By DUANE SHERRILL Few things teach teens and children self-confidence and the will to succeed like clinging to a rock 60 feet above the ground. ‘It’s just like facing obstacles in life,’ said Mark Mara of the Kids of the Community adventure program. ‘You can either run into that obstacle and give up or you…

By DUANE SHERRILL A trial date has again been set in the case of a former daycare owner accused of killing a 6-year-old girl in her care, marking the fifth separate trial date the case has been given since charges were filed in late 2004. The trial for Sherri Mathis, 40, is now set for…

By JAMES CLARK Megan Rhea had good reason to flash a smile yesterday. With the federal minimum wage increasing from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour, it means Rhea received a 70-cent raise. ‘That’s a lot of money actually,’ said Rhea, a rising junior at Warren County High School. She says she’s been working part time,…

By LISA HOBBS George Argo was one of many city residents who brought signs of protest during a public hearing last night. McMinnville’s 2007-08 budget passed with a tax increase of 7 cents. McMinnville officials voted to pass the 2007-08 fiscal year budget during the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting last night. Although it…

Spring City resident formerly of Rock Island and Grundy County native Emma Gladys Smith, 88, was born Aug. 10, 1918 and died July 22 at Spring City Care and Rehab in Spring City following an extended illness. A homemaker and a member of the Baptist Church, she was the daughter of the late Ruben and…

Ellen Rogers Lamkin, 82, of Stephens, passed away July 20 at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, Ark. She was preceded in death by her husband, Lonnie Bennett Lamkin Sr., her son-in-law, David Roberts, three brothers and two sisters. She was born Sept. 19, 1924 in McMinnville. Mrs. Lamkin was a loving and devoted wife, mother,…

ST. LOUIS (AP) ‘ Traffic deaths in the United States fell to their lowest total in five years in 2006, and the rate of deaths per miles traveled dropped to a record low, a federal safety official said Monday. Highway crashes killed 42,642 people last year, said Nicole Nason, administrator of the National Highway Traffic…

RAINSVILLE, Ala. (AP) ‘ Two Tennessee runaways in a stolen car were killed in a police chase that started in southern Tennessee and ended about 50 miles away in northeast Alabama, state troopers say. Alabama Troopers said officers in South Pittsburg, Tenn., began pursuing the teens ‘ who both lived in a foster home ‘…

WASHINGTON (AP) ‘ Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, who hasn’t officially entered the presidential race, is shaking up his campaign staff, replacing his acting campaign manager with a former Michigan senator and a Florida Republican strategist. Thompson spokeswoman Linda Rozett said acting campaign manager Tom Collamore, former vice president of food and tobacco giant Altria,…

BOSTON (AP) ‘ People who drank more than one diet soda each day developed the same risks for heart disease as those who downed sugary regular soda, a large but inconclusive study found. The results surprised the researchers who expected to see a difference between regular and diet soda drinkers. It could be, they suggest,…