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Features

  •
    Local youth brings Elvis to the...

    Step aside Justin Bieber, Elvis is still King.

        Taylor Rodriguez enjoys performing. And he’s gathering a following around this area.
        The 13-year-old Forest Middle School student brings the songs of Elvis to the stage and he welcomes the chance to portray the King.
        He’ll be doing just that this Saturday, Sept. 17, at El Cazador Restaurant in Bedford, from 6-9 p.m.

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    Eating rocks

        Teresa Lynn Widener eats rocks.

        She’s done this for 20 years, and Widener doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
        And she’s not afraid to talk about her unusual habit.
        “I don’t think it makes me a lot different from anybody else,” Widener said this week. “It’s just gritty. I think it’s earthy.”

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    Program offers rural experience to...

    The first time that Olivia Yap, of Queens in New York City, spent time with Andy and Lea Larsen of Huddleston, she saw stars.

        It was like nothing she ever saw before because the big city lights washed out the night sky back home.
        “It was real, real dark and the stars were pretty and big,” she recalled. “They looked like glitter.”

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    Local man’s song brings comfort to...

        A song written by a local man is being used to help out the folks in Joplin, Mo., affected by the devastating tornado that ripped through that city last month.

        Last year after Mark Laperle’s pastor lost his son in a car accident, he was moved to write “Sing Again” for that family.   When    the    tornado ripped through Joplin, Laperle thought it also might provide comfort to the residents there.
        So he sent it to them.

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    92-year-old identical twins still...

        Odesssa Payne Martin and Ora Payne Rossman have been together a long time. The identical twins were born on Nov. 24, 1918.

        They grew up on a farm in Huddleston where their father, John Ward Payne, raised wheat and corn. He farmed part-time.
        “Our daddy was a carpenter,” Odessa said.

  • Community Events and Calendar (week...

    Sign-ups and notices

    For information of events and activities at area churches, see the church news section in this week's paper.

    3rd Annual Summer Health Camp for Teens 11-16
    June 13– 17,  Health Careers and Wellness Camp. Bedford Memorial Hospital, 1613 Oakwood St, Bedford, VA 24523. Fee: $30. Call 540-587-3308 for Registration by May 1. Space is limited.
    Camps are made possible through continued financial support from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, and donations from BMH Volunteers.

    Senior lunch trips

  • It was the thing to do

    Walter Reinhardt was a university student when Japanese naval aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Like a number of other young American men in the weeks afterwards, Reinhardt decided to enlist in the armed forces.

        “It was the thing to do,” he said, when asked why.
        He was originally planning on enlisting in the Navy, but the Navy recruiter’s office was closed the day he showed up. The Army recruiter was open for business that day, so he enlisted there.    

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    Library, families and school team...

    Throughout February, Montvale Elementary School and the Montvale Public Library participated in Read to Them’s One School One Book Program.

  • Agape Center helps struggling...

    By Peter Sawyer

    Intern writer
    news@bedfordbulletin.com

        Smith Mountain Lake saw artists, live music performances, silent auctions and a feast Feb. 12 as the Water’s Edge Country Club played host to the Grand Winter Gala.
        The Grand Winter Gala put “Love In Action” as proceeds from the event went to three local organizations:  Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy, Financial Peace University at Trinity Ecumenical and the Agape Center.

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    Ranch provides home for both young...

    By Peter Sawyer

    Intern Writer
    news@bedfordbulletin.com

        Marilyn and April Slocum do not get rid of the old or disabled horses at Slocum’s Appaloosa Ranch in Moneta.  They own 84 horses of all ages; the older horses are pushing 40 and some are blind.
        “I keep trying to get less, but somehow it doesn’t happen,” Marilyn Slocum said. “The idea is to raise a couple horses each year and turn them into replacements for the horses that retire.”

  • Huddleston man served in British...

        Some of the Bedford area’s World War II veterans served in the armed forces of America’s allies. One of them is David Mends. Now, 93, Mends lives in Huddleston and he has actually emigrated to the United States twice.

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    Living his dream

        Like a lot of folks in Bedford County, Richard Franklin has spent more than his share of time hunting.

        “I was born with a pistol in my hand,” he jokes.

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    Beginning Genealogy focus of class

    By Peter Sawyer

    Intern Writer
    news@bedfordbulletin.com

        The Bedford Genealogical Society is offering a class in Beginning Genealogy this Spring at the Library.
        In the 1990s more than 1,500 cemeteries in Bedford County were surveyed.  Members state the organization has tried to record the graves of the people in the cemeteries, and has 37,000 names in its database.

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    Pilot program seeks to help...

    By Peter Sawyer

    Intern Writer
    news@bedfordbulletin.com

        Sherry Gammon considers the children she takes care of at her home family.
        She and her husband Wayne began offering home-based child care in 1978.  They currently run Sherry’s Kids out of their home in the New London area.
        “We’ve lived off of it for the past 20 years.  This is my lifeline,” Sherry Gammon said. “It’s a God-called business.  I love it.”

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    Organization provides counseling...

    By Peter Sawyer

    Intern writer
    news@bedfordbulletin.com

        For more than 10 years, Couples and Kids has provided counseling services for the underinsured in the Central Virginia area.
        “We started out with one patient, and now we have served over 3,000,” Couples and Kids Executive Director Norma White said.

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    Ministries reach out beyond the...

    By Peter Sawyer
    Intern writer
    news@bedfordbulletin.com

    Area churches are leaving the comfort of the pews in an effort to reach local sportsmen.

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    Restoring a historical landmark

        When Bedford Lutheran Church bought property on Burks Hill Road to build a church, members saw themselves as buying land that happened to have a house on it, according to the Rev. Stephen Schulz, the church’s pastor.

        After learning more about the badly dilapidated old house, they had a major change of opinion. They discovered not only that the house was structurally solid, but that they had a historic home.