Free Republic

Picture yourself sitting around the campfire as you listen to Wyatt Earp tell stirring tales of gunfighting and survival in the old west, he speaks of the rough and tough frontier towns where the only thing standing between law and order and anarchy was a man with a tin badge and a six-shooter. Wyatt gives his thoughts on Wild Bill Hickok and his calm cool deamenor in any situation, on gun play and gunfights of other famous gunslingers. This fascinating candid interview was given when Wyatt was a consultant for the early western films of the 1920s, as he neared...

On a clear day at Nome City Cemetery (AK), you can watch planes take off over the Bering Sea. Within the field of white graves, you might also see a small black obelisk that shines brilliantly when it catches the sun. Getting closer, you’ll note an unmistakable symbol engraved near its base. It’s not a cross, nor a Star of David, but a sacred container of sorts in many American households: a tub of Cool Whip.The grave belongs to Bonnie Johnson, a mother, former flight attendant, and creator of a cookie recipe whose batches always arrived at birthdays, holidays, and...

WASHINGTON — The US Veterans Administration will not replace three tombstones of soldiers who fought for Nazi Germany inscribed with swastikas in its military cemeteries, calling them “historic resources.” A group that advocates for religious freedom in the military on Monday called on the VA to replace two World War II-era POW headstones in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, inscribed with swastikas inside a German cross, and the phrase, “He died far from his home for the Führer, people, and fatherland.”

When I lived in Indiana, one of the things that I did was to visit every park in the state. I went and bought a book showing all 25 state parks. Then, my wife and I went and visited every one of them. When we were finished, we then went to the local library. We looked at a large map of the county and then visited every cemetery in the county. It was an “eye opener” and very informative. Let’s talk about this experience Many of the cemeteries were in isolated areas. We would get to ride on little used...

Bowling Ball-Size Rock Crashes Through Windshield On Interstate 75 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A passenger in a sport utility vehicle was killed when someone dropped a rock the size of a bowling ball off an overpass on Interstate 75 in Tennessee. The rock crashed through a windshield in the early morning hours Monday near Knoxville, a television station in Knoxville reported. Authorities are interviewing residents in the area, looking for witnesses. A Michigan woman was seriously injured when a tombstone crashed into her car from an overpass along the same highway in 1995. The man who dropped it was sentenced to...

Wisconsin is quietly home to America's northernmost Confederate cemetery. On Thursday, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin ordered it taken down. MADISON, WI — As public officials across the country grapple with calls to take down Civil War statues erected in honor of the Confederacy's military history, the Mayor of Madison, Wis. has ordered the removal of the state's lone memorial to fallen Confederate soldiers. About 140 Confederate soldiers died at Camp Randall during the Civil War as prisoners of war, and their graves were honored in the "Confederate Rest Cemetery" within the Forest Hill Cemetery. Soglin stated he ordered staff to...

Traffic was stalled for hours Wednesday afternoon after a tractor-trailer crash spilled hundreds of pizzas all over an Arkansas interstate. The crash happened around 1 p.m. on Interstate 430 when a tractor-trailer carrying Tombstone frozen pizzas hit an overpass, ripping open the side of the trailer and spilling them all over the interstate. "There's a lot of frozen pizzas laying out on the interstate right now,"

Boothill Graveyard in Tombstone, Arizona, is the final resting place for over a couple of hundred people. They include gunmen, outlaws, lawmen, gamblers, cowboys, a man wrongly hanged, blacksmiths, soiled doves, miners, business men and women, housewives, children, and those only known to God "who died with their boots on." Those buried there includes Marshal Fred White who was 31 years old when he was accidentally shot and killed by Curly Bill Brocius on October 30th, 1880. The reason I say "accidentally" is because that's what Marshal White said before he died. Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton are...

WILLCOX – Willcox Border Patrol Agents, from the State Route (SR) 80 Immigration Checkpoint near Tombstone, stopped a hearse and found more than 67 pounds of marijuana concealed in a casket. Early Saturday evening, agents working near the immigration checkpoint noticed a white hearse travelling north of Tombstone. Upon further investigation of the hearse, agents conducted an immigration vehicle stop at the intersection of Highway 90 and Highway 82. After several inconsistencies and based on the totality of the circumstances, a Border Patrol canine unit was requested and alerted to an odor it was trained to detect emitting from the...

TOMBSTONE – Saddle up and hang onto your hats! It’s rodeo time! While Arizona celebrates Tucson Rodeo festivities, third-graders from Huachuca City School are learning all about riding, roping and ranching, as well as a little rodeoing on the side. On Wednesday, about 50 young buckaroos traveled to Tombstone High School for a crash course on cowboys and ranching. The Future Farmers of America students organized the event and worked with the young cowboys and cowgirls as they dabbled in bull riding and roping and learned how to saddle a horse. They met goats and other petting zoo animals and...

