Stories from Wednesday, December 10, 2014

By Karen Hall Editor After a successful Rotary Christmas parade earlier in the afternoon, people gathered on the square again as darkness fell for the ceremonial first lighting of the community Christmas tree in Public Square Park. "Merry Christmas," exclaimed Mayor Jim Bingham. "Isn't this a great way to start the Christmas season? I hope this becomes a tradition."...

By Karen Hall Editor The board room at Central Office was packed to overflowing Monday night as students attended the monthly school board meeting to receive certificates for scoring 100 on their Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests. A total of 40 students had their names read out by Director of Schools Jackie Abernathy and most of them came forward to receive a certificate and a word of congratulations from Deputy Director Jacob Sorrells. ...

By Karen Hall Editor The two aldermen who were re-elected, and the one who was newly elected, were sworn in by Mayor Amos Davis at the beginning of the Cornersville Board of Mayor and Aldermen's meeting last week. The seat at the table which was left vacant by the resignation of Lezlie Calahan earlier this year has finally been filled with the addition of Mary Johnson to the board...

Thefts and vandalism reported While repossessing a car from a home in Marshall County, the repo company's flatbed truck hit and damaged a brick mailbox worth $1,500. A new Verizon Galaxy S4 cell phone worth $699 was taken from the porch of a home on Trey Drive between FedEx leaving it there at 12:43 p.m. Dec. 3 and the owner getting home 22 minutes later. Verizon informed the victim someone tried to activate the phone, but service was terminated before activation was complete...

Edward Brown Burgess, 84, of Lewisburg, died Monday, Dec. 8, 2014, at his residence. Mr. Burgess was a native of Marshall County, the son of the late Claude and Ina Lou Poarch Burgess. He retired from Teledyne in the maintenance department and was a member of the Hickory Heights Church of Christ...

Robert Louis Tate, 51, of Lewisburg, died Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Mr. Tate was a native of Marshall County, the son of Robert Lee Tate of Lewisburg, and Iva Nell Wilburn Tate of Lewisburg. He was employed at Calsonic Kansei and was a member of the Hickory Heights Church of Christ...

Funeral services for Betty Grace Potts Curlee, 55, of Shelbyville, were held Sunday, Dec. 7, at the chapel of Doak-Howell Funeral Home with Mark Pierce and Rev Lanita Monroe officiating. Burial followed in Willow Mount Cemetery. Mrs. Curlee passed from this life Thursday evening, Dec. 4, 2014, at her home, surrounded by her loving family and friends...

Elizabeth Tiny Knott, 96, of Fayetteville, passed away Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014, at Lincoln Care Center. She was born on June 25, 1918, in Lincoln County, to the late Jessie and Bessie Buchanan Knott. She was employed as a domestic caregiver and later worked at Blue Ridge Shirt Manufacturing. She was a member of the St. John Primitive Baptist Church...

Raymond Michael Lickert, 65, of Lewisburg, died Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, in Marshall Medical Center. Mr. Lickert was a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., and son of the late Albert and Lucille Lipinski Lickert. He served his country in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam era. He was a Division Manager with the Genesco Corporation in Chapel Hill and he attended the World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro...

Gene Martin, 81, of the Verona Community of Marshall County, died Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, at his home in Verona. Mr. Martin was born in Marshall County and was a son of the late Roy Elmer and Geneva Bennett Martin. He served his country in the United States Army and the Tennessee National Guard. Mr. Martin was a charter member and deacon of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Before becoming disabled, Mr. Martin was employed by Dole Refrigeration in Lewisburg...

The Forrest Rockets dropped their third straight game, losing 70-56 to Collinwood in Chapel Hill Monday night. Kelley Ray led the Trojans (7-1) with 20 points, while Ty Robertson (13) and Kedron Hensley (10) also scored in double digits in the contest. A Noah Rumley basket early in the first quarter gave Forrest a 4-3 lead and that would be the last time the Rockets would be in front.

