By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard While he says he’s loved every minute of his 31-year career, Bobby Ray Elementary principal Bob Bonner feels now’s the time to do something different.“It’s so exciting to be my age and have so many choices and so many options,” Bonner said. “This is an…

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard BENNETT To help alleviate parking problems during next Friday night’s high school graduation at Nunley Stadium, all graduating seniors will be required to be bussed there from the Civic Center.“We now have limited parking because of the new middle school baseball field so that area…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard The Nissan Altima driven by Lucretia Dolzonek was badly damaged after colliding with a Dodge Durango Saturday night. Heavy rains were responsible for Dolzonek losing control and entering the other lane of traffic. (Duane Sherrill photo) Torrential rain is being blamed for a crash Saturday…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard BOLES A pizza delivery woman had her throat cut while making a delivery on Old Viola Road Saturday evening – a crime in which her attacker took only pizza and left the money behind.The victim, Elisha Marie Boles, 23, was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard MORRIS A local man drowned at Pates Ford Marina in DeKalb County Sunday morning when he apparently fell off his family’s houseboat.The victim, Heath (Opie) Morris, 28, was reported missing by friends Sunday morning when they awoke to discover he had disappeared from the houseboat…

Beth Furbush Business owners are often the targets of phony invoice scams. The Better Business Bureau recently unearthed a questionable invoice scheme that appears to be sweeping the country. Businesses in Colorado, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and other states have contacted their BBBs to ask about an organization calling itself the Regional Chamber…

By Jim Glenn Growing numbers of people are learning that crooks and thieves are using their Social Security numbers and other identifying information to open up credit accounts and damage their credit ratings. It’s called identity theft.If you are the victim of identity theft, the Federal Trade Commission recommends taking these three steps. First, contact…

By James Clark Friday night was graduation night in Spencer which means two things. First of all, it means I made my annual trip up the mountain. And secondly, it means I will be energized with feelings of hope and inspiration for the next few weeks. Hearing all those graduation speeches just makes me want…

General H. Atnip, 81McMinnville resident and Warren County native General H. Atnip, 81, died May 16 at Centennial Medical Center.A retired steel mill employee in Michigan and a member of the Baptist Church, he served his county in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.The son of the late General T. and Katie Griffith…

By Joseph Perkins / Columnist It seems like everyone and his grandpa have asked me about Jayson Blair — the young, black New York Times reporter recently outed as a serial fabricator and plagiarizer.The prevailing take on the latest journalistic scandal — “a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper,” the Times lamented…