By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Juvenile arrests have dropped for a third consecutive year, down from what had been one of the highest teen crime rates in the state.According to McMinnville Police Capt. Bryan Denton, the number of juveniles arrested during the second quarter of the year was down more…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Forty-five people were indicted Friday by the Warren County grand jury.Included in court action:• Terry Reed was indicted on the charge of aggravated sexual battery.• Andy B. McAmis was indicted on charges of aggravated assault and assault.• John William Griffin was indicted on the charge…

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Congressman Lincoln Davis and his fellow Blue Dog Democrats are fed up, and it’s Washington’s fiscal irresponsibility that’s got their collective goat.“I’m fed up with the borrow-and-spend policies of the current Congress and the current administration,” Davis told a lunchtime crowd at his campaign headquarters…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard After several months of deliberation, the county’s Land Committee, which is made up of Carl Bouldin, George Smartt and David Vandagriff, has chosen a logging company to cut timber from several tracts of county-owned land.According to committee members, Rhea & Son Logging, owned by…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Wealthy Grundy County businessman Jerral Parris was indicted Friday for allegedly extorting Judge Larry Ross in an attempt to reduce the amount of money he would have to pay to his ex-wife.Parris, 62, was indicted by the Warren County grand jury on the charge of…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard The Warren County Schools budget brought on some fancy footwork as the Budget and Finance Committee finished up the county’s 2004-2005 budget talks.Commissioners found themselves dancing around a couple of hot-button issues that have had county residents and commissioners buzzing during recent months. Chief…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard The county will be holding a public meeting this Thursday, Aug. 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the Warren County Administrative Offices to address the start of a new cable company in Warren County.“Ben Lomand Communications, through a subsidiary known as BLTV, is applying for…

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard HARD While many of his peers are spending their final summer before college doing as little as possible, Chase Hard is spending his summer assisting with research at Oak Ridge National Laboratories.This summer marks the second time Hard, a 2004 graduate of Boyd Christian School,…

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Downtown events like the annual Christmas parade will most likely be moved or altered in some way as Main Street construction nears and is expected to last more than a year.City officials responding to a formal request from a local organization last week advised them…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Lance, Hal and Janice Champion are shown after a recent court appearance. Grand jurors refused to indict two members of the Champion family over their alleged run-in with deputies, prompting a pledge by prosecutors that the cases will not go away quietly.Charges of disorderly conduct…