Free Republic

Unruly students have turned some Memphis classrooms into war zones where teachers have been subjected to verbal and physical attacks, according to a school board commissioner who has introduced a resolution to reinstate corporal punishment. “Teachers, for several years now, have been increasingly agitated by the lack of classroom discipline,” said School Board Commissioner Kenneth Whalum. “It’s out of hand, man.” Memphis city schools banned corporal punishment five years ago. Since then, according to Whalum, teachers have been subjected to out-of-control kids. “They are being abused,” he said. “Teachers have been hospitalized after getting attacked by middle schoolers. It’s a...

PRINCETON — As a community struggled to cope with the death of 5-year-old Brooklyn Holcomb, a preliminary hearing this week traced the Jan. 15 events that brought her to the emergency room unconscious, covered in bruises and bearing what appeared to be the imprint of a belt buckle. Prosecuting Attorney Timm Boggess questioned first the emergency room physician who treated the battered girl and then the detective charged with identifying what killed her. Ronald William Holcomb never raised his head. The 34-year-old veteran and prison guard charged with first-degree murder sat at the defense table, with his eyes lowered, flanked...

LITTLE ROCK -- The case of the spanking strippers has been settled with a plea deal. A patron of the Sensations Night Club Three in Jacksonville, Ark., complained he was spanked with a big wooden paddle on his birthday. And it hurt. Three dancers and two other employees of the club have pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Second-degree battery charges against the dancers were dismissed. The patron, a truck driver, said the paddling left his backside bruised. The judge in the case has now ordered the paddle destroyed, so it can't be sold for a profit. The prosecutor suggested the...

On Oct. 14, Michelle Kosinski, an intrepid new NBC News correspondent who made her name this summer chasing Natalee Holloway’s ghost through Aruba, found herself up a creek without a paddle in the middle of the Today show. Only, she had a paddle. What she didn’t have was a creek. In what would have been a beautifully choreographed segment, Ms. Kosinski was reporting live about flooding in Wayne, N.J., in a canoe that was floating down a submerged suburban thoroughfare. “Eight days of rain, and some neighborhoods don’t even look like neighborhoods anymore,” she told Today viewers at the top...

Yates student paddled Father alleges assault 03/08/2002 By Dan Lauck / 11 News HOUSTON (KHOU) -- Jimmie Bigham is holding pictures of his son, Trey. But they weren't the kind of family photos that Bigham always carries with him. These are pictures of the bruises, after being paddled. That was two days ago. quot;He's still in pain,quot; the father mutters, looking at the pictures. The football program at Jack Yates High School is traditionally one of the city's best. In the spring, players lift weights and run. Apparently Trey Bigham missed a day of workouts. Two assistant coaches decided to...