Free Republic

A golden container and the hosts for Holy Communion inside it were stolen during an overnight break-in Tuesday at St. Rose of Lima Church in Carbondale. Called the ciborium, it was the only thing taken. The theft rendered the building desecrated under Catholicism, in which practitioners believe the hosts change into the body of Jesus Christ. On Wednesday afternoon, Bishop Joseph C. Bambera led a ritual ceremony and celebrated Mass to rededicate and bless St. Rose. Monsignor David L. Tressler, the church's pastor, described the Catholic community as stunned and hurt. There is a "real sense of violation," and it...

CARBONDALE, Colorado — She traveled the world alone and had never been assaulted by anyone until Thursday in Carbondale. She lived there for about 2 1/2 years because she loved the town and thought it was safe. Now, she feels uncomfortable even walking to work to teach at one of Carbondale’s schools. “It’s chiefly the emotional component to all of this,” she said. “I can handle the physical injury. I can handle getting new credit cards and a driver’s license, but the fact that I don’t feel comfortable walking to school. I feel like such an idiot. I reveled living...

'It was the most destructive thing I've ever seen' . A day later, the sickly sweet smell of fire hung in the air. Tendrils of smoke rose from smoldering piles as the people of this small town got their first clear picture of the fury wrought by a leapfrogging blaze that consumed or heavily damaged two dozen buildings and left two firefighters dead. Greg Korinek stood in silence Wednesday at the corner of Arkansas Avenue and Second Street, staring at a pile of ash and metal - the remnants of the mobile home where he had lived. He had rushed...

Dozens of homes have been evacuated and a 5-mile stretch of Colorado 82 in western Colorado has been closed due to heavy smoke from a brush fire. The 100-acre brush fire is burning at 1265 County Road 100, and is threatening several homes and a school, said Tanny McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Garfield County Sheriff's Office. She said a horse farm and a private school have been evacuated. Two buildings have been damaged and one person has been transported with injuries... Firefighters from Carbondale, Basalt and Glenwood are at the scene.

Greetings from Carbondale, Illinois, home of Southern Illinois University. I would like to report an excellent experience today. As expected, there was an anti-war, anti-America protest on the main drag of this university town. Perhaps less expected was the large turnout on the opposite side of the street, literally and figuratively. The patchouli and hippie contingent were their usual drum-banging, bug dancing selves shouting their slogans of "No blood for oil" and "War is the problem, not the answer." On the other side of the street where I stood, USA sign in hand, was a growing crowd of surprising diversity....