Free Republic

Mexican marijuana cartels use pesticides, herbicides that pollute US parks, forests National forests and parks — long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels — have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said. The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast's Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 — and authorities say the...

The woman who lived with Valentino Vasquez Miranda said he left her bed as her lover and returned an alleged killer, according to her testimony Friday in the case of an Alabama homecoming queen who was sodomized and slain inside a West Knox County motel room. Rosa Rodriquez Hernandez said she thought Miranda, her 19-year-old boyfriend and father of her 19-month-old daughter, had gone for a beer -Snip- "I woke up (as he was leaving)," she testified in Knox County General Sessions Court. "He asked me for the keys." Those keys included a master key card that allowed the pair...

Sen. Bob Corker on Friday night praised Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s announcement that he would use the authority granted to him through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to buy senior preferred shares of non-voting stock directly from financial companies: Sen. Corker said, "I applaud Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's announcement tonight that he will use the authority that Congress granted him in the rescue bill to buy senior preferred shares of non-voting stock directly from financial companies which is the quickest way to inject liquidity into the markets, get credit flowing again and protect the taxpayer at the same time. "I...

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander hopes to raise awareness about a program that could help thousands of Tennesseans. He says roughly 67,000 Tennessee homeowners with overdue mortgages could use "Hope for Homeowners" to refinance their loans. “HOPE for Homeowners" is a way for homeowners to refinance delinquent mortgages if their lenders agree to participate. This program is a good step toward boosting confidence in the housing market and helping preserve the American dream for the millions of people facing possible foreclosure,” says Alexander. His office says "HOPE for Homeowners" is a voluntary initiative to help distressed borrowers refinance their mortgages. It...

For the past few nights, McCain yard signs have been stolen from several Bradley County front lawns. In the same areas, Obama signs are still standing. Residents have been advised to call Sheriff Gobble's office. This is an unusual occurrence for Bradley County.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Bradley County’s registered voter list will likely top 60,000 before early voting begins next week. A whirlwind month of voter registration was capped Monday with 407 new registrations, Elections Director Fran Green told county election commissioners Tuesday. In the August general election the county had about 54,000 registered voters. As of Tuesday, that number was 59,891. Ms. Green held up a tray of registrations and estimated about 500 were left to process. “That will put us over 60,000, “ she said. Election Commission Chairwoman Mary Frances Armstrong praised the office staff’s effort to handle the Monday mobs.....

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A student confessed to sending threatening e-mails that prompted Middle Tennessee State University officials to cancel classes. "This e-mail was very generic and did not mention any particular person by name or a particular location other than the university as a whole," said MTSU Police Chief Buddy Peaster during a news conference Thursday afternoon. Police patrolled the Murfreesboro campus as investigators tried to trace the source of the e-mails, which were transmitted beginning Wednesday night. Computers were confiscated from the campus for analysis by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. MTSU student Justin Davis, 19, was arrested for...

Congressman Zach Wamp told the Chattanooga Rotary Club on Thursday as far as Congress was concerned, the bailout bill was never about the stock market, it was about the credit market. Rep. Wamp said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson came to Congress with a three-page explanation of the problem and a request for $700 billion, and it was Sec. Paulson who used the terms “Wall Street” and “bailout” in the same sentence. Congress must protect the interest of the American people and the first bill, the Monday bill that he voted “No” on, did not protect those interests, Rep. Wamp said....

MARYVILLE - The Japanese widow of a Maryville Marine killed in Iraq has decided to bear their son in Japan. Hotaru Ferschke, 24, relayed the decision to Sgt. Michael Ferschke's mother, Robin Ferschke, on Thursday after a doctor pronounced her fit and able to make the arduous journey to the U.S. The baby, who will be named Mikey, is due Jan. 9. Hotaru Ferschke, who had come to Maryville in August to bury her husband of one month, ran into bureaucratic problems when she tried to return to the U.S. to have the baby, as she and her husband had...

Says Issue Is "About Main Street, Not Wall Street" Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), on Wednesday voted in favor of the over $700 billion bailout bill after he "emphasized that the bill is about Main Street, not Wall Street." The bill was approved in the Senate 74-25 with Sen. Lamar Alexander also voting in favor. The bill now goes back to the House. “We have spent a great deal of time trying to improve the original proposal by Treasury Secretary Paulson, and after numerous conversations with Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Chris Cox, and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair and...

A single swipe of the card opened any door at the West Knoxville motel. Police say Valentino Vasquez Miranda used that card the morning of Sept. 20 to get inside Jennifer Lee Hampton's room and strangle the former Alabama homecoming queen. The card, together with Miranda's bloody clothes and a tip from his worried wife, led to his arrest, according to a warrant. Miranda, 19, faces a charge of first-degree murder in Hampton's death. Authorities served him with the warrant this morning in jail. -Snip- Miranda and his wife, Rosa Rodriguez Hernandez, lived and worked at the motel. Knoxville Police...

MARYVILLE - Hotaru Ferschke, the 24-year-old Japanese widow of a U.S. Marine sergeant killed in Iraq, has been granted a temporary visa to come to America and have her baby. The granting of the visa was announced today by the Washington office of U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., which had been working closely with the family of Sgt. Michael Ferschke to get permission for Hotaru Ferschke to come back to the U.S. to have her baby, as the sergeant had wished. The Ferschke saga has touched the residents of Blount and surrounding counties deeply ever since it was announced that...

Worried wife turned over bloody clothes to police Bloody clothes, a used key card and a tip from a worried wife led Knoxville police to the man charged with strangling a former Alabama homecoming queen, court records revealed today. A fisherman found Jennifer Lee Hampton's nude body floating in Melton Hill Lake on Saturday, seven days after friends reported her missing from her West Knoxville motel room. Valentino Vasquez Miranda, 19, who's described by police as an illegal immigrant, faces a charge of first-degree murder in her death. Authorities served him with the warrant this morning in jail. The charges...

Bill Fails With 227 Against, 206 For; Alexander Pleas For Passage The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday declined to approve the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Congressman Zach Wamp was among those opposing the $700 billion financial bailout bill. There were 228 opposed and 205 in favor in the House. In the Senate, Sen. Lamar Alexander pleaded for passage of the bill, saying if it does not there is "a real risk that credit will freeze and Americans will not be able to get car, student, auto, mortgage, or farm credit loans – or even to cash their...

Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn was among the conservative Republicans who bucked both parties’ leaders to kill the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 on Monday. She explained her reasoning to National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez. Kathryn Jean Lopez: Monday morning on Bill Bennett’s radio show, you said you were leaning “no.” What solidified that no? Marsha Blackburn: Hearing from my constituents in the district solidified the “no” vote. We had phone calls and e-mails by the thousands. They did not want a bill that would favor Wall Street over the taxpayer. Lopez: Are you concerned by your vote you...

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Some construction subcontractors have complained to the Bradley County Commission that competitors are hiring illegal workers and driving them out of business. “It seems to be getting out of hand,” local contractor Jerry Chess said. “I’d say I’ve lost 65 percent of my business this year.” Troy Smith, a masonry contractor, agreed that the problem lies with general contractors and homeowners. Employers go to locations like one on Georgetown Road where unemployed people gather, hire them for the day and pay them in the evening in cash, he said. Mr. Chess, who employs six workers legally, said...

NASHVILLE — With just 37 days to go until Election Day, Republican presidential candidate John McCain continues to hold a double-digit lead in Tennessee over Democrat Barack Obama, a new statewide poll shows. U.S. Sen. Obama, D-Ill., has made some gains in recent weeks, but the survey of 625 registered, likely voters shows U.S. Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., and his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, still lead Sen. Obama and his vice presidential pick, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., by 16 points in the Volunteer State. The Sept. 22-24 poll shows Sen. McCain leading Sen. Obama by 55 percent...

WASHINGTON — In the waning months of his eight-year administration, President Bush is receiving low marks from Tennesseans, with just 37 percent saying he has done an “excellent” or “good” job, according to a statewide poll. Forty-three percent of poll respondents said President Bush has done a “poor” job, and 19 percent gave him a “fair” rating. Those numbers reflect President Bush’s low popularity nationwide, particularly as the financial crisis in the credit markets hit fever pitch this past week, said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., which conducted the poll. “That probably pulled down his...

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...

Sabina Salas came to the United States 10 years ago, fleeing violence and persecution in her native Guatemala because she worked in an organization to defend indigenous rights. She found a refuge in Chattanooga until April 16, when she was arrested with 99 other Pilgrim’s Pride workers suspected of being in the country illegally, she told a group of about 80 people Thursday at Memorial Auditorium. Now she wears a court-ordered monitoring bracelet on her ankle and can’t work, she said. “Our lives have changed since that day,” she said through an interpreter. “We have to charge the bracelet for...

