By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Main Street engineers say they are coming closer to drawing up construction documents for the downtown economic development project and hoped construction could begin early next year.That was the word from EG&G president John Grossman and associate Paul Roszak, who returned to McMinnville last week…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Gary Prater is one of several county commissioners who feels the county’s spec building is deteriorating from disuse and needs routine maintenance to avoid further damage. Concern about the condition of the county’s spec building has been growing among some county commissioners, leading Commissioner…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard The defense for a teen accused of critically injuring her baby wants the court to throw out her statement to police, saying she was pressured into implicating herself.The defendant, Anais Ramirez, 17, is to be tried as an adult Monday on the charge of aggravated…

By JAMES CLARK and CHARLES W. JOHNSON / Southern Standard President Bush said yesterday there is little reason to hope Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will disarm and avoid a U.S.-led military attack.A United States attack — and war with Iraq — certainly appears likely the way tensions are escalating. The U.S. has spent the last…

Our Viewpoint It’s one thing to talk about making the wheels of government cruise down the road more smoothly and efficiently. It’s another thing when that efficiency quickly translates to a reduction of state services in which we’ve grown to depend.The perfect example is our driver’s license center in McMinnville. It’s a center which could…

By Janice M. Howard / Style Editor for the Southern Standard The annual health fair returns to Morrison Ruritan building in Morrison March 29 from 6 to 9 a.m. as a joint effort of the Ruritan and NHC Homecare. In conjunction with the health fair, Blood Assurance will conduct a bloodmobile from 7 to 9…

The Arts Center of Cannon County opens its Concert Series March 20 at 7:30 p.m. with five-time Tennessee State Fiddle Champion Jim Wood accompanied by his band, Terra Nova.Members of Terra Nova include Wood’s wife, Inge, on vocals, fiddle, guitar and bouzouki, and Marcia Denton on piano, accordion and fiddle. Making his debut appearance with…

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard The Boyd Broncos soccer team improved their District 8-A record to 2-0 Thursday with a win over the DeKalb County Tigers.First-year team DeKalb County proved to be a very tough opponent with speed and physical play. But Boyd used its athletic advantage to score early…

By ROB NUNLEY / Sports Editor for the Southern Standard Warren County Middle School’s soccer team improved to 2-0 Thursday night, downing visiting Tullahoma 2-1 at Nunley Stadium.The Pioneers, who downed Scott Middle School 7-1 on Tuesday, had a bit tougher time against a speedy Tullahoma squad.Both teams struggled to establish momentum early in Thursday’s…

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard The Lady Broncos opened their home season Friday with a scheduled doubleheader against the Lady Pirates of South Pittsburg. South Pittsburg won the first game in extra innings 12-9, but the second game was called in the second inning due to darkness.The Lady Pirates scored…