Everything to make your house a HOME! TVs Dining Room Living Room Bedroom Appliances In-Store FInancIng • Snap credIt 761 Madison St., SHELBYVILLE • 931-685-9644 no credIt reFuSed! See Store for Details. Hours: Sunday 12 PM - 5 PM • Monday - Saturday 9 AM - 6 PM • Hablas Español TIMESSHELBYVILLE -GAZETTE 75 CENTS TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2021 www.t-g.com INSIDE CANDLELIGHT VIGIL HONORS WILL WARNER News Obituaries.........................2 Local................................3 Farm.................................5 Sports..............................6 TV.....................................8 Comics.............................9 Opinion...........................10 Classified.......................11 T-G Photos by David Melson A candlelight vigil honored the late Will Warner on the Bedford County Courthouse lawn Friday night. Left, Will’s mother Christy West Warner (center), Heather Johns and Jason Grant show T-shirts bearing a favorite expression of Will’s. At right, Will’s father James Warner addresses the crowd. See more photos inside today’s T-G. Shelbyville hires new planning director By ZOË HAGGARD Albakry’s role will be to focus ing the many empty buildings,will nication with the City and com- FOOTBALL [email protected] on short-term and long-term plan- also be in the dialogue to make munity. “First, we have to have Waleed Albakry has visited ning. “The short-term includes the Shelbyville more appealing for personal connections, so know Sports/6A the middle Tennessee area for 14 day-to-day operations of building new and lifelong residents. each other. And have a system to years. It’s a long way from Canada, development, residential develop- But most importantly, Albakry get everyone at the table for every where he’s lived since 2004 and an ment, planning, and community emphasized, Shelbyville needs major application, so that it’s all even longer way from Alexandria, support. The long-term processes to maintain its identity. It does like a team effort. Once we build Egypt, where he was born. include determine best uses for not need to become another this, it’s great for the community And with his older brother, different parts of the city, updat- Nashville—which is unlike- and for us because it can stream- Mohammed Albakry Ph.D., not ing ordinances, and working with ly in this lifetime, according to line work. And also, once we have too far away—working as a pro- community partners on enrich- Albakry—but it does need to meet this trust, it’s easier to express fessor of English and applied lin- ments projects,” Ray said. the demands of the future and opinions,” Albakry said. guistics at Middle Tennessee State The City stated that Albakry’s needs of the people moving here. In the upcoming months, he University—Albakry says this annual salary will be $75,000. “What it really boils down to is said he’s looking forward to hear- area has always felt like home. When a city is well laid out, having this kind of building into ing people’s ideas that may have It’s also an area in constant move- Albakry said, it makes residents your history, preserving your iden- otherwise not been heard before, ment and development, which and visitors more social. And tity—preserving your green space, all while being transparent with is something Albakry looks to when they’re more social, there’s for example—and having mixed utilize as Shelbyville’s Planning more economic development and uses. You don’t have to have every- the community about the city’s and Community Development the ability to thrive. thing isolated,” Albakry said. plans. For now, as he settles in, Director, a position he began last Previously serving as senior This has been brought up before Albakry said he plans to observe Tuesday. planner for the city of Kingston in as Ray, Chamber CEO Lacey and get to know people here in the Previously, Kevin Chastine, of Ontario, Canada, Albakry said he Deeds, and Celebration CEO community as well as organize the Griggs and Maloney, served as the wants to implement “new visions” Warren Wells—all of whom are city’s planning documents into a interim planning director, work- for Shelbyville, which includes new in their leadership positions— digital catalogue. ing closely with Shelbyville City smart growth. This utilizes the said they look to utilize facilities, City manager Ray said, “Waleed Manager Joshua Ray, whose role space and buildings Shelbyville like the Celebration grounds, the is intelligent, experienced, and has is to provide support and direc- already has, saving both land whiskey distilleries, and the his- an energy about him that reso- tion to department heads based and money. This, in addition to toric downtown,year-round. nates with who he is. These traits on the policy and vision set by making the city more