Free Republic

SNIPPET: "BREAKING NEWS — A Continental Express plane with 48 people aboard crashed into a suburban Buffalo home and erupted in flames on Thursday night, killing everyone onboard. The FAA reported 44 passengers and 4 crew members were on the plane. There was one unconfirmed death on the ground." SNIPPET: "Authorities say Continental Airlines Flight 3407 was operated by Manassas, Virginia-based Colgan Air. It was en route from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo. The plane is a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400."

Police have charged a man with beating and duct taping a 3-year-old girl at his home outside Manassas. Officers were called to the house in the 11200 block of Golden Leaf Drive on Tuesday night, where they found a girl who had been hit and bound in duct tape, Prince William County police spokeswoman Sharon Richardson said. The girl is not related to the suspect, police said. An acquaintance of the man notified police of the alleged abuse. Erik Guevara, 35, was charged with two counts of felony child abuse and two counts of domestic assault and battery, police said....

Prince William County police arrested a Manassas area man Monday for raping a 24-year-old developmentally disabled woman, according to spokesperson Erika Hernandez. Brayan Migdanio Bustillo Fuentes, 21, 9933 Portsmouth Rd., was charged with rape and is being held without bond in the Prince William-Manassas Adult Detention Center. At approximately 1 p.m. Monday, the police began investigating a rape that occurred at Fuentes’ address . The investigation revealed that the victim was walking in the neighborhood when she passed the accused’s residence. The accused, who knew the victim, coerced her to go with him and then raped her. An illegal immigrant...

Manassas police officers will begin checking the residency status of everyone arrested starting Dec. 1, the city announced Tuesday. The policy is intended to bring the department's immigration laws into "lockstep" with Prince William County's recently revised law, officials said. Under the policy, Manassas police officers will ask about the immigration status of anyone arrested for violation of a state or local law. However, as in Prince William, police will be able to ask about a person's residency before arrest if the officer thinks the person may be in the country illegally. "I think the [City] Council is certainly in...

Exactly 15 years ago this week the world first heard the story of John Wayne and Lorena Bobbitt. John Wayne, an ex-Marine, was accused of coming home drunk and raping his wife. Lorena was accused of retaliating by cutting off her husband's penis while he was asleep. Lorena went from anonymous to notorious - her story the subject of countless newspaper and magazine articles. Now in her first ever network morning show interview she discusses how she's using her notoriety to help others. "All of a sudden, my private life is out in the open and it's an open book...

The city of Manassas, VA could become the next Virginia locality to enact measures targeting illegal aliens. Manassas City Council member Marc T. Aveni, a Republican, yesterday said he wants to introduce a resolution similar to one passed by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors in July, which would deny public services to illegal aliens and toughen local immigration enforcement. "I need to get the rest of the council on board, but I think it"s absolutely something we would want to do," Mr. Aveni said, citing inactivity at the federal and state levels as one of the main...

"Si se puede! Si se puede!" That's what motorists up and down Prince William Parkway heard Sunday at the pro-immigration rally and march. The rough English translation to the Spanish statement is "Yes, we can," and it was echoed over and over by the several thousand people gathered at the Sean T. Connaughton Community Plaza to protest the anti-illegal immigration resolution passed by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

I'd like to thank the Manassas Journal-Messenger for entering into the debate regarding the presence of illegal aliens in our community and their mention of our new organization Help Save Manassas. Our grass roots effort is dedicated to helping promote effective and responsible public policy on this issue which will reduce the number of illegal aliens in our community and the negative impacts that their presence imposes. This year a number of important pieces of legislation were introduced in the General Assembly that failed to pass, including prohibition of in-state tuition for illegal aliens, prohibiting public funds from being used...

A battle over immigration has begun to take center stage in Manassas, Va. Residents called Help Save Manassas held an organizational meeting Tuesday in the Manassas City Council chambers of City Hall. Many said they feel its up to them to do something about the impact illegal immigration is having on their communities. "Our goals are to help find solutions to the residential overcrowding problem to help find ways to make sure our public safety is promoted -- we don't have lawlessness and gangs; that are schools continue to remain strong and that our county budget and city budget aren't...

Manassas, Second Other Names: Manassas, Second Bull Run, Manassas Plains, Groveton, Gainesville, Brawner's Farm Location: Prince William County Campaign: Northern Virginia Campaign (June-September 1862) Date(s): August 28-30, 1862 Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. John Pope [US]; Gen. Robert E. Lee and Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson [CS] Forces Engaged: Armies Estimated Casualties: 22,180 total (US 13,830; CS 8,350) Description: In order to draw Pope’s army into battle, Jackson ordered an attack on a Federal column that was passing across his front on the Warrenton Turnpike on August 28. The fighting at Brawner Farm lasted several hours and resulted in a stalemate....

