revised January rate of 6.7 percent, and 2.2 percent lower than the rate at this time last year -- 9 percent....

Eakin Elementary School students of the month for March are seen here, not in order listed. Kindergarten: Alyana Smith, Emilio Juarez Vazquez, Keyrhiana Hill, Kenzie Howard, Ada Juarez, Kaden Walker. First Grade: Rosalia Viveros, Leslie Revelo, Eulalia Juan Gaspar, Katie Maldonado, Elena Domingo. Second Grade: Micah Spence, Andrew Hillis, Sunshine Lee, Chelsea Potts. Third Grade: Jacob Newman, Tony Huerta, Alexis Ray, Sidney Matthews, Jahlin Osborne. Fourth Grade: Rayne Bromely, Anthony Ramirez, Cody Bissell, Paola Gonzalez. Fifth Grade: Luciano Felipe, Casidy Sanders, Eduardo Cordova. (Submitted photo)

The Cascade Champions (6-5, 0-3 12-AA) didn't help their cause much against the Page Patriots on Monday afternoon. Page cashed in on a handful of Champion miscues and claimed a key District 12-AA game, 8-3. "I think their first six runs were off a walk or hit-by-pitch. We're kind of making a hole right now and not getting out of it," said Champion coach Brandon Bassham...

HUNTLAND -- The Huntland Middle Lady Hornets just couldn't get out of a devastating 13-run fourth inning against Community on Monday afternoon. On just four hits, the Viqueens claimed an 18-1 victory. After being held scoreless in the first, Community put its first four batters on base via walk and hit-by-pitch, plating the first run when Haley Bobo was hit by a pitch...

The Community Middle Vikings notched a key 7-5 win over Westwood on Monday night. Stone Frost got the start on the bump, going two innings and striking out three while giving up a pair of hits and two runs. Jared Maupin worked five innings of relief, striking out eight and allowing just two hits...

Approximately 270 families took advantage of the school system's "Ready, Set, Go!" kindergarten preview program last week at Harris Middle School. Planners deemed the night a success and hope to make it an annual event. "For a first time, I don't think it could have gone better," said Assistant Superintendent Karen Scoggins...

Cascade Middle School recently hosted its eighth annual Research Fair, an event highlighting research, writing, and communication standards and a preliminary event to the Middle Tennessee Science and Engineering Fair held at Austin Peay State University...

A driver who crashed into another vehicle while being followed by police Friday morning was allegedly too intoxicated to do field sobriety tests. Jose Gaspar Lazaro, 22, of Cottonwood Drive struck a van on Quarry Street moments after almost striking a police car on North Main Street, officer Russ Grubbs said in his report...