Free Republic

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Kristin Powell was in the hospital for three days after a K9 officer bit into her thigh. The teenager said the circumstances that led to the attack still confuse her. Kristin had just finished a soccer game, and that was when she saw the K9 officer locked up in a gated area. She went over and asked a few questions about the German Sheppard, and then seconds later the dog came after her. "His teeth went like that," said Kristin. "I looked and I saw him coming straight towards me." Kristin remembered every detail from September 3....

Stings were conducted at seven gun shows in Tennessee, Ohio and NevadaInvestigators hired by New York City conducted stings at gun shows in states that have not closed the "gun show loophole'' and found some vendors openly selling weapons to buyers who admitted they couldn't pass background checks. The stings, described in a city report released Wednesday, were conducted at seven gun shows in Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada. Those states are among the many that permit private unlicensed dealers, known as "occasional sellers," to sell weapons at gun shows without conducting background checks. Some 30 weapons were sold to NYPD...

Health Care Workers Begin Receiving Flu Shots Hospitals today began to receive the first doses of a vaccine designed to ward off a potential H1N1 flu pandemic -- this, after months of anticipation and debate over who would be the first to be vaccinated. Le Bonheur Hospital in Memphis and Wishard Health Services in Indiana were among the very first hospitals in the nation to receive vaccines on Monday, vaccinating about 150 and 100 staffers respectively. And though rollout was limited to healthcare workers, both said that so far, at least, the deployment of immunizations has gone smoothly. Hospitals in...

Vanderbilt Student Group Protests Wachovia's Support of ACORN Vanderbilt University's chapter of Youth for Western Civilization will be protesting Wachovia Bank's support of ACORN today in front of Wachovia's West End location from 4:30 – 5:30pm.ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has recently come under fire since conservative activists revealed the multiple instances of outrageous behavior.Most notably, videos surfaced of ACORN employees giving advice on how to receive tax breaks for housing underage, illegal immigrant El Salvadorian prostitutes.Since then, both houses of Congress have voted to defund ACORN and Bank of America has opted to "suspend...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A newborn boy abducted by a woman posing as an immigration agent was again taken from his mother after a brief reunion, this time by state officials who said the baby and his three siblings would be safest with foster parents. Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, said the children were taken from their mother, Maria Gurrolla, "purely for safety reasons," though he would not detail why they were in danger. Johnson said officials made arrangements for Gurrolla to see her baby Saturday afternoon and hold him, four days after he was...

A high school cheerleading squad is getting flak after parading religious banners at football games. The Lakeview-Fort Oglethrope High School cheerleaders, of Georgia, have tried everything to get their team to win, including displaying football banners with such biblical verse as “commit to the lord” and “take charge of it,” according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Penske Automotive Group (PAG.N) said on Wednesday it has terminated discussions with General Motors Co GM.UL to acquire the automaker's Saturn brand. GM said in a separate statement it would wind down the Saturn brand and its dealership network.

To purge or not to purge: Controversy brews over voter rolls Controversy brews over process striking registered voters off rollsBy Michael Kelley (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal Sunday, September 20, 2009 The Republican-controlled Shelby County Election Commission has been aggressively purging the voter registration roll this year following a registration binge by Democrats last fall. If there is any relationship it's tenuous, though, and the commission has been carefully following federal law as it has pared the list of Shelby County voters to about 600,000.****Snip****Voters who identify themselves as white comprise 53 percent of those purged this year, while they make...

Nation-building in Afghanistan is a tough proposition for the United States since it is a "medieval" country, Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) told a local editorial board on Monday afternoon. The freshman lawmaker said that the a rebuilding project similar to what the U.S. undertook in Iraq would unlikely to achieve success in Afghanistan because the latter is "medieval" and the former is a "20th century country." Roe added that winning "the war" there would take "decades." He emphasized that the government needs to re-evaluate the mission there and define victory in the conflict against Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents. "I believe...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Five Guatemalan nationals have been indicted on gun smuggling charges after a year long investigation in Nashville. One of the men was a former Metro police officer. Several agencies were involved in the investigation including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Metro Nashville Police Department and U.S. Attorney's Office. Officials named Julio Cesar Rojas-Lopez, Donald Efren Franco, Denis Franco, Luis Armando Monterroso Pineda and Edwing Ronal Morales in the indictment. Morales was a police trainee since April 2007. His employment was terminated Sept. 15, 2009. Rojas-Lopez reportedly recruited the...

