Free Republic

BRISTOW, Okla. - A former judge convicted of exposing himself while presiding over jury trials by using a sexual device under his robe was sentenced Friday to four years in prison. Donald Thompson had spent almost 23 years on the bench and had served as a state legislator before retiring from the court in 2004. He showed no reaction when he was sentenced. At his trial this summer, his former court reporter, Lisa Foster, testified that she saw Thompson expose himself at least 15 times during trial between 2001 and 2003. Prosecutors said he also used a device known as...

DAYTONA BEACH -- Elizabeth Book stood near four bare-breasted Grecian muse sculptures on Peabody Auditorium's wall. Accompanied by one supporter Saturday, she held a protest flag that read "Sic Semper Tyrannis," -- Greek for "thus occurs to tyrants" -- and a portrait of a woman warrior with one breast bared. Book's eyes full of fear, she stood fully aware of the consequences of what she was about to do. Then, gradually, she pulled down her tube top exposing her breasts to an audience of a couple of bystanders, a reporter and a photographer. Two unmarked and one marked police vehicles...