Free Republic

RICHMOND, April 4 -- Virginia Republicans ousted their embattled chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick Saturday at a tense meeting that left the party bitterly divided as its leaders try to staunch years of election losses and head into the state's crucial November elections. Frederick's dismissal came after he repeatedly refused to resign despite public requests from nearly every top-ranking Republican officeholder in Virginia. They accused him of incompetence and mismanagement.

Virginia Republicans ousted embattled party chairman Jeffrey Frederick on Saturday at a tense meeting that left the party bitterly divided as it heads into a crucial campaign season. Frederick's dismissal came after he repeatedly resisted public requests for his resignation from almost every top-ranking Republican officeholder in Virginia. They accused him of incompetence and mismanagement. But at the heart of the dispute is a struggle that is tormenting Republicans both in the state and nationally: whether to rigidly pursue an agenda dominated by conservative social issues or reach out to more moderate voters with a pledge to focus chiefly on...

RICHMOND, April 6 -- Ousted Virginia Republican leader Jeffrey M. Frederick said Monday he will probably run for party chairman again in May, setting up another clash with the GOP's gubernatorial nominee, Robert F. McDonnell, as Republicans struggle to unite for the November election. Frederick said in an interview that he does not think the party's leaders, McDonnell among them, will be able to turn around years of Republican losses in Virginia. "I'm very concerned about the party's ability to win in the fall," Frederick said. "The current track we are on will not provide the results that we need."...

Virginia Republicans voted overwhelmingly Saturday to oust party Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick in an effort to stanch the bleeding of a bitter internal feud that some feared could set back the gubernatorial campaign of former state Attorney General Bob McDonnell. The State Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia removed the defiant Mr. Frederick on a 57-18 vote. The central committee had called for Mr. Frederick's resignation in a letter March 4, announcing Saturday's planned vote for his removal if he did not resign within 30 days. Mr. Frederick has held his position since May, and the committee sought...

...On Friday, the five Republican U.S. representatives from Virginia called on Frederick to resign, saying "it is the sentiment of the grass-roots membership of the party to move in another direction." In mounting his defense to the criticism that he mismanaged the party and is incompetent, Frederick used the same term. "I make no apologies for standing against these efforts to remove me or the changes I've made within our party to give greater authority and input to the grass roots," Frederick wrote in a letter to GOP activists this week. A year ago, Frederick did create a grass-roots uprising...

I love RedState. No, really I do. You provide what may well be the single most valuable service to the online conservative movement. That said, I feel compelled to take you to the proverbial woodshed over this little nugget. I can’t believe that you guys would actually put your tag line on that story, much less trash a state party chairman on the front page. Your two proof points are a blog post from the squishiest RINO in Virginia and a complaint about his Twitter habits. Ah yes, I can see it now. Gov. Kaine was sitting at his desk...

Come Join We Support Chairman Jeff Frederick on RPVNetwork: http://www.rpvnetwork.org/group/wesupportchairmanjefffrederick?xgi=gLYEvuGThe RPVstate central committee is moving to remove Jeff Frederick asChairman of the RPV. We are starting a grassroots movement to supporthim. Please join this group to show that support. It is time to come together and support our chairman. Now is not the time to eat our own. What happened last election was more about events beyond our control and a  history of some Republicans not acting on principle as they should and some not willing fight as hard as they needed to win against a relentless set of opponents...

A message from Willie Deutsch to all members of We Support Chairman Jeff Frederick on RPVNetwork! Hello Everyone, Thanks for jumping on board. In our first 8 hours we had 21 members, and now less than 36 hours after the group began we have 30 members. To those that have helped invite new members, and promoted the group (including Red NOVA), Thank You. On Wednesday we will begin actually doing things to help Jeff. However, before Wednesday it would be helpful if we could get a lot more people to join this group. Please invite as many friends to join...

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - Frederick police say four tons of fertilizer have been stolen from a farm supply store. The fertilizer disappeared from the Southern States store in the 500 block of East South Street in Frederick some time Saturday night or early Sunday. A store representative told police that 2,000 pounds of urea and 6,000 pounds of other fertilizer are missing. The fertilizer was in white 50-pound bags with a company logo. Lt. Clark Pennington says they don't know what the motive behind the theft is, but they have notified the Maryland Coordination Analysis Center, which alerts all federal...

