Free Republic

When someone complained about a student’s Ron Paul poster in his dorm room window this fall, Auburn University in Alabama had the opportunity to take a principled stand for free speech. Of course, since we’re dealing with a university, you can probably guess that it instead chose to double down on an unwise, needlessly restrictive, and unfairly enforced policy at odds with the spirit of the First Amendment. Auburn undergrad Eric Philips probably thought he wasn’t doing anything particularly noteworthy when he hung a banner supporting Representative Ron Paul’s presidential candidacy in his residence hall window. ’Tis the eve of...

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WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed college football champion Auburn to the White House Wednesday, saying the Tigers had played a "tough schedule." NCAA Division 1 champion Auburn defeated Oregon 22-19 to win the Bowl Championship Series in January and complete a perfect 14-0 season.

AUBURN, NY--A 56-year-old grandmother spent a weekend in the Cayuga County Jail after a doctor made an error on a drug prescription. Defense attorney Charles Thomas said Auburn police charged Patricia Rigdon with possessing a forged prescription on March 11, but it turned out that the prescription called for too many pills because a doctor had made a mistake. Thomas said the felony charge was dismissed Wednesday because of that mistake. Rigdon said a police officer approached her in Kinney Drugs in Auburn while she waited for the pharmacist to fill a prescription for her husband and accused her of...

Today's lessons for would-be environmental vandals: If you're going to take it upon yourself to destroy a venerable icon beloved by hundreds of thousands of people, a) Pick a target that's not monitored by camera 24 hours a day, and b) Don't call in to the most popular radio show in the state to brag about your crime. Otherwise, you might end up like 62-year-old Alabama fan Harvey Almorn Updyke, better known now as "Al from Dadeville," who was arrested early this morning for allegedly applying a lethal dose of herbicide to a pair of 130-year-old oaks at Toomer's Corner,...

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- Auburn University says someone deliberately poisoned trees at Toomer's Corner, where fans have long celebrated big wins and hundreds gathered after the Tigers won the football national championship on Jan. 10. The university said in a statement Wednesday that a herbicide commonly used to kill trees was applied "in lethal amounts" to the soil around the two trees, and that they likely can't be saved. Auburn discovered the poisoning after taking soil samples on Jan. 28, a day after a man called a syndicated radio show based in Birmingham saying he had used the herbicide on...

New water panel chairman wants more California projects built Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers last updated: January 14, 2011 07:49:40 PM WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, could start making waves in California water. As new chairman of the House water and power subcommittee, McClintock can promote his pet projects while he squeezes environmentalists. Politically, this means renewed talk of an Auburn dam, stricter scrutiny of San Joaquin River restoration and more support for hydropower. "We need to change the central objective of our federal water and power policy, to one of abundance," McClintock said in an interview. "That...

WASHINGTON – Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, could start making waves in California water. As new chairman of the House water and power subcommittee, McClintock can promote his pet projects while he squeezes environmentalists. Politically, this means renewed talk of an Auburn dam, stricter scrutiny of San Joaquin River restoration and more support for hydropower. "We need to change the central objective of our federal water and power policy to one of abundance," McClintock said in an interview. "That means building more water projects." In theory, McClintock's position strengthens the staunch conservative's ability to pursue his agenda. The House panel...

When Auburn hired Pat Dye, the game changed for the Tigers – and for the Tide. Recent history had Auburn fans feeling snakebit. One national columnist told me last year that Auburn would never win a national title “because it’s Auburn.”In 1983, third-ranked Auburn saw the nation’s top two teams lose on New Year’s Day. When the Tigers beat Michigan in the Sugar Bowl, it was party on. A national championship was assumed. Auburn woke up the next morning to find itself still ranked No. 3 in the polls. In 1988, Auburn was a one-point Tommy Hodson “earthquake” from playing...

The deaths in Auburn’s Wise Canal started in January 2009. Last month, 50-year-old homeless man Richard Hill became the sixth man to turn up dead in the canal in less than two years. Now an Auburn woman has come forward with information that she said points to her son barely surviving becoming a seventh victim. Until this month, she said that neither she nor her son had shared the information with authorities. Betty Starr said her son told her he was pushed into the Wise Canal in November 2008, while walking in the darkness at water’s edge on a path...

