McMinnville resident Helen L. Foutch, 69, died Dec. 15 at River Park Hospital after an extended illness. The wife of Joe E. Foutch, she was the daughter of the late Lester and Audrey Idell Clark Gooch, and was a member of Forest Park Baptist Church. In addition to her parents, she was also preceded in…

Burl K. Rigsby, 70, of Monterey, formerly of Coffee County, died Dec. 15 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was born in Coffee County to the late Robert Raymond Rigsby and Esther Lucille McAfee Rigsby. He was an owner/ machinist at Manchester Tool and Die. He was formerly a member of Shady Grove Baptist Church…

Baby Carter, the stillborn baby of Kim and Derrick Carter of McMinnville, died Thursday, Dec. 14 at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro. In addition to the parents, the baby is survived by sisters Abigail Terry and Derica Carter, brothers Blake Carter and Landon Morris, grandparents Mike and Shirley Cooper, Eddie and Bettye Knowles, and…

Smithville resident Arvis Norvella Ray, 92, died Dec. 16 at her home. A retired Smithville Shirt Factory employee and a 44-year member of New Union The Baptist Church, she was the daughter of the late James and Florance Edna Jones Dunham, and was also preceded in death by son Gordon Lee Ray. She is survived…

By Chuck Shepherd Christmas Madness: (1) In November, the upscale New York City menswear and accessories store Jack Spade removed from its holiday catalog a $40 frog-dissection kit (with a real carcass) after numerous queries from people wondering what in the world the store was thinking. (2) A holiday party for inmates at Britain’s Peterborough…

So ended, at least for now, one of the book world’s most profitable and provocative careers. Regan, O.J. Simpson’s would-be publisher, has been fired, her sensational tenure at the Murdoch-owned HarperCollins finished off with the tersest of announcements. “Judith Regan’s employment with HarperCollins has been terminated effective immediately,” HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman said in a…

By Morton Kondracke Now that the graybeards on the Baker-Hamilton commission have proposed consensus solutions for the Iraq war, they should be kept on to tackle entitlements, energy policy, health care and education — domestic issues more appropriate to bipartisan deal-making. Seriously. The prestigious Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of State James Baker…

By Thomas Vaughn Starting tomorrow, there will be a new sheriff in town at the Pentagon. Dr. Robert M. Gates is slated to be sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense, replacing the controversial and embattled Donald H. Rumsfeld. Dr. Gates comes to the Pentagon with impressive credentials.?Although his recent experience has been in…

The magic wand is gone and the last-minute maneuvers used by county commissioners to avoid a property tax increase are being exposed for all their faults. And there are many.It?s as if the curtain has been pulled back and the Wizard of Oz has been revealed for what he really is: A simple man using…

By Charlie Johnson ?Tis the season to be jolly, and it?s also the season for my annual Christmas-themed word column. Now, I?m fully aware I may be repeating myself here since some of the words and terms I?m going to write about may have appeared in previous Christmas columns, but at least I?ll be writing…