Stories from Sunday, March 1, 2015

The neighbor of a woman found dead alongside a Bedford County roadside last Monday has been charged in her death. William Russell Brace, 60, is charged with first degree murder in the death of Lois Jean Espy, 86. Her body was discovered around sunrise Monday, Feb. 23 on Mullins Mill Road a half-mile north of U.S. 41A South...

The Bedford County Board of Education received an update last week on a new system the state uses to boost student performance. During this academic year, the state government changed the way that schools help students who are struggling. Instead of labeling struggling students as special education students, schools now use a plan called Response to Intervention (RTI), assistant superintendent Karen Scoggins said during the board's meeting last Tuesday...

A new grocery store is closer to construction at the northeast corner of the Madison Street-Deery Street intersection after the Shelbyville planning commission approved the rezoning of several lots. The store's name is not being revealed. Nine lots on Deery Street and Alton Avenue were recommended for rezoning from residential to C-2 (commercial) by the commission Thursday night...

Bringing images of the past into the present is the purpose of a historic preservation grant given to the Tennessee Walking Horse National Museum in Wartrace. Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett presented the museum with the $2,000 grant Friday...

As we go about our everyday lives, both personally and professionally, it's easy to get bogged down by challenges, yielding negative attitudes and perspectives on any given situation. But negativity breeds negativity, only making a bad situation spiral into a worse situation in a hurry...

With a new piece of land ready to be added to H.V. Griffin Park, Shelbyville officials has been looking at the best way to utilize the area. In January, the city bought 58 acres of land on Horse Mountain Road next to the park for $192,500, at a cost of $3,318 an acre. However, the city will incur some cleanup costs before the land can be used by the parks and recreation department...

Senate Committees worked at "full steam" this week as state senators examined the budgets of 12 agencies and departments of state government and approved a number of important bills. The budget hearings are part of the process of reviewing how taxpayer dollars are spent to examine whether the money is being used efficiently and effectively to meet the state's goals for each department or agency. ...

"Individually we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean." -- Ryunosuke Satoro This week the legislative session kicked into a much higher gear as the bills started going through the committee system. I have 15 bills on my agenda for this Session. Four of them will be going to the sub committees next week and then hopefully on to the full committee the following week. We have about 1,300 to 1,400 total bills that will be heard during this session...

A Smyrna man convicted of selling cocaine in Shelbyville has lost an appeal of his case. Rubalddi Espinoza Yoc was sentenced to nine years incarceration, with all but one year suspended on probation, following an undercover bust and trial. Yoc was found guilty by a jury of one count of possession with intent to sell 0.5 grams or more of the drug and one count of delivery of 0.5 grams or more. In the appeal, Yoc challenged the sufficiency of the evidence...

Here's our look back at the past seven days in local news. Choose the best answer for each question. 1) Which not-for-profit is seeking table sponsors and "celebrity waiters" for an upcoming luncheon? A. American Cancer Society Relay For Life B. United Way of Bedford County...

EAGLEVILLE -- Fans couldn't have asked for a better match up than the Region 5A title game between the Community Viqueens (21-9) and the Houston County Lady Irish (33-1). Though Community held a seven-point lead eight early in the fourth quarter, Houston County rallied to force overtime and eventually claimed a 54-50 victory...

There's a loud humming coming from the back room of the converted storage shed. A man stands hunkered over a polishing wheel, carefully putting the finishing touches on what will make a nice piece of jewelry. Judging from the outside of the building, one wouldn't assume that there would be so much activity going on inside, but there is. There are several people gathered for the Middle Tennessee Gem and Mineral Society's (MTGMS) weekly lapidary class...

If you're driving around the streets of Shelbyville, don't be surprised if you encounter a Time Lord's blue, rectangular space-time vehicle. Shelbyville resident Rocky Derryberry's home sports a painting of the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) from the "Doctor Who" television show. Part of the mural lights up...

T-G: Where did you grow up? Describe your childhood in a few sentences. Burtram: I grew up in a small community just outside Birmingham, Alabama and spent most of my time with my grandparents on their produce farm....

Luis Angel Sanabia and Cinthia Sanabia of Wartrace announce the birth of a daughter, Louisa Carilu Sanabia, on Feb. 17 in Tullahoma. The baby girl weighed 6 pounds, 10 oz. She is the granddaughter of Juan Carlos Solis and Marilu Solis of Wartrace, and Rafael David Sanabia and Luisa Rodriguez of the Dominican Republic. ...

"Take My Hand, Precious Lord," was written by Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey, a man known as the "father of black gospel music." He wrote "Precious Lord" in response to his nearly inconsolable grief at the death of his wife, Nettie Harper, who died in childbirth, in August of 1932. And his newborn son, Thomas Andrew, Jr., died just two days later....

I was in the first grade and we were one of the lucky classes to be sectioned off in a portable outside the school building. It was a typical day in the portable, a typical day in first grade. Our teacher had handed out some worksheets for us to fill out. ...

I don't think I am cut out to be a pioneer. I may have come from "hardy immigrant stock", but when we had the second power outage in a week at my home in Normandy, I must confess I turned cranky. There was no one to blame and the power went out before we had brewed the morning coffee so it was just plain rugged. ...