Free Republic

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — It’s a few minutes before 5 a.m. The sun isn’t up yet, but Chris Weir is. A few years ago, the Cleveland, Tenn., native might still have been in bed at this hour. He might have been dreaming about his chances of winning the Bradley County mayoral race before getting up and putting on the suit and tie that had become his uniform in the business world. But today the 28-year-old already is dressed, and he’s wearing a different kind of uniform. It’s the same kind his little brother died in. Though the fabric is fairly...

Sen. Bob Corker on Saturday voted for passage of H.R. 2638, the continuing resolution, which passed the Senate by a vote of 78 to 12. Sen. Lamar Alexander voted against the bill. The resolution funds the ongoing operations of the federal government, including Tennessee defense and military construction projects, and lifts the 25 year-old federal ban on oil exploration along the Outer Continental Shelf. The legislation must now be signed into law by the President. “This was a tough vote for me,” said Sen. Corker. “We should have considered each of the appropriations bills independently - with full debate and...

ASHLAND — An Ashland police officer and his wife were killed Saturday in a motorcycle accident in eastern Ohio. Ashland Police Department Sgt. Charles “Chuck” E. Leadingham Jr., 44, and Denise Leadingham, 42, were killed when their motorcycle crashed on I-77 near Marietta, Ohio. Chuck Leadingham was a nearly 20-year veteran of the APD, beginning as a Public Safety Officer before advancing through the ranks to become a sergeant and field supervisor, according to Chief Rob Ratliff. Denise Leadingham was an employee at Federal Correctional Institute in Summit. The couple are survived by a daughter and a son. According to...

LANCASTER - Garrard County Fiscal Court voted to strip two constables of their badges and blue lights Wednesday after the men reportedly overstepped their authority... "Because constables are elected into office, they report to the voters...

HARLAN, Ky. — Politicians are known for lame jokes. But when Otis "Bullman" Hensley tried a generations-old Appalachian jest on a woman and two girls at the grocery store, the family thought it was downright criminal. [. . .] He could have faced as many as 10 years in prison, but a charge of attempted unlawful transaction with a minor was dismissed on Monday. The ordeal began last week when Hensley's wife sent him to a local grocery store to buy ground beef. While there, Hensley encountered a woman with her two nieces, ages 11 and 13. "I offered to...

Kymberly Clem, 20, says she walked into the Richmond Mall Saturday but was soon escorted out all because of her dress. "I was walking through and 10 minutes after I was there, the security guard approached me, asked me to step aside, made me completely do a turn around while he stared me up and down and then asked me to leave because my outfit was too provocative and people's husbands was (sic) looking at me," says Clem. Clem says she bought the dress at the mall just the day before. She says she's worn more revealing clothing before to...

Metal thefts are moving to the railways. Recently there have been several cases where thieves have been taking off with tracks. "A big piece of metal like that as much as it weighed would bring a pretty good chunk of change," said Officer Shawn Jackson with the Williamsburg Police Department. Williamsburg police arrested Brenda Harmon, 57, and Carl Moses, 51, of Willamsburg along with Eric Brooks, 21, of Rockholds and Janie Lawson, 52, of Tunnel Hill, Georgia after they say the four stole railway track equipment and tried to sell it. Officer Jackson says an officer was off duty Friday...

Gas prices were big topic of the day. "Sheiks" follow McConnell's Democrat opponent, Bruce Lunsford, to "thank" him for his energy plan Senator Mitch McConnell (R) Fancy Farm speech - "these liberals love high gas prices" Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R) Fancy Farm speech - "official drink of the Obama campaign is Kool-Aid" Secretary of State Trey Grayson - pre-Fancy Farm speech at GOP rally "...disappointed to read that Obama was coming...would love to see him without a teleprompter facing a crowd of bitter voters who cling to their guns and religion..." Democrat candidate Bruce Lunsford heckled by "sheiks"...

"All of this, I repeat, seems to me curious, obscene, terrifying, and unfathomably mysterious." - James Agee, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" A little past 10 this morning, all hell broke loose in the U.S. Senate. This was unexpected. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. Only moments before entering the Senate chambers and taking his place behind a massive oak table to deliver his customary Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had been confidently assured by Congressional staffers that everyone was on board. The Fix was in. "Everything's all set, Mr. Chairman," one...

