Stories from Friday, December 4, 2009

December is here and it is time to think about Christmas and all the doings going on during this special time of year. Santa Claus is making an evening stop in Lynnville again this year for the 25th Annual Lynnville Christmas Parade that comes with lights...

When I was a Mass Communications major at MTSU, my aspiration was to be the next Phil Donahue. For various reasons, that didn't happen. Maybe I was just dreaming too small. Oprah Winfrey came along and eclipsed everything Donahue ever accomplished. And now, after 25 years, she is giving up the centerpiece of her empire, the syndicated "Oprah Winfrey Show," to concentrate on launching cable's Oprah Winfrey Network...

Lewisburg's disgraced dogcatcher has agreed to serve two years of supervised probation as a result of his arrest on charges of theft and official misconduct. Neal Owens, 36, of Belfast, the former animal control officer who took an English bulldog home in hopes of selling it for his own profit, was granted a pretrial diversion by the District Attorney's Office and Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler...

Unanswered questions led to a postponement of a decision by Marshall County commissioners during their most recent meeting when they could have prepared Belfast's fire department for a federal grant. Nearly $8,200 is recommended by the county's Economic and Community Development-Tourism (EC&D-Tourism) Committee for the Belfast Rural Volunteer Fire Department, one of 18 non-profit charitable organizations funded by the county...

How many of you got up at the crack of dawn to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving? Not me. We were actually in a motel in Memphis, and even though the bed wasn't my own, it was still too comfortable to rise that early for anything. Besides, I think I was still full from Thanksgiving dinner...

A bigger better Christmas Parade is planned in Lewisburg on Saturday afternoon a few hours before Chapel Hill's Christmas Parade that evening. "We have more entries this year and several new floats coming as well as the Shriners and a large antique car club," Rotary Parade Chairwoman Peggy Hubbard said...

A national business that rates fire departments for insurance companies has raised its rating of the Lewisburg Fire Department, meaning fire safety is up and insurance premiums might go down. New Jersey-based Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO) has concluded that the fire department here deserves a rating of four instead of its long-held rating of five, according to the public protection summary released here this week...

The second defendant in an aggravated assault case was arraigned in Circuit Court Wednesday, and entered a plea of not guilty. Billy Jack Knight, 29, of Petersburg, was represented in court by his appointed attorney, David McKenzie, who said the outcome is by no means a foregone conclusion...

Lewisburg's nepotism policy, the Police Advisory Board and traffic conditions at the intersection of Heil Quaker Avenue and Franklin Road are scheduled for discussion when the City Council meets Tuesday night in City Hall. "I brought it up," Councilman Ronald McRady said Wednesday morning about the subject of nepotism. "Now let them take the appropriate action, and look into it and bring it back to the Council" after its monthly meeting convenes at 6 p.m...

Quenten S. Looney, 90, died Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009. He was preceded in death by his parents, Morris and Geneva Looney, and son, James Michael Looney. He is survived by his wife, Doris Looney of Lewisburg; daughter, Patricia Mosko of Ardmore, Pa.; brothers, Morris (Marjorie) Looney of Lewisburg and Jack Looney of Cabool, Mo.; sister, Lorene Campbell of Tuscumbia, Ala.; and grandchildren, Suzanne and Peter Mosko...

Mrs. Ronelda June Crafton, 68, of the Cross Keys community of Williamson County, died Wednesday, December 2, 2009, at Williamson Medical Center. She was a homemaker and a member of Bethesda United Methodist Church. Preceding her in death was her father, Milton Lee Crafton, her husband James H. Crafton and a son, David Harper...

Just in time for the Christmas shopping season, TVA's business resource division delivered handy hints on how to boost business by talking to people and acting on economic information provided Tuesday night in Lewisburg. "We're trying to help retailers think through their customers so that shopping is a pleasurable experience for them," Chuck Marquis, project manager for TVA's Economic Development Business Resources Division, explained the city's Recreation Center...

One of the most unusual Lewisburg City Council meetings was held in City Hall late last month. There was no debate as Councilman Robin Minor, a U.S. history teacher, read about political parties. Councilman Quinn Stewart got her daily constitutional walk in by walking laps around rows of the mostly empty audience chairs...

One of President Obama's best characteristics can often be his most frustrating. Obama has a tendency to split the difference on a lot of things. An obvious case in point would be his lukewarm support for a health-care public option, but there are other instances where the President tries to compromise too much...

Climategate continues to expose the fallacy of global warming. Scientists at the University of East Anglia, home of the Climate Research Unit, one of four temperature data collection sites worldwide, now admit that they have destroyed raw temperature data that was being sought under Freedom of Information requests. ...