Free Republic

Around Martinsville, in eastern Nacogdoches County, country roads trail past farms and ranches. It's a place where people used to talk about hay yields. Now discussion has turned to politics. Protest signs reading, " No Trespassing to Trans Texas Corridor hang on their fences and gates. This week's discussion centers around a rally on the day Governor Rick Perry will be in Nacogdoches delivering a commencement speech. He may need more luck than the graduates. Trans Texas Corridor opponent, Larry Shelton said, " We want to send a message loud and clear to the governor that we are tired of...

FREE REPUBLIC NASCAR THREAD Goody's Cool Orange 500 Welcome all to the Sprint Cup race atMartinsville Speedway (Click on the Pics, Graphics, & Links for related news & info.) Current Cup driver standings VT's Beamer Cool Orange Grand Marshal Virginia Tech’s Military Marching Bandwill Perform National Anthem for Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Fans In South Terrace Seats Will Get Martinsville Hotdogs Delivered Track Schedule for the Goody's Cool Orange 500/Kroger 250 Goody's Cool Orange 500 Entry List Qualifying: Friday 3/28 3:40 pm Sprint Cup Qualifying ~ SPEEDRace: Sunday 3/30 1:30 pm SPRINT Cup Race ~ FOX Speed's NASCAR Raceday...

The Nacogdoches County commissioners court voted Tuesday to support numerous community members who have recently turned out in droves opposing the proposed I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor by adopting a resolution against the project. The resolution is expected to be sent to the Texas Department of Transportation and to the governor's office. Precinct 4 Commissioner Tom Strickland said that it's apparent most people in Nacogdoches County approved of the original project — a standard Interstate roadway. But now most are opposed to the large TTC structure. 145th District Court Judge Campbell Cox II submitted a map that showed several oil and gas wells...

NACOGDOCHES — The rows of extra chairs brought into the The Fredonia's biggest meeting room Thursday night were not enough to accommodate more than 750 people who attended an open house and public hearing on the proposed TTC-69 highway. Texas Department of Transportation officials heard hours of public testimony that continued late into the night overwhelmingly opposed to the construction of new roadways through East Texas. Applause throughout the hours-long meeting never swelled as loudly as it did when the first speaker of the night, state Rep. Wayne Christian, told TxDOT representatives emphatically that "our answer is 'no' on the...

HOUSTON -- It did not take long Tuesday for the Texas Department of Transportation to find out what the Houstonians at a public hearing thought about the proposed 600-mile Trans-Texas Corridor, KPRC Local 2 reported. "George Washington, Sam Houston would vomit on you people," one attendee said. Chris Zora, who opposes the plan, attended the hearing at the Arabia Shrine Center in Southwest Houston. "I'd like to see a show of hands here of anybody that approves of this corridor," Zora said. "Is there anyone in this room who approves of this corridor? Raise your hands if you approve of...

Local residents who want to add their two cents about the proposed Interstate 69 construction won't have to fill their tanks to do it. TxDOT is coming to Longview. The Texas Department of Transportation is holding 46 public hearings this month in East and South Texas along the planned corridor, including Tuesday's meeting in Longview. The hearings will give Texans a chance to comment and ask questions about the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a collection of passenger and freight roadways, utility and rail lines from Texarkana to the Rio Grande Valley. A draft environmental impact statement released in November suggests...

The majority of residents from Walker and area counties made it clear Wednesday night how they feel about the proposed I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor. They are strongly opposed to it. An estimated 800 people took action on the controversial issue. The second town hall meeting in Huntsville, offering a chance for open dialogue between residents and the Texas Department of Transportation, took on a different tone than the initial meeting Jan. 23 at the Walker Education Center. With the main building at the Walker County Fairgrounds able to accommodate the large crowd, property owners and other residents expressed their dissatisfaction with Gov....

Welcome to the weekly Nascar at FR thread! This week - the Subway 500 on October 21 and Craftsman Truck Kroger 200 on October 20. The Busch Series is off this week-end.

FREE REPUBLIC NASCAR THREAD Goody's Cool Orange 500Martinsville Speedway Welcome all to the the 6th Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway!(Click on the highlighted links for related news & info.) Earnhardt, Gordon On Tap For Martinsville Spring Fan Zones Petty named Martinsville Cup race Grand MarshalGoody's Cool Orange 500/Kroger 250 Weekend Schedule Jayski's NASCAR Related TV Listings Current & Historical Track infoAnd even more track history & infoTrack Details:Degree of Banking: Turns: 12 degrees Straights: 800 feetGrandstnd Seating: 91,000Pit Stalls: 43 pits, 14-feet wide by 28-feet long Ridgeway Clock Helps Martinsville Speedway Celebrate 60th BirthdayThe long tradition will continue...

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell and 12 of his employees have been indicted on federalcharges in an alleged drug-related racketeering conspiracy. A U-S Postal Service employee, a probation officer and five citizens were also charged in the 34-count indictment, which wasunsealed today. Charges in the indictment -- which was handed down on Tuesday --include racketeering, narcotics distribution, obstruction ofjustice and perjury. A spokesman for the U-S Marshal's Service in Roanoke says federal agents arrested most of the defendants early this morning. The indictment alleges that beginning in 1998, drugs seized bythe sheriff's office were sold to...

