Stories from Friday, September 25, 2015

Ashley Sand and her nephew Joey Hobbs, 11, are holding their annual Love for a Soldier initiative to send care packages to soldiers who are on deployment and for homeless veterans in Nashville through Operation Stand Down. Schools that support the program could win a cash prize...

Patsy A. Sharp, 78, of Lewisburg died Thursday, September 24, 2015 at Maury Regional Medical Center in Columbia. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Bills-McGaugh Funeral Home in Lewisburg with Kevin Turner officiating. Burial will follow at Short Cemetery in the Springplace community. Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Saturday.

Traffic delays where U.S. 41A south of Shelbyville is being widened will become longer at times during daytime hours for the next few weeks. Work continues at the site between Thompson Creek Road and the Moore County line. (T-G Photos by Brian Mosely)

Weather may interfere with local viewing of Sunday night's combination of a "supermoon" and a lunar eclipse, but local science educator Billy Hix learned last weekend to never give up hope. Hix, who works for Motlow State Community College on promoting science education in area schools, had scheduled one of his periodic "Star Party" events at Motlow, but decided a few hours before the event to cancel it due to cloud cover which he thought would make for poor viewing conditions...

It's time again for the Times-Gazette's annual ghost story contest and our "scary drawing" contest for children. Story contest The story contest will be divided into three divisions by age, with a $25 gift card awarded in each division. The winning entries, as well as some honorable mention stories, will be published in the Oct. 21 "Spooktacular" edition of the Times-Gazette...

State Sen. Jim Tracy (left) presents a flag flown above the State Capitol and a Tennessee Legislature resolution in honor of the late Dixie Parker to her sons, David and Kenny Parker, Tuesday prior to the Bedford County Board of Education meeting. Dixie Parker died unexpectedly in July of natural causes. She had served on the school board since September 2004 and represented the Cascade area. She was replaced by Tammie Patterson, who was sworn in Tuesday. (T-G Photo by Jason Reynolds)

A plane belonging to Middle Tennessee State University was disabled on the runway at Shelbyville Municipal Airport after developing mechanical issues. No injuries were reported and the plane was not seriously damaged. (Submitted photo)

What was a fast start ended up being a hard-fought battle till the end. Shelbyville Central's Golden Eaglette soccer team edged visiting Franklin County 2-1 in a Distirict 8-AAA match on Thursday evening. Just 35 seconds into the match, Eaglette senior Lesleigh Blackburn scored giving Shelbyville Central a quick 1-0 advantage...

The Cascade Middle Champions just couldn't come up with enough stops to spoil the Liberty Patriots' homecoming night on Thursday. Liberty scored once in all four quarters and was able to fend off a talented Champion squad for a 30-14 win. Though Liberty was able to walk away with the win, Cascade drew first blood on the game's opening drive which was finished off on a 21-yard TD pass from seventh-grader Blaze Bryson to Hunter Jewell...

UNIONVILLE -- The Eagleville Lady Eagles proved why they're one of the top volleyball teams in the area. In a District 9A clash on Thursday evening in Unionville, the Lady Eagles simply overwhelmed the Community Viqueens and claimed a 3-0 sweep. Eagleville flashed its efficiency early in the match, claiming a 25-10 Set 1 win, but struggled to put away the pesky Viqueens in the second...

EAGLEVILLE -- The Community Middle Vikings went on the road and came back with a 28-14 victory over the Eagleville Eagles in football action Thursday night. The Vikings (3-4) started on a positive note as Elic Smith had a big return on the opening kickoff...

NORMANDY­ -- The Shelbyville Central Cross Country team took fifth place on Tuesday afternoon at Arrowhead Ranch. Community followed with a sixth place finish, while Cascade and Webb followed with a seventh and eighth place finish. D. Dickerson won the race for Grundy County in 17:34, while Shelbyville's Leo Hernandez was the top Bedford County finisher. He finished the 5k race in 18:30...

SAS won the battle, but the Webb School won the war. St. Andrews' Tommy Oliver posted the round-low on Thursday afternoon at River Bend, carding a 35 to lead the visitors. While he was able to earn match medalist honors, Webb was able to scratch out a 10-stroke win over SAS with a team score of 167...

What a difference a year makes. After posting 1-11 record in their opening season last year, Harris Middle School's Golden Eaglette volleyball team closed out the season with a 7-5 mark after claiming a 2-1 victory over Spring Hill at home at Thursday...

CHAPEL HILL -- The Community Viqueens rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit on Thursday night at Forrest and forced a 1-1 draw with the Lady Rockets. Forrest got on the board at the 14:43 mark in the first half and carried the 1-0 lead into the locker rooms...

A man who allegedly crashed his car and ran on Regent Drive early Thursday returned moments later, police said. Christopher Jacody Lanier, 22, of Scotland Heights walked toward officers with his hands raised -- without having been told to do so -- and said he was driving the car...

A man falsely claiming to be calling from the Internal Revenue Service has swindled a woman out of a large amount of money. The man, using the name "Ben Cooper," said he was with the IRS tax crime division in Washington and would have the victim arrested if she didn't send $1,478, Shelbyville police were told...

The Fairview FCE Club met Wednesday, Aug. 19, at the University of Tennessee Extension office in Shelbyville. The meeting was called to order by President Ann Canady, who read the seasonal eating tip. Mary Frances Gordon read the call to order, and Cindy Parker read the seasonal eating tip. Canady had the devotion...

Austin Peay State University in Clarksville has announced its Dean's List for the spring 2015 semester. Students from this area honored include: l Kristin Allen, Lewisburg; l Kelsey Hunter, Lewisburg; l Jessamyn Litaker, Lewisburg; l Zachary Moore, Shelbyville;...

Most travel to Nashville to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and take a trip down Honkytonk Row. For 50 of the nation's heroes, however, their trip to Music City will be about recovery as they take on Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) Soldier Ride presented by USAAR, according to a press release by the organizers...

Another round of roadside checkpoints has been announced by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. A driver's license roadside safety checkpoint will be around Oct. 2 at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 64 East and the Shelbyville bypass. A safety belt roadside checkpoint is set for the same location around Oct. 4 at 7 p.m...

Row McLaughlin, first grader at Thomas Magnet School, gets to practice being a beekeeper on agriculture day recently. (Submitted photo)

Bedford County Board of Education held a reception for new teachers Tuesday. Pictured are Meridith Jesch of Bedford County Learning Academy and new teachers from Cascade High School (from left): Reece Chumbley, Cindy Pope, Kelly Davis, Joshua Beu and Corey Broeder. (T-G Photo by Jason Reynolds)

Leroy C. Cunningham, Senior Business Development Specialist at MTSU, spoke Thursday to the Middle Tennessee Business Network at the Shelbyville Recreation Center about "Customer Service -- The New Marketing." (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely)