By MELISSA STOVER / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Laughter filled the air at McMinnville Country Club recently when there was a large turnout for the first A Laugh for A Cure presented by Friends of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.It was a gala affair with dinner and a silent auction, with numerous items donated…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard With a Tennessee state lottery in the works, lottery organizers are now recruiting businesses who want to sell lottery tickets.The proceeds from the state lottery, which is tentatively set to begin in early 2004, will be used to fund college scholarships for eligible Tennessee residents.…

By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Tenn.) The recent push to inject new energy into downtown has left McMinnville’s Court Square bustling with activity.That trend continues this Saturday night when Court Square will be the spot for a McMinnville Cruisers car show, an outdoor movie, and live entertainment.“We’re trying to bring…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard ROGERS Warren County is beginning to overcome some of the economic doldrums of the past few years, according to members of the Joint Economic and Community Development Board, a local intergovernmental body formed as a requirement of the county’s 1101 Growth Plan earlier this…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard A local man faces robbery charges for allegedly robbing a 62-year-old victim for the second time within a year.The suspect, Gary Lee Johnson, 43, was arrested Wednesday night and charged with aggravated robbery and theft. His victim, Melvin Elliott, was treated for bruises and cuts…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard SPARKMAN The first WastAway processing plant to be built outside Warren County will be constructed in neighboring Coffee County after the Coffee County Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to award WastAway the contract to handle the county’s household garbage beginning in 2004.“We’ve purchased 21 acres,…

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Maj. Trey Kirby gets the feel of this throne-like chair of Saddam Hussein’s located in his presidential palace. For McMinnville native Trey Kirby, Operation Iraqi Freedom was less about the death and destruction usually associated with war than the importance of saving a life –…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Voters overwhelmingly approved a measure which will increase the sales tax in McMinnville by three-quarters of a cent in a referendum in which only 18 percent of the electorate participated.The vote was one of the most lopsided in recent history as 1,015 people, or 84…

Gary Calhoun Templeton, 47Smithville resident and Warren County native Gary Calhoun Templeton, 47, died Sept. 2 at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville after an extended illness.A member of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, he was the son of Hazel O’Neal Rutledge of Smithville and the late Harris Doyle Templeton. He was preceded in death by brother,…

By Joan Ryan / Columnist Most of us on Labor Day took breaks from jobs we had not aspired to hold. One thing led to another and you found yourself in a job that maybe isn’t better or worse, but certainly different from what you had in mind back when you pretended to be Sandy…