RYAN FREDERICK is no hero, no matter what they're saying about him on the Internet. He's the 28-year-old Chesapeake man being held in the Jan. 17 shooting death of Detective Jarrod Shivers. Shivers, 34, was executing a drug search warrant at Frederick's residence the night he was killed. According to police, the eight-year police veteran was hit in the arm and chest by a shot fired from inside the house. In a jailhouse interview, Frederick said he was in bed when the police came to his door about 8:30 p.m. Awakened by his barking dogs, Frederick said, he thought his...

After months of heated debate, the zoning appeals board in Walkersville has rejected a proposal by a Silver Spring-based Muslim sect to build a mosque and retreat facility on a 224-acre farm in the rural Frederick County town. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's plans to build an Islamic worship center that would host up to 10,000 people annually for a national religious convention stoked intense public outcry in Walkersville, a mostly white hamlet of about 5,000 people nestled near the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. But although the proposal stirred religious tensions, the Walkersville Board of Zoning Appeals cited more pedestrian...

FREDERICK ? Police have launched an investigation into the deaths of a man and his four children at 1252 Danielle Drive, just off of South McCain Drive, according to the Frederick Police Department. The father was found hanging from the second floor banister, according to Lt. Tom Chase. The ages of the children ranged from 1 to 9. The three girls were 1, 4 and 9, and the boy was 3. The 4-year-old girl was in pre-kindergarten and the 9-year-old girl was in third grade.

FREDERICK -- The Frederick County Board of Education stuck to its word Wednesday night by not discussing military recruiters' access to high schools. Wednesday's meeting was the fifth time in recent months that students and community members have called on the board to "combat the discriminatory policies of the military and the misleading tactics used by military recruiters on high school campuses.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The highest-ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, a U.S. Army reservist from Virginia, also was sentenced Thursday to a forfeiture of pay, a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to private.

Tornado leads to child porn seizure FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — Workers repairing a home damaged in a tornado discovered nearly two dozen boxes filled with child pornography. The homeowner remained jailed Monday on $96,000 bail. Robert L. Medvee, 52, was charged Friday with 48 counts of creating computer images of child pornography and 48 counts of possession of child pornography, sheriff's Deputy Jennifer Bailey said. The seized material — computer discs, videotapes and photographs — filled 20 to 24 boxes, Frederick County State's Attorney Scott Rolle said. "It was the largest seizure of child pornography I've ever seen," Rolle said....

...When the news of those pictures became public in April, Pfc. England had an explanation: She had been following orders from higher-ups.... Who the higher-ups were who had approved the group's treatment of prisoners she could not say. This was a decidedly different explanation from the one she initially gave, according to the Army investigator who first confronted her with the photographs. Months before those were made public, investigator Paul Arthur testified at the recent Article 32 hearing, Pfc. England had told him that the photos [was] just some fooling around while on the night shift. There was no mention...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The commander of the military police company assigned to the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad has said he will testify that the top U.S. general in Iraq was present during some interrogations at the prison and witnessed some of the abuse, according to a published report. The Washington Post, in a story first released on its Web site Saturday night, said a military lawyer stated at an open hearing April 2 that Capt. Donald J. Reese told him that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez and other senior military officers were aware of the abuse at the prison.The...

Trailer park girl turns into torturer By Patrick Sawer, Evening Standard 6 May 2004 Lynndie England's face is displayed on the Wal-Mart supermarket's wall of honour in her home town, a place where people are proud of their soldiers serving in Iraq. At the Mineral County Courthouse in Keyser the same face appears alongside those of other local servicemen and women, under a banner declaring: "We're hometown proud." But since that same face has been beamed across the world - this time grinning at the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners - there has been incomprehension in the small towns and trailer...

Wife: Soldiers in Iraqi Abuse Case Are Scapegoats Tue May 4, 2004 10:45 AM ET By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners were following orders and are being used as scapegoats to protect their superiors, the wife of one of the soldiers and the lawyer for another said Tuesday. Martha Frederick defended her husband, a soldier who faces prosecution for the abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. " He was told to do these things and when he did them he thought that he was doing them in the sense...

WASHINGTON -- The bioterrorism expert under scrutiny in the 2001 anthrax attacks filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Attorney General John Ashcroft and other government officials of trampling his constitutional rights and using him as a scapegoat for their failure to make an arrest in the case. Dr. Steven J. Hatfill claims that, by labeling him a "person of interest" in the case, Ashcroft and other federal authorities have destroyed his reputation and ruined his job prospects.