A Birmingham lawyer -- and lifelong Auburn football fan -- asked a judge this week to hold off scheduling a trial so he and his family can go to the team's Jan. 10 national championship game, fearing he might not ever get another chance. Birmingham lawyer Michael Mulvaney submitted as evidence for his request for a trial delay photos of his daughters. The photo at left shows the girls, from left, Ellie, Grace and Sellers in Auburn jerseys. A second photo, not shown, indicates the girls today are a young teens. U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose, in granting his...

This December, it's a different kind of drama. The past two SEC championship games were 3 1/2-hour commercials for the league's dominance. Powerhouses Florida and Alabama squared off in de facto national championship semifinals. Both games starred past or eventual Heisman Trophy winners, neither with a whiff of controversy, and two coaches with reputations of success exceeded only by their capacity for grimness. The 2010 version tastes a little different. South Carolina is coached by one of the conference's most despised (and successful) coaches. Auburn brings a perfect record, a shot at a national championship and a Heisman candidate, runaway...

In the aftermath of the NCAA’s decision to clear Cam Newton to play for Auburn, we can now verify two things: 1) On November 5, 2010, Pat Forde, Chris Low and Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com reported the following: When interviewed by ESPN.com Thursday at the family’s home in Atlanta, Cecil Newton, Cam’s father, denied any wrongdoing. “If Rogers tried to solicit money from Mississippi State, he did it on his own, without our knowledge,” Cecil Newton said. From the NCAA’s Wednesday ruling that cleared Cecil Newton’s son: According to facts of the case agreed upon by Auburn University and the...

“The student-athlete’s father (Cecil Newton) and an owner of a scouting service (Kenny Rogers) worked together to actively market the student-athlete as a part of a pay-for-play scenario in return for Newton’s commitment to attend college and play football. NCAA rules (Bylaw 12.3.3) do not allow individuals or entities to represent a prospective student-athlete for compensation to a school for an athletic scholarship.”

Here’s hoping the slap on Cecil Newton’s wrist really stung. Then maybe he will remember it next time he tries to sell a son to the highest bidder in college football. Most likely it didn’t. Because the only punishment Cam Newton’s father got for peddling his son like a piece of meat was a public scolding and perhaps the loss of some choice seats in Saturday’s SEC championship game. Cam Newton made out even better. Thanks to the crackerjack sleuths at the NCAA, he will be behind center for Auburn in this weekend’s game. The masterminds behind the BCS cartel...

Before the Iron Bowl on Friday, Cam Newton and his Auburn teammates warmed up on the field to a couple of specially selected songs. Newton had already been showered in fake money by the Alabama student section as he made his way to the field, and once he was out there the songs "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Take the Money and Run." Obviously, the selections were in reference to the rumors that Newton's father Cecil Newton, a preacher, was shopping his son to the highest bidder after he left Florida. Honestly, when I heard about all of this...

Lt. Gen. Hal Moore took his sword from its sheath Tuesday evening, raised it and said, “I’m going to cut this cake like a soldier.” The cake didn’t stand a chance. Moore sliced swiftly through the sugary goodness to help commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Battle of Ia Drang, where outnumbered American soldiers held off the North Vietnamese on Nov. 14-16, 1965. Several hundred visited Auburn City Hall in a tribute to Moore and veteran journalist Joe Galloway, who co-authored the book “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young.” Between slices of cake, Moore and Galloway spoke to the...

An attorney for the former Mississippi State player who helped spark the NCAA's investigation of Auburn quarterback Cam Newton says his client has been interviewed by the FBI. Phil Abernethy wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to The Associated Press that John Bond met with federal and state investigators and "cooperated fully with both agencies." frpa

During the height of star quarterback Cam Newton's recruitment out of junior college last year, a man who said he represented Newton allegedly was soliciting a six-figure payment to secure his signature on a national letter of intent, ESPN.com has learned. Former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond told ESPN.com a teammate of Bond's at Mississippi State in the early 1980s contacted him soon after Newton's official visit to Mississippi State during the Ole Miss game in December, and said he was representing Newton. "He said it would take some cash to get Cam," Bond said. "I called our athletic director,...