We're halfway through the Chase, and coming into the sole short track of the Chase season, here's how the standings look: 1. Jeff Burton - 5763 points 2. Matt Kenseth - 5718 (-45) 3. Kevin Harvick - 5674 (-89) 4. Mark Martin - 5661 (-102) 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 5657 (-106) 6. Denny Hamlin - 5626 (-137) 7. Jimmie Johnson - 5617 (-146) 8. Kasey Kahne - 5603 (-160) 9. Kyle Busch - 5568 (-195) 10. Jeff Gordon - 5547 (-216)

Here's what now passes for "news gathering" at the NBC television network in the brave, and still relatively new, world of 24/7 electronic news broadcasting: Last weekend, a crew working for the NBC News magazine program "Dateline" showed up in Martinsville, Va. for the NASCAR stock car races. With the crew were some "Muslim-looking men" - whatever that means - as part of a "Dateline" effort to show how people in this country would react to "Muslims" in their midst. In a recent statement, NBC News said it was pursuing the issue because it was "intrigued by the results of...

If one was to find anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, where would one go to look? This was the question "Dateline" producers pondered for an upcoming show. The answer apparently, as Michelle Malkin reported on her blog, is a NASCAR racetrack. So the producers decided to recruit willing Muslims to be filmed at a race. After all, Southern white males are, if anything, bigots who hate everyone else not like them.

Racing circuit was angered by crew visiting Martinsville track for story NBC tried to dispel rumors that it was investigating NASCAR for a segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, saying the focus of the story will be a widespread look across the country. "Dateline is not planning a story about NASCAR," the network said in a release Thursday. "We are following up on a recent poll and other articles indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. ... The NASCAR race at Martinsville was a stop we have made in our research on this story, which...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR said it was "outrageous" that "Dateline NBC" targeted one of its racetracks last weekend for a possible segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. NASCAR said NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Va., walked around and no one bothered them," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday. "It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said....

NASCAR said it was "outrageous" that "Dateline NBC" targeted one of its race tracks last weekend for a possible segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. NASCAR said NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Va., walked around and no one bothered them," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday. "It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said. "Any legitimate...

NBC: STAGING THE NEWS AGAIN? By Michelle Malkin   ·   April 04, 2006 08:25 AM A source who monitors political e-mail lists sent me an intriguing message disseminated last week, which involved an apparent Dateline NBC solicitation to Muslim groups. Check this out: Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 13:05:54 -0800 (PST) From: Subject: Looking for Muslim Males to participate in NBC Dateline Segment [Forwarded] Salam, I hope everyone is doing well. I have been talking with a producer of the NBC Dateline show and he is in the process of filming a piece on anti-Muslim and anti-Arab discrimination in the USA....

Welcome to the weekly Nascar at FR thread! This week - the DirecTV 500 on April 2 and Craftsman Truck Kroger 250 on April 1. The Busch Series is off this week-end.

Several Martinsville High School students say teachers stopped their calls to 911 while a fellow student was choking, because cell phones aren't allowed on campus. Witnesses tell police the victim was rushing to finish his lunch before leaving the cafeteria, because you can't bring food outside. That's when they say he started choking, went into cardiac arrest, and died at the hospital. Multiple 911 calls went out from Martinsville High School. Witnesses say Jesse Tucker choked on a hamburger. Paramedics rushed the 15 year-old freshman to the hospital, where he later died. "It's really hard to grasp the fact that...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- An emotional Rick Hendrick expressed disappointment Saturday about a lawsuit filed against him by the widow of one of his employees killed in a 2004 plane crash, calling some of her claims a "cheap shot" and a personal attack on his family. Dianne Dorton filed suit earlier this week in North Carolina, saying Hendrick Motorsports was liable in the death of her husband, Randy. He was one of 10 people killed in October 2004 when a Hendrick plane crashed near Martinsville, Va., en route to a NASCAR race. Her suit claimed Hendrick Motorsports showed "conscious and...

Urged on by roaring fans, 43 NASCAR rivals flashed around the flat oval at Virginia's Martinsville Speedway in the Subway 500. Drivers braked at the track's notorious wreck-maker turns, then screamed down the straightaways at speeds of up to 126 mph. Before packed grandstands and a national television audience, each car doubled as a speeding billboard emblazoned with logos like Home Depot, Motorcraft, Interstate Batteries, and . . . Care-Net Pregnancy Centers? Hardly your standard manly racecar ad. But Joe Gibbs Racing Team driver Bobby Labonte indeed circled the track on Oct. 23 in the Interstate Batteries car, its entire...

Welcome to this weeks race for the championship at Martinsville Track Facts:Banking/Turns: 12 Distance: 0.526 miles Shape: Oval

Advanced Auto Parts 500 Martinsville, Virginia Track Facts Banking/Turns: 12 Distance: 0.526 miles Shape: Oval

22 year old Lance Corporal Demarkus Brown of Martinsville, Virginia was killed Friday in Iraq (Fallujah), due to enemy action.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - A plane owned by the Hendrick Motorsports organization crashed Sunday on its way to a NASCAR (news - web sites) race, killing all 10 people aboard, federal officials said. Eight passengers and two pilots died in the crash, a spokesman with the National Transportation Safety Board (news - web sites) said. A spokesman for a funeral home where the bodies were being taken said the dead included four relatives of team owner Rick Hendrick, including his son and brother.

