Rutherford Country’s own Cripple Creek Cloggers will host these countries during the festival and will also be performing Applachian style square dancing to celebrate East Tennessee culture.  The celebration of cultures will feature music, dance, and colorful costumes from each country.  This promises to be an exciting week, as high-energy performances will be conducted at different sites throughout Murfreesboro and Nashville.

Please access our website at www.Mboro-International-Folkfest.org for all pertinent information.  You may also contact Steve Cates at 615-896-3559 or e-mail him at appdancer@aol.com for further information.

U.S. fuel consumption decreased more than expected by 4.2 percent during the week of March 8, according to a report released last week by the Energy Department. This is 7.8 percent lower than the five-year average for the second week in March.

The national average price of unleaded regular gasoline is $2.82 per gallon reflecting a four-cent increase from last week. Florida’s average price is $2.85, Tennessee’s is $2.70, and Georgia’s average price is $2.72 per gallon, all reflecting a one-cent increase from last week, respectively. A few competitive dealers in the ‘Boro have $2.55 a gallon regular fuel. 

"It’s not surprising to see the price of crude close lower than it did last week. Not only did a report show consumer sentiment is down for the month of March, but basic fundamentals do not support these high prices," said Jessica Brady, manager, AAA Public & Government Relations. "A stronger dollar coupled with a report that shows U.S. fuel consumption is down is a cocktail that is sure to bring down the price of crude oil.

"We may see retail gas prices decline a few cents this week in response to the lower crude price and this should help postpone $3 gasoline from becoming a common sight in the Southeast."

Middle Tennessee (25-6) placed all five starters in double figures and jumped out to a double-digit lead in both halves, including a game-high 15-point cushion at 9:11 of the first period when All-American Alysha Clark grabbed a backcourt steal and raced to the other end for a layup to make it 21-11.

The Blue Raiders had netted the game’s first four points and withstood a 5-2 Mississippi State push to keep the margin at one, 6-5, with 16:17 remaining in the stanza. Middle Tennessee responded with a 10-2 run, capped by an Anne Marie Lanning 3-pointer, forcing a MSU timeout and extending the lead to nine, 16-7, at 13:25. After the Bulldogs cut the deficit back to five, 16-11, with exactly 12 minutes to play, Clark’s layup was part of a 10-0 Blue Raider surge during the next three minutes to increase the gap to the game-high 15.

The MT advantage remained in double figures at 10, 27-17, when Clark was called for her third personal foul with 4:13 left, sending her to the bench the remainder of the half. Mississippi State (20-12) then took control, outscoring the Blue Raiders 11-3 down the stretch, featuring four points from Armelie Lumanu and four by Alexis Rack to enter the halftime with Middle Tennessee ahead, 30-28.

The Blue Raiders kept the margin at five following a Brandi Brown triple (upper left photo) with 18:01 to play and Chelsia Lymon adding another just under two minutes later as the teams entered the first media timeout of the second stanza with MT in front, 42-37. After an icy first half, Jackie Pickel started to light up in the second period and her 3-pointer with 13:24 remaining put Middle Tennessee ahead, 47-41.

Mississippi State, however, would not go away and four-straight points, capped by a Rack trey at 11:46, cut the gap again to one, 47-46. The Blue Raiders then went back to Clark, and her layup a minute-and-a-half later ignited an 11-2 run during the next four minutes helped propel MT back in front, 58-48, with 7:48 to go.

The lead remained nine, 64-55, on another Lanning 3-pointer, but Rack countered with one of her own and scored twice more in a 9-0 Bulldog spurt to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:27 to play. Middle Tennessee was only able to manage one more shot, a layup attempt by Clark at 1:12, while Lumanu recorded the final four points for Mississippi State to seal the final score.

Chanel Mokango led the Bulldogs with 20 points and 14 rebounds, while Rack chipped in a game-best 21 points, including four 3-pointers. Lumanu added 12 points for Mississippi State.

Clark paced the Blue Raiders with 17 points and 14 rebounds for her 75th career double-double, 37th at Middle Tennessee and 20th of the season. She finishes in a tie for fourth with LSU’s Sylvia Fowles on the NCAA’s all-time list with 75 double-doubles, while her 37 double-doubles tie for third in school history. She netted 2,852 career points, ranking 12th in NCAA history.