The Bradley County Sheriff's Office identified three illegal aliens and turned them over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Wednesday. According to reports from the sheriff's office, there have been 34 individuals identified as illegal aliens, through incarcerations, since the beginning of this year. Public Information Officer Bob Gault said the three individuals identified Wednesday were already incarcerated at the county jail. The sheriff's office recently joined the Federal Criminal Alien Program offered by U.S. Immigration and Customs. The program allows the correction staff in the jail's booking office to check the immigration status of inmates by questioning them on...

WASHINGTON — As President Bush and the two major presidential candidates hashed out a Wall Street rescue plan Thursday, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he and other key lawmakers have developed a proposal with greater oversight than the White House’s plan. Sen. Corker, who was among a handful of lawmakers involved in a three-hour bipartisan negotiation session between both houses of Congress, said their “agreement in principle” also would include restrictions on executive compensation. “I’m hopeful that it can be approved before the markets open on Monday,” said Sen. Corker, a member of the Senate Banking Committee. “We stayed very...

WASHINGTON — Reps. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., and Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., say their constituents have overwhelmingly spoken out against a taxpayer-financed bailout of ailing financial firms. “My local bankers tell me, ‘Don’t vote for this,’” said Rep. Davis, a member of the House Financial Services Committee. “I have difficulty with the government coming in and bailing out private investors on their risky investments.” Rep. Wamp said his constituents remain unconvinced on Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s proposal to purchase up to $700 billion in distressed debt from financial institutions, even after President Bush made a television address Wednesday to defend the plan....

The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office has identified 34 incarcerated individuals as illegal aliens and turned them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation this year, officials said. And on Wednesday three more illegal aliens were turned over to ICE. Sheriff Tim Gobble said he expects the number of illegal aliens identified and turned over to ICE for deportation "will accelerate and increase as a result of joining the Criminal Alien Program (CAP)." Sheriff Gobble said he is still interested in the federal 287g program "which will allow us an even greater ability to identify illegal aliens and...

As a Tennessean I was extremely excited that the Presidential debates would be coming to the bright red state of Tennessee. I was even more excited at the thought that finally some "REAL" people would get to ask questions of the candidates. This time the Obama-backing media would have a counterbalance. Indeed, this time, this time John McCain would have a homecourt advantage so to speak. John McCain would be in the state that supports him most. Whats more, the McCain friendly crowd would get to ask some questions. I told my wife to arrange for someone to watch my...

Full-time recreational-vehicle residents will be allowed to vote in the November presidential election, thanks to an agreement reached between the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU and Bradley County Election Commission. Ron and Leone Teel and Tom Layton, who live full-time in their recreational vehicles, were among over 250 full-time RVers who were purged from Tennessee voting rolls in 2006 based on a change in Tennessee law which prohibited people from using a commercial address to register to vote. “We are delighted that this novel issue was resolved in time for our clients to vote in this historic election,” Tricia Herzfeld,...

A Grand Jury in Chattanooga on Tuesday morning heard testimony into the alleged hacking of the personal e-mail of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Three young college-age people declined to comment as they entered the Federal Courthouse around 9 a.m. Security officers notified members of the media at 10:30 a.m. that the trio had exited the courthouse by another door. The three, including two males and a female, are apparently friends of a University of Tennessee student who is under investigation for the hacking. David Kernell is a UT student who is the son of a Democratic state legislator from...

The Bradley County Sheriff's Office has joined the Federal Criminal Alien Program offered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify incarcerated criminal aliens; ensure that such aliens are not released into the community; and remove them from the United States upon release. Sheriff Tim Gobble and Chief Deputy Bill Dyer met recently with representatives of immigration control to finalize details of Bradley County's participation. The Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2008 focuses on identifying criminal aliens incarcerated in the county. It helps to ensure criminal aliens are not released back into the community upon release. "This program allows the...

A Grand Jury in Chattanooga could reportedly hear testimony this week into the alleged hacking of the personal e-mail of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The Knoxville News-Sentinel said the FBI is investigating the possibility that a University of Tennessee student who is the son of a state legislator from Memphis carried out the hacking. The report said FBI agents raided the apartment of David Kernell early Sunday morning. It said friends of Kernell were interviewed, and said they are due to testify about the case in Chattanooga this week. A federal grand jury is set to convene in Chattanooga...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The state is warning parents delinquent on child support payments that they risk losing drivers licenses, professional licenses and hunting and fishing licenses if they don't pay. A news release from the Department of Human Services Tuesday says letters are being delivered to parents across the state behind at least $500 and haven't made a payment in more than 90 days. More than 7,000 licenses were revoked last year for failure to pay, and there are more than 20,000 licenses currently at risk. Professional licenses that could be revoked include those of registered nurses, real estate agents,...