Cornersville's District opener proved to be a trying experience, as the Bulldogs were thumped 77-40 by defending conference champ Columbia Academy at home on Friday night. CA (5-1, 2-0 District) put the game out of reach early and raced out to a 43-10 lead in the first half before outscoring Cornersville 34-30 over the final two quarters to coast to their 12th straight win over CHS (0-4, 0-1 District).

On Thursday, the Cornersville Middle School Bulldogs (7-7) completed the season sweep of archrival Richland when they whipped the Raiders 37-14 at home on 8th grade night. Despite getting off to a slow start offensively, the Bulldogs held a 12-7 lead at the break before blowing the game open in the second half and outscoring Richland 25-7 over the final two quarters to claim their fifth straight win over the Raiders.

The Cornersville Middle School Lady Bulldogs handed Richland just their second loss of the season on Thursday when they defeated the Lady Raiders 32-25 at home on 8th grade night to earn a split in the season series. After taking an 18-16 lead into the break, the Lady Bulldogs (8-6) slowly pulled away from Richland (10-2) in the second half by outscoring the Lady Raiders 14-9 over the final two quarters to claim the seven-point win.

The FMS Lady Rockets came up with a solid effort Thursday night in Eagleville, jumping out to a big lead that propelled them to a 31-22 win over the Lady Eagles. Forrest went deep in to the bench in the contest as nine players managed to etch some points in the scorebook.

Both Lewisburg Middle School basketball teams were dealt losses on Thursday night, as the Tigerettes dropped a 26-12 decision to the Rockvale Lady Ravens on the road, while the Tigers were defeated 58-39 by the Ravens in the nightcap. Having beaten the Tigerettes 29-20 in the Chargers Christmas Invitational at Oakland last year, Rockvale jumped on Lewisburg early in Thursday's contest and built an 8-2 lead in the first quarter.

The FMS Rockets remained unbeaten in conference play on the season thanks to a gutsy 38-32 win over a determined Eagleville squad Thursday night in Rutherford County. Forrest moved to 14-0 in Duck River Valley Conference play, two games up on Liberty (12-2) with four conference games remaining at press time.

After winning the District 11-A tournament title last season, the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs took the first step towards defending their crown on Friday when they defeated an improved Columbia Academy squad 48-44 at home in their conference opener. Cornersville (2-5, 1-0 District) had won all 23 meetings against Columbia Academy (1-5, 0-2 District) since 2004, but that streak appeared to be in jeopardy after CA built a 34-25 lead midway through the third quarter.

After a huge 48-45 road win over District 9-A rival Middle Tennessee Christian School on Friday night, the Forrest Lady Rockets returned home on Monday and outlasted a tough Collinwood squad 62-55. "It was a good comeback, but if we take care of business with our own stuff, we don't get down by 10 points," said Forrest head coach Jeremy Jean. "We didn't defend good tonight, and we didn't make that extra pass we have been making in the past couple games, so if we do those two things the first three quarters, we aren't trailing by 10."

The Marshall County Tigers, coming off back-to-back wins, made it three in a row Friday night with a solid 63-57 triumph over Summit in Lewisburg. "You know me any win is a good win, Summit has some very good shooters and we had to come out and push them off the 3-point line," said MCHS head coach Arnett Bodenhamer. "I think we did a pretty good job of that and I'm extremely proud of the way we shared the ball and the effort we gave for four quarters."

The Marshall County Tigerettes came up with a huge 32-30 win over Summit Friday night at Dottie Kelso Memorial Gymnasium in Lewisburg, winning the nail biter on a clutch 3-pointer by Kiya Morris with 10.6 seconds remaining in the game. The Tigerettes (2-6) led the Lady Spartans 8-3 after a low scoring first quarter ended with a Sydney Solomon rebound and put-back, followed by a steal and score by Tianda Hutton.

The Forrest Lady Rockets travelled to longtime rival Summertown Tuesday night and came away with their biggest margin of victory ever over the Lady Eagles, winning a coast-to-coast blowout 65-34. It turned into a special night for the huge throng of travelling Forrest fans who got to celebrate as senior Savannah Brothers and sophomore Caitlin Yost both eclipsed the 1,000 point career mark before halftime.