Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Washington….The Obama administration, for the second time in two months, interjected itself Monday into an angry local dispute over a proposed Islamic center, warning local officials that opposing the mosque could violate the civil rights of its members and become a federal crime. The Department of Justice filed court papers Monday in support of construction of a Murfreesboro, Tennessee mosque, saying local Muslims were protected by the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion and disputing opponents claims that Islam is not a valid religion."

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Camie Ayash was jailed for about a year in 2006 for stealing more than $300,000 from a former employer. Guidelines posted on the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro's website state that if a member is convicted of a felony, his or her membership in the mosque can be terminated. Ayash said that rule does not apply to her, since she is on the board.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A student confessed to sending threatening e-mails that prompted Middle Tennessee State University officials to cancel classes. "This e-mail was very generic and did not mention any particular person by name or a particular location other than the university as a whole," said MTSU Police Chief Buddy Peaster during a news conference Thursday afternoon. Police patrolled the Murfreesboro campus as investigators tried to trace the source of the e-mails, which were transmitted beginning Wednesday night. Computers were confiscated from the campus for analysis by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. MTSU student Justin Davis, 19, was arrested for...

Mufreesboro, TN The Student Government Association votes today on a resolution to have MTSU students who have gun permits to carry firearms on campus. The resolution, called the Student Defense Resolution, asks the MTSU administration to petition the general assembly in favor of allowing faculty, students and staff of MTSU that have firearm permits to carry on campus. Matthew Hurtt, junior political science major and senator for the College of Liberal Arts, is sponsoring the Student Defense Resolution. "We are basically asking the administration to petition to allow students, faculty and staff, who have reached 21 and obtained a permit,...

CAMP AL QA'IM, Iraq (May 25, 2006) -- On his second deployment to Iraq, Lance Cpl. Jacob A. Lamb admits that communicating with friends and family back home is easier thanks to a relatively new program: Moto Mail. ‘Moto’ is short for ‘motivation,’ and it’s what U.S. service members like Lamb use as a means to keep contact with his friends and family back home. This roughly two-year-old program allows U.S. service members deployed overseas to receive letters via an electronic system. The letters are printed and enveloped at the military post office, and in the hands of the service...

Four people have been indicted for participating in a conspiracy to bribe Tennessee Department of Safety driver license examiners, and two others have been charged with accepting the bribes in exchange for issuing driver licenses and certificates. Bryan Guess, Shelia Robertson, Shun Gao, who is also known as “Gordon,” and Syed Abbas Parvez, also known as “Andy,” are charged with conspiracy to commit bribery. Bryan Guess, the owner and operator of Winchester Driving School, and his former employee Shelia Robertson, were charged with paying Teresa Jones more than $5,000 in bribes during the period Jones worked for TDOS. Jones, who...

. . . James McIvor has found an instance in the Civil War when the animosity between the Union and Confederate soldiers also lifted, if only for the length of a single song . . . As the opposing forces settled into battle lines near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on December 30, 1862, the bands on each side played an evening concert for their respective comrades. The two concerts continued, unharmoniously enough, until, “as if by common consent,” recalled the Tennesseean, both took up “Home, Sweet Home.” The men on both sides soon joined together in singing the song. When it was...

Tennesseans--I'm working on a very small section of a book, so I don't have the $$ or time to drive down to Hoover's Gap, but I was wondering if any of you could help me with a scale problem. If you have been to the Hoover's Gap battlefied, I need to know how far it is from Beech Grove on the battlefield to either the Moreland house or McBride's Hollow so I can create a scale. Or, if you know how long the federal front of Col. Wilder was, that would provide a scale for me as well. I'm working...

<p>After a decade of raising money, Rutherford County Muslims plan to break ground on a mosque this fall. The Murfreesboro Planning Commission will consider plans today for the Masjed Al-Iman, which means ''the mosque of faith.'' The proposed site is on East Northfield Boulevard near Pitts Lane.</p>