Despite concerns from business groups and immigrant advocates about a government Web-based employment verification program, a growing number of local companies are using it. Since the voluntary program E-Verify was offered to employers in 2004, almost 4,000 Georgia companies and more than 800 businesses in Tennessee have signed up to participate in the federal program, including 50 employers in Chattanooga and 96 in Dalton, Ga. The E-Verify program is a voluntary, Internet-based program established to allow employers to verify workers’ employment eligibility electronically with the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. “We have been using E-Verify without...

DALTON, Ga. — Whitfield County jailers using federal records have since Aug. 1 found 34 possibly illegal immigrants who may be subject to deportation. “Our officers now have the ability to hold someone at the jail and basically start the deportation process,” Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said. Sheriff Chitwood calls the 287(g) program a “win-win” tool that helps his deputies check the immigration status of those arrested without bogging down the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Atlanta office. The sheriff’s department began training on the program in February and received equipment in late May, he said. The jail started...

Gov. Phil Bredesen said he doesn't believe the information was part of a bigger political plot. "I think it's just somebody who has some time on their hands, which is a problem in its self, who is doing this kind of thing to show that he had access or to answer a question about somebody," said Bredesen. However, Republican Party Chair Robin Smith is skeptical of the governor's response. "The facts that are involved could impact very drastically the outcome of this November's election, so we're not talking about an internal affairs matter of impropriety. We're talking about strong allegations...

Two illegal aliens were taken into custody Saturday night when they couldn’t provide identification and were in possession of cocaine. Officers with the Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department were searching for a wanted person at a Rail Road Street residence when they found Gregorio E. Rodriguez, 32, of Harris Trailer Park in Erwin and Primitivo E. Rodriguez, 21, 400 Rail Road St., Erwin. Gregorio Rodriguez was operating a motor vehicle and drinking a Bud Light beer, Sheriff Kent Harris said in his report. He was questioned about the wanted person who was reportedly at the residence. He refused search of the...

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They knew they were here illegally but decided to take the risk, hoping for better than what they left behind. They got jobs, rented homes and built lives in Chattanooga. For a while, the risk paid off. Then, one morning four months ago, their luck ran out. On April 16, supervisors at the Pilgrim’s Pride plant called some employees to a meeting in the cafeteria. “Someone stood in front of us and introduced himself (in English),” said 28-year-old César Mazariegos, who was arrested in the raid. “As soon as he said the word ‘immigration,’ we all stared at each other....

When Felicita Bautista prepared her husband’s coffee and kissed him goodbye on the morning of April 16, she thought she’d hear from him at lunchtime when he usually called. Instead, the phone rang at 8 a.m. Ms. Bautista’s husband, José Ramírez, told her immigration agents had raided the Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant in downtown Chattanooga and that he had been arrested. “At first I didn’t believe him, I thought it was a joke, but he assured me it was true,” the 28-year-old Guatemala native said. Ms. Bautista’s husband, who had been in the United States illegally for five years...

At 7 months old, Kemberly Méndez doesn’t roll over or sit in a propped-up position. Her right thumb is flexed downward; her index finger is a nubbin and the rest of her right-hand fingers are webbed. Her short life has consisted of physical therapy sessions and visits to specialists who are treating her for Poland syndrome, a pattern of one-sided body malformations, usually on the right side, that are present at birth. But all the care Kemberly, a U.S. citizen, is receiving at Erlanger hospital and at the Shriners Hospital in Lexington, Ky., is in limbo because her mother is...

When Hilma Díaz was handcuffed one April morning at Pilgrim’s Pride, she had one thought. “When I realized we were being arrested, the first thing I could think of was my son,” Ms. Díaz said later, holding her son Raymond in her arms. “As a mother you worry about them. Who’s going to take care of them?” Ms. Díaz and her husband, César Mazariegos, were released the afternoon after their arrests wearing monitoring ankle bracelets so they could care for their now-9-month-old son, who is an American citizen. The couple will leave the United States voluntarily in October, about seven...

