Free Republic

CHINCOTEAGUE, Va.- The federal government has shut down the Assateague National Seashore and the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. But that is not stopping residents from trying to get inside. "if they send me a summons, I'll send it to the White House," Anna Stubbs said. She and dozens of other protestors are rallying for the parks to reopen, so the Chincoteague economy can get back on track. "I have a motel and I had 10 cancellations last night, we have the biggest festival we have this year, the oyster festival and they are starting to cancel for that," Stubbs said....

On Memorial Day, keep in mind these books about soldiers in battle. 1. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway (Scribner, 1940). Before I entered the U.S. Naval Academy as a young man, I'd read "For Whom the Bell Tolls," a book that helped bring home to me one of the fundamentals of military experience: what it is that moves soldiers in battle. (snip) 2. "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon (1776-88). (snip)his eloquent, sweeping exposition showed that this peerless imperial power had a hand in its own decay, done in...

VIRGINIA BEACH - Police Chief Jake Jacocks Jr. has been meeting with citizen groups this month to decide whether to change the policy that forbids Beach police officers from asking the immigration status of suspects arrested on misdemeanor charges. The reassessment is in response to media attention and public outrage following the deaths March 30 of two teenage girls in a wreck. A man who admitted he is an illegal immigrant is accused of causing the wreck. Next week, Jacocks will meet with representatives of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to discuss the ability of federal authorities to respond to...

NORFOLK - A man fatally shot on Harvard Street in February had been attempting to break into an apartment, and the man who fired will not be charged, Commonwealth's Attorney Jack Doyle said in a letter released Thursday. It was about 2 a.m. Feb. 28 when Keith Foreman tried to break into a ground-floor apartment at 416 Harvard St., Doyle wrote in a letter to police, after his review of the case. He said a man and a woman were inside the apartment at the time. One of them called out to the intruder, but he "continued in his effort...

Student pleaded with Tech: Allow guns Bradford Wiles Wiles, of New Castle, is a graduate research assistant in the department of human development at Virginia Tech. My fears have been realized. As a graduate student at Virginia Tech, I have been adamant about changing the university's policy forbidding students from defending themselves. Before I proceed, let me please express my deepest condolences to those who have lost family, friends and loved ones in this awful tragedy. I do not want anyone to misconstrue my pleas for reform of university policy with a disregard for the human impact of this calamity....

UPDATE: Eight city police officers who used World Series tickets seized from scalpers were suspended without pay for 14 days and may lose up to $20,000 each in wages from reduced rank, Chief Joe Mokwa announced this afternoon. He said what they did was "intolerable" but added that they are "not thieves" and "can be redeemed." SNIP The Police Officers Association publicly expressed fears Tuesday that the officers would be fired, and vowed to fight to save their jobs. SNIP

The event that VCDL Board member Dennis O'Connor describes below happened in a SunTrust branch a couple of days ago. SunTrust does not ban their law-abiding customers from legally carrying a firearm for self defense. Had this been a Wachovia or a BB&T, both of which ban guns, the outcome would probably have been very different. This event also underlines something that both Dennis and I believe - open carry, in and of itself, can be a strong deterrent to crime. Yes, I know - the criminal COULD do a preemptive strike against someone he sees carrying openly. But...

One week after the fatal shooting of Peyton Strickland, New Hanover County Sheriff's Office Deputy Christopher M. Long was dismissed from his job. Friday's announcement came late in the afternoon in a terse release from the sheriff's office. The press release advised that it would be fruitless to ask any questions about the firing, citing ongoing investigations by the State Bureau of Investigation and the New Hanover County District Attorney's Office "regarding Long's recent actions." Sheriff Sid Causey did not return a call seeking further information. Long, 34, was a corporal and a member of the sheriff's office Emergency Response...

ATF agents discover guns not preferred weapons for ninja Ninja vs. Pirate day started as an innocent way to meet people and invite them to the Wesley Foundation, the United Methodist group on campus. Ninjas were supposed to say, “Hi-ya doing?” while pirates would introduce themselves to students with a “How arrrr you doing?” Unfortunately for Jeremiah Ransom, the sophomore detained by Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents Tuesday, he was introduced to an agent’s knee. “I have a good bruise on my back where he had his knee on me,” Ransom said. Camera phone photos submitted to The Red &...

RICHMOND — Gun proponents won big on Monday, as a number of bills that would make it easier for Virginia residents to carry weapons narrowly gained acceptance from a Senate committee. In addition, a measure that would allow residents to carry loaded weapons locked in their vehicles and boats, without a concealed weapon permit, made it through the full Senate on a 23-17 vote. “Today was a good day,” said Joel Partridge, Virginia liaison for the National Rifle Association. “It further strengthened the right to bear arms.” Not everyone felt the same. “It causes great alarm,” said Sen. Louise Lucas,...

