Free Republic

VIDEOSometimes I like to just get away from politics such as will happen when I go on my Caribbean cruise sans internet connection in a few weeks. Such was also the case when I clicked on a video about how Andy Griffith's hometown of Mt. Airy, North Carolina, reinvented itself into the fictional Mayberry which aired last year on CBS Sunday Morning. Although I expected a nice nostalgic trip down memory lane, Ted Koppel ruined it with his absurdly misplaced obsession with President Donald Trump. Yes, Ted, you definitely suffer from TDS but why do you insist on displaying the...

Betty Lynn, who went from the fictional Mayberry to the real Mount Airy and became a beloved fixture there, died Saturday after a brief illness. She was 95. Lynn was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and followed her mother into a musical career, enrolling in the Kansas City Conservatory of Music when she was 5 years old. She had a long career in entertainment, appearing in the United Service Organizations (USO), on Broadway and in films and television. She was best known for her role as Thelma Lou, Barney Fife's sweetheart in "The Andy Griffith Show." She appeared in 26...

That tall, amiable sheriff and his little boy, Opie, heading to a fishing hole on the outskirts of Mayberry, North Carolina, at the start of "The Andy Griffith Show," were actually strolling along a backlot in Culver City, California. Ron Howard, the actor who played Opie, is now one of Hollywood's top directors. Most of the other stars – Andy Griffith; Don Knotts, who played his deputy, Barney Fife; and the actors who played Aunt Bee and Floyd the Barber – they've all passed on. After all, it's been 53 years since the show was cancelled. snip ... Koppel asked...

Andy Griffith lies about Medicare on behalf of Barack Obama, costing US taxpayers. In what can only be described as an utter abuse of American taxpayer dollars, Andy Griffith (he played a fictional cop in Mayberry, like 100 years ago or something) has been lying to all the seniors on Medicare for the last few months. In an ad that is even backed by taxpayer dollars, Griffith (is he clueless or just doesn’t care anymore about being an instrument of Obama’s lying?) can be heard confidently declaring, "This year…we’ll have our guaranteed benefits. And with the new healthcare law, more...

Long before Andy Griffith shilled for Obamacare in an ad you paid for, Ron Howard starred with Griffith in a 2008 campaign video dedicated to telling everyone how much Hope & Change was needed in order to save the country. In the spirit of equal Howard family time, below is a short video from Heritage Action called “Obama Tax Hikes” in which Ron Howard’s brother, Clint, strikes a blow for the rebellion.

The acrimony surrounding health care reform, stoked up to white hotness as the 2010 midterm elections draw nigh, seems to have claimed another victim, albeit an odd one: Andy Griffith, the long-living television and film star.

I don't know why this new, seemingly small, development should break my heart, but it does. And maybe I really do know why. It may seem like a little thing, but it's not. In their ever-increasing attempts to deceive the public, the people in the Obama administration have now hijacked a piece of the heart of America, the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, and they’re using it as a tool to sell their lies. It stunned me to read that Andy Griffith is now on cable television shilling for the Democrat's health care deform legislation. Andy Griffith is, of...

MOUNT AIRY- Dating Barney Fife doesn’t insulate you from crime. Nor does living in the the town that was the template for the for fictional hamlet of Mayberry. Betty Lynn, who played the bumbling deputy’s sweetheart on “The Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s, was sitting outside a Lowes Foods store after shopping and getting money out to pay for a cab home Sunday when a man snatched her wallet with about $130 in it and ran off. Lynn is 83 but still a force to be reckoned with. “I jumped up and started yelling, ‘Thief! Thief! and ran after...

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. (AP) -- The actress who played Thelma Lou on "The Andy Griffith Show" was robbed in the town that inspired the show's idyllic Mayberry setting, after moving to the area to avoid big city crime. Betty Lou Lynn had her wallet stolen at a shopping center in Mount Airy, the birthplace of Andy Griffith.

Dating Barney Fife doesn’t insulate you from crime. Nor does living in the the town that was the template for the for fictional hamlet of Mayberry. Betty Lynn, who played the bumbling deputy’s sweetheart on “The Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s, was sitting outside a Lowes Foods store after shopping and getting money out to pay for a cab home Sunday when a man snatched her wallet with about $130 in it and ran off.

Six people have been injured in a shooting at Arrowhead Mall in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Three of the victims are reported to be in critical condition. Muskogee, United States - Muskogee Police confirm that there was a shooting at the mall and that there are victims. At this time the duty desk officer said during a phone interview that there is no other information that they can give out.

Here's my choice: "I voted for the Democrats because I didn't like the way the Republicans were running the country. Which is turning out to be like shooting yourself in the head to stop your headache." --Jack Mayberry

Keep Arkansas Legal, a new immigration reform group in the Central Arkansas area, will meet at the Roosevelt Thompson Libray from 3:00pm-6:00pm Saturday October 7th (Terry Library was booked). We will discuss what to do for the election and the upcoming legistlative session. We will then have a general discussion about illegal immigration. address: Roosevelt Thompson Library 38 Rahling Circle Little Rock, AR 72223 You can go to this link and type the address for a map http://maps.yahoo.com/" We also have a volunteer opportunity. The Lagrone campaign has given a neighborhood in Chenal called The Village to do door to...

Here are the news websites that are monitoring the Arkansas Primary. I just got from a primary party and saw that this is going to be a long night. http://katv.com/vote2006/electionresults.html http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=28974 KARN news radio 102.9 is still covering the election.

Last night the Arkansas Republican Assemblies met at the Terry Library. Thursday May 18th at 6:30pm. The meeting was a discussion on what to do about immigration in Arkansas. Several issues and candidates for the May 23rd primary were talked about. Several pieces of information were passed out. The idea of a ballot initiative similar to Prop 200 of Arizona, talked about but it appears that a proposition like that could not be funded in time for the 2006 elections. Most of the group plans to conservative candidates for the May 23rd primary and hand out literature about illegal immigration....

Just heard on Fox News. Don Knotts dead at 81

I saw on television the other day that a fellow named Howard Morris had passed away. His name sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. A few minutes later, a scroll came across the bottom of the screen and this time I knew I had heard the name before but I couldn’t figure out where. It was driving me over the edge. Then, I remembered. What got me wasn’t that I didn’t recognize his name, but how in the world could I have forgotten it. He was almost as much a part of my childhood as...

Jon Jazdzewski made a valuable discovery while driving out of town for business. Jazdzewski, 52, an employee of Wausau Supply, was leaving town around 4 a.m. on Jan. 28 when he spotted something on the road near the Rothschild Village Hall. ``I knew it was a money bag, and I picked it up. But there was no doubt in my mind that this thing was going back to (the village),'' said Jazdzewski, of Kronenwetter.

November 12, 2004 - You can't grow up in North Carolina without being subjected to endless reruns of The Andy Griffith Show. Though the show was a bit harder to find once I moved to San Francisco, I still made a point of seeking out the reruns wherever I could find them. The nostalgic show, produced by Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas, looks back to an idealized time and place that never really existed. The popularity of the show lasted a full eight seasons and it was, along with I Love Lucy and Seinfeld, one of the few shows to...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A man whose death sentence for impulsively killing a woman during a 1992 robbery was opposed even by some capital punishment supporters was executed by injection early Friday. Frank Chandler, 32, was put to death at Central Prison for killing 90-year-old Doris Poore, who surprised him when he broke into her house on a misguided search for drugs. He lay on a gurney, raising his head several times to look at the gathered witnesses, then reclined and closed his eyes. When the injection was administered, he gave two sharp breaths, then stopped breathing.