Free Republic

The monument with a confederate soldier looking out over the town has stood for 100 years in front of the Bryan County Courthouse. As monuments like it are coming under fire around the country, it is finding help from an unlikely ally. “I’m trying to at least hold on and to claim the history and the heritage that is mine, not just white folk. But, that heritage belongs to me, too,” said Arlene Barnum. If you see Barnum, you might do a double take. She’s a black woman wearing a confederate flag on a necklace. “I’ve been run off the...

On Saturday, 19 August, 2017, the Wagoner County, Oklahoma, Sheriff auctioned off 300 firearms, a number of vehicles, and other items that have been taking up space in their property room. You can view images of the vehicles and the gun on line at the rockinmauction.com website.A list of the available firearms is available here, but the information is not completely accurate.  For example, the make of an RG10 pistol is listed as “Bohm”, a simple misreading of Rohm. There are numerous plain Jane hunting rifles and shotguns, some more desirable than others. The list shows 15 Marlin .22...

A measure to ban the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma has been launched through an online petition. The petition, powered through the Aavaaz website, was created by a person only identified as "Nikolas T." and posted on Sunday. On the petition itself, the creator writes "The Ku Klux Klan is a hate group and should be labeled as such. The Black Panther Party actually provided practical and useful help for their community, yet they were labeled a hate group and systematically dismantled by the CIA and FBI. The KKK has and will always be a hate group and still exists...

Authorities say an Oklahoma man hated the federal government and wanted to create a revolution by blowing up a building in downtown Oklahoma City. According to a criminal complaint, the FBI arrested 23-year-old Jerry Drake Varnell on Aug. 12 after he allegedly attempted to detonate what he believed to be an explosives-laden van in an alley next to BancFirst in downtown Oklahoma City. "He wanted to make the biggest impact wherever he was going to place his bomb. And, in his mind, this would have been the biggest impact in Oklahoma," said Raul Bujanda, the assistant special agent in charge...

‘Out for blood’: Hatred of federal government, calls for revolution alleged motives of man arrested in foiled Oklahoma City bomb plotA hatred of the federal government and calls for a revolution are just some of the alleged motives behind an Oklahoma man's attempted plot to blow up a downtown Oklahoma City building, patterned after the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing. Jerry Drake Varnell, 23, of Sayre, Okla. was arrested early Saturday morning after a van, laden with 1,000 pounds of what he believed to be ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, failed to detonate outside the BancFirst National Building...

The hacktivist collective Anonymous is planning a "Denouncement Day" this Friday to "denounce the Confederacy, to denounce racism, bigotry and hate," saying "it is time to take down these monuments of hate ourselves." Supporters plan to gather at 6 p.m. EST at the statue of Rear Adm. Raphael Semmes in Mobile, Ala., the Confederate Soldiers Monument in Little Rock, the Jackson Guards Memorial in Jacksonport, Ark., the Searcy Confederate Memorial in Searcy, Ark., the Our Confederate Dead monument in Munn Park in Lakeland, Fla., the Confederate Monument in Piedmont Park in Atlanta (which was defaced with spray paint this week),...

A former Union County middle school gym teacher was arrested Monday for a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Monday. Shawnetta D. Reece, 40, of Blairsville, was sexually involved with the student in 2013, the agency said in a news release. Reece was arrested after the Union County Sheriff’s Office received information on the alleged relationship, and asked the GBI to assist with the investigation. "The student was moving from the 8th grade into the 9th grade during this time," the news release stated. "As a result of the investigation, Reece has been arrested...

We are learning more about the Oklahoma bail bond agent who is charged with murder after she fatally shot a man she was trying to take into custody. Around 11:40 a.m. last Wednesday, Chasity Carey, 41, of Signature Bail Bonds in Stillwater, called 9-1-1 stating she had just shot a man, identified as 38-year-old Brandon James Williams. When officers arrived, Williams was found dead at the scene. Police said Williams was arrested in late July 2017 and charged with three counts of second-degree burglary as well as possession of marijuana. Brandon Williams He was released from jail on August 1,...

A 23-year-old man who said he hated the U.S. government has been arrested by the FBI for allegedly trying to blow up an Oklahoma City bank with what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb in a truck. According to a criminal complaint, Jerry Drake Varnell wanted to start a militia group and admired Timothy McVeigh, the domestic terrorist who was convicted and executed for setting off a massive truck bomb outside a federal building in Oklahoma City in April 1995. Varnell thought he was dealing with two fellow sympathizers in the anti-government movement but they were a confidential informant and...

