Free Republic

Relic hunters stole America's heritage when they left more than 100 holes around the Texas Memorial in the Vicksburg National Military Park, Patty Montague said Friday as archaeologists began surveying the damage. “The park is continually plagued by varying degrees of looting, digging and excavation,” Montague, the park's supervising ranger, said. “They're stealing America's heritage. This belongs to the American people.” Archaeologists and historians with the National Park Service arrived from Florida to begin meticulously processing the crime scene, which extended west of the memorial near a Confederate marker to the Railroad Redoubt. The Texas Memorial is on the south...

Judge Harold L. Murphy is expected to decide Monday if an emergency hearing is needed in the case An emergency hearing has been requested to determine if Mohawk Industries tampered with potential witnesses in a federal lawsuit. The Calhoun-based carpet manufacturer is accused of “widespread employment of illegal workers” in order to drive down wages and workers compensation claims at their Northwest Georgia plants. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Rome in 2004 by a group of employees. Now, as the case comes closer to trial, one former employee and one current employee have stepped forward saying...

Exceprt: PHILADELPHIA (AP) - An intern with the National Archives stole about 165 Civil War documents - including the War Department's announcement of President Lincoln's death - and sold most of them on eBay, prosecutors charged Thursday...... http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070316/D8NT0H7G1.html

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in a class-action racketeering lawsuit filed against Calhoun-based Mohawk Industries. The decision returns the case for trial in U.S. District Court, Rome, where the suit was filed in January 2004. Four hourly employees are accusing the carpet and floor-covering company of hiring illegal immigrants in an effort to drive down wages for its legal workers. They are asking the court to stop the alleged illegal-hiring practice and to award triple damages under the federal and state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations acts. The company has denied the charges — and gained...

A 200-acre site that was part of William T. Sherman's Atlanta campaign is once again up for grabs. This time, the contenders are Henry County government and developer Maxie Price, Jr., and the guns have been replaced by lawyers. The county is looking to condemn part of the site of the Battle of Lovejoy's Station, on the south side of McDonough Road at the Clayton County border, in the name of preservation. Henry County Commissioner Elizabeth “BJ” Mathis, who represents the area, wants the site to be turned into a passive park dedicated to Civil War history, and an existing...

In 1993 the Texas Legislators reduced the penalty for burglary of a motor vehicle in an attempt to cut costs and ease prison crowding. Due to the penalty being reduced, the Texas Department of Public Safety statistics show dollar losses statewide from car burglaries have grown 123% in the past decade. By 2003, Texans were losing more that $204 million a year to car burglaries. Represenitive Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, introduced House Bill 151. The legislation would double the maximum sentence to two years for those who break into unoccupied vehicles. The legislation passed the Texas House by a wide margin...

Call for Papers: Toilet Papers: The Gendered Construction of Public Toilets Editors: Olga Gershenson (University of Massachusetts-Amherst) Barbara Penner (University College-London) "You know what they say about men who hang around women's lavatories. They're asking to have their illusions shattered." - Georgina to Albert, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover We invite contributions for the edited collection Toilet Papers: The Gendered Construction of Public Toilets. Public toilets are amenities with a functional, even a civic, purpose. Yet they also act as the unconscious of public spaces. They can be a haven: a place to regain composure, to...

Greetings Fellow Freepers, Today I got the priviledge to hear Rudy Guliani speak at the annual meeting of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for junior colleges in Grapevine, Texas. The audience was clearly stoked at the opportunity to hear him speak. Prior to his entrance on stage, the organizers showed a video of his actions on 911 and how he stepped up to the plate to help the country deal with the tragedy. As soon as the video concluded several hundred college kids rushed toward the stage to take pictures of him. The crowd broke into a very...

Stephen Stanko did what he knew best — blended in — while on the run from authorities on a nationwide hunt for the ex-convict suspected in the deaths of two South Carolinians and the sexual assault of a teen. But the man known as a clean-cut, smooth-talker who collaborated with two professors on a book about his life in a maximum-security prison was back in jail five days after the woman he lived with was found strangled in their home. Stanko's capture Tuesday came a day after he became the subject of a national manhunt, with a $10,000 reward issued...

Principal Glenn White says the offer to pay students is to prevent trouble – not in response to it. Just like the FBI or other law enforcement agencies, Model High School is looking for information about criminal activity and is willing to pay for it. Under a unique reward program announced by school Principal Glenn White, students could earn as much as $100 by providing school officials useful information about serious on-campus crimes from theft to weapons possession. “It’s not that we feel there are any problems here. It’s a proactive move for getting information that will help deter any...