A plane carrying members of the Hendrick Motorsports organization, one of the top teams in American stock car racing, was missing Sunday after losing contact with the Federal Aviation Administration on its way to a NASCAR race, and a search was underway for the aircraft. The plane en route to the Nextel Cup race in Martinsville, Va. crashed in the Bull Mountain area of Virginia, killing all 10 on board, according to North Carolina TV station WXII's website. "The plane was en route to Martinsville and lost it on radar and that's all the information we have," NASCAR vice president...

This morning at the Martinsville Speedway, myself and a fellow Bush supporter held a pro-Bush demonstration near the entrance of today's Nextel Cup race. Thousands of vehicles and hundreds of pedestrians passed by on their way to the racetrack. We were well received for the most part as 90% of the comments were positive. Over 300 Bush-Cheney bumper stickers and 100-200 lapel stickers were given out to Bush supporters. A few yard signs were given to those who made donations to our local Republican organization. I arrived at the rally venue around 7:30 am to set things up. My partner,...

It was just mentioned on NBC at the end of the race that a plane crash carrying Hendricks motorsports personnel had occurred and thus no victory lane activities took place. Jimmie Johnson won the race. NBC ended the broadcast shortly after the announcement. You can find a link to the text at the above site, but I'll copy it here as it appears to be busy now.... Hendrick plane goes down close to Martinsville track By JIM UTTER ThatsRacin.com Writer A Hendrick Motorsports plane carrying two pilots and eight other passengers crashed into Bull Mountain, about 10 miles west of...

Just announced at the conclusion of the Subway 500. A plane owned by Hendrick Motor Sports has gone down near Martinsville, VA.

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAYNBC Sunday October 24, 2004 at 12:30pm ET5 RACES TO GO!! At slightly more than half a mile, Martinsville Speedway is the shortest track on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Circuit, but it's one of the biggest when it comes to action. It has 800-foot straights, turns banked at only 12 degrees and has been called "two drag strips with a turnaround on each end." The demanding layout consistently produces some of the wildest fender scrubbing, push and shove racing on the tour.

A pro-Bush FReep is in the planning stages for the Nextel Cup "Subway 500" at the Martinsville Speedway (VA) on October 24, 2004. This event is being organized in conjunction with the Greensboro, NC city chapter of Protest Warrior. As 100,000 fans are expected to attend this event, this offers an excellent opportunity to show our support for President Bush and perhaps sway a few undecided voters. I am trying to line-up a location outside the speedway grounds with local GOP officials, preferably along US 220, which is the main artery for race traffic approaching the speedway. Martinsville Speedway policy...

A pro-Bush FReep is in the planning stages for Oct. 24, 2004 near the Martinsville Speedway in conjunction with the Greensboro city chapter of Protest Warrior. We are planning to erect a large Bush-Cheney '04 sign along US 220 near the speedway as 100,000 fans are expected to attend. We will have some Bush-Cheney bumper stickers and yard signs on hand to pass out to the race fans.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Reversing the trend of manufacturers shipping jobs overseas, a local textile manufacturer is closing its operations in Mexico and moving them to Henry County. Globaltex, which opened the Henry County plant earlier this year, has operated a factory in Mexico since 1994. "When we first started the Virginia plant, we were thinking of (the two plants) complimenting each other," said Globaltex President and CEO Jose Antonio Diaz-Llaneza during an interview. However, the company decided to close the Mexico plant because of a dramatic difference in lead time between the two plants--a minimum of five weeks for orders...

Well Rusty Wallace finally wins one after almost 3 years!!! Looks fresh as a daisy getting out of the car!!! Refreshing to see someone win a Nextel (Winston) Cup race without doing the doughnuts/burnouts.... he did the Kulwicki Polish victory lap!!! I am pleased! Age 47, not about to retire. After a long delay for a track that was coming apart. Doughnuts are for kids.

Support Our Troops!!! God bless our young men and women who fight the forces of darkness around the world and bless their families and nations. This thread is dedicated to the Marines and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for FReedom and Liberty for All. Semper Fi

This thread dedicated to our Armed Forces and their families as WE the people wage a war against Terrorism Worldwide . Godspeed.. and God Bless.

Dedicated to Our Armed Forces and Coalition forces and to the memory of the fallen and injured and their families. Liberating the world, one regime change at a time.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- It appears Jeff Gordon loves Martinsville in the springtime. For the third time in his career, Gordon grabbed the Bud Pole at Martinsville Speedway, turning a lap of 94.307 mph Friday to earn the top starting spot for Sunday's Virginia 500. Gordon, whose three poles at Martinsville have all come in the spring race, knocked Dale Earnhardt Jr. off the pole. Earnhardt's best lap was 93.863. The rest of the top five included Ryan Newman, Ken Schrader and Rusty Wallace.