The tombstone will reportedly be displayed on a raised platform along with a photo from Central Park and a gravestone rubbing. “The exhibit feels like an opportunity for pro-Trump people to come and cause trouble, so we’ll have security,” Whiteley told the paper. The Christopher Stout Gallery is opening its second year of programming with the Trump tombstone exhibit. The gallery describes itself as a “contemporary art gallery showing subversive and difficult work by New York City artists.”

TOMBSTONE — Nelson Mitchell drew cheers and salutes from spectators lining Tombstone’s Allen Street, as he waved to the crowd from the back of an antique convertible. Mitchell served as grand marshal for the eighth annual Salute to the Buffalo Soldiers parade on Saturday, a celebration that commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Buffalo Soldiers and honored Mitchell, the last African American survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor. “He’s a celebrity,” said Charles Hancock, president of the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers, an organization based out of Sierra Vista. “He was clearly the star attraction for today’s ceremony and...

The host and production crew of the television show “Mineral Explorers” visited several areas of Cochise County last week to film scenes for an upcoming episode of the popular show. “” is an unscripted, reality series of 30-minute episodes that features mineral dealer Thomas Nagin as he educates viewers about minerals, and showcases the cultures of miners, mining history and some myths about the industry. Earlier this month Nagin and his crew explored mining-related sites throughout southern Arizona, starting with the Tucson Gem & Mineral show, the Old Tucson movie set, then they were off to Bisbee and Tombstone.

SIERRA VISTA — While the national media discusses recent findings deeming 2015 as the warmest year on record, in terms of global average temperatures, southeast Arizona didn’t quite follow the trend. According to temperatures gathered at the Bisbee-Douglas International Airport, 2015 was the 23rd warmest on record in Cochise County at an average of 62.7 degrees, according to data maintained by NOAA Regional Climate Centers dating back to 1949. “There certainly could be considerable difference between that location and another part of the county,” said Ken Drozd, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Tucson bureau. “Because we get...

TOMBSTONE, Ariz. (AP) — An actor staging a historical gunfight in the Old West town of Tombstone and a bystander were shot with live rounds during a show that was supposed to use blanks, leading officials to call for the re-enactments popular with tourists to be put on hold. The shooting happened Sunday afternoon as two performers from the Tombstone Vigilante group re-enacted a gunfight in the 19th century mining town made famous by Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the O.K. Corral.

A U.S. Marine veteran who grew up in Sierra Vista was one of nine people killed in Libya by a gunman in an apparent attack by the Islamic State. David Berry, a 34 year-old combat veteran who was working for a Virginia-based security contractor, was the sole American who died in Tuesday’s attack. Berry grew up and spent most of his early life in Sierra Vista, attending Buena High School and graduating from Tombstone High School in 2000. He enlisted in the Marine Corps immediately after high school and earned promotions to become a gunnery sergeant. He was deployed to...

TOMBSTONE – The Tombstone High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Color Guard will be making a national television debut Sunday, Dec. 21, when they present the colors during the Arizona Cardinals football game against the Seattle Seahawks. Retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Tom Gross, the school’s JROTC senior army instructor learned Monday the color guard had been asked to present the colors. “This is by far the biggest event we have done, as it will be on the national broadcast,” said Gross. The five cadets Gross plans to send are Cadet Sgt. 1st Class Sam Powers, Cadet Sgt. 1st...

A recent fire in Tombstone's historical district has brought back the battle between the city and the feds over the town's water supply. Tombstone gets its water from a highly protected wilderness area in the Huachuca Mountains. The pipeline that transports water 30 miles across Cochise County has had problems since the Monument Fire in 2011. According to the City they still haven't been able to get the proper equipment into the area to permanently fix the issues. The structures in Tombstone's historic district are like a tinderbox. In the past few years alone the site of what is currently...

The Arizona Senate has approved a bill that would allow cities and towns to enter restricted federal land without permission in emergencies. ... Republican bill sponsor Rep. Kelly Townsend of Mesa says she was inspired by the battle between the city of Tombstone and the federal government over access to repair its water supply system in the Coronado National Forest. She says local authorities should have the right to go in where needed without being granted approval first in cases of emergency.

The family of a Colorado preacher’s wife is still fuming after the director of the city-owned cemetery refused to engrave her final resting place with the name ‘Jesus’ because it might offend people. The city eventually reversed course under public pressure. “We were in disbelief,” said Stacy Adams, the daughter-in-law of Linda Baker. “Who tries to censor Jesus from a cemetery?” Linda Baker lost her battle with cancer last week. She was the wife of Mark Baker, the pastor of Harvest Baptist Church in Ovid. Adams said her mother-in-law was passionate about her Christian faith and her family. Her final...