Brown added 14 points, including four triples, while Lymon, Pickel and Lanning each contributed 11 points. Lymon, Pickel and Brown each hauled in five rebounds.

Senior Dana Garrett also stepped onto the floor for the final time as a Blue Raider, playing five minutes with one assist.

Mississippi State advances to Second Round action Tuesday to face No. 2 seed and eighth-ranked Ohio State.

Activities include blacksmithing, lye soap making, a craft show of over 40 local crafters and artists, old time concessions, square dancing, clogging, petting zoo, antique car show, hayrides, Art League show, and a concert featuring The Rigney Family Bluegrass Band, June LaGreen as Harriet Tubman, The Dulcimer Club and more.

The early 19^th & 20^th Century village contains historic artifacts, buildings and enactors who will teach and demonstrate old time home making skills to traditional trades. There are numerous attractions for guests to enjoy including a toll bridge, visitor’s center and gift shop, grist mill, one room schoolhouse, an early 1900’s telephone office, soap making ash hopper, town hall, 1776-1876 museum, doctor’s office, country store, blacksmith shop and other attractions.

Edwards’ complete game was the first by a Middle Tennessee pitcher this season. The senior allowed seven hits and one walk over nine innings.

"Edwards pitched a heck of a ball game," said Head Coach Steve Peterson. "Arkansas State is a good club, and Chad really hit his spots and dominated the strike zone."

Middle Tennessee recorded seven hits for the game from seven different hitters. Justin Miller led the way, going 1-3 and scoring two runs. BothTyler Burnett and Ryan Ford went 1-4 at the plate with a run batted in.

The Blue Raiders opened the scoring in the second with a run. Miller reached on a one-out single through the left side, and advanced on aDrew Robertson single through the right side. A two-out single by Burnett brought home Miller for the score.

Middle Tennessee tacked on another run in the seventh. Miller opened up with a walk and advanced to second on a Robertson sacrifice bunt, and Ford singled in the run.

In game one, the Blue Raiders rallied from being down 4-0 early to win 8-5.

Seven of the eight runs for Middle Tennessee were scored with two outs recorded in the inning. Miller starred in the first game as well, going 3-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Burnett, Zach Hudson, Tyler Acker and Stuart Meinhart also put together multi-hit games for the Blue Raiders, who outhit the Red Wolves 16-10.

Hunter Adkins started for the Blue Raiders, but pitched just two and one-third innings, allowing four earned runs and five hits while walking four.Justin Guidry pitched three and one-third strong innings and allowed just a single run. Nick Montgomery earned his fifth win of the season, giving up just two hits and a walk in the final three and one-third innings.

The Blue Raiders will head home for four games next week, starting with Belmont on Wednesday at 6PM.

Photo ID: Sophomore Richard Cowden teamed with freshman Shaun Waters to defeat Ryan Gormley and Warren Hardie 8-6 and give the Blue Raiders the doubles point on Saturday afternoon.

Middle Tennessee began play by taking the doubles point for a 1-0 lead. Juniors John Peers and Kyle Wishing teamed up taking an 8-2 win over Eddie Bourchier and Jason Lee. Then sophomore Richard Cowden and freshman Shaun Waters pulled out their match 8-6 over Ryan Gormley and Warren Hardie.

“With Victor Melo out of lineup we had to rearrange the doubles lineup. Kyle and John had a good win and then Richard and Shaun got the W to give us the doubles point. They were up 6-2 and made it more difficult than it needed to be but pulled it out in the end,” head coach David McNamara said.

Penn State did not take singles lightly as it opened with Guillaume St-Maurice taking a 6-0, 6-0 win over Wishing. Then Langley fell 6-2, 6-3 to Bryan Weinetz as the Nittany Lion took a 2-1 lead.

Wrapping up play for the Blue Raiders in the match, senior Alex McCann fell 6-4, 6-2 to Hardie while Cowden lost his match 6-3, 6-2 to Gormley..

