Free Republic

Detectives from the Fairfax County Police Department Major Crimes Bureau Cold Case Squad have arrested a 59-year-old Ashburn man for the sexual assault of a teenager that occurred in Fairfax 35 years ago. On March 6, 1987, the mother of the victim received a phone call from a man pretending to be a local radio personality. The man told the woman she only needed to listen to the radio station to be eligible for $1,000 and a trip to Hawaii. He stated that he needed personal information to proceed with the award. The woman provided the man her home phone...

Reliably red on the political map, Huntington is a West Virginia town with a 191-year-old university, a storied football team and more than 100 churches. It’s where Will Lockwood graduated from high school. It’s where he enrolled at Marshall University. It’s where he first tried OxyContin. By the time Lockwood entered Marshall as a freshman, Detroit dealers were trickling into Huntington selling OxyContin and pills with OxyContin’s active ingredient, oxycodone. Even though Lockwood could step out his front door and get the drug, Detroit street dealers weren’t the preferred supplier. Florida was. It may be 1,000 miles away, but to...

Taxpayer-funded Marshall University in West Virginia is holding a clothing drive for cross-dressing students who are looking to assemble marvelous wardrobes. The Marshall University Trans Community Clothing Drive is currently underway. It began on Feb. 6 and will end on Feb. 24. Bins for Marshall’s transgender clothing drive are located in the LGBTQ+ office, several campus residence halls and, of course, the women’s studies department.

Watching the celebration at the NRA convention over the defeat of background checks was the most nauseating experience of the day. I am not a New York gun control liberal, either. I support a shotgun for home defense, a handgun for limited conceal/carry, and an assortment of hunting rifles to balance West Virginia's exploding deer population (as evidenced by hourly collisions with cars). So, I am hardly out of the mainstream. But, the gun safety debate is B.S. This foaming at the mouth, Obamar is coming for the guns, Nanny Bloomberg is a bad billionaire, and most despicable of all,...

In a bizarre op-ed in The Charleston Gazette last week, journalism professor Christopher Swindell argued that the National Rifle Association “advocates armed rebellion against the duly elected government of the United States of America.” Stirring words, to be sure, but Swindell was hardly done — not even close. He also said that the NRA is guilty of “treason” “worthy of the firing squad.” “To support the new NRA president’s agenda of arming the populace for confrontation with the government is bloody treason,” Swindell charged in his wacky essay. After briefly playing the race card and alluding to the Civil War,...

Dr. Robert Rupp, Associate Professor of History at West Virginia Wesleyan, also does some work as a consultant. Lately, his consulting work led him to advise a controversial new poll out on the U.S. Senate race in West Virginia, commissioned by Marshall University's School of Journalism and Mass Communications. That poll, released on Friday, depicted Democratic candidate Joe Manchin leading Republican John Raese by 10 points. The poll has been met with skepticism throughout West Virginia, since all other polls done by nationally-recognized pollsters show a much tighter race, either showing a tie or either Raese or Manchin leading by...

MUPeace, in conjunction with West Virginia Patriots for Peace, erected an Iraqi War Memorial on Buskirk Field Thursday. The memorial spanned over 200 feet and included 23 panels with names of American servicemen who died. On each full panel, 81 names were handwritten. We want to get a dialogue started for a peaceful solution in Iraq," MUPeace Coordinator Maura Conway said. "We're looking for a withdrawal or anything to speed up the process to get out." Though not convinced pulling out of Iraq is the answer, sophomore nursing major Elizabeth Colby said the message was powerful. "You see the numbers...