Free Republic

So I was talking on the phone to a customer service rep at a major insurance company. I was dreading this ordeal because as I said, I was talking on the phone to a customer service rep at a major insurance company. Rarely is that a pleasant experience. But…this conversation was a good one. Most of all, I enjoyed it because this lady was a Chicago Cubs fan but she was also open to my overtures about church. Being familiar with her area, I asked if she had heard of “So and So Church.” She was drawing a blank at...

Manteca, Calif. -- A pastor accused of selling the town's oldest church pleaded guilty to embezzlement on Monday and agreed to 18 months in prison, court officials said. Randall Radic, 53, entered his plea as part of a deal in which prosecutors agreed to drop nine other charges. Radic had preached at First Congregational Church in Ripon for nearly a decade before he sold the church last October for $525,000, allegedly using the money to buy a BMW. He also faked documents that gave him possession of his house, which was owned by the church, then used the property to...