A factory worker with a reputation for not getting along with co-workers went on a shooting spree at a Kentucky plastics plant early today after getting into an argument with his supervisor, police told ABC News. The gunman killed five other employees before shooting himself to death, police said. A seventh person who was wounded is listed in critical condition.

Ky. grand jury indicts Ohio man in rock dispute June 19, 2008 FRANKFORT, Ky.: An Ohio historian could face hard time, all because of a rock. A Kentucky grand jury indicted Steve Shaffer on Thursday for leading efforts to pull an 8-ton boulder known as Indian Head Rock from the Ohio River. The indictment accuses Shaffer of breaking Kentucky law by removing a protected archaeological object, a felony. He could face one to five years in prison if convicted. "I'm really surprised," Shaffer said. "It's not about historic preservation, we all know that. It's about revenge." The rock's removal triggered...

Kentucky Conservatives: I'm forming a group "Kentucky Conservatives for Allen West". I want to help this military veteran, who served our country dilligently and without fail, get elected because he represents everything I believe in. He is exciting and honorable, honest, and conservative. He is running in Florida against Ron Klein. Col. West is a true American hero who deserves our help. He'd love to come to Kentucky for a fund raiser in August or September. If possible, I'd need help arranging such a move. Anyone interested let me know! If you're a conservative who, like me, has felt somewhat...

Most Americans live within their means and pay their mortgages on time, but some people took risky mortgages, betting that the price of homes would continue to rise. That bet isn’t paying off for some, and now Congress wants to give out $300 billion in new taxpayer loans to some of the riskiest borrowers with the worst credit. The median home price in Kentucky is just $111,000, yet the bailout promises taxpayer loan sizes of over $500,000. The bailout bill will serve as a transfer of money and risk from Kentucky taxpayers to housing speculators in San Francisco, Las Vegas,...

I think Oregon has mail in system, but do they open the polls as well or allow people to mail votes tommorrow. Kentucky has a closed primary that anyone voting had to be registered Dem by early this year I believe.

Byrd endorses a shining young statesmen Tribune-Review By Salena Zito Well, his state may have gone Clinton, but he didn't. In a statement released by the Obama campaign, Sen, Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., announced his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama saying:

Hey sweetie, are you bitter? Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Salena Zito Perfect Sen. John McCain bumper sticker: Hey sweetie, are you bitter?

What about Al? There is a rumor among those close to the Obama camp that this weekend will bring a big endorsement for the Illinois Senator. We can scratch John Edwards off that list, he is yesterday's news. Probably the only thing 'bigger' than Edwards would be former Vice-President Al Gore -- who will be in Pittsburgh this Sunday (May 18) to give the commencement speech at Carnegie Mellon University. Gore, after his unsuccessful run for president in 2000, took an environmental path, rather than political, and has become a cult-like figure among the left and environmentally correct.

What would Michelle Obama do if she were called sweetie? WWMD? TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito A tip of the hat to Ben Smith over at Politico for reporting that Sen. Barack Obama referred to a female reporter in Detroit as "sweetie" when answering her question. Actually, when not answering her question. Kind of makes you wonder how wife Michelle would feel if she were referred to as "sweetie"?

Obama and his Kentucky cross TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Chris Brody, the senior national correspondent for Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), is reporting Sen. Barack Obama has a flier for next week’s primary contest in Kentucky that shows Obama standing with a substantial-sized cross to his left. Brody writes that Obama “is making a direct appeal to evangelicals with fliers that mention his conversion experience and they highlight a big old cross. Remember (Gov.) Mike Huckabee’s supposed subliminal cross in his Christmas campaign ad? Well, Obama campaign ditches

Former Gov. Brereton Jones has borrowed heavily from a financially distressed bank that he and several other Democratic Party leaders founded in 2001, according to interviews and bank records. Federal regulators have criticized the directors of Frankfort-based American Founders Bank, including Jones, for inadequate supervision. The bank was badly managed and suffered "hazardous lending and lax collection practices," which left it with far too many unpaid loans, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Among the specific concerns cited was improper reporting and recordkeeping of insider loans to bank directors and executives. The FDIC issued a cease-and-desist order to the...

