Free Republic

Brilliant — in a bizarre kind of way. What other way to describe the Gas for Guns trade scheduled for Sept. 15 at Bloomfield Full Gospel Baptist Church in South Memphis? Modeled after similar programs in other cities with too much gun crime, Gas for Guns offers a $50 gas card and two tickets to a Memphis Grizzlies game to anyone willing to trade in an unwanted gun — no questions asked. Mayor A C Wharton, a number of Memphis-area radio stations, The Tri-State Defender newspaper and Bloomfield Baptist all have pitched in to make this event work — and...

Everyone can use some free gas these days, right? As a part of his Memphis Summer Challenge Initiative, Mayor A.C. Wharton and several community conscious sponsors have joined forces to offer free $50 gas cards to citizens who turn in guns, as part of an effort to stop gun violence in the city of Memphis, particularly among teens. The event is going to take place on Saturday, September 15, 2012 in the parking lot of Bloomfield Baptist Church, located at 123 S, Parkway West, Memphis, TN 39109, from 10:00 a.m until 2:00 p.m. There will be no questions asked about...

A Memphis-area mother is facing aggravated assault charges after attacking her sons’ little league football coach with a baseball bat. According to the no-nonsense mother, the coach had molested her sons and, upon seeing him, she simply couldn’t control herself. The New York Daily News relates: “I didn’t intend to do whatever I did to him,” said [Lakeshia Richmond]. “I apologize, but I don’t apologize for what happened to my kids.” She claimed one of her sons told her Saturday that [Tony Massey] touched him inappropriately. “I said, ‘was it just you?’ and he said ‘no, it was some more...

The Shelby County Commission has filed a subpoena in federal court asking for the identities of all online commenters in The Commercial Appeal's stories about suburban plans to create their own school districts. (snip) On June 26, the County Commission attorneys filed a federal court motion to block the Aug. 2 referendums to start school districts in Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington. They argued that the people who arranged the referendums are trying to discriminate against African-Americans by carving out majority white suburban districts from the new unified school district. (snip) But, Levy said, "Let's hypothesize that people...

Memphis man indicted for helping teachers cheat on licensing exams in Tenn., Ark. and Miss.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 10, 2012 - 6:19 pm EDT MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man has been indicted on federal charges that he was paid thousands of dollars by aspiring teachers in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi to have other people take their teacher licensing exams. The federal indictment released Tuesday said 58-year-old Clarence Mumford hired a group of test takers, including Memphis City Schools employees or former employees, and used false documents during licensing exams in the three states. The Commercial Appeal reported that the...

Memphis may join the growing list of cash-strapped cities that ask nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations to make payments in lieu of tax. The City Council will vote Tuesday on a resolution to form a committee to explore the idea. "We want to see if this is feasible, and if it is feasible, how much revenue it could generate," said council member Janis Fullilove, who sponsored the resolution. Fullilove said the committee, if approved, would focus on tax-exempt and nonprofit entities that gross $15 million or more annually. As municipal budgets have felt the crunch of the economic slowdown, cities across...

The Shelby County Board of Commissioners filed a petition in federal court Tuesday to block Aug. 2 elections that could create six new suburban school districts, arguing that those who sought the elections are deliberately discriminating against black residents. The lawsuit alleges that "race was a motivating factor behind the enactment of the Shelby County Municipal School Acts and that such Acts are purposefully discriminatory." The filing is the latest step in a dispute over the proposed merger of the area's two largest school systems, the majority-black Memphis City Schools and the smaller, majority-white Shelby County Schools. The systems are...

Kadia Sy hovered over her husband's nursing home bed Thursday, stroking his cheek and forehead, and shaking his shoulder as if to snap him back to life. But her husband, beating victim Alassane Sy, 67, didn't respond. He suffered severe brain damage April 6 when prosecutors say a teen delivered two blows to Sy's head with a baseball bat over a parking dispute. While the victim's wife was desperate to wake him during a visit to Covington Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, the couple's son, Djibril, 17, seemed more resigned. "He's never going to be the same," he said of...

(Memphis) Latoya Shields says she had to sit down when she heard the news, “During the whole relationship, I only knew of four children.” When a prosecutor told her that the father of her child had 20 other children she said her knees buckled, “At that time, three years ago, my child was the 21st child. Yeah, that would be overwhelming for anybody.” She says after spending almost 8 years with Terry Turnage, she had no idea what he what he had been up to. WREG tried to find out by going to Shelby County Juvenile Court. Turnage had filed...

