Stories from Wednesday, October 7, 2015

As an experienced biology professor and backcountry guide, Joel Zachry knows how to react when he encounters a bear face-to-face. But during one of his first such encounters, that knowledge flew right out the window. Zachry, the keynote speaker for Tuesday's Friends of the Library author's luncheon, and his wife Kathy were hiking to a place in the Smoky Mountaines called Spence Field, five miles from Cades Cove...

Various emergency response agencies hosted the local observance of "America's Night Out Against Crime" Tuesday at H.V. Griffin Park. Shelbyville Police Department, Bedford County Sheriff's Office, Shelbyville Fire Department, Bedford County Fire Department, Bedford County Emergency Management Agency, Bedford County Emergency Medical Services and Bedford County Animal Control had various displays and activities at the event...

The 1965 Harris High girls state championship basketball team as a whole, and three high-achieving Bedford County educators, were indicted into the Bedford County Hall of Fame at a ceremony Saturday night at Shelbyville Recreation Center. Harris team members Crita Powell, JoAnn Lanier Frazier, Shirley Christmon Owens, Diana Smith Buchanan and Brenda D. ...

MURFREESBORO -- Gov. Bill Haslam said Tuesday that a long-term revenue plan is needed to address Tennessee's growing list of unfunded road projects, and that one-time money won't fix the problem. The Republican governor spoke to a conference of the Transportation Coalition of Tennessee in Murfreesboro...

December trial dates have been set for a Soddy-Daisy man accused of two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide stemming from a traffic accident in early 2014. Wesley Howard Luthringer, 29, will stand trial Dec. 14-17, it was announced Monday. He was set for pre-trial motions during his scheduled court appearance, but none were made by the public defender's office...

Recent reports estimate 15 million T-Mobile customers nationwide, and roughly 200,000 Tennesseans, who applied for credit through Experian are at risk of having their data compromised. The data breach occurred when an unauthorized party gained access to an Experian server containing personal information, including names, addresses, birth dates, social security numbers, driver's license numbers and passport numbers...

Last week the MMC Weight Loss & Wellness team grabbed their paint brushes and rakes to paint and clean up Murfreesboro's Blackman Elementary School's playground. Their efforts were a part of the Hometown Huddle project hosted by United Way in Rutherford County...

Your credit and debit cards are getting a makeover. You either have received, or should be receiving in the next few months, new cards that have a gold symbol, roughly square-shaped, on the front left side of the card. These are called EMV cards, chip cards, or smart-chip cards, depending on who you talk to. There's a computer chip lurking beneath that gold symbol...

Middle Tennessee Spay & Neuter Clinic is celebrating National Feral Cat Day, Oct. 16, by spaying and neutering feral cats for free. Thanks to Paws & Claws Society of NJ and Boehringer Ingelheim, MTSNC will provide a spay or neuter, three-year rabies vaccination and distemper combo vaccination for free. Appointment is necessary. Cats must be brought in feral cat traps and will be ear tipped...

Workers were putting finishing touches Tuesday on a new section of Shelbyville's underground flume before hooking the steel tube onto a crane and lowering it into place. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely)

MANCHESTER -- Just call him Mr. Consistency. Webb's Eli Freeman relied on consistent play in his final round for the Webb School on Tuesday and finished 12th overall in the TSSAA Division II-A state golf tournament on Tuesday afternoon at WillowBrook Golf Club...

After starting the season 0-3, Harris Middle School closed out the regular season with five straight-wins to claim a three-way share of the Central Tennessee Conference regular season title. The Eagles rolled past Tullahoma 40-12 to close out the regular season on Tuesday evening...

UNIONVILLE -- The Community Viqueens did not have an answer for Anastasia Wellington and the Tullahoma Lady Wildcats as the Viqueens fell 6-1 in a soccer contest Tuesday night. Community (4-4-3) fell behind three minutes into the game as Wellington scored the first of her four goals...

MURFREESBORO -- The Community Viqueens' season came to a close on Monday with a 3-0 loss at MTCS in the District 9-A tournament. MTCS claimed the sweep with set scores of 25-13, 25-16, and 25-13 to advance within the tournament. As with most of the regular season, senior Lacey Reed provided the bulk of the Purple and Gold offense, registering five kills...