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Peterbilt Corp. permanently closed its truck plant in Nashville.</p>

Ann Coulter Speaks At UTC Oct. 5Part Of Burkett Miller Distinguished Lecture Seriesposted September 28, 2009 The Burkett Miller Distinguished Lecture Series will present constitutional attorney Ann Coulter on Monday, Oct. 5, at noon in the University Center auditorium. [Venue changed to ROLAND HAYES CONCERT HALL-ed] Ms. Coulter will address "Evaluating the Change in American Government" and her speech will be critiqued by UTC faculty Dr. Rebecca Jones with assistance from Dr. Heather Palmer. Sponsored by the Scott L. Probasco, Jr. Chair of Free Enterprise and the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, this event is free and open to the...

Comments that included the Muslim slur "ragheaded" have offended some Facebook friends of Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce lobbyist Hayes Ledford, who posted the remarks to the Web site in reference to 9/11. "His statement is an embarrassment to Chattanooga, the city to which he is supposed to recruit jobs and industry," said Chris Anderson, a board member with the Hamilton County Democratic Party. "In this case, Mr. Ledford advocated brutal violence against an entire race of people, most of whom had nothing to do with attacking our great nation." Mr. Ledford made his comments on the social networking Web...

NASHVILLE — Republican congressional hopeful Robin Smith says that, when she was state GOP chairman last year, then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama labeled her as “everything from racist to terrorist to extremist” after the state party posted a video criticizing Michelle Obama. Mrs. Smith, who is running in the 3rd Congressional District primary, made the assertion in a recently videotaped interview with Helen Smith, a commentator for the conservative Internet Web site Pajamas TV. Dr. Smith, no relation to the candidate, asked why more women do not run for office. “From personal experience I can tell you ... I was...

MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. -- A woman in Mount Juliet got a scare this week when a man broke into her home while she was in the shower. The intruder quickly ran out, but the woman grabbed her gun and shot at his car. Police arrested Franklin Fish a short time later. The woman identified him as the burglar. Detectives believe Fish is wanted for several other home break-ins.

WASHINGTON -- Reparation for the legacy of slavery and peonage may not come in the form of a check, but it must come, speakers said Friday at a forum sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation....Others said the apology for slavery that the House passed last year and the Senate passed this year were good first steps, and singled out U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who was on Friday's panel, for authoring the House resolution... [snip]

(CBS) Tammy and Troy Renault Look like any middle class couple, but someone else is living what used to be their home. Almost everything they own is in storage, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane. Now, home for the Renaults and their four kids is a campsite - a tent and a borrowed trailer. Troy said that how they ended up there is Economics 101. When he lost his job with a construction company and had trouble finding work on his own, the bills piled up, and everything else came crashing down. "You go from 'do you pay your lights...

Woman In Shower Shoots At Intruder Detectives Think Franklin Fish Wanted For Other Home Break-Ins MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. -- A woman in Mount Juliet got a scare this week when a man broke into her home while she was in the shower.

Tennessee's Unemployment Rate Increases The Department of Workforce and Labor development has released unemployment numbers for August. Tennessee's unemployment rate for August was at 10.8%. That's 0.1 percentage point higher than the July rate of 10.7%. The United States unemployment rate for the month of August was 9.7%.

NASHVILLE -- The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has told Tennessee gun dealers to disregard a state statute that exempts firearms made and sold inside Tennessee from federal gun laws and registration. The ATF says the federal laws still apply regardless of the state's move. The Tennessee legislature considered and approved several bills this year to reduce restrictions on firearms, including one bill that its sponsors labeled the "Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act." It passed overwhelmingly -- 87-1 in the House and 22-7 in the Senate -- despite warnings by some lawmakers that it could subject Tennessee citizens...

PETROS, Tenn. - She may be 75, but she's still a mom. Jesse Williams, 28, discovered that truism Thursday night when the mother of a man he allegedly was fighting shot him once in the leg to stop the assault on her son. According to Morgan County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy William Angel, Williams broke into David Brandenburg's residence at 905 Back Petros Road. The 43-year-old Brandenburg was home and began struggling with the intruder. The fighting men spilled out from the house and onto the yard, where Brandenburg's mother, Ruth Robbins, heard the commotion. Robbins lives next door, Angel...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A teenager was shot Friday night in South Knoxville after a homeowner says the he pointed a shotgun at him. It happened at 837 Lester Road around 11:00 pm. Jonathan Stevens, 20, and his wife Kara, 29, told deputies they heard their pit bulls barking outside. So, Jonathan took a pistol and flashlight to investigate. The couple says they spotted a 15-year-old boy they knew pointing a shot gun at them. Stevens fired his pistol twice, hitting the boy in the torso. He reportedly then returned fire. The Stevens ran inside and called 911. When investigators...

