Free Republic

Jodie May of Grandville, Michigan, was forced to appear before a district judge earlier this week on a larceny charge for taking away her daughter’s cellphone as punishment. May took the iPhone 6 from her 15-year-old daughter in April after the teenager got in trouble at school, according to reports. “I was just being a mom, a concerned parent and disciplining my daughter,” May told WOOD-TV. What began as discipline became a criminal matter after May’s ex-husband reported it to Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office and claimed she committed a crime. After the mom’s arrest in May, she was immediately released...

A family is suing a Michigan school district after a group of kindergarteners allegedly sodomized their child and recorded the assault on an iPad. The federal lawsuit, filed this week against the Grandville School District, claims that nearly four years ago, the district failed to intervene when five-year-old “Jimmy Doe” of Century Park Learning Center in Wyoming, Michigan was taken to the “mudroom” and was forcibly touched, sodomized, and photographed by classmates. The lawsuit specifically names the victim's kindergarten teacher Hillary Hubert, former Grandville School district superintendent Ron Caniff, current superintendent Roger Bearup, assistant superintendent Scott Merkel, and the school’s...

GRANDVILLE, Mich. (WWJ) – A west Michigan business owner claims he’s been the target of death threats after he announced he won’t serve gays. Brian Klawiter, who owns Dieseltec Automotive Repair in Grandville, posted a message on his business’ Facebook page saying that he is a Christian, and that his company does not welcome “immoral behavior” — including homosexuality. “Our rights as conservative Americans are being squashed more and more everyday. Apparently if you are white (or close to it), you have a job, go to church, and own a gun… That translates into racists, privileged, bigot, conspiracy theorist.

When one lady asked for volunteers to join her at a Rivertown Mall in Grandville, Michigan, to sing "Amazing Grace," 250 people responded with RSVPs, and over 1,000 showed up at the mall. What makes this different from other "flash mobs" is that the lyrics were given out in a high-quality gospel tract form (so that anyone could join in with the singing). "Fortunately the singing at the Rivertown Mall was video-taped, and it brought tears to my eyes," says Ray Comfort, who came up with the idea. "In the clip you can see people holding the tracts as they...

GRANDVILLE, MI -- Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema supports the “Duck Dynasty” family whose hit television show may be over now that one of the stars has been suspended for comments the A&E cable network deemed offensive to gays. In a Friday, Dec. 20, Facebook post visible to his social media friends, which include an MLive Media Group employee, Agema lauded this statement released by Phil Robertson’s family. “Good for them,” Agema wrote. “The LGBT Gestapo speech police will not succeed when families like them are Biblically solid. You are in our prayers. May A&E fall into the pit they...

Former megachurch pastor Rob Bell, founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., recently shared how his 2011 book, Love Wins, led to a fallout with the congregation and forced him on a "search for a more forgiving faith." Bell details this search in a recent interview with The New Yorker, and discusses his invitation to Christians interested in a different kind of church, "one that can keep pace with the rising 'waterline of culture.'" "Bell is now loosely aligned with a cohort of pastors worldwide who are searching for ways to move beyond old-fashioned worship," Kelefa Sanneh of...

Mars Hill Bible Church, the congregation founded by author Rob Bell, lost about 1,000 people over their former pastor's controversial 2011 book, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, according to the Grandville, Mich., megachurch's new pastor Kent Dobson. Dobson was chosen by Mars Hill Bible Church in 2012 to replace Bell, who founded the congregation in 1999. "There was a lot of drama with (Bell's book) Love Wins and that season feels like it's over. This year has been one of sort of settling down a bit and re-identifying our...

The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today announced that state legislator Dave Agema's anti-Islam bill, known officially as HB 4769, may pass this week during Michigan's lame duck legislative session. (The bill is currently on the legislative calendar.) CAIR-MI is calling on all people of conscience to urge Governor Snyder to veto the biased bill which is among those that seek to impose government-sanctioned discrimination on followers of a minority faith. TAKE ACTION NOW (Michigan residents only. If you know anyone in Michigan please forward this alert to them.) http://tinyurl.com/ContactGovSnyder Michigan State Representative Dave Agema (R-Grandville),...

State Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, says kids are graduating from high school without a sound education in our constitutional underpinnings. He and 22 Republican co-sponsors have introduced a bill mandating the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are taught in public schools. His bill also calls for a daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Similar measures have failed in the past, but Agema said he hopes tea party groups will push for passage. "Hopefully, they will put enough pressure on and get it done," said Agema, who is...