LOUISVILLE --Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby by 4 3/4 lengths, a race marred with tragedy after the only filly in the race, Eight Belles, lost her life. The filly was euthanized on the track after breaking both front ankles.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court upheld the most common method of lethal injections executions Wednesday, clearing the way for states to resume executions that have been on hold for nearly 7 months. The justices, by a 7-2 vote, turned back a constitutional challenge to the procedures in place in Kentucky, which uses three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates. Similar methods are used by roughly three dozen states. The governor of Virginia lifted his state's moratorium on executions two hours after the high court issued its ruling. "We ... agree that petitioners have not carried their burden of showing...

A woman who walked into a health services building with a weapon at the University of Louisville has been disarmed. School spokeswoman Cindy Hess says university police arrived seven minutes after receiving a call and found a hostage situation. Hess says she doesn't know how many people were taken hostage, but there were no injuries. Hess says the woman was disarmed shortly after police arrived. An initial posting on the school's Web site described

Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal. The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site. Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted. If the bill becomes law, the website operator would have to pay if someone was allowed to post anonymously on their site. The fine would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that.

UNSEEN WORLD By RACHAEL TOLLIVER Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:58 PM CST JILL PICKETT/The News-Enterprise George Crothers, director of the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and Office of State Archaeology, finishes collecting ash from torch remains for radiocarbon dating during a February trip into the cave in Hardin County. Local cave enthusiasts chart discovery of pristine formations, prehistoric Indians HARDIN COUNTY, KENTUCKY — Mankind has always dreamed of discovering the unknown — being the first to do something or arrive somewhere — and from those quests leave a legacy that those who follow will envy. Such finds are rare....

Tornadoes Roar Across Southern U.S., Killing at Least 44, Injuring Hundreds February 06, 2008 LAFAYETTE, Tenn. — Crews went door-to-door Wednesday searching debris for more victims of deadly tornadoes that ripped the roof off a shopping mall, pummeled mobile homes and blew apart warehouses as they tore across four states. At least 44 people were killed throughout the South. The victims included 24 people in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, and seven in Kentucky, emergency officials said. Among those killed were Arkansas parents who died with their 11-year-old in Atkins, about 60 miles northwest of Little Rock. Hundreds more were injured....

Authorities are investigating allegations of vote-buying in eastern Kentucky, where ballots were cast for a state Senate seat on Tuesday. Secretary of State spokesman Les Fugate says "we have received calls on what we're affectionately calling 'beer for votes."' Perry County Clerk Haven King and the attorney general's office confirmed the investigation in Perry County, though officials declined to release details. Republican Brandon Smith and Democrat Scott Alexander are vying for the 30th District seat that opened when Daniel Mongiardo became lieutenant governor. Two state House seats also are up for grabs on Tuesday in the 6th and 95th districts.

The Politico) Former Republican congresswoman Anne Northup will be running again for her old seat in a rematch against the Democrat who ousted her, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.). “She’s going to jump in,” said her longtime political adviser Ted Jackson. “She starts off as a very serious challenger in this race.” Aided by ethical scandals surrounding then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher and the unpopularity of the national GOP, Yarmuth rode the Democratic tide and defeated Northup by three points in 2006. Since leaving Congress, she ran unsuccessfully for her party’s gubernatorial nomination against Fletcher last year. In the governor’s race, she carried...

CINCINNATI The Post newspapers in Cincinnati and Kentucky printed their final editions yesterday, ending a 126-year run. The front-page headline in the last Kentucky Post proclaimed "-30-," a symbol used by journalists, printers, and telegraphers to signal the end of a dispatch. It rolled off the presses about an hour after its sister Cincinnati Post ended publication. The two papers, which were published in the afternoon, have been struggling for decades, part of a national trend. E.W. Scripps Co., of Cincinnati, owner of the two papers, decided in July to close them when a joint operating agreement with Gannett Co....

The Democrats’ plans to stage a serious challenge to Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell , the current Senate minority leader, are still in their formative stages. Some national Democratic strategists are high on state Auditor Crit Luallen — she was easily re-elected in the state’s Nov. 5 election — and state Attorney General Greg Stumbo is another possible contender. Neither, however, has committed to the Senate race. Democrats are, nonetheless, emboldened by Democrat Steve Beshear’s trouncing of ethics controversy-plagued Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher — a McConnell ally — in the state’s off-year election. And they are sounding increasingly confident that they...