At least one man is in custody after a violent sexual assault that happened during a home invasion. Three men were inside a home on Orr Street when four armed men forced their way inside. The intruders taped the victims' mouths, noses, and eyes. Their wrists and ankles were bound with plastic ties. One of the victims was taken to one room, while the other two were taken to another. According to a police affidavit, they were beaten with a baseball bat and broom handle. All three of the men were sodomized and sexually assaulted with the weapons. The incident...

NASHVILLE – The state Senate gave final legislative approval this afternoon to a bill allowing the Memphis suburbs to hold referendums and school board elections this year on new municipal school districts, despite charges that the bill is “part of a growing trend…of apartheid in Shelby County.” The bill now goes to the governor for his signature, which is expected soon. The House approved the same measure Friday, which was the critical vote. The Senate, which had approved virtually the same language in the bill last week, followed suit today, approving the measure on a 22-9 vote that was largely...

A piñata shaped like a white woman was strung up to a tree at the University of Memphis, then African-American students took turns beating it with a stick. Where is Al Sharpton when you need him? Isn’t this a shocking case of racism? No, actually it isn’t. Turns out the students involved were mere grade school kids, brought on campus for a special “Luau” party sponsored by the university. The piñata was supposed to represent a hula dancer. “We want to assure our community that no racial or gender animosity was intended,” said a university spokesperson. At worst, this...

Before resigning last month as the Memphis officer heard on a police radio allegedly having sexual relations with a woman, Dion D. Anthony claimed that the encounter was a charade. He claimed he faked sexually explicit comments and sounds with a woman and broadcast them to expose racism and unfairness in the Memphis Police Department. Anthony, 37, raised the issues in an interview during an internal investigation at the department of the 58 seconds of sex talk broadcast over an open microphone on the police radio about 8:40 p.m. on March 12. "I was not having sex on duty," Anthony...

MEMPHIS, April 9 (UPI) -- Memphis police said an Easter egg hunt ended with a brawl between two families and a woman's arrest for taking a hammer to a man's head. Police said the man argued with Annette Pearson, 43, Sunday because he thought she was giving the children too much help finding the grand prize golden egg containing $7, The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Monday. The families broke into violence after the man slapped the woman twice and police said Pearson retrieved a claw hammer from her house and struck the man in the head, leaving a wound that...

The latest labor stats offer better news for the Memphis area than for Memphis. The number of people employed -- 563,640 -- in the eight-county Memphis metropolitan area is a 3.2 percent increase over February 2011 when 545,880 were working. But among Memphis residents, the number employed fell by 7,890, or 3 percent, from 270,000 to 262,110. Those numbers show that while local employment is on the rebound since the most recent recession, the growth is not evenly distributed across the metro area. The disparity, a local economist said, may result from a continued migration of people and wealth from...

This is based on a genealogy table I made. Had a bit more trouble than I should have tracking down the first round results, wth.

A federal judge’s ruling has temporarily halted the Tennessee Department of Health’s decision to rescind funding for Planned Parenthood’s HIV and syphilis testing program. Today, U.S. Dist. Judge William Haynes granted a preliminary injunction filed by Planned Parenthood, which is suing the state over $150,000 in dropped grants. A portion of the grant money supported HIV testing at Planned Parenthood affiliates including the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center.

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - A state lawmaker with a history of impassioned speeches was at it again at the Capitol. This time, Sen. Ophelia Ford, D-Memphis, wanted to talk about nurses and her experiences in the hospital. Sen. Ford reacted during a senate committee meeting Tuesday night over a proposal that would increase penalties for assaults on healthcare workers. The Memphis lawmaker talked about her own experience during two separate hospitalizations in recent years. "I cannot tell you the horrific experience that I had, and it was nurses who were mainly doing these things to me," she said. The bill...

MEMPHIS, TN -(WMC-TV) – Police say a two-year-old pointed a gun at them while they were checking on a report that the child and its siblings were left alone in a car while their mother got her nails done. It was a bizarre twist of events that left other customers wondering why a mother would leave her kids alone in such a dangerous environment. "It's a crying shame," said Nicole Eubanks, after she heard about the arrest of 23-year-old Erica Rooks. "It doesn't make any sense." Rooks is charged with marijuana possession, unlawful possession of a weapon and three counts...

What you’re about to hear is stunning. Get ready. Here’s how MRC explains the exchange between a Memphis radio host, Thaddeus Matthews, and a GOP candidate for Congress, Charlotte Bergmann: "This shocking video (uploaded to YouTube by someone not friendly to the Tea Party) shows Memphis talk radio host Thaddeus Matthews insulting and humiliating Republican congressional candidate Charlotte Bergmann on air." And that’s being kind. Matthews quickly became upset with Bergmann when she wouldn’t answer directly about any affiliation with the Tea Party. Then he launched into a 16-minute argument filled with curse words and accusations that added up to...