An Auburn elementary school teacher has been charged with three counts of petit larceny and endangering the welfare of a child. Police say Alan Robinson, a third grade teacher at Genesee Elementary School, had three students use their identification numbers to purchase school lunches. Students told police they would bring the lunches to Robinson’s class where he would then eat them and not pay the students or the school for the food. Police say Robinson admitted to taking the lunches. An investigation began when the parents of one student questioned some unauthorized charges on their child’s account. Robison was released...

AUBURN, NY--An Auburn stay-at-home dad pleaded for leniency at his sentencing Tuesday for possessing hundreds of child pornography images on his home computer. Brien P. Fredendall, 31, of 7041 Potter Road, got a break from Judge Mark Fandrich. Fredendall was sentenced to four months in county jail on the felony child pornography charge and 10 years post-release supervision, Budelmann said. Fredendall could have been imprisoned up to four years on the charge. Budelmann asked Fandrich to incarcerate Fredendall for six months plus the 10 years post-release supervision. Fredendall asked for leniency so he could continue watching his children at home...

Auburn, NY -- Three days before Christmas, Auburn Police Chief Gary Giannotta laid down the law for his command staff. At the closed meeting Dec. 22 in the department basement, Giannotta gave this ultimatum: Tell your patrol officers to write more vehicle and traffic tickets — at least one each per shift — or there will be repercussions for those who don’t.... Threatening to punish employees who fail to make a ticket quota violates state labor law. Tuesday, the Auburn police union took Giannotta to task for his proclamation, and two college criminal justice experts questioned the ethics of his...

A RIOT by Muslim youths in Auburn last week was organised via Facebook, police believe. The troublemakers used the social networking site to flash up inflammatory references to police and rally their friends for a confrontation. One update identified police as "non-believers" who were raiding a "brother's home". More than 150 people gathered in Cumberland Rd, Auburn, on Tuesday night, forcing police to call in 100 officers, the riot squad and a helicopter. The tense stand-off came after Middle Eastern organised crime squad police raided four homes. Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher's office revealed one of the Facebook updates read:...

A series of raids and arrests in Western Sydney last night led to a stand-off between police and a crowd of locals throwing bottles. The Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad carried out three raids on the same street at Auburn. It is investigating who shot a 23-year-old, who turned up at Auburn Hospital on Sunday night with a gunshot wound to the chest. During one of the raids, a 25-year-old man punched an officer in the face and was arrested. Police inspector Mick Reynolds says the man's arrest triggered an angry response from about 150 residents. "There was a lot...

AUBURN, Calif. -- This town in the Sierra Nevada foothills accepted the gift of a 28-acre plot from the estate of Nobel laureate William B. Shockley in March. The mostly forested land was to become a community park named after the famous physicist -- co-inventor of the transistor -- and his late wife. Then the local newspaper pointed out that Mr. Shockley, who died in 1989, was a proponent of eugenics, a widely discredited movement most prominent in the 1920s and '30s that held that intelligence was racially linked -- and that called for sterilizing some Americans who were deemed...

More than 20,000 people turned out to see Palin lead a parade through downtown Auburn and sign a proclamation honoring Seward, the 19th-century Secretary of State who negotiated the $7.2 million deal with Russia for Alaska, which is celebrating its 50th year of statehood.

On the surface, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's visits to Auburn and Long Island this weekend are nonpolitical. She'll participate in Auburn's first Founders Day celebration on Saturday. The event is tied to the 50th anniversary of Alaskan statehood. The following day, she'll be on Long Island to raise money for Independent Group Home Living, an agency for the developmentally disabled. But after exploding on the national political scene last summer as John McCain's vice presidential running mate on the Republican ticket, Palin is also one of the party's leading figures, and any trip has political implications. "The next campaign begins...

AUBURN, NY–Back before the 2008 election, we posted a piece on how Finger Lakes Times reporter Craig Fox had recycled a story from a rival paper and added little to the story but a chance for a Democrat to attack Sarah Palin. He’s at it again. In the Thursday (June 4 2009) Finger Lakes Times, Fox reports on a story that other local papers have reported on for weeks, namely, an upcoming visit by the former Republican Vice Presidential candidate (and current Alaska governor) to the city of Auburn, New York....However, unlike other local news organizations, Fox didn’t just report...