Two Maury County Companies To Hand Out Pink Slips SPRING HILL, Tenn. - According to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce, two companies in Maury County will implement major layoffs one day before Thanksgiving, leaving hundreds without jobs. Stephanie Bryant has been without a job since July, and she said it has not been easy. "It's a doggie dog world, every man for himself. Hey, if you don't have your credentials, education and things like that, it's very hard," said Bryant. She said the search was getting harder as more than 600 people in Maury County will face layoffs...

ATLANTA — Floodwaters that swept across the rain-soaked Southeast killed at least three people and left five others missing Monday, including a Georgia toddler who disappeared after a mobile home was split apart by a swollen creek. Three Georgia motorists died when their vehicles were swept off Atlanta-area roads, and some major highways were submerged. Officials urged motorists to stay off the roads as a new line of storms threatened the area. Fast-moving water also swept away a Tennessee man who went swimming in an overflowing ditch on a dare. Crews in northwest Georgia worked furiously to shore up a...

Give President Obama credit for persistence. And stubbornness. And lack of imagination. He declared again last week that his health care plan "will slow the growth of health care costs for our families and our businesses and our government." And this historic achievement will be accompanied by a dazzling array of new medical benefits that everyone will receive--guaranteed by law. Okay, you've heard this before. But that's the president's story, and he's sticking to it. The question is, why? Does he think we're stupid? His argument has failed to persuade a sizeable majority of the American people precisely because they're...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Former state House Majority Leader Tommy Burnett, whose political career survived his first federal conviction but not his second, has died. Legislative and court officials said Burnett's son, Fentress County General Sessions Judge Todd Burnett, told friends and family that his father, age 67, died Thursday in a Nashville hospital.

According to MSNBC's Chris Matthews, if Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford loses Tuesday, you can blame it on white conservatives. On Sunday morning, as he appeared in a segment hosted by Alex Witt, Matthews chided whites for an unwillingness to vote for black politicians, contending that "blacks vote for whites," but "whites don't vote for blacks." Matthews added that in states with large black populations, fear leads whites to become conservative Republicans. Matthews: "The larger the black population, where the whites are afraid historically, and in Deep South states, they tend to become very conservative Republican out of fear, whatever,...

Senator Lamar Alexander remarked on President Obama's use of czars in his administration: "According to news accounts, there are 32 or 34 so-called czars in the Obama White House. Respected voices in the Senate—Senator Byrd and Senator Hutchison, a senior Democrat and a senior Republican—have pointed out that these czars are an affront to the Constitution. Theyre antidemocratic. They are a poor example of a new era of transparency which was promised to this country. They are a poor way to manage the government and they seem to me to be the principal symptom of this administrations eight-month record of...

MEMPHIS — A Congressional race in Tennessee has become freighted with racial overtones almost a year before the election, with a prominent black politician saying the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters. The black candidate, former Mayor Willie W. Herenton of Memphis, has argued that Tennessee needs a black voice in its currently all-white delegation. He is running a blistering campaign against Representative Steve Cohen, a fellow Democrat with a precarious hold on the majority black district. “To know Steve Cohen is to know that he really does not think very much of African-Americans,” Mr. Herenton said in a...

In one of the more profound pronouncements of the gubernatorial campaign so far, Ron Ramsey declared last week that Tennessee is "an island of sanity" in a nation that is headed in a frightening direction. Then he added: "The 10th Amendment means the 10th Amendment." This remark got a "hearty round of applause" at one of those anti-Washington rallies that have come into fashion since Barack Obama moved into the White House, according to a Kingsport Times-News report on the event. As a matter of rhetorical flourish, of course, this is also reminiscent of Ramsey's predecessor at lieutenant governor and...