Local police said they intercepted 20 illegal Mexican immigrants, but were ordered by immigration officials to let them go free. Belmont County Sheriff Fred Thompson said his officers were instructed by federal immigration services to let all 20 illegal immigrants go free, and said his department has no choice but to follow the orders from immigration officials. Thompson said officers stopped a van at 3 a.m. Tuesday which was traveling the wrong direction on Interstate 470 in St. Clairsville. The officer discovered 20 illegal Mexican immigrants inside the van, including three who were previously deported. The officer immediately contacted immigration...

WASHINGTON -- America has no more than 20 years before the last of the unprotected but critical Civil War battlefields are "preserved or paved over," the president of the Civil War Preservation Trust said Thursday. Revealing a list of the 10 most-endangered battlefields at a news conference with country musician Darryl Worley, trust president O. James Lighthizer called the hallowed acreage "outdoor classrooms" under serious threat of development. Although the trust has had success in preserving more than 18,000 acres of critical battlefields, including parts of Shiloh in Tennessee, Iuka and Corinth in Mississippi and Antietam in Maryland, important tracts...

Q: After having read many accounts of the Civil War, I still don’t understand why South Carolina fired on Ft. Sumter, galvanizing the North into war.  What do you think might have happened had the South continued to let these coastal forts be manned by the Union for a longer time? Hanson: I think conflict was inevitable, because the South had little appreciation of Northern industrial power nor of the competence of a number of formerly nondescript Union officers. The best officers of the Mexican War had joined the Confederacy and there was an erroneous general impression that all superior...

Sniper Killer Muhammad Sentenced to Death Tue Mar 9, 1:03 PM ET By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer MANASSAS, Va. - A judge rejected John Allen Muhammad's insistence of innocence and sentenced him to death Tuesday, saying his actions in the Washington-area sniper shootings that left 10 people dead were "so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension." Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. also turned aside a plea from Muhammad's lawyers to spare their client's life. He ordered that Muhammad be executed on Oct. 14, but that date likely will be postponed to allow appeals. Muhammad, 43, was convicted...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

“Just one torpedo can ruin your whole day.”“There are two kinds of ships: submarines and targets.” – US Navy sayings From anti-submarine warfare to anti-terrorism, it’s both a new and an old world for the US armed forces. The US Navy’s plan to test its Littoral Airborne Sensor - Hyperspectral (LASH) this fall aboard a P-3C and an H-60 aircraft in the Sea of Japan has North Korea growling even as US scientists see ever greater promise for the system of locating and identifying hidden targets. LASH is being tested for its ability to locate both targets submerged in shallow...

In Virginia Beach they're into jury selection in the capital murder trial of John Muhammad, one of two implicated in the sniper shootings that terrorized the D.C. area south to Richmond a year ago. The trial may last two months. The trial of his alleged young accomplice, Lee Malvo, is set to begin later in nearby Chesapeake. Muhammad, who has pleaded not guilty, may be found innocent. But circumstantial evidence of his involvement abounds. In the realm of motive — if Muhammad participated in or helped plan the sniper shootings, why? — the principal piece of evidence, apparently carrying telltale...

One of the two accused Washington snipers, John Allen Muhammad, pleaded not guilty at the start of his first trial over the 10 random killings last year that terrorised the US capital. Muhammad, 42, could face the death penalty if found guilty. The trial has drawn enormous attention in the United States and some relatives of the victims of the shootings were in court. Wearing a white shirt and black tie, Muhammad denied the four murder, terrorism and weapons charges against him and told Judge Leroy Millette he understood the accusations. He watched silently as the start of the selection...

Jason Tyler Landress is this week’s ‘Hardball’ Hot Seat contestant. He’s a sophomore majoring in political science, and minoring in history, english and criminology. He got 3 correct answers out of 18 questions. How many questions can you answer? Take the quiz below and find out. http://msnbc.com/news/810538.asp

DANVILLE, Va. - Dr. James I. "Buddy" Robertson said Wednesday that emotion is the key element in the movie "Gods and Generals."Robertson, a renowned Civil War historian, was the historical consultant on the Warner Bros./Ted Turner movie that features Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson as its main character."Gods and Generals" is an adaptation of a book written by Jeff Shaara and is the prequel to "The Killer Angels," on which the film "Gettysburg" was based.The movie deviates from the book with a healthy dose of Jackson's character taken from Robertson's biography."This is the greatest Civil War movie ever made,"...