Auburn, NY - So how did Auburn, a small Upstate New York city of about 28,000 people manage to land Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the biggest names in American politics, to participate in a fledgling civic celebration that wasn't even a concept six months ago?

Former Vice Presidential candidate and current governor of Alaska Sarah Palin is coming to Central New York next month. Palin will take part in the city's Founder's Day celebration, and it's all because of a special connection between Auburn and Alaska. A day after it was confirmed, the city is making preparations and people around town are thrilled to welcome her. "It's exciting to think that Auburn will have that national spotlight potentially on our community," said Bill Braun who works in Auburn.

Gov. Sarah Palin is coming to Auburn June 6. The Alaskan governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate will travel to Auburn for what the city organizers call Founders Day, which this year will celebrate 50 years of Alaskan statehood. Auburn's Meghan Stapleton, Palin's former press secretary who continues to work for her as a spokesman in nongovernment matters, confirmed the visit with Auburn officials in recent days. Alaska and Auburn are linked through William H. Seward, who lived much of his adult life in Auburn and was secretary of state under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Seward negotiated...

Gov. Sarah Palin is coming to Auburn June 6. The Alaskan governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate will travel to Auburn for what the city organizers call Founders Day, which this year will celebrate 50 years of Alaskan statehood. Auburn's Meghan Stapleton, Palin's former press secretary who continues to work for her as a spokesman in nongovernment matters, confirmed the visit with Auburn officials in recent days. Alaska and Auburn are linked through William H. Seward, who lived much of his adult life in Auburn and was secretary of state under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Seward negotiated...

An Auburn city councilman has apologized for removing miniature confederate battle flags from the graves of confederate soldiers.

Alaska and Palin are connected to Auburn in more ways than meet the eye. For starters, there is Auburn's William H. Seward, without whom there likely would be no state of Alaska.

Alabama coach Nick Saban responded angrily to today's news that Tommy Tuberville is out at Auburn after 10 years. Tuberville makes four head coaches to lose to Saban this season and not retain their jobs, joining Clemson's Tommy Bowden, Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer and Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom. Here was Saban's unprompted statement ... "There have been several coaches that have been let go in our league that have a pretty good body of work behind them. They've been really good coaches. They've been really good for the game. They've been good for a lot of players, and they've had very,...

Imagine if 4,000 people – mostly academics proclaiming to be “friends and colleagues” of Professor Eric Rudolph – published a letter defending that terrorist’s association with John McCain, praising his role as a distinguished faculty member in education at a premier university, and willfully ignoring his past as a domestic terrorist. While this particular scenario is easy to dismiss as absurd and unfeasible, that is exactly what has happened regarding Bill Ayers’ association with Barack Obama.

NET: we need advice and tips on how best to qualify for a NROTC 4-yr scholarship. Details: My 17 yr old son plans to apply to Auburn as a Freshman for acceptance for the 2009 academic year. (we live in Ga.) He plans to go NROTC/Marine track wherever he goes to college. He already has a full ride academic scholarship in Georgia [Hope Scholarsip] but would *really* like to go NROTC at Auburn. The only way that makes financial sense [$64K out of state v. free in-state/Ga] is if he pursues and is awarded a 4 year NROTC scholarship. I...

AUBURN, Wash. – For some, the game of golf can be strict, but on Sunday at the Auburn Golf Course, one golfer not only broke the rules, he broke the law. Auburn Police say a golfer used a 6-iron to assault another golfer, hitting the victim so hard he broke the club. "There's a lot of rules in golf and if you break the rules some people tend to take it really seriously out here, so I'm not really surprised someone got assaulted," said golfer Ryan Aker. "There was a group of golfers ahead of another group of golfers and...

Chapel Hill Police identified the victim of a shooting Tuesday on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus as 22-year-old senior Eve Carson, the student body president, the Winston-Salem Journal reports. Police responded to a report of gunshots in the area early Tuesday morning and found Carson's body lying in the intersection of Hillcrest Dr. and Hillcrest Circle. This is the second murder of a female college student on a southern campus in as many days. Lauren Burk was shot near Auburn University campus on Tuesday night. Both Carson and Burk are Georgia natives, from towns about one...

AUBURN, Ala. — An Auburn University student was murdered Tuesday night near campus. The victim, identified by Auburn police as 18-year-old Lauren A. Burk of Marietta, Ga., was shot to death. She was a freshman pledge with the school's Delta Gamma sorority, sources told FOX News.

An employee of an Auburn nursing home called firefighters for help because the toilets were exploding with steam...

Warming threat fails to sway foes of dam (Auburn, CA)AuburnJournal.com By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer Tying global warming and the possibility of increased flooding into efforts to build a multipurpose Auburn dam, a California State University, Sacramento survey indicates that the more people fear the threat of a shrinking ozone layer, the less they want the controversial flood-control project. The poll of 1,100 adult residents, including nearly about 200 from Placer County, indicated that 74 percent of those taking the survey think the threat of global warming is a serious one. Forty-eight percent said it was very serious while...

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez turned down Alabama on Friday, telling his players that he'll be back for his sixth season with the Mountaineers. RodriguezRich Rodriguez has guided West Virginia to three Big East championships and four straight New Year's Day Bowl games, including the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl vs. Georgia Tech. A loud applause could be heard from inside the Milan Puskar Center at Mountaineer Field after Rodriguez told his team he would be staying at his alma mater. "I fully respect his decision and wish him the best," Alabama athletic director Mal Moore said in...

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AUBURN, Ala. — The game starts in the lazy morning hours against a seemingly pedestrian team with a freshman quarterback and double rushing threats. No, Auburn is not having nightmarish flashbacks to the Arkansas debacle. The fifth-ranked Tigers instead face that benign-looking scenario for a second time Saturday when Georgia visits for a 11:30 a.m. (CST) kickoff. The first time was disastrous, with Arkansas stunning a still-groggy crowd with a fast start and dominating 27-10 back on Oct. 7. That experience has made the Tigers (9-1, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) especially wary for this one, even as they insist that a...

AUBURN, Ala., Oct. 14 — It can be a merciless existence in the Southeastern Conference, with a team’s schedule stacked with Top 25 opponents and fierce crowds of up to 107,000 people screaming from start to finish at a visiting squad. Given all that, it was not exactly surprising that No. 2 Florida, trying to stay in the national championship hunt, was finally taken down by the SEC gantlet here Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Gators were surrounded by a howling crowd of 87,541, which revved up the Auburn defense in the second half as the No. 11 Tigers...

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- Arkansas relied on a swarming defense and the rushing tandem of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones to beat No. 2 Auburn 27-10 Saturday, severely damaging the Tigers' national title hopes. McFadden rushed for 145 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown run, and Jones ran for 104, leading the Razorbacks to the stunning victory. Jones' 1-yard touchdown run gave Arkansas (4-1, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) a 24-10 lead late in the third quarter that was too much for a sputtering Auburn offense to overcome. The Tigers (5-1, 3-1) had already survived two SEC scares, salvaging wins over South Carolina...

No joke. Rutgers is ranked. The Scarlet Knights, long a college football laughingstock, moved into The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in 30 years on Sunday. No. 23 Rutgers (4-0), led by tailback Ray Rice, the fourth-leading rusher in the nation, is off to its best start since 1980 after beating Howard 56-7 on Saturday. "I'm not going to downplay it. It is significant considering where we started," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "It shows we're making progress in the right direction." The Scarlet Knights were one of three new teams at the bottom of the new...

NEW YORK Sep 17, 2006 (AP)— Miami is out of the rankings for the first time since 1999, and Auburn is the new No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25. The Hurricanes' latest lopsided loss a 31-7 debacle at Louisville ended a streak of 107 consecutive poll appearances that was the nation's longest current streak. "That doesn't really change anything," Miami coach Larry Coker said Sunday. "The poll didn't help us yesterday and the poll won't help us tomorrow. Doesn't change anything." With seven games matching ranked teams on Saturday, the poll got its first significant shake-up of the...

AUBURN, Ala. -- No. 3 Auburn beat No. 6 LSU, 7-3, in a game that set football back 40 years, and that is typed with a song in my heart. If you love physical football, this game was for you. If you love a game between the tackles; if you think passes are for sissies; if you think the spread offense is an Al Qaeda plot, you should have been one of the 87,451 screamers Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Let the rest of the nation razzle and dazzle. The Southeastern Conference has officially survived the Steve Spurrier Era with its...