Rush Limbaugh killed some church goers in Tennessee last July. That is the message from a Newsday.com columnist for a local New York newspaper chain. Now, I've listened to Rush Limbaugh many times. Because of my schedule, I cannot listen every day, so certainly I have not heard every word the man has ever uttered, but I am sure that you won't be able to find a time when he told people to go out and kill liberals. Neither have I ever heard Sean Hannity advocate murder. Michael Savage.... well, I haven't heard it but I almost wouldn't be surprised,...

Fallout from the April immigration arrests at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Chattanooga will be felt for months to come, and it will affect the entire community, local officials say. “This is something that’s going to be going on for many more months,” the Rev. Mike Feely, director of the St. Andrews Center, a resource for Chattanooga’s multicultural communities, said Thursday. “It’s not just somebody else that it’s happening to. It’s our community, our neighbors, our church members, children who are in school with our kids. These are people that are part of this community, as well.” In an...

WASHINGTON — Congress may have adjourned for a five-week recess, but the House floor has not remained silent. All last week, House Republicans held court over an empty chamber, despite the dimmed lights and lack of C-SPAN coverage, sounding off against Congress’ adjournment without passing legislation to address high gasoline prices. Reps. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., and Nathan Deal, R-Ga., say they may join their colleagues later this month in their first-of-its kind protest. “I voted against adjourning for recess and will continue fighting for a responsible energy policy that brings down gas prices,” Rep. Wamp said in a statement. “I...

Although Andres Ramirez didn’t visit the doctor very often when he lived in Mexico, he now goes to the Chattanooga Homeless Health Care Clinic at least once every three months to treat his diabetes. “Part of it is our culture,” said the 35-year-old, who has lived in the United States for 14 years. “We are not used to going to the doctor unless we feel very sick. “As Hispanics, we don’t go to the doctor regularly because most of the time we come here to work and we say we don’t have time for the doctor,” he said. “Which shouldn’t...

SEVIERVILLE - A father and his sons today detailed an attack by a black bear Monday night that left 8-year-old Evan Pala with staples in his head and stitches in his arms and back, binding the cuts and scrapes suffered when he was attacked from behind near the Rainbow Falls trailhead outside Gatlinburg. "I looked around and he was on his four feet," then reared up, said Evan Pala, 8, who was playing near a creek with his brother, Alex. "He came at me too fast. I called "bear!" He jumped on me. I was screaming." The boys' father, John...

The latest demographic estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show the Hispanic population in the tri-state region is growing almost 12 times faster than other groups. According to 2007 population estimates released this morning, the Hispanic population of Hamilton County and the surrounding 20 counties has grown almost 60 percent since 2000, compared to 5 percent growth in non-Hispanic groups. Gordon and Murray counties in Georgia lead the region, with Hispanic populations surging 131 percent in Murray and 116 percent in Gordon, census figures show. The Hispanic population has grown 86 percent in DeKalb County, Ala., and 80 percent in...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

A man who shot and killed two parishioners during a children's play at a Tennessee church yesterday attacked the congregation because of its outspoken socially liberal and gay-friendly beliefs, police said. The 58-year-old unemployed engineer accused in the Sunday morning attack at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, was driven to bloodshed in part by his "stated hatred for the liberal movement" as well as his hatred for gays, said Knoxville, Tennessee, police chief Sterling Owen. "We're certainly investigating it as a hate crime."

Nearly everyone carries a cell phone and it’s hard to find one without that camera feature.  It’s convenient when you want to take that impromptu photo, but a Tri-Cities area man ended up behind bars after snapping a shot of a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop. The cell phone photographer says the arrest was intimidation, but the deputy says he feared for his life. “Here’s a guy who takes me out of the car and arrests me in front of my kids.  For what?  To take a picture of a police officer?” said Scott Conover. A Johnson...

Volkswagen announced this morning that it would build a manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. where it will build a vehicle specifically for the North American market. The plant will employ 2,000 workers from the tri-state area and is expected to invest $1 billion in the local economy. The plant is an integral part of Volkswagen's plan for expansion in the N.A. market, with sales expected to crest 800,000 units by 2018. The 1,350-acre site will produce 150,000 vehicles annually – specifically a midsize sedan – in 2011.

Right now, our country is dealing with issues – issues like illegal immigration, healthcare reform, the War on Terror – that will shape our politics for the rest of this century. Like many Americans, I’ve grown to feel that the politicians of this country are simply not accomplishing anything on these fronts. As low as the President’s approval rating has gotten, the approval rating for Congress is even lower. So, as a concerned and informed citizen, I’ve decided to run for Congress and help put things on the right track. That’s what living in a democracy is all about.