Stories from Saturday, January 23, 2021

Years back, I answered a phone call from a fellow minister who said, “Well Brother Dezotell, how is it with your soul?” He didn’t greet me with the usual “Hello” or “How are you doing?” But he wanted to know how it was with my Soul. You know, it’s a great comfort to be able to take a ‘personal inventory,’ and then be able to admit, “It is well with my soul.”...

It has been a bittersweet experience seeing the mailbox flooded with college recruiting brochures addressed to my son Gideon. Bittersweet because, speaking as a science fiction fan, each “road not taken” represents an alternate timeline involving different friends, different instructors, a different spouse, a different career path, a different city, a different strategy for administrators to hound grads for alumni donations. ...

A thick cut of meat grilled over an open flame can make for a mouth-watering-meal. While such an endeavor likely won’t lead to any complaints around the dinner table, many people still shy away from grilling, especially thick cuts of meat. A thick cut of uncooked meat can intimidate even the most devoted grilling enthusiast. Such cuts tend to take a long time to cook, and many a grilling devotee has put in that time only to end up with a dried out piece of meat...

Most people are familiar with the conventional grilling wisdom that, when cooking meats, it’s best to “only flip once.” This has led backyard grillers to resist the urge to flip their foods in the name of flavor. That conventional wisdom may not actually be that wise. Those who flip their grilled foods often can rest assured that they are probably doing little damage to the taste of the meat and may actually be improving cooking times and doneness...

Most Bedford County farm families have learned over the years that potentially, most every cut of beef can be, and sustainably should be, used in recipes. The simple, but seemingly pretentious, flank steak is no exception. Flank steak, which is cut from the diaphragm muscles of the animal, is multi purpose, and relatively inexpensive to consumers, compared to other cuts of beef. It can be in high demand as it is traditionally used in Mexican restaurants...

Bedford County School System recently honored retired school superintendent Don Embry with a photo montage on its official website. We are sharing a few of those past memories here from his coaching days to the most recent days when he read Dr. Seuss stories to elementary students...

Jason and Tiffany Coggins of Wartrace announce the birth of a daughter, Chapel June Coggins, on Jan. 8 in Williamson County. She weighed 6 lbs., 10 oz. The baby’s siblings are Sella, Kye and Alchemy Coggins. 

Bailey Hayne of Bell Buckle was named to the Anderson University, Anderson, S.C., dean’s list for the fall semester. In order to receive this honor, a student must maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher for the semester.

Liberty FCE met Jan. 18 at Pleasant Grove Methodist Church, as reported by Dorris Turrentine.  Lynn Wilhelm called the meeting to order. Ten members were in attendance. Dorris Turrentine served was hostess. Judy Smith and Ardis Rittenberry gave the devotion...

Live music, featuring the band St. Paul and The Broken Bones, returns April 23 and 24 to The Caverns Above Ground Amphitheater in Grundy County. In an effort to social distance, the venue plans to station its concert-goers outside in hillside pods overlooking scenic Payne Cove. ...

Local Quilts of Valor representative Amy Martin has certainly been busy, recently awarding the prestigious handmade quilts to dozens of local service veterans. She said while the pandemic certainly delayed some of the award events, it couldn’t put a damper on the spirit of each event...

We start out your weekend good with temperatures near 50 degrees on Saturday but a strong weather system will sweep in Sunday afternoon bringing showers and then rain likely Sunday night and Monday with a few thunderstorms even possible. Some of those thunderstorms could become heavy because we expect high temperatures on Monday around 65 degrees, pretty incredible for this time of year and can certainly lead to some big storms. ...

To the editor, Americans..... the lost. We have lost our sense of unity. At this given time, our country is facing a very trying time. The year 2020 confronted us with many challenges in which we have had to change our entire way of living. This pandemic has forced us to believe we are living in a war zone and it may surprise some of you….. we are. Not only are we at war with Covid-19, we are also at war with our neighbors, family, and ourselves...

The beginning of each year always comes with conversations about new things people will start doing. People will adopt new hobbies, try new foods, and a whole host of other things. But what does recovery look like in the New Year?

The New Year is just as good a time as any to start your recovery journey. ...

A utility trailer was stolen Wednesday from the 400 block of Hickory Hill Road, a sheriff’s department report said. The victim said he’d seen a suspicious dark-colored vehicle, likely a pickup truck, driving slowly down the road late at night. The trailer was stolen between 2:30-8 a.m...

As people wait their turn for the COVID-19 vaccine, the virus does not show clear signs that it’s in retreat in Bedford County. The average daily number of active cases in Bedforßd County throughout the month of December was 471. The average daily number of active cases in January, through the 21st, was 496...

The company that owns the Wartrace Walking Horse Haunted Hotel filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 14. The company, Thomas-Cero LLC, of Murfreesboro, is filing Chapter 11 to reorganize its debt. The company’s manager/representative is Robert Mullin Jr. of Murfreesboro...

Vanderbilt Medical Center recently acquired Tennova Healthcare-Shelbyville. Based on Bedford County’s weekly real estate transactions listings and information available from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s office, Vanderbilt paid $4.87 million, a price well below the assessed value...

Noah's Ark in his LSU shirt and hat.

UNIONVILLE – The Community Viqueens led for most of the fourth quarter, but a 6-0 run by the Giles County Lady Bobcats in the final 29 seconds spoiled the night for the Viqueens as the Lady Bobcats took a 66-63 win in a District 12-AA basketball game Friday night...

UNIONVILLE – Jackson Bailey and Stratton Lovvorn both set career highs as the Community Vikings used a 21-2 second quarter run to take control and defeat the Giles County Bobcats 75-58 in a District 12-AA basketball contest Friday night. Bailey scored 30 points while Lovvorn added 26 as Community (9-9, 2-2) erased a 7-point deficit to even up its district record on the season...

HUNTLAND — Look out, the Cascade Champions are making a statement in January. On Friday night, the Champions (8-6, 5-0) finished their first trip through the District 8-A schedule by thumping Huntland on the road with a whopping 92-36 victory. Champion head coach Chris Lawson and his coaching staff were all smiles following Friday night's victory, as Cascade was clicking on all cylinders on both ends of the floor...

HUNTLAND — The Huntland Lady Hornets are an opportunistic squad and given the opportunity, will take advantage of chances on the floor. When fouls started piling up against the Cascade Lady Champions on Friday night, Huntland (8-4, 4-1) pounced on the opportunity, cashing in on 23-of-35 tries and coasted to a 74-49 victory...