Free Republic

Couple fend off public ire following news article ASHLAND — Sudden notoriety and public condemnation have surprised an Ashland couple who make a living as panhandlers and refer to themselves as "affluent beggars." Jason Pancoast and Elizabeth Johnson, who have three children, think the public has been taken aback by their unconventional image of a well-fed, well-dressed family that lives off the streets. "What has happened is that we’re going along with a lifestyle that you couldn’t imagine we should have," said 34-year-old Pancoast. A story in Sunday’s Mail Tribune about the couple, who sometimes make up to $300 a...

Teen charged in malicious shooting of four cows at an Eagle Point ranch By CHRIS CONRAD Mail Tribune A teen faces six felony charges after a booze- and gun-fueled summer camping trip he attended ended with four bullet-riddled cows belonging to an Eagle Point rancher. Billy James Frye, 18, of Eagle Point, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to four counts of aggravated animal abuse, felony theft and criminal mischief in connection with what Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Trooper Jeff Allison described as a "cow massacre." Police believe Frye and a group of friends went camping the weekend of August...

The little pioneer cabin on a terrace overlooking the Rogue River had been torched in 1853 by American Indians. The only evidence of its existence until last week was a letter written in December 1853 by a U.S. Army officer reporting to his superior about the construction of Fort Lane northwest of Central Point. A group of anthropology students from Southern Oregon University and volunteers from the Southern Oregon Historical Society found the cabin’s remains July 5 during a nine-day archaeological dig that ended Friday. The group, headed by Mark Tveskov, SOU associate professor of anthropology, expected to find the...

A 13-year-old boy shot and wounded an armed intruder Thursday outside a north Medford home, prompting police to order lockdowns at four nearby schools while officers searched for the injured suspect. The wounded man ran from the scene of the 12:30 p.m. shooting and had not been located as of 10 p.m. Thursday, police said. The teen shooter told police that he was alone at his grandmother’s home in the 2200 block of Crater Lake Avenue when he looked outside and saw a man attempting to break into a travel trailer situated in the back yard. The boy confronted the...

Cougars and bears are no longer hunted using hounds in Oregon, thanks to 1994’s Measure 18, but the sides disagree on the law’s success [snip] A decade after Oregon voters told Blascka and other houndsmen to stop chasing cougars and bears with their dogs, the debate still rages whether Measure 18, which went into effect Dec. 8, 1994, has caused more harm than good for Oregon’s wildlife and people. The measure’s chief backers contend that the ban did exactly what it was intended to do. It stopped the chasing and treeing of bears and cougars for sport and the use...

Since You Asked: Magazine says we’re ‘godless’ The September Atlantic Monthly calls Medford "America’s most godless locale." What’s up with that? — Several readers The factoid in question appeared in a demographics piece called "The God Vote," which asked if there is a "religion gap" in politics. The Atlantic printed a United States map with counties color-coded by the percentage of population claimed by churches. Oregon has the lowest percentage of church membership in the nation, 31 percent.

A year after the toppling of Saddam do you think the US was right to lead the invasion of Iraq?

When Lt. John W. Davidson led U.S. dragoons into rugged Cieneguilla, he also led the troops into a fight they could not win - and himself into the shadow of suspicion. PILAR - One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, when Pilar was called Cieneguilla, 60 U.S. dragoons rode into the mountains east of here looking for Jicarilla Apaches. It didn't take them long to locate their quarry. "Found ourselves at 8 o'clock a.m. in ambush surrounded by 400 Indians," Pvt. James A. Bennett of the dragoons noted in his journal entry for March 30, 1854. "Fought hard until 12 noon when we started...

NEW YORK -- Orlando Soto looks forward each evening to spending time on his home computer after work. But when he logged on one Wednesday night last month, he was disappointed: There were 17 spam e-mail messages waiting for him. Spam helps him "unwind" and "lose the stress of the day," Mr. Soto says. He's the kind of person spammers love: a serial buyer. He says that he sometimes spends hundreds of dollars a week buying via spam. Most spam responders are one-time customers, e-mail marketers say, so repeaters make all the difference. Scott Richter, who runs a mass e-mailing...

A US Marine Corps defence lawyer has condemned the total lack of justice shown by his government in dealing with an Australian detainee at Guantanamo. Speaking to journalists in Australia on Tuesday, Major Michael Mori said David Hicks was facing a military tribunal rigged to get convictions in which there was no right of an independent appeal. "Everyone is so emotionally charged by September 11 that they are eager to label people a terrorist without using an established justice system to determine innocence or guilt." Hicks is one of the few detainees at Guantanamo to have been appointed a legal...

<p>LOS ANGELES — A bill in the California Legislature would allow women in their final trimesters to apply for a special placard allowing them to park in handicapped spaces (search), but some disabled people say they are worried the additional permits will squeeze them out.</p>

On Monday, after days of insisting through a spokesman that he was undecided, Mr. Daschle issued a statement saying that he would support both the ban and the background checks at gun shows.