Free Republic

Todd and Kim Robertson are convinced their Ford Focus was targeted by a black bear because of the aroma of donuts that permeates inside. =============================================================================================================================== Doughnut delivery drivers in Steamboat Springs might want to start looking over their shoulders. Todd and Kim Robertson awoke early Monday to discover a black bear was so determined to break into their doughnut delivery vehicle, it ripped off the car's back bumper. The Robertsons had no doubt about the bear's motives. "It always reeks of doughnuts in there," Kim Robertson said. The bear left a paw print on the car and left the scene...

A bear entered a home in Steamboat at 2 a.m. Saturday. Kelly Mauldin heard her dogs barking and got up to investigate and discovered the 300-400 male bear in her house. She screamed for her husband, Ken, who got up and shot and killed the bear. When I went to my bedroom door, I saw the bear about 10 feet away and shot it instantly with a 40-caliber, semi-automatic handgun. Then the bear charged me. I continued shooting at it as fast as I could. The bullet hole in the floor suggested the bear got about five to six feet...

Steamboat Geyser, the tallest active geyser in the world, erupted more times in 2019 than in any other year, baffling scientists who are trying to understand what triggered this unusual streak of activity. The geyser can shoot water more than 300 feet into the air, and this year it has erupted more than 45 times, surpassing the 32 eruptions recorded in 2018. In the three years before that, however, the geyser didn't erupt at all. Unlike Old Faithful, which is famous for its highly predictable eruptions, Steamboat is an erratic giant. "In the 1960s, there was another period where there...

After a lengthy discussion with several public comments, the Steamboat Springs School Board voted Monday to make collective bargaining meetings open to the public, regardless of the outcome of Proposition 104. ... If passed, Proposition 104 will require all meetings of school boards, or between district representatives and employee representatives at which a collective bargaining agreement is discussed, be public. School districts in Colorado negotiate contracts annually, with bargaining in Steamboat Springs slated to begin in January or February 2015 for the following year's contract. The board has discussed the possibility of making meetings public since last May, and Andrew...

The wood frame of the Delta Queen steamboat creaks and groans as the old lady tugs passively against her moorings. Weather and time have taken their toll on the silent relic, which sits lashed to a storm-damaged quay along Chattanooga's Coolidge Park. Workers have long since battened down her hatches and blocked off her decks. The only sign of life is a fairly believable scarecrow, cobbled together using an old hat, a pair of boots and a duct-taped Dickies uniform. It sits in the shade with a fire ax across its lap to dissuade intruders. But the once-stately chunk of...

In the 1760s, the British fought a world war, partially to defend her American colonies from French encroachment. When they tried to unfairly raise taxes to pay for that war, American colonists objected, so the British solved the problem in a way that suited the times: They merely mandated that virtually all American commerce must move through London. Everything had to be exported to London and imported from London… so that the king would be sure to get his cut. The colonists objected, and started a war of independence over it, because the king had them chained; this coastal nation...

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. -- A sheriff's dive team discovered what is believed to be a late-1800s era steamboat at the bottom of a Central Florida lake during a training exercise last month. The Lake County sheriff's dive team found the boat at the bottom of Lake Minneola in the lake's southwest corner in Clermont while training with side-scan sonar, which they recently acquired. The sonar is a piece of equipment that is dragged by a boat and projects images of the underwater environment. After seeing an image of the boat, which appeared to be about 18 feet long, dive team...

Majestic America Line Announces Farewell Celebration Throughout 2008 for the Legendary Delta Queen. Congress has decided not to enact legislation to grant the historic ship a statutory exemption; Ship will continue sailings through November 2008. Click on link above for full press release.

BRIDGETON, Mo. - The Montana emerges like a giant skeleton near the banks of the Missouri River here, a relic from the pre-railroad era when steamboats were a vital mode of transportation. The muddy bottoms of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers are watery graveyards to hundreds of sunken steamboats including the Montana, which sank more than 120 years ago. The Montana is embedded in mud and normally concealed by the river's waters. But rain has been rare in the area this summer and the water level has dipped low enough to reveal the ship's remains. "I was impressed with how...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...