CHAPEL HILL -- Bids are to be opened next week for the construction contract to expand Town Hall on Unionville Road, the town administrator said this week. Architect Mike Stewart of Murfreesboro has plans for expanding Town Hall on Unionville Road to 3,200 square feet. The building on Unionville Road is approximately 1,000 square feet now... more

Marshall County's Budget Committee on Thursday morning accepted a revised school budget and recommended it for County Commission approval next month. The seemingly routine chain of events ending on Oct. 6 could be in time for the county to continue to receive monthly payments from the state in mid-October, in time for faculty pay checks... more

The NAACP made a specific demand at their work session with the school board Monday night, as well as urgent requests for action on several matters. Gary Davis, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, announced this group's requirement: that the person at Central Office who was responsible for the mistreatment of African-American job applicants get a written reprimand placed in their file. ... more

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The USS Bainbridge returned to a hero's homecoming Monday as the guided-missile destroyer completed a deployment that included the dramatic rescue of an American ship captain held by pirates off Africa. Seven sailors whose wives had babies during the Bainbridge's deployment were the first to greet their spouses and hold their new children for the first time. ... more

Termination of the director of school's contract is up for discussion by the Marshall County Board of Education for the second time in less than three months. A special called board meeting has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 5, a Monday, when there's to be another review of Schools Director Stan Curtis' position... more

After 15 months in the Maury County Circuit Court system, the case against two local men for hunting turkeys illegally along the Duck River in Maury County ended his summer with guilty verdicts. Officers of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) arrested Billy Joe Davidson of Lewisburg and Leonard Williams of Culleoka in March of 2008 for their role in heading up a poaching spree during a weekend designated specifically for youth turkey hunting. ... more

Random thoughts about the case of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina), who broke House rules by yelling "You lie!" during one point in Pres. Obama's healthcare message to a joint session of Congress. 1. It's interesting that the press tried to dig up dirt on Wilson or searched archives for comparable outbursts in our nation's history, but very few reporters even cared whether Obama was, well, guilty... more

Broward County in Florida is joining the ranks of other municipalities and some states that are charging government workers more for health insurance if they smoke. The move has some Broward County employees raising the roof. Sion Mansoor, a longtime smoker who works in the county's records division, talked to the Sun-Sentinel about the move. "How can they tell us how to live our lives?" Mansoor asked. "Even if I wasn't a smoker, I'd feel that way. It's totally against what America's about."... more

Marshall County residents have the opportunity to comment on their county's annual budget on the evening of Oct. 6 when county commissioners are set to adopt their next plan for revenue and expenditures. The document was recommended by the Budget Committee on Thursday morning, Sept. 24 when the schools' budget was added to the general fund for all other county departments with the exception of enterprise funds such as solid waste and the school lunch program... more

Sept. 23 The regular monthly meeting of the Marshall County Board of Education has been rescheduled to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, at the Central Office, 700 Jones Circle, Lewisburg. The Marshall County Senior Citizens Board of Directors will meet at noon Wednesday, Sept. 23, in the Center classroom at Hardison Office Annex, 230 College St., Lewisburg... more

The stage at Marshall County Community Theatre provides a vehicle for youngsters in the next production of "Alice in Wonderland" to grow and show off. "I like meeting the people, and my part, and working with the directors," says 10-year-old Chloe Baxter, daughter of Robbie and Peggy Baxter of Lewisburg. "I sing 'The Golden Afternoon.'"... more

CHAPEL HILL -- A Marshall County man who danced with Jimmy Carter's wife and painted all over the county, died in his Unionville Road house, a victim of fire on Tuesday morning. Landon Haynes, 83, "was a big Democrat," according to his son, Jeff, and family friends who were at the scene of the blaze extinguished by four fire departments - Berlin, Chapel Hill, Farmington-Rich Creek, and Unionville - with help from the Emergency Management Agency... more

The building that used to be Marshall County's Jail in the northeast corner of Lewisburg's public square is being renovated to accommodate a restaurant called the Corner Cafe. Michael Farrar, proprietor of Farrar Bonding Co. and the owner of the building, hired carpenters and other craftsmen to create 850 square feet of seating area for a restaurant he hopes to have open in six weeks... more

Lewisburg's animal control officer has been transferred to the stormwater management department pending a decision by the grand jury today in a case involving an English bulldog. City officials have confirmed that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been sorting through allegations surrounding Christopher Neal Owens, 36, of Lewisburg's Adams Subdivision... more

With repeated acknowledgments of Lewisburg's bad experience with sewer bonds, two financial advisers last week offered the city's Water and Wastewater Board another opportunity to borrow money. In May, the City Council voted to refinance $7 million in bonds secured by American Municipal Bond Assurance Corp. Its sub-prime mortgages forced an investors' service to downgrade the bonds. That increased city costs, so the variable-rate debt was repaid with new bonds... more

Lewisburg's Stormwater Management Office would appear to have approximately one quarter of the city mapped to show drainage patterns - a tool that's to be used when new construction is planned. Progress toward completion is faster when the department has someone who's familiar with the size of pipes used in the city, according to Corey Pleas, the man running the office located in the historic Ladies Lest Room near the north east corner of Lewisburg's public square... more

The school board's budget committee agreed to try and meet the County Commission's target of $500,000 in cuts, in order to take less from their fund balance during the 2009-2010 school year. At a meeting Thursday, the committee approved a few specific cuts and asked finance director Janet Wiles to cut almost every line of the budget back closer to what actual expenditures were in the 2008-2009 school year... more

CHAPEL HILL - An idea to honor veterans was embraced at the town's Fourth of July celebration and patriotic residents appear to be well on their way to having monuments in a renovated park where Veterans Day could be commemorated on Nov. 11. Dedicated in July 2005, Larry W. ... more

I wrote last week about my 90th birthday and I am still so happy and still so thankful to everyone for all the many beautiful cards. I love to read them and appreciate them. Monday I received … more

High rates of absenteeism due to flu-like symptoms, and the possibility of closing some Marshall County schools, were considered during a Safe and Drug Free Task Force meeting on Tuesday. However, late Thursday morning, local absenteeism rates of nine to 13 percent - above normal but not enough to close schools for health reasons - were reported by Dr. Patsey Thomas, the director of coordinated school health... more