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that 79 applications for surface coal-mine permits in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee might violate the nation's Clean Water Act and require closer scrutiny. Many of the 79 applications would remove mountaintops and dump debris in valley streams. The EPA's action was an abrupt shift from the last big batch of surface mining permits that it's considered during the Obama administration. In May, the agency said it had no concerns with 42 of 48 permits, and blocked six. The latest decision is in line with the Obama administration's call in June for a...

The latest American official to be targeted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for exercising his freedom of speech is the mayor of Clarksville, Tenn., Johnny Piper. CAIR joined Clarksville-area Muslims in scolding Piper for forwarding an e-mail that protests against an Islamic stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service. Too many politically correct officials cower before CAIR. They accept its self-definition as a civil rights organization (which it is not) and ignore the facts that it is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding caseand that sevveral of its officials have been convicted of terrorism-related offenses. But Piper...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Marsha Swopes survived Hurricane Katrina and came to live in a free house from Fanny Mae. For two years she's called Antioch home, until Sheriff's Deputies showed up to evict her. Tuesday was moving day for Swopes, her two daughters and two grandchildren, but they had nowhere to go. "I'm just tired of moving. I want a place of my own that I can afford. I don't want to move anymore," said Swopes. For the last two years Swopes has lived in a home on Fanny Mae's dime. The company launched a relief program to help evacuees...

Memphis 9/7/2009) The H1N1 virus took the life of a 13-year-old White Station Middle School Student Monday. The Shelby County Health Department hasn't released the name of this child yet. He was admitted to the hospital last week. "We all miss him and love him," said Alexis Kelley. She has fond memories of the 8th grader who died. "He was just so nice, he would hang up my backpack for me because I couldn't reach my locker, and he was always like let me reach it for you," she said. Kelley describes the teen as a popular student and a...

Jonathan Lee Adams' claims of redemption after his arrest in the killing of a 12-year-old boy has netted him a 20-year sentencing break. The state Court of Criminal Appeals chopped two decades off Adams' sentence ... The court left intact Adams' life term for his role in a March 2003 home invasion in which Cody Thomas was slain. Former Judge Kenneth Irvine Jr. had stacked onto that life sentence in Thomas' slaying another 20 years for lesser crimes related to the fatal home invasion, deeming Adams a "dangerous offender" worthy of consecutive sentencing. "As the trial court referenced, at the...

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker Believes There is Still Room for Compromise on Health Care. BY SHAILAGH MURRAY Republican Sen. Bob Corker stood before a packed high school auditorium this week for his 24th and final town hall meeting of the summer, sketching out his vision for the bipartisan health-care plan he says he is convinced Congress can pass.

Woo hoo!! The Tea Party Express has a busy schedule today: 11:00 AM – Rally in Dallas, TX – Cape Buffalo Grille, 17717 Addison Rd, Dallas, TX 75287 2:45 PM – The Whistle Stop – Mile Marker 143; 1 hour and 45 minutes east of Dallas, TX; 170 miles east on Interstate 30; 4 miles west of Mt. Vernon, Franklin County, TX 6:00 PM – Rally in Little Rock, AR – State Capitol (North Grounds Near Liberty Bell) Woodlane & Capitol Ave, Little Rock, AR 72201 10:00 PM – Rally in Memphis, TN – Draper’s Catering (Parking Lot) 6116 Macon...

A gravelly campground off Interstate 40 in central Tennessee is a last refuge for a hodgepodge of Americans: Here you can get a $275-a-month camping spot with a 30-amp electric outlet and a scratchy Wi-Fi signal emanating from “the bathhouse” down the lane. “It’s my permanent home – for now,” says Terry Lee Ballard, who says he runs a small record label from his “tent condo,” which is replete with “redneck engineering” such as a tent-flap air-conditioning unit. As cities from Sacramento, Calif., to Tampa, Fla., debate the merits of tent cities to house newly homeless people (many of them...

A Nashville, TN man used his gun to fend off two robbers who broke into his home Saturday night. Police say that two robbers broke in to the man's home on Lindy Murff Ct. The homeowner grabbed his self defense gun and shot one of the home invaders in the chest. Both criminals then fled to a nearby gas station, and tried to claim that they were themselves the victims of a robbery. The wounded criminal was taken to a local hospital, and is expected to survive and face charges. The unwounded criminal has been arrested. The homeowner was unharmed....