<p>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge has awarded $1 million against a former Oklahoma teacher who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2015 for sex crimes involving her teenage student.</p> <p>An attorney for 31-year-old Jennifer Caswell says she will be in prison for the next several years and has no money to pay her former student.</p>

WARNING: Some people may find some of the language in this story offensive.Facebook post targeting LGBTQ community by Cleveland County reserve deputy causing controversy h CLEVELAND COUNTY, Okla. – A social media post allegedly made by a Cleveland County Sheriff’s deputy is creating backlash among minority groups. “The new generation is filled with lib tards, transvestites, gays and sissies who need a safe room,” the post said. The post was made by Ken Coartney on Facebook and we confirmed with Cleveland County that he is a reserve deputy. “It’s hateful language. I mean, I think he, especially being in a...

The point of this note is to demonstrate the irresponsibility of the media and the hypocrisy of muslims and muslim organizations. After the Murray building bombing, the media in their normal irresponsible fashion put out stories without substantiation that "Middle Eastern" groups may be have been responsible for the bombing. As a result, individuals went after muslims in this country. The muslims understandbly complained: In the case of the Oklahoma City Bombing, Hamzi Moghrabi, chairman of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, blamed the media for the attacks on Muslims and Arabs that took place just days after the bombing.Now, the media...

<p>OKLAHOMA CITY — Democrats have swept special elections for a state House vacancy from the Tulsa area and a state Senate vacancy from Oklahoma City, both vacated by Republicans who resigned.</p> <p>In House District 75, which includes portions of east Tulsa and north Broken Arrow, unofficial results show voters picked Democrat Karen Gaddis over Republican Tressa Nunley on Tuesday. Both were vying to replace former Republican state Rep. Dan Kirby, who resigned this year after two former legislative assistants accused him of sexual harassment. Kirby has admitted he used poor judgment but denied harassing legislative aides.</p>

BIXBY, Oklahoma - Local and federal authorities are investigating after an explosion outside an Air Force recruiting station in Bixby late Monday. Bixby Police say they started getting calls about an explosion just after 10:30 p.m. The recruiting station is located in the Post Rock Plaza in the 10400 block of South 82nd East Avenue just off South Memorial Drive.

This week, The Heritage Foundation is updating its Voter Fraud Database with 89 new entries, including 75 convictions and a slew of overturned elections and civil fines targeting vote fraudsters. With these latest additions, the database now documents 581 cases of proven voter fraud and 848 criminal convictions. Heritage’s database proves not only that voter fraud is real and ongoing, but also that it is not isolated to any particular state or region. With the addition of cases from Nebraska and Oklahoma—two states previously unaccounted for in the database—Heritage now has documented proof of electoral fraud in 47 states. This...

OKLAHOMA CITY – Police say a fight over Star Trek and Star Wars led to an assault in the metro.Jerome Dewayne Whyte, 23, was arrested July 1 on a complaint of assault and battery, possession of marijuana and outstanding Oklahoma County warrants.Oklahoma City Police Department reports show that Whyte and another man were in the living room of an apartment in the 1400 block of NW 16 Street when they began arguing if Star Wars or Star Trek was better. The victim told police he became frustrated and stated "You're just a trick" before walking back to his room.

Oklahoma City barber shop responds after photo of Confederate flag haircut goes viral A haircut by a popular Oklahoma City barber shop has ignited a firestorm on social media. Employees at Fade N Up said a white customer requested a Confederate flag be shaved into his head by a black barber, and the barbershop posted the photo on social media. The photo created the firestorm on Facebook with many condemning the customer and the shop. However, the shop's owner said the picture doesn't tell the whole story. “I was thinking it was some racist-type stuff but, as he sat down...

East Central University said they will remove crosses, Bibles and other religious symbols from a campus chapel to appease a bunch of out-of-town agitators. It’s unclear when the Oklahoma school will commence with the Christian cleansing of the Kathryn P. Boswell Memorial Chapel. The chapel opened in 1957. “We will continue to use the building as we always have, for all faiths,” ECU President Katricia Pierson said in a statement to the Ada News. “We do not want to presume to embrace one faith over another. We support all cultures and attempt to make them comfortable when they are here.”...

Protests erupted in Tulsa, Okla. Saturday following the police shooting of a knife-wielding man outside a convenience store. Two deputies and one police officer shot and killed 29-year-old Joshua Barre, who is black, on Friday morning after receiving multiple 911 calls saying he carried “two butcher knives” and threatened people, police said, local media reported. Barre’s mother, Etta Jones Barre, described her son as “mentally ill,” CNN affiliate KTUL reported

On 17 May, 2017, SB 35, the recognition of military, guard and reserve members to carry concealed weapons based on a military, reserve, or national guard valid I.D. card, was signed into law by Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin.SB 35 was popular in the legislature. It passed the Senate on 15 March, 2017, 40-2.  It was amended on 11 April in the House. It passed the House  on 19 April, 2017, 85 – 0.The amended version then passed the Senate unanimously, 46-0. It was signed by Governor Fallin on 17 May, 2017.Many states accept military service as meeting the requirement for...