Free Republic

WESTLAKE, La. — In the hours before his death on the evening of Dec. 30, the first black mayor of this overwhelmingly white town started learning his new job. About noon, he set City Hall's alarm system for the first time. He got instructions on how to raise and lower the U.S. flag. He had already ordered a new mayoral letterhead with his name on it and a button-down shirt embroidered "Gerald Washington, Mayor." A few hours later he indulged in a hobby, placing a $4 bet at a nearby horse racing track. But by 10 p.m. Gerald "Wash" Washington...

Just days before he was to take office, the body of Westlake Mayor-Elect Gerald Washington was found outside the old Mossville High School on Old Spanish Trail. According to authorities with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office, the 9-1-1 call came in at 9:49 p.m. from a motorist passing the school who said they saw a body on the ground of the parking lot. Calcasieu Sheriff's crime scene investigators arrived and found the body of a black male with a single gun shot wound. The body was later identified as Washington. The Calcasieu Coronor's Office is performing an autospy to determine...

For those of you who missed Ann Coulter's appearance last night, I took the liberty of encoding it. It's low-quality to avoid taxing the resources of those of you with slow connections (only a few megs). Click on the picture to access the page. I would've provided a direct link to the file, but GeoCities has hotlink protection: Enjoy.