Full disclosure: I have done some writing for Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher. If you think politics is hardball at the national level, you ought to take a lesson from what goes on in the states. Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher was defeated for re-election last night by longtime pol Steve Beshear–not that the name matters; pretty much any Democrat was going to win this time around. That’s because Governor Fletcher made the first good, hard pass at dismantling a grim, grimy and rough-as-gravel political culture that determines who gets jobs and what gets done in the state capital of Frankfort. Fletcher...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 200,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Democratic challenger Steve Beshear has been elected as Kentucky's new governor.

George W. Bush won Kentucky’s Electoral College votes by twenty percentage points in Election 2004 and fifteen points in Election 2000. But, the race for the state’s eight Electoral College Votes might be more competitive in 2008. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani leading New York Senator Hillary Clinton by just six percentage points, 47% to 41%. It’s even closer with former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson in the mix. Thompson currently attracts 44% of the vote while 43% prefer Clinton (see crosstabs). These numbers reflect a challenging political environment for the GOP...

Teacher sex cases problem in stateBy Dylan T. Lovan Associated Press LOUISVILLE - In elementary and secondary classrooms across Kentucky, teachers have harassed, molested - and in the worst cases - sexually assaulted the students they were entrusted to nurture and protect. State officials handled nearly 100 instances of teacher sexual misconduct over a recent five-year period, ranging from minor violations like using sexual language to more serious, criminal acts like inappropriate touching and even sodomy and rape. That's about two violations for each month on the school calendar. In a sample of teacher disciplinary actions from 2001 to 2005...

This is an independent panel to review the immigration issue, in regard to illegal in the Thoroughbred and tobacco industries. They will deliver this report to the Mayor, a careful early-term Dem who does not like controversy but will get pressure from the horse farms. This has a chance with the liberals on our council, but we hopefully have enough to block it if the mayor is foolish enough to go with it. Hopefully this will be big enough to affect the governor's race. What insanity.

Secretary of State Voter Registration Figures Set for Election, Registration Record Broken Press Release Date: Thursday, October 18, 2007 Contact Information: Les Fugate,Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Office of the Secretary of State Office: (502) 564-3490 Cell: (502) 229-3803 Les.Fugate@ky.gov (Frankfort, KY) – More Kentuckians are registered to vote than ever before in Kentucky, according to figures released by Secretary of State Trey Grayson and the Kentucky State Board of Elections. In total, 2,840,898 citizens will appear on Kentucky’s voter rolls for the November 6, 2007 general election. This figure eclipses the previous record, set for the 2007 primary election,...

0534 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 10 SW OWENSBORO 37.66N 87.25W 10/18/2007 DAVIESS KY EMERGENCY MNGR FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED NEAR THE COMMUNITY OF ST. JOSEPH. UPDATE AT 815PM...CONFIRMED MULTIPLE INJURIES REPORTED THROUGH NWS OFFICE IN LOUISVILLE. 0800 PM TORNADO NORTONVILLE 37.19N 87.46W 10/18/2007 HOPKINS KY LAW ENFORCEMENT UNCONFIRMED. SEVERAL BUILDINGS RECEIVED SEVERE DAMAGE. TIME APPROXIMATE. 0745 PM TORNADO 10 NW HOPKINSVILLE 36.96N 87.62W 10/18/2007 CHRISTIAN KY EMERGENCY MNGR UNCONFIRMED TORNADO REPORTED NEAR THE PENNYRILE FOREST STATE RESORT PARK. CONFIRMED DAMAGE WITH INJURIES. TOTAL INJURIES UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME 0058 UNK 10 SW OWENSBORO DAVIESS KY 3766 8725 WIDESPREAD DAMAGE REPORTED IN AND...

RADCLIFF — Members of gay-bashing Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., plan to picket the funeral Saturday of Pfc. Sammie Phillips. The group will protest before services begin at 2 p.m. at Stithton Baptist Church in Radcliff, according to a news release that also features biblical quotations and interpretations. The church advised Radcliff police of its plans. Organizers asked the department to designate an area for 10 church members to picket, police spokesman Bryce Shumate said. They will be restricted to an area across Dixie Boulevard and about 300 feet away from the church. The Patriot Guard Riders also will...

