Stories from Wednesday, February 21, 2018

The Forrest Rockets have gone into a downward slide at the wrong time. After winning the regular season District 12-AA title, the Rockets have lost three straight games, including an 87-47 blowout loss to Nolensville in Monday night’s tournament consolation game at Pulaski. It was the largest margin in a loss since falling 79-40 to Larue County, Kentucky in the Smokey Mountain Christmas Classic at Gatlinburg last season.

Most District 12-AA fans expected to see a Marshall County (19-7) and Forrest (18-9) matchup in the tournament title game, but after a Community upset over the Lady Rockets and second-year school Nolensville knocked off the Tigerettes, the two intra-county schools found themselves in a battle to stay out of the region four-seed and away from number-one Creek Wood (26-4). And as expected, the fight for third place was a close contest throughout, but the Tigerettes outscored Forrest 14-4 in the decisive third quarter and Marshall County left Pulaski with a 51-43 win over a Lady Rocket team that had beaten them twice during the regular season.

The Cornersville Lady Bulldogs (19-9) came into Friday night’s District 8-A Tournament third place game with a match-up against an Eagleville (19-10) team it had beaten early in the season and lost by nine points later in the year after going into the fourth quarter with the lead. The third time around offered much of the same as Cornersville led by two with 6:55 remaining, but fell apart under a full court press to fall to fourth place in the district by a score of 61-51.

The Marshall County Tigerettes came into Thursday night’s District 12-AA semifinal at Giles County versus Nolensville riding a three-game win streak, including a 38-32 win over the Lady Knights on February 6. This time, Nolensville turned the tables on MCHS and won by seven points 66-59 to advance to the tournament title game versus Community on Saturday where they lost to the Viqueens 49-39.

Marshall County junior southpaw gunslinger KJ Johnson went wild at Pulaski Friday night, pouring in 53 points for the Tigers in a 77-64 win over intra-county rival Forrest to secure a spot in the District 12-AA title game versus Murfreesboro Central Magnet. “It’s amazing,” Johnson said. “We came out and did exactly what we were supposed to do, we came out strong, didn’t come out flat and did what were supposed to do.”

If you’re not a believer now, you never will be. Marshall County junior KJ Johnson has to be the favorite for the Class 2A Mr. Basketball Award after leading the Tigers to a sweep of the District 12-AA Tournament. Johnson capped off an unbelievable district tournament performance with 45 points in the Tigers’ huge 87-71 come from behind win over Murfreesboro Central Magnet (MCM) in Monday night’s title game at Pulaski.

Greetings from the banks of Robertson Fork Creek, Lynnville, Tennessee. The weather has been the most talked about thing the last few days. Now that we are in the month of February, the weather changes every minute. One minute it is warm and the next minute it is freezing cold. Sometimes the temperature will climb to a high reading. It will not be long and we will have some warmer weather for planting the garden. The rains we are receiving are so good for Mother Earth...

At the Marshall County Memorial Library: Feb. 22 - Family Story Time at 9:30 a.m., Theatre @ the Library at 4 p.m., Diabetes class at 5 p.m., Minecraft Free Play at 5 p.m.; Feb. 23 -Family Story Time in Chapel Hill at 10 a.m.; Feb. 24 - Crochet Club at 10 a.m., Anime Afternoon at 2 p.m., Mystery Night @ the Library-Alice in Wonderland at 5:30 p.m.; Feb. 26 - Marshall County Computer Club at 6 p.m...

• Lewisburg Electric System’s Board of Public Utilities will hold their regular Board meeting on Monday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. at the LES office, 599 W. Ellington Pkwy. The meeting is open to the public. • Marshall Country Republican Women will meet Monday, Feb. 26 at 11:30 a,m, at Highway 55 in Lewisburg. Shane Reeves will be the speaker...

DEAR ABBY: I have a son from a previous relationship, and have been in a relationship with a man I’ll call Bryan for a year. Not long ago, Bryan confided to me that he and his brother had been molested by a female relative. I don’t know her. I have only met his parents...

During the intense media coverage of Wednesday’s tragic events in Parkland, Fla., I was shocked to hear it was the 18th school shooting so far this year. 18. In 45 days. That sounds terrible. That sounds like a huge American crisis that needs to be addressed immediately by our great leaders in Washington...

A conflict between the United States Department of Justice and the states over marijuana policy threatens to derail everything from proper treatment of the opioid crisis to criminal justice reform to updating the nation’s banking laws. It’s hard to believe it goes that far. ...

Now is the time to politicize gun violence. In the wake of the recent mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, how can we not? It’s tiresome to hear Republican lawmakers say it’s inappropriate to politicize this tragedy. Their responses are numbingly repetitive and rote...

The 2018 XI State Legislative Symposium of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international honorary society for women educators, was held in Nashville on Feb. 6-7. The Tuesday evening symposium was composed of representatives from the Tennessee Senate and House of Representatives serving on education committees as legislation is being filed for a vote this spring. ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says applications are now being accepted for adults who want to enroll tuition-free this fall at a community college or technical college. In a news release Thursday, the governor’s office says Tennessee Reconnect applications can be completed online. ...

Andrew Phillip Marshall remained at large as of mid-morning today after yet another escape from Bedford County Jail. It’s the fifth escape from a jail facility and the second in two months for Marshall, who used one of his previous routes -- out the ceiling and down the wall -- early Monday, Sheriff Austin Swing said. ...

Early voting begins today in the special election to fill the vacant 14th District Senate seat, representing Marshall County in the General Assembly. Shane Reeves, who won the Republican primary against Joe Carr, and Democratic nominee Gayle Jordan vie for the position...

By any measure, Lewisburg, and Marshall County as a whole, had a good year economically in 2017. “To say it’s been a good couple of years would be an understatement,” said the city’s Director of Economic Development Greg Lowe when he briefed the Lewisburg City Council and the Industrial Development Board on the numbers...

Take part in a “tree-mendous” event. This Saturday, Feb. 24, 250,000 trees will be planted, in all 95 counties, across Tennessee in the largest tree-planting event in the state’s history. The event has steadily grown over the years, from 10,000 trees in 2014 to 100,000 last year to a quarter million for this year...

Marshall County Mayor Joe Boyd Liggett proclaimed February 16th “Elks Day”, the date of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The Elks were founded on February 16, 1867, by Charles Algernon Sidney Vivian. The Order has spread across the country with 7,000 Elks members and 29 lodges in the State of Tennessee. Lewisburg Elks Lodge currently has 327 members...