Free Republic

The land-dispute case on Hardscrabble Drive isn't the first time a former Boulder judge has used the legal concept of "adverse possession" to win land from a neighbor. Earlier this year, the secretary of the Indian Peaks chapter of the Sierra Club and his wife lost about 100 square feet of their property to Marsha Yeager, a former judge, and her husband, John Yeager. The issue of adverse possession hit the spotlight earlier this month when Don and Susie Kirlin lost about a third of their property to their neighbors — former judge Richard McLean and his wife, Edith Stevens...

Don and Susie Kirlin of Boulder, Colordao. How many times have we heard about government abuses of the right to own property going on in neighborhoods across America, in the form of the invoking of the right of ‘eminent domain’, and the corruption of other legal concepts? Kelo vs. New London is probably the most publicized of such unconstitutional atrocities, but similar atrocities occur daily across this country. How many of us have attempted to help the victims of such abuses of power? I myself have done so no more than once or twice. I ask any FReeper who...

A judiciary oversight committee has rejected a Boulder couple's request to investigate a neighboring couple who used an arcane legal loophole to take over their property. The Colorado Supreme Court's Attorney Regulation Counsel rejected Don and Susie Kirlin's request to investigate ex-judge and former Boulder mayor Richard McLean and his lawyer wife Edith Stevens, who won a strip of their property on Hardscrabble Drive. In a letter to the Kirlins, assistