Free Republic

A Community High School student has set down a burden he says had weighed heavy on his heart since last year, when his father accused the school's vice principal of child abuse during the boy's paddling. "He said he was going to sue the school and I was, like, 'No, let's don't,' because I knew what the bruise was from, but he said, 'We'll get money out of this,'" said Samuel Lee "Leroy" Manus, 15, son of Freddy Manus, an inmate at Rutherford County Jail. Best known at school as Lee, the freshman had been sent to vice principal Keith...

The defining moment of my visit to New Orleans a year ago occurred in a gift shop. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit this, but at least it wasn't the kind that sells feather boas and t-shirts with jazz-playing lobsters. I wasn't a sorority girl nursing my hangover at Café Du Monde during Mardi Gras; I was a tourist visiting what used to be a sprawling, stately slave plantation. I was busy mulling over that subtly troubling experience, browsing through the gift shop's bookshelves, when I came to a curious array of volumes. The title The South Was Right! jumped out...

A juvenile's jealousy erupted into gunfire and charges being filed against three young men after they left Duck River Speedway Saturday night. Justin Wayne Leverette, 18, of Unionville and two juveniles allegedly attempted to stop a car driven by two young men. When the second car attempted to flee the pursuers fired at them, according to a report filed by the Bedford County Sheriff's Department. Leverette and the juveniles allegedly blocked their path at Halls Mill Store and the three left their vehicle to argue with and threaten the pair. Sgt. George Marsh reported that one juvenile stated, "Mr. Leverette...