“To play Penn State tough like we did without Victor and were capable of beating them was good to see. However as has been the case in other matches this season we had a hard time closing at the end and winning close points,” McNamara said. “The biggest message to team is when we play the Sun Belt Shootout it will give us a good idea of where we are in league. I feel we have a shot at winning it especially with the way we have played against top teams this season. It was brought to my attention other day that the team who has won Sun Belt Shootout last few years has gone on to win the conference tournament. The guys need to keep getting better individually and if they continue to do that then we will be better as a team.

Middle Tennessee will be back in action on Sunday, March 28 at noon when it plays host to East Tennessee State. It will be the first match of the season at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.

#44 Penn State 4, Middle Tennessee 1

Singles

1. Eddie Bourchier (PSU) vs. #43 John Peers (MT) 6-3, 3-6, 2-0, unfinished

2. Ryan Gormley (PSU) def. Richard Cowden (MT) 6-3, 6-2

3. Jason Lee (PSU) vs. Shaun Waters (MT) 7-6, 1-1, unfinished

4. Warren Hardie (PSU) def. Alex McCann (MT) 6-4, 6-2

5. Bryan Weinetz (PSU) def. Matthew Langley (MT) 6-2, 6-3

6. G. St-Maurice (PSU) def. Kyle Wishing (MT) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles

1. Kyle Wishing/John Peers (MT) def. Eddie Bourchier/Jason Lee (PSU) 8-2

2. Richard Cowden/Shaun Waters (MT) def. Ryan Gormley/Warren Hardie (PSU) 8-6

3. G. St-Maurice/Taylor Cohen (PSU) def. Matthew Langley/Alex McCann (MT) 8-4

Match Notes:

Middle Tennessee 4-14

Penn State 12-3; National ranking #44

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,5,4,2)

The dinner package begins at 6:00PM. Mike Zelenak at Maple Street Grille is preparing a gourmet meal that will please the most discerning pallet. Those tickets are $100 per person. The “Dance Till You Drop” tickets are $35 per person and those persons can enter at 8:00 Saturday night. In addition to the great music and food, there will be a silent auction from 6:00 to 10:00PM. If you have last minute questions, phone 615-904-ARTS (2787).

In the early stages of the fire, the smoke was so thick that firefighters had a difficult time seeing and being seen by their commanders on the ground. (Left photo below you can barely see firefighters in the bucket above the burning structure)

The downtown structure was built in 1900, and was a total loss. The 4,500 square foot structure is owned by Barton Dotson and his wife Janis. Officials told WGNS News that Music City Medical Supply was closed on Saturdays and no one was in the business. They said that the Dotsons were out of town.

An investigation is underway, and at this time it is not known what started the Saturday morning blaze in this historic downtown district.

Above photo: This is the rear of the structure and the white building is Concert Productions. It remains open, but 3 Brothers Deli is closed with some damage to walls and roof. The above photo shows the severe damage to the Music City Medical Supply building. It was a two-story structure with the roofline being slightly higher than the top of Concert Productions (as shown in left photo above this one).

Murfreesboro Fire Marshall Ken Honeycutt told WGNS that the city codes inspector ordered a backhoe-crane brought to the site to raze some of the walls as they were already collapsing and creating dangers for firefighters and adjacent structures. He noted that businesses on either side of Music City Medical Supply received smoke damage. Concert Productions received the least and remained open, however 3 Brothers Deli on the corner of West Main and Walnut Street suffered roof and wall damage. Honeycutt told WGNS News that there was a large hole in the interior wall toward the back of the restaurant’s bar area. It is not known how long 3 Brothers Deli will remained closed while repairs are made.

West Main Street was closed to traffic from Walnut to the Square all Saturday afternoon. Motorists who had parked in that section had to wait patiently all day, because fire hose were spread up and down the roadway. WGNS News will let you know what investigators feel started the blaze as soon as their studies are complete. Honeycutt said that would be some time next week.

(most photos by Andy Hutchins, others by Bart Walker)

Medicaid suspended Clair, who now lives in Maryland, in 2002.  He’s also accused of hiring other dentists and using their numbers to file 130 thousand dollars worth of claims with Medicaid between 2003 and 2005. He’s scheduled to be arraigned April 8th.