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A disarm, 3 a.m. call for help, gunshots, butt strokes, and hand to hand, but two neighbors rescued a 69 year old woman from a home invasion in rural Alabama.  The Sheriff deputies arrived in time to clean up the mess. At about 3 a.m., an unfamiliar man broke into Wilma Williams home in the 31000 block of Cleburne County Road 49 in Alabama.  She ran to her pistol, but Craig Moore was able to take it from her and fire twice before she struggled free. One of the shots cut hair from her head. She got away and...

Cleburne police are investigating after a video circulated online of one of its officers coaxing a dog toward him before shooting it. The short video, taken from a body camera’s perspective, shows a man’s arms wielding a handgun while the officer summons two dogs toward him. As the animals approached with their tails wagging, the officer fired several times. As one of the dogs fell to the ground, the officer, who has not been identified, took aim at the second dog. The video ends abruptly, before showing what happened to the other dog. Although the video shows that the animals...

Another project that the Patrick Cleburne Camp is heavily engaged is the annual memorial to the great General himself: Patrick R. Cleburne. This 25th annual memorial service for the Irish-born Confederate General will be held on March 13 in the Helena, Arkansas Confederate Cemetery. The memorial will begin at noon with key-note speaker Glen Dedmondt, author of The Flags of Civil War Arkansas, which Mr. Dedmondt dedicated to General Cleburne. Many spectators will meet at 10am at the McDonald’s in Helena prior to the memorial for breakfast. The public is invited to attend and all living historians are invited to...

Who was Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne?

CLEBURNE — A 43-year-old woman was arrested Friday on accusations that she engaged in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.Julie von Tungeln surrendered on a warrant for sexual assault at the Johnson County Jail. Bail was set at $10,000.Sgt. Amy Knoll said Cleburne police began investigating the case this week after receiving a report alleging that Von Tungeln had been involved in sexual relationships with underage teenage boys. Knoll said the report was made by one of the boys’ parents.

Texas needs the Trans-Texas Corridor because of its surging population, a representative for Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday while speaking in Cleburne. Plans are to build the multi-lane highway and rail system parallel to Interstate 35, north-south through the center of the state. Kris Heckmann, deputy director of Perry’s Legislative Division spoke at the Cleburne Civic Center at the invitation of the Johnson County Republican Women for their monthly meeting. Every decade since World War II, Texas’ population has increased by at least 20 percent, Heckmann said. In 1990, the state’s population was 16.5 million, and today the population is...

LUBBOCK, Texas- Three men caught transporting illegal immigrants after one of their vehicles crashed, killing a Mexican national, have pleaded guilty to federal smuggling charges. The men, each from Cleburne, entered their pleas Thursday and face up to 10 years in prison after trying to smuggle as many as 13 immigrants before one of their cars rolled near El Dorado after blowing a tire. Prosecutors say Jorge Luis Castro-Garcia, Jesse Cano and Agustin Anorga organized a smuggling ring that included each immigrant paying Castro-Garcia $1,500 to be transported from Mexico to Cleburne. Each drove separate vehicles but Anorga crashed his...

AUSTIN - His family made a fortune on men's work clothing. But it's Sam Walls' apparent fondness for women's apparel that is dividing the Johnson County Republican Party. Walls, 64, is in the April 13 GOP primary runoff against Burleson real estate broker Rob Orr for the House District 58 seat. As a leading businessman, former Republican Party chairman and benefactor of Harris Methodist Walls Regional Hospital, Walls seemed the odds-on favorite to win. The victor is likely to succeed Arlene Wohlgemuth in the Texas Legislature. But then pictures of Walls in women's clothing -- several of which were provided...

A 40-year-old man was hospitalized Tuesday night after he used a razor blade to cut his arms and neck and slice off his penis and testicles. A Cleburne police officer was responding to another call at Walls emergency room about 11:35 p.m. Tuesday when he saw a man sitting in a blue Chevrolet pickup parked by the ER doors, according to the Cleburne police report. The officer approached the man and saw him holding something against his chest with his left hand. The man was covered in blood, the report states. At this time, a nurse ran out of the...

Joanne Webb intended to spice up marriages and earn extra cash by selling erotic toys. Instead, the former fifth-grade teacher and executive board member of the Burleson Chamber of Commerce faces criminal charges and embarrassment after a police sting. "It's ludicrous to think that the government can step into our bedrooms," said Webb, who has been married 20 years and has three children. Webb was one of 3,000 consultants for Passion Parties, a San Francisco-based company whose representatives set up Tupperware-type parties for women who feel more comfortable buying marital aids in a private home than at an adult bookstore...

Thanks to all the FReepers who showed up in Cleburne today to help us support the Lone Marine. There were many people driving by who honked and waved their support as well. After a stimulating pre-FReep breakfast at the Burleson Cracker Barrel, we drove to the Johnson County Courthouse in Cleburne for the rally. We assembled, got our flags ready, and marched several times around the courthouse while traffic proceeded all around us. We finally settled on the west side of the courthouse as the maximum visibility location. A brisk wind kept us cool and provided a grand opportunity for...

I spotted the guy last Sunday, standing on the corner near the Johnson County Courthouse. At first, I didn't know what he was doing there. Then I saw the sign board, and the patriotic shirt, and the small American flags he was holding. The sign said, "EX-MARINE-I SUPPORT THE TROOPS" and gave a list of the places he had served as a Marine. I honked, waved, and gave him a salute as well as I could from the front seat of my car. He returned the salute, and waved. I drove on when the light turned green. I returned a...

Crash stuns families 12/22/2002 By SELWYN CRAWFORD and STAISHY BOSTICK SIEM / The Dallas Morning News The words of Cleburne High School principal Justin Marchel seemed haunting Saturday, just one day after he had uttered them to students. "The last thing I told them as they got out for Christmas break was to be careful because we wanted them all to come back next year," said Mr. Marchel, in his first year as principal of the 1,600-student school. Hours later, junior Steven Bivins, 17, was dead and six other teens were injured after a head-on collision at the top...

Man guilty in '01 rape Jury takes 25 minutes to return verdict 12/05/2002 By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News FORT WORTH - A Tarrant County jury took 25 minutes Wednesday morning to convict a Cleburne man of sexually assaulting a mother while four children slept nearby. The jury of eight women and four men found Manuel Salamanca Jr., 31, a former hospital lab worker, guilty in the Aug. 9, 2001, attack. A sentencing hearing, which included testimony from three other rape victims, began Wednesday in the 213th District Court. Jurors on Thursday are expected to decide on...

Patrick Cleburne was one of the great Confederate generals of the Civil War, but he wasn't an astute army politician, Civil War author Wiley Sword said Monday.Cleburne twice told a superior he should resign and made the unpopular proposal to enlist Southern blacks into the Confederate Army.Sword, a nationally known author, will speak Wednesday at the monthly meeting of the Civil War Roundtable of Eastern Kansas.Cleburne was one of the "finest divisions commanders" in the Confederate Army, Sword said during a Monday interview by phone from his home in Georgia.At the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee in April 1862, Brig....