Free Republic

BEAUFORT, S.C. (WTOC) - The Beaufort Police Department is investigating a robbery involving a Salvation Army donation kettle. It happened on Wednesday at the Belk on Robert Smalls Parkway. Officers say 34-year-old Latoya Washington, of Seabrook, walked up to a volunteer, yelled at her, and then smashed the donation kettle and took the money. When the volunteer attempted to prevent the theft, Washington shoved her to the ground and fled with money taken from the kettle. Police say an alert citizen driving by the incident followed Washington as she fled into the nearby Walmart where she was subsequently located by...

BEAUFORT | One cannon was raised and another found as state underwater archaeologists closed out their latest dive at the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck site. Crews were cleaning up Monday after a three-week fall dive expedition that focused on the large pile of artifacts molded together in a cement-like mass of iron and sand at the ship’s midsection. The plan was to bring up two small cannon at the uppermost layer, but that changed somewhat as work to free one of the guns from the mass revealed a new discovery. “We were only able to bring up one of the...

Many liberals in the media are expressing shock over Obama’s apparent willingness to increase oil production.  We all know that he is full of …, I mean ethanol, and they do too. Those of you who were befuddled at the news that Obama will ‘expand drilling’ in Alaska are not missing anything.  Obama has pulled this political chicanery a number of times.  Whenever a specific proposal that he so adamantly opposes becomes too popular to ignore, he announces his support for it by promising to implement inconsequential reforms.  To that end, he declared during his Saturday radio address that he...

Is it really any surprise that oil and gas prices are surging toward the record highs we saw in 2008 just prior to the economic collapse? Despite the President’s strange assertions in his press conference last week, his Administration is not a passive observer to the trends that have inflated oil prices to dangerous levels. His war on domestic oil and gas exploration and production has caused us pain at the pump, endangered our already sluggish economic recovery, and threatened our national security. The evidence of the President’s anti-drilling mentality and his culpability in the high gas prices hurting Americans...

Charles de Gaulle famously bemoaned the difficulties involved in running a country with 246 different types of cheese. But it seems world famous Gallic varieties including camembert, roquefort and brie are increasingly falling out of favour. Although the average Frenchman still eats almost a pound of cheese per week, making the country the second biggest consumer of the food in Europe after Greece, it is increasingly likely to be a processed foreign variety. New figures show raw-milk cheeses from rural France, which until the Second World War accounted for nearly all consumption, now make up just seven per cent of...

Three military bases in South Carolina are likely to become future homes for the F-35 fighter. The jet still is under development. But its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, is building three versions that can be used by the Air Force, Marines and Navy. The first test models are expected to roll out of the company’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant in May or June. Shaw Air Force Base reportedly is on that service’s “short list” to receive the first F-35s, which will replace the F-16 Fighting Falcons now at Shaw. But it probably will be 2012 before the fighter lands in South...

Joseph Cedar's new film "Beaufort" coolly traces the conviction, loyalty, and consciousness-distorting contours of wartime with a forthright and supple narrative dexterity unseen in the war movie genre since Russian Elem Klimov's mid-1980s World War II masterpiece "Come and See." Indeed, time, the protean physical foundation of storytelling itself, is what "Beaufort" is all about — specifically, what American troops in Vietnam anxiously nearing the end of their individual tours of duty referred to as "short time." Organized warfare frequently saddles its warriors with a soul-sucking, sanity-testing period as the conclusion of a soldier's active service — the result of...

It took Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson almost 15 minutes to drop the words "Law and Order" during his talk Saturday at Barbara Jean's Restaurant, drawing a round of applause from the crowd of about 200. But the Lady's Island gathering saved its loudest ovations for the former actor's conservative messages during a brief Beaufort stop on an overcast afternoon. Coming off a sixth-place finish in New Hampshire's Republican primary, the one-time Tennessee senator found a warm reception in "my neck of the woods." "You could see in there the level of enthusiasm people have," Thompson said on his bus...

Breaking on CNN a few minutes ago. 1 plane down in neighborhood, status of pilot or occupants unknown at this time.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A pair of high-profile but delayed Alaska oil and gas lease sales are expected to draw heavy interest when bidding takes place next week, a state energy official said on Thursday. High oil prices and an increased number of interested energy companies are expected to boost demand for the leases that will provide producers with the right to explore for oil and gas on state territory, said Bill Van Dyke, acting director of the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas. The leases to the North Slope area and the Beaufort Sea are in the...

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, SC (Sept. 2, 2005) -- Three Native American representatives from three different tribes visited Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort Aug. 25-26. Richard Allen of the Cherokee Nation, Emman Spain of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and Tim Thompson of the Muscogee Creek Nation, visited the Lowcountry for a meeting with the Natural Resources Environmental Office and also took a tour of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122. Every year Native Americans who have interest in the Air Station’s land visit Fightertown to review projects and agendas, according to John Luce, the natural and cultural resources manager...

Sweathogs prepare for six-month Iraq deploymentSubmitted by: MCAS BeaufortStory Identification Number: 200421391316Story by Cpl. Kat Johnson MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT(February 13, 2004) -- An order from President Bush to aid in the fight against global terrorism is a reason the Marines of Marine Wing Support Squadron 273 are finding themselves at the head of another deployment to the Middle East. This month, over 650 Marines from MWSS-273, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, will be packing and heading out for six months to support combat operations and air strikes over Iraq. This will be the first time in...

Enterprise F/A-18s Strike Enemy Mortar Position in IraqStory Number: NNS040112-02Release Date: 1/12/2004 9:11:00 AMFrom Commander, Joint Forces Maritime Component/Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public AffairsABOARD USS ENTERPRISE, At Sea (NNS) -- Strike fighter aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1, flying from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) in the North Arabian Gulf, attacked an enemy mortar position near Balad, Iraq, north of Baghdad, Jan. 9, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Two Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 86 F/A-18 Hornets from Enterprise’s embarked carrier air wing each dropped a 1,000-pound Joint Direct Attack...

Maj. Matt Tolliver was barely out of his jet before his 3-year-old-son, Jacob, started peppering him with questions about the aircraft. Beaming with pride, Jacob wanted to know what every piece of equipment aboard his dad's F/A-18 Hornet was.Tolliver answered his son's questions with a smile that seemed to say "It's good to be home."After three months flying bombing missions over Baghdad and other parts of Iraq from a base in the Kuwaiti desert, Tolliver and nine other pilots from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251, better known as the Thunderbolts, returned Monday to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.For family members,...