Stories from Thursday, March 17, 2016

Chuck (Charles) Raymond Phillips, Sr., 72, of Bell Buckle died Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at his home after an extended illness. A celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel with Don Frensley officiating. Burial will follow at Fosterville Cemetery. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m.

More information has been released on the attempt by Anthony McLean to escape officers on a stolen golf cart Tuesday morning. McLean, 34, of Eady Road forcibly took the cart from Tennova Healthcare-Shelbyville after becoming "unruly" in the emergency room, officer Mitchell Warren said in his report...

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. I wanted to tell you about House Bill 1642 which encourages public school teachers to be Tennessee Promise scholarship mentors. ...

Legislation aiming to reduce fraud and abuse in Tennessee's welfare system was approved by the State Senate this week. The proposal makes substantial changes to the way the Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS) contracts and monitors third-party agencies that receive taxpayer money to feed children and adults...

Samantha Chamblee of the American Cancer Society was the speaker at Wednesday's meeting of Shelbyville Rotary Club. Chamblee was once a local ACS volunteer in Bedford County but is now on staff as a community manager, with responsibility for Relay For Life fundraisers in several area communities. She discussed the work done by the cancer society -- not only research, but patient services such as a 24-hour information and referral line, 800-227-2345...

"The play's the thing," said Shakespeare, and whether you're on stage or in the audience there's nothing quite like live theatre. Here are some chances to see for yourself: l The Smokestack Theatre Group at Community High School will present Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The beloved play, which has been the basis for multiple movie and TV adaptations, focuses on mismatched roomates Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison...

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's mobile household hazardous waste collection service will be in Bedford County on Saturday. Since the program's inception in 1993, more than 322,000 households have properly disposed of more than 21 million pounds of material...

To the Editor: I want to take this opportunity to thank the mayor, council and the other employees of the city for 16 1/2 years to be your Public Works director. It has been a pleasure to serve the citizens of this great community over these past few years...

A number of Times-Gazette employees wore green to work today, but sports editor Chris Siers and Ron Cirillo of the mail room went the extra mile and found the true festive spirit of the St. Patrick's Day holiday. (T-G Photo by John I. Carney)

WOODBURY -- The Community Middle Viqueens picked up a 7-2 non-conference win over Cannon County on Wednesday afternoon. The Viqueen offense was in prime form, led by the two-hit nights by Kaitlin Leverette and Brianna Beech. The pair drove in a combined five runs for Community...

Cascade Middle fell behind Westwood early in Game 2 of the series on Wednesday afternoon, but rallied past the Rockets on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning. Westwood jumped on Cascade early, plating seven runs in the top of the first frame...

UNIONVILLE -- The Community Viqueens kept the strong start to the 2016 season rolling with a 2-1 extra innings win over Mt. Pleasant on Wednesday afternoon. For the first three innings, the game evolved into a stout pitcher's duel, with neither side being able to push a runner across the plate...

A late rally by Coffee County proved to be costly to Shelbyville Central in a 6-3 loss on Wednesday evening in a District 8-AAA matchup. The Eagles claimed the opening game of the two-game series at Coffee County on Tuesday. With the game knotted at 2-2 after five innings, the Raiders pushed across four runs in the sixth frame, highlighted by a home run by Zach Wise...

Bedford County Board of Commissioners' rules and legislative committee, meeting Tuesday night, recommended a request for rezoning land between 3180 and 3196 U.S. 231 North from C-1 to C-2. Both are commercial zones. Daniel Trott, who made the request, operates a trucking business at the site. Trott would like to add some truck and car sales at the site, and so he's requesting a change to C-2, which allows more and different types of commercial uses...

If you see Superman or Batman running down the road Saturday, it's not your favorite superheroes battling one another in preparation for their new movie. Instead, it will be some super people raising money to help some super kids. The second annual Round It UP Mark Kelly Have Hope 5K run & 1K walk will be Saturday. ...

Officers scrambled to search a wide area east of downtown Shelbyville man who literally ran out of his boots while fleeing Bedford County Courthouse on Wednesday morning. The suspect -- Nathan Todd Melton, 32, of West End Circle -- ended up at almost the last place anyone would expect: the rear parking lot of Shelbyville City Hall, within sight of the police department and Bedford County Jail...

Bedford County Jail is in the process of making the repairs approved last week by Bedford County Board of Commissioners, according to discussion at Tuesday night's commission committee meetings. A representative of Shelby County's jail system visited Shelbyville late last week to assist with looking at the jail's situation...

Joseph F. Madeo III of Murfreesboro died Wednesday, March 16, 2016. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Murfreesboro with Father Nicholas Allen officiating. Interment will follow at Roselawn Memorial Gardens in Murfreesboro. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. at the church. Woodfin Memorial Chapel of Murfreesboro is handling arrangements.

This is my daughter, Winter Sky Marie. She absolutely loved seeing the Easter bunny last weekend in Bell Buckle. As soon as she seen him, she said, "awww" reached for him, and didn't want to let go. I actually had to pry her little hands off of his mask...

Edna June Seibers, 72, of Shelbyville died Thursday, March 17, 2016. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Feldhaus Memorial Chapel with Randall Harmon officiating. Burial will follow at Russell Cemetery. Visitation will begin at oon.