Free Republic

U.S. drivers are allowed across the border right now if they're headed to Alaska, but the Canadian Pandemic Act says they'd better not dawdle on the way up. John Pennington, from Walton, Kentucky, was recently arrested in Banff for violating Canada's Quarantine Act... Pennington was allowed through the border thanks to a loophole of sorts that lets Americans drive from the Lower 48 through Canada and into Alaska (and vice versa), as long as they drive straight through, i.e., they can't go looking at the majestic Banff mountains. Canada's rules give drivers "a reasonable period" to make the drive and...

Cpl Rob Pennington is now a free man. He recently took a plea bargain for a murder charge, testified against his fellow Marines, and is not free. Only Sgt Hutchin's is in Jail. 8 Men, all charged with Murder, Kidnapping, Assault, whatever...now one is left in jail, the rest are free. That doesn't happen if they had evidence.

CAMP PENDLETON --- A Marine lance corporal was sentenced Saturday to eight years in jail and a dishonorable discharge for his part in the abduction and shooting death of a retired policeman last year in Hamdania, Iraq. The sentence for Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, who wasn't one of the men who shot the victim but who took part in the planning and abduction and later lied to investigators, is the most severe handed down in the slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad. Four other Marines from the Kilo Company 1st squad, 2nd platoon with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment and...

CAMP PENDLETON -- The mother of a Marine lance corporal who has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiring to kill an Iraqi civilian last year Friday morning implored the court to give her son a light sentence. Deanna Pennington told a military judge presiding over the court-martial of Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington that her son was dramatically changed as a result of three deployments to Iraq since 2003, assignments during which he lost two of his best friends in combat. After his second deployment, in which he took part in the battle for the city of Fallujah in 2004 and...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The mother of a Marine lance corporal who has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiring to kill an Iraqi civilian last year Friday morning implored the court to give her son a light sentence. Deanna Pennington told a military judge presiding over the court-martial of Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington that her son was dramatically changed as a result of three deployments to Iraq since 2003, assignments during which he lost two of his best friends in combat. After his second deployment, in which he took part in the battle for the city of Fallujah in 2004 and...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine lance corporal took the hand of an Iraqi man he had just helped kidnap last year and used it to strike the face of the bullet-riddled victim, a co-defendant in the homicide case testified Thursday. "He took his hand and kind of played with it and made Mr. Awad hit himself," former Petty Officer Melson Bacos said about his squad mate, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, during testimony in a Camp Pendleton courtroom. "He said, 'Quit hitting yourself.' "Bacos' testimony came as the government presented evidence that will lead to its sentencing recommendation when the court-martial...

CAMP PENDLETON -- A Marine lance corporal who pleaded guilty Tuesday to kidnapping and conspiracy charges in the shooting death of an Iraqi civilian wants extra days of credit awarded for the time he has been the base brig because of what his attorneys contend was illegal pretrial confinement.The argument came Wednesday during the second day of a court-martial for Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, 22, a Seattle-area native.Pennington pleaded guilty Tuesday to two of the five felonies he was charged with in the abduction and slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the Iraqi village of Hamdania on April 26, 2006....

Military prosecutors want to start hearings as soon as this Wednesday to determine whether to move forward with charges of premeditated murder against two local Marines, five others and a Navy corpsman. But several of the attorneys told media last week that they didn't expect the hearings to take place that soon because they haven't received all of the government's evidence and will need time to review the information. Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Camp Pendleton spokesman, confirmed the so-called Article 32 hearings, the equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, are tentatively slated for next week. “It will be good...

The bird-watching hiking trip that the boys from Boy Scout Troop 44 in Pennington took Nov. 19 to Pennsylvania's Hawk Mountain didn't include plans for a life-and-death rescue mission. Plans changed when the boys encountered fire-and-rescue personnel scrambling on foot up the mountain with their emergency gear. The boys of Troop 44 didn't hesitate to lend a hand to the emergency crews after learning they were rushing to a hiker who had been pinned and badly injured by a massive boulder in an area that could not be reached by vehicle. "We were on the last part of our hike,"...

KONNAROCK – The Mountain Empire lost another soldier Monday. Staff Sgt. Gregory V. Pennington, 36, of the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division, died in a mortar attack on his camp, inside one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces in Baghdad, Iraq, according to the Defense Department. "His captain said he died a hero," said the soldier’s father, Aulbin Pennington. "He’ll always be my hero." Eight hundred forty U.S. service members have died in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. Pennington had been stationed in Iraq since March, his father said. Monday was his 97th day...