Free Republic

By LEWIS SNYDER 9/8/2006 - A trooper died this week. A young, useful, productive member of society — one sworn to help and protect the citizens of New York — died as the result of a gunshot wound. The shooting was very likely the cowardly deed of one Ralph Phillips — an individual who has never done anything useful in his entire life for society. An individual who, in fact, has been nothing but a drain on society since his first arrest all those years ago. I have some questions I would like to ask. To all those who thought...

FREDONIA, N.Y. - A state police official said Monday that "the noose is tightening" in the manhunt for an escaped inmate accused of a deadly police ambush, and warned hunters to stay out of the woods where the fugitive may be hiding. Hunters in rural and wooded Chautauqua County are "interfering" with the search and face danger from Ralph "Bucky" Phillips and authorities pursuing him, State Police Maj. Michael Manning said. "They can certainly be mistaken for the wrong individual," Manning said. Many officers are scouring the western New York woods for Phillips, the prime suspect in Thursday's ambush of...