A manhunt continued Thursday morning after a man allegedly took two female hostages in the northern portion of Cherokee County Wednesday evening, March 30. According to Cherokee County Sheriff Larry Wilson, two female bond officers went to a residence on Cherokee County 81 around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday to arrest John Wayne Roebuck and revoke his bond. Wilson said an altercation then occurred between the three and Roebuck overpowered the bond officers. One of the hostages escaped, reports said, and the other is believed to be with Roebuck in a wooded area between Alabama Highway 273 and County Road 81 in...

It seems no matter how hard we work or how many hours we put in, the last few days of the legislative session always are hectic as we try to pass those few remaining bills that have made it through the process and just need to make it over that one last hurdle. The budget is one of those bills that we always seem to vote on at the last minute, or at least one of the last minutes. It is probably one of the most contentious pieces of legislation we tackle all year – not necessarily between Republicans and...

ATLANTA — A bill requiring longer waiting periods for couples seeking divorces moved a step closer to approval Tuesday in the Legislature, as a committee forwarded the proposal amid heated debate. The bill would make couples wait 120 days, not 30 days, before getting a divorce. They also would have to get counseling. The measure has already passed the Senate, but a House committee delayed action on the matter last week amid concerns it would draw out litigation and give children of divorcing parents more turmoil. After pressure from the bill's original sponsor, powerful Republican Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, the bill...

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS 804 PM CST SAT MAR 26 2005 MSC127-270230- /O.CON.KJAN.TO.W.0022.000000T0000Z-050327T0230Z/ SIMPSON MS- 804 PM CST SAT MAR 26 2005 ...A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 830 PM CST FOR EASTERN SIMPSON COUNTY... AT 801 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR MENDENHALL... MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH.

A former congressional candidate pleaded guilty in federal court in Rome on Friday to charges of poisoning more than 3,300 birds on his property in 2003. Roger F. Kahn, his company, and an employee must pay almost $300,000 in fines and for restitution in connection with the case. Kahn, a 59-year-old millionaire businessman, entered a plea on behalf of Kahn Cattle Company, LLC, a Bartow County cattle company, owning up to the illegal disposal of hazardous waste, a felony. In addition, pleas were entered by Kahn on his own behalf and by his farm manager, Glen M. “Mike” Bramlett, 49,...

As hundreds of flags flew in Ringgold to honor U.S. soldiers on Veterans' Day, vandals armed with black and red spray paint declared war on dozens of Civil War monuments in Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. The vandals struck on Veterans' Day at Wilder Tower, defacing it and between 20-30 monuments and tablets with messages of hate, including the Nazi swastika and an apparent reference to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City. The graffiti assault on park monuments is the second this year in the nation’s oldest military park. Two juveniles were charged earlier in...

I was shocked, just shocked, to learn last week that registered Democrats far outnumbered registered Republicans on the faculties of some of America’s most prestigious college campuses. I’m shocked, just shocked, this way every couple of years whenever someone offers new research on the subject. And I could be shocked, just shocked, at least once a week when some new horror story regarding faculty political extremism filters out from behind the ivy-covered walls. This year’s big news concerns two articles slated for publication in Academic Questions, the journal of the National Association of Scholars. Daniel B. Klein, an economist at...

Having just driven a few miles past the infamous Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib, Michael Green was temporarily stunned when his cargo rig exploded in a fog of smoke and a hail of shattered glass. “I felt some pain in my side, but I didn’t really have an idea how bad it was,” said the 43-year-old Rome native. “For 8 or 9 seconds, I was just in a dead stop, but then I realized I’d better get out of there.” The Sept. 3 explosion was caused by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by an insurgent, he said, and he’s alive today only...

Joe Johnson, shown saluting his son Spc. Justin Johnson’s casket in April, reports for training Nov. 29. File photo The father of an Armuchee soldier killed in Iraq seven months ago is preparing to follow his son to war. Joe Johnson, father of Spc. Justin Johnson, is a corporal in the Georgia National Guard 48th Infantry Brigade, which has been put on alert. Johnson said he has orders to report for training on Nov. 29. “I’m not really looking forward to the five or six months of training before we go, but I’m really looking forward to getting over...

The MSM has made much over values and morality being a determining factor in this election. They specifically cite the gay marriage bans as well as abortion and stem cell research as reasons the so called Religious Right came out in huge numbers. I think The Passion also played a role in this election, much more than Farenheit 911. The liberal intolerance surrounding The Passion woke up a lot of people to the fascism of the left and forced many Protestants and Catholics to choose sides. Your opinions?