Free Republic

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. - Arrangements have been made for a traditional, three-day Hmong funeral for Pfc. Kham Xiong of St. Paul who was among 13 people killed in the Fort Hood Army Base shootings. The funeral service for Xiong will start at Legacy Funeral Home's Maplewood chapel starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28. The service will run through the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 30. Xiong will then be buried with military honors at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. "Pfc. Kham Xiong came to America from Thailand as a small child," President Barack Obama said during a memorial service at Fort...

Arguments are scheduled Monday in the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia on a school district's decision to censor Christmas carols – even holiday melodies without words. Attorneys with the Thomas More Law Center say they will argue to reverse a lower court ruling affirming a policy in the South Orange-Maplewood School District that banned the music after someone complained. The law firm says the school's ban was specifically aimed at preventing Christmas music, including simple instrumentals without words, during holiday concernts. The district had allowed the performance of traditional Christmas music for more than 60 years but...

Every afternoon at Maplewood Middle School’s final bell, dozens of students pour across Baker Street to the public library. Some study quietly. Others, library officials say, fight, urinate on the bathroom floor, scrawl graffiti on the walls, talk back to librarians or refuse to leave when asked. One recently threatened to burn down the branch library. Librarians call the police, sometimes twice a day. As a result, starting on Jan. 16, the Maplewood Memorial Library will be closing its two buildings on weekdays from 2:45 to 5 p.m., until further notice. An institution that, like many nationwide, strives to attract...

(AP) WASHINGTON President George W. Bush will appear in Minnesota Thursday to tout initiatives in his State of the Union speech, a White House spokesman confirmed Monday. The spokesman, Allen Abney, said that Bush will be speaking at an event in Maplewood, Minn. He did not have the time or other details of the event. Bush plans to discuss health care, energy and education initiatives in Tuesday's speech. Bush will travel to Nashville, Tenn. on Wednesday, and New Mexico and Texas on Friday.

Far removed from the grandeur of the U.S. Supreme Court is Tiffany's Diner in Maplewood. It's an old-fashioned place where breakfast is served 24 hours a day. During the non-rush hours, customers sit at the counter - 18 stools - and a quiet, peaceful mood prevails. During the busy times, which is to say late night/early morning when the bars close, patrons cram into the place, often standing shoulder to shoulder. The jukebox blares. Eleven plays for a dollar. I stopped by Tuesday afternoon. Janet Baker was behind the counter. She has worked at the diner for 25 years. That...

Columbia High School, Parker Avenue, Maplewood, NJhttp://www.somsd.k12.nj.us/admin.htm Having heard about the event on the Free Republic I decided to go down and check out the action and participate in the “illegal” rally singing those “illegal” religious songs.  I arrived about 5:00 PM the time it was supposed to start and joined in the crowd, about 100 people, which was already singing Christmas Carols.  We were standing in the middle of the road in front of the school where the police had blocked off the street with barricades and police cars and about 5 police were there for crowd control.  It...

Anti-Christmas district hit with federal lawsuitSchool officials banned carols, even for instrumental groups December 20, 2004The New Jersey school district that banned Christmas music, even by instrumental groups, from its holiday concerts has been hit with a lawsuit claiming officials have demonstrated hostility toward religion. Thomas More Law Center filed a federal lawsuit Friday on behalf of Michael Stratechuk and his two children, who are students in the South Orange/Maplewood School District. According to a statement from Thomas More, the suit claims the district's action is unconstitutional. As WorldNetDaily reported, this year the district expanded its no-Christmas music policy to...

A Republican in the blue state of New Jersey is bucking what some decry as a national trend to eradicate all traces of religion in public places. Steve Lonegan, who is running for the Republican nomination for New Jersey governor, is defying a school-district edict that bans religious music from holiday-season celebrations this year. Mr. Lonegan has asked local residents of all religions to join him at 5 p.m. tomorrow "to sing and listen to" songs such as George Frederick Handel's "Messiah" and "Silent Night," which have been banned from schools, even in instrumental form, by the South Orange/Maplewood School...