VIRGINIA BEACH - A State Police trooper shot and wounded a man who claimed to have a gun and then lunged at the officer early Sunday, according to a State Police spokesman. The trooper was unhurt. Sgt. D.S. Carr said the wounded man, Nicholes Godwin, 26, of Marlboro Road in Portsmouth, had been arrested moments earlier on suspicion of drunken driving. Godwin was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he underwent surgery Sunday and was listed in stable condition by evening. He is expected to recover, Carr said. The incident began on westbound Interstate 64 about 2:16 a.m. when...

CHESAPEAKE - A pediatrician who asks a child's parent about firearms in their home could lose his or her license or be disciplined under legislation being considered by a Senate committee today. The bill would prohibit health care professionals from asking a patient about gun possession, ownership or storage unless the patient is being treated for an injury related to guns or asks for safety counseling about them. Sponsored by Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville, the bill sailed through the House by a vote of 88 to 11 last week. A message seeking comment was left for the delegate; he did...

A bill being considered in the House of Delegates challenges the authority of public universities to restrict weapons on campus.FREEPERs, Please take the poll at the link. BLACKSBURG -- Seventy-five guns sit in a weapons storage facility at the Virginia Tech police station. The guns are secured inside storage compartments in a locked room slightly larger than a walk-in closet. University policy requires students and employees, other than police, to check their guns there. If they want to take them off campus, they have to sign them out, and a university police officer must retrieve them. Regardless of whatever permits...

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE), who seem to go out of their way to alienate gun owners with their heavy-handedness, behaved in a shameful manner this last weekend at the Showmasters' gun show in Richmond. I had reports from members of police going to their houses while the member was waiting for their approval to purchase a gun at the show! The police asked the spouse and other family members questions about the purchases and filled in a survey! "Did you know your husband was going to a gun show today?" "Did you know your husband...

Most apartment and condo dwellers in Virginia can kiss goodbye to preparing sizzling steaks or burgers on their balcony or patio grills. As of Oct. 1, it's illegal to use an open-flame grill on wooden balconies or on patios within 10 feet of a combustible building, meaning just about any structure not made of brick. Anyone violating the state's new fire prevention code can be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by a year in jail and a possible $2,500 fine. In addition to the open flame ban, owners of propane grills that use tanks with a capacity greater...

VIRGINIA BEACH -- The police officer who shot a homeowner last month after another officer broke down the man's door has been cleared of wrongdoing by the commonwealth's attorney. Harvey L. Bryant III said Friday that his investigation into the Feb. 6 shooting determined that Officer Adam R. Perschau, 25, had reason to fear for his own safety when he shot Michael J. Oschmann multiple times at Oschmann's home in the 100 block of N. Birdneck Road. ``I find that the actions taken by Officer Perschau were justified and appropriate under the circumstances,'' Bryant said in a letter to city...

PORTSMOUTH -- A former city police officer pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Daniel D. Wrede was on duty the night in December 2001 when he conducted such a rough search of the teenager that he sprained the boy's wrist and bruised his testicles, special prosecutor T. Marie Walls said in court Monday. Wrede, 32, was convicted in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of misdemeanor assault and sentenced to 12 months in jail, with all of the time suspended. He also received two years of probation. As part of a plea agreement, a judge also ordered Wrede to...

The spread of illicit arms and light weapons is a global threat to human security and human rights," insists United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan. But it would be far more accurate to say: "The U.N.'s disarmament policy is a global threat to human security and human rights." It was the U.N.'s lethal policy that was directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents in Srebrenica in 1995. For orchestrating a vicious ethnic-cleansing campaign that included the slaughter in Srebrenica, ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic stands accused of genocide and crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former...

<p>Why do I have to die for the sake of government rules?</p> <p>I'm a mouse running in a maze. That's what it's like to be a cancer patient today. I've been one for nine years, so I know. Most cancer patients die, or get better and go away. Few of us hang around inside the Food and Drug Administration's death factory long enough to go up its blind alleys and learn firsthand that America's search for cancer cures has more to do with "research" than the patients' health. It's up or out in the cancer world, and only a few stick around to tell stories. I call myself a "lab rat" and my doctors do not disagree. Here's my story.</p>

Last week former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, who managed Bill Clinton's counterterrorist policy, broke more than a year of silence on the September 11 attacks. Freeh's testimony to the Joint Intelligence Committees, though clearly intended as a defense of the FBI, actually confirmed that the bureau must indeed bear much of the blame for 9/11. The blame is not the bureau's alone. As Freeh stressed, Bill Clinton refused to engage terrorism militarily, and Congress imposed onerous restrictions on FBI surveillance. "The point is," Freeh said, "that while the CIA and the FBI should be intensely examined regarding September 11,...