Majority of House GOP endorse Thompson for president Twenty of the 37 state House Republicans today will announce they are endorsing former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson in the GOP presidential primary. "I am proud to lend my support to Senator Thompson in this campaign," said Republican Floor Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown. "Kentuckians can rest assured that this is a man who shares our Kentucky values and will take them to Washington as he leads our nation in these turbulent times." Rep. James Comer of Tompkinsville added in a statement that Thompson "has a history of being a strong proponent...

We are considering a move from Michigan to Bowling Green, Kentucky to work at the Corvette plant there. Anyone live in Warren county and can offer some insight? We presently live in Brighton, Michigan...Mike

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Governor Fletcher's office has announced that the governor plans to sign a death warrant for a convicted murderer. Fletcher spokeswoman Jodi Whitaker says the governor is expected to sign the warrant for Ralph Baze Wednesday, setting an execution date for September 25th. Baze was condemned to death in 1993 for killing Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe. It would be the first execution in the state in eight years. There have been no executions in Kentucky since Fletcher took office in 2003. The state has executed two men since reinstating the death penalty...

Ten months to the day after Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown to effectively validate the American Revolution, a force of British Loyalists and Indian allies mauled a contingent of Kentucky militia pursuing them. The Battle of Blue Licks was the last of the Revolutionary War in what was to become Kentucky. The bloody confrontation wiped out 70 to 80 of the militia - about 7 percent of the white male population in the territory - in 15 minutes.Although the battle was a bitter defeat for the Americans, it set the stage for the expedition less than a...

Hello You People, The Kentucky Chapter Meeting is now concluded. I wish we could have had a larger turnout. But we had fun, nonetheless. In attendance were RonPaulLives, SomeCallMeTim, Skinkinthegrass, BlueOneGolf (and his family), and Lurker Jeff. To quote SomeCallMeTim, "I learned a great deal about Kentucky politics that I didn’t know. It was also really fun to hear the various brands of Conservatism that we all have. So many viewpoints and varying priorities.... but, we all were united in our love of Liberty. I guess this constant unites Freepers more than any other." A-men to that. We have decided...

Fleenor is part of a venture known as the XO Project. Funded by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., the XO Project is a joint effort between professional and amateur astronomers in the United States and Europe to discover planets orbiting other stars. And it is through this collaboration that Fleenor, using his backyard observatory, was part of the discovery of two such extrasolar planets, XO-2b and XO-3b. The type of planets that the project hunts for are called transiting Jovian extrasolar planets... "Transiting" indicates that the planet's orbital plane carries it in front of the star...

http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/local/local_story_172234222.html Russians with 105 pre-paid cell phones draw attention of police. This story caught my attention. What is with all the bulk cell phone buyers?

Six generations after a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek with his redheaded American bride, his great-great-great great grandson was born in a modern hospital not far from where the creek still runs. The boy inherited his father's lankiness and his mother's slightly nasal way of speaking. What he got from Martin Fugate was dark blue skin. "It was almost purple," his father recalls. Doctors were so astonished by the color of Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy's skin that they raced him by ambulance from the maternity ward in the hospital near Hazard to...

CLAY CITY, Ky. (AP) - A trusting, small-town police chief - the city's only officer - was fatally shot Wednesday after he cuffed a suspect's hands in the front instead of the back, authorities said. In most circumstances, officers cuff in the back to restrict mobility. But cuffing in the front was a practice that Chief Randy Lacy, 55, often used when arresting people he knew, said Greg Adams, a Powell County sheriff's deputy. The suspect, who had been stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence, had a long criminal history, records show. It wasn't clear how the suspect...

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The 100-acre bluegrass pasture at the state prison where Tomo, a retired thoroughbred, spends most of his days grazing under the hot Kentucky sun is a long way from the glitzy, fast-paced racetracks where he grew up. At age 6, with a less than stellar career behind him, Tomo was headed to a slaughterhouse last year, like thousands of horses whose racing days have ended. But he is one of the lucky ones. He landed a slot at the Blackburn Correctional Complex, where inmates care for the horses as if they were their own. It was on...

The departure of former University of Kentucky men's basketball coach Tubby Smith may have stifled the progress being made to improve race relations in Lexington, a community leader said yesterday. Smith, who left in March to be the coach of the University of Minnesota, was among the topics discussed by community leaders during yesterday's Lexington Forum meeting. The race issue surrounding Smith, the university's first black head basketball coach, came to the forefront when he was named as a candidate for the job. That was, in part, because there has been a longstanding debate about whether former UK head coach...