pedestrian Albakry said he also plans to will allow him to have a posi- A PRIZE Shelbyville City Council. friendly, adding bike lanes and maintain the identity of Shelbyville tive impact on our team and our WINNING Working as a team with Ray, more landscaping,and incorporat- through collaboration and commu- Shelbyville.” NEWSPAPER RETIREMENT PLANS IN ORDER Nurse finds meth, UT-TPA PRESS AWARDS pills on patient 2020 By DAVID MELSON [email protected] Approximately 3.5 grams of methamphetamine and several non-prescribed pills were confiscated from a sus- pect Friday morning, Shelbyville police said. A driver was clocked at 43 mph in a 35 mph zone at 4:25 a.m. on North Main Street. The driver, who wasn’t charged, told a 911 dispatcher he was driving a friend with a medical emergency to Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital. Officer Bailey Dineen followed them to the hospital and later questioned the man with the medical problem, a police report said. The man, Charles Jackson Dempsey, 29, of Center Street in Normandy, said he had been given a pill at a Sunny Shelbyville home and remembered nothing afterwards. A nurse trying to find identification on Dempsey found 91/66 bags containing the pills and meth, police said. Dempsey was charged wth possession of schedule II and IV drugs and was held on $6,000 bond after his hos- pital release. Rising COVID numbers Editor’s Note: Bedford County has on record as Submitted Photo Connie Cook will retire from her position as Bedford County Assessor of Property of today over 300 active COVID-19 cases. Of those office’s GIS manager at the end of August. She said she’s very happy that she nearly 50 were new, according to Tennessee Health Department. Vol. 140, No. 101 will get to spend more time with her grandchildren, hence the office T-shirts to mark the upcoming occasion. See more pictures on page 2. 2 SHELBYVILLE TIMES -GAZETTE Tuesday, August 24, 2021 OBITUARIES Patricia Louise ‘Pat’ Farris August 24, 2021 Funeral services for Patricia Louise (Pat) Farris, age 62, of Shelbyville, will be held 1 p.m. Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at Doak-Howell Funeral Home with Bro. Jimmy Gray officiating. Burial will follow in Hillcrest Memorial Gardens. She passed from this life Friday, August 20, 2021. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. Mrs. Farris was born on June 1, 1959 to the late Vernon Estell Warren and Betty Lou Bledsoe Warren who survives. She was a registered nurse for 40 years, always caring for others before herself. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and was longtime member of Calvary Baptist Church. Mrs. Farris is survived by her husband of 40 years David Farris Sr.; children David Farris Jr., Lesley (Shaun) Maillet, one grandchild Kaleb Maillet; siblings Timmy (Michelle) Warren of Chapel Hill, Carol Troue, Vickey Blackman of Richmond, and Jim (Jan) Bledsoe of Shelbyville. Along with her father she was preceded in death by her brother Randy Warren. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, COOK TO Memphis TN 38105-9959. RETIRE Doak-Howell Funeral Home is serving the family. Bedford County Government Photos www.doakhowellfuneralhome.com Bedford County Assessor of Property Ronda Clanton and staff honored co-work- er Connie Cook Friday, Did you know? Aug. 20, on the occasion Modern cars are technological marvels, and it turns out of her forthcoming retire- drivers may value tech over all else, including their choice ment. Cook will retire from of automaker. A 2017 study from Autotrader asked 1,000 her position as the office’s participants an assortment of questions about technology GIS manager at the end and car buying. Roughly 60 percent of millennial car shop- of August. Front row, from pers and more than 40 percent of baby boomers indicated left, Paige Beech, Emily they would switch vehicle brands just to get the technology Hodges, Connie Cook, features they want. Drivers are even willing to pay extra for Ronda Clanton. Back row, their preferred tech. The Autotrader study found that the left to right, Drew Reed, Rachael Brown, Teresa average shopper would pay an extra $2,276 to get the right Butler and Larry Morton. tech features. Crowd attends vigil for Will Warner crowd gathered at Bedford County A Courthouse on Friday night to honor Will Warner of Shelbyville, whose body was found with Aug. 13 in Nashville. T-G Photos by David Melson Attendees held lighted candles to honor the memory of Will Warner. Among the crowd were, from left, Havyn Huggler, Brooke Anne Farrar, Shelby Henson Three former football coaches of Will Warner were at the event. Seated from left are and Haley Bobo. Will’s grandfather Aaron West, Lloyd Taylor and Jimmy Darden. Those honoring Will Warner hold lighted candles as the sun sets over Shelbyville.