Christopher Newsom, Jr. and Channon Gail Christian. Raped and killed Those who did it. Diversity is remarkable for its homogeneity. From :Wikipedia: “Christian's parents found her abandoned Toyota 4-Runner two blocks away from the Chipman Street house on Monday, with the help of her mobile phone provider. An envelope recovered from the vehicle yielded fingerprint evidence that led police to Lemaricus Davidson and 2316 Chipman Street. When police went to the address on Tuesday, January 9, they found the home unoccupied and Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen. Christian was strangled to death.[5] According to the grand...

What will KennedyCare cost? Plenty! In 1994 to buy perpetual control of Tennessee, Democrats offered virtually “free” government health care. Tennessee’s version of KennedyCare is called TennCare. Its costs grew exponentially from an initial budget of $300 million to $8.5 Billion by 2005 when it imploded. It grew so large it eventually gobbled up fully 33% of Tennessee’s budget! In less than ten years it was an acknowledged failure, a very expensive failure. Major “unforeseeable” problems: In just eighteen months it became obvious TennCare was bankrupting the state under the weight of shocking fraud mismanagement and Tennessee style systemic corruption....

I'm leaving from Knoxville, TN for the March on DC at about 0800 on September 9 and would be glad to take up to 4 additional passengers in my Navigator for companionship and to share the price of the ride. Any takers? Please Freepmail me if you want to go along.

The first of four defendants in the carjacking, rape and murder of a young Tennessee couple has been sentenced to life in prison without parole by the same jury that convicted him of murder. The sentence for 26-year-old Letalvis Cobbins of Lebanon, Ky., was announced in Knoxville after less than three hours of jury deliberation Wednesday. Cobbins took a deep breath and then sat down after the jury foreman finished delivering the sentence. The jury convicted Cobbins on Tuesday in the January 2007 attack on 21-year-old Channon Christian and her 23-year-old boyfriend Christopher Newsom, both of Knoxville Earlier Wednesday Christian's...

Torture-slaying trial, Day 8: Jurors resume deliberations By News Sentinel staff Posted August 25, 2009 at 9:11 a.m. KNOXVILLE — Jurors in the torture-slaying trial of Letalvis Cobbins resumed deliberations this morning. The panel from Davidson County deliberated about seven and a half hours Monday, ending the day without a verdict before returning to the hotel where they have been sequestered for more than a week. Testimony wrapped up Saturday with Cobbins, 26, taking the stand in his own defense. Cobbins is accused of taking part in the January 2007 kidnapping, rape and slaying of Channon Christian, 21,and Christopher Newsom,...

KNOXVILLE — Jurors this morning convicted Letalvis Cobbins of first-degree murder in the torture-slaying of Knox County couple Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. -snip- Description of crime (Wikipedia); According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan at the subsequent trial of Eric Boyd, Newsom was repeatedly raped and then blindfolded, gagged, arms and feet bound and his head covered. Barefoot, he was either led or dragged outside the house to a set of nearby railroad tracks. He was shot in the back of the head, the neck, and the back, and his body then...

MOORESBURG, Tenn. (AP) - Three people are dead following an overnight standoff with police in rural northeastern Tennessee. Hawkins County Sheriff's officials told WJHL-TV in Johnson City that the three were killed by gunshots.

The Truth About The LiesHe says… She says… They say… but what’s the real deal? Lie #1: President Obama says he wants “death panels” to euthanize your grandma!!!The truth: "Death panels" are certainly not mentioned in H.R.3200, the Health Care Reform bill. But Presidential health care adviser Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and chairman of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health, has defended rationing care more strictly for older people because "allocation [of medical care] by age is not invidious discrimination." Lie #2: They’re going...

This bastard murdered this young woman, and is accompliced to the murder of her boyfriend. It is now in the hands of the jury. 3 more are involved. It is a sad place to acknowledge. I stayed quiet until this trial was over. The anger is real.

Longtime readers will remember Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, the young couple brutally murdered in a racially-charged case in Knoxville, TN in 2007. My archives on the case are here. The trial of the first defendant Letalvis Cobbins began yesterday. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports:

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale won't reveal who paid for his recent trip to Kosovo, but when asked about the junket on Monday, he said the company doesn't do business with the county. Before and after a meeting of the Halls Republican Club at the Mandarin House on Maynardville Highway, the mayor briefly addressed a reporter's questions about the trip. He also faced a couple of tough questions from audience members during the meeting itself...... The eight-day trip to several cities in Kosovo was part of sister-city program, according to the mayor's office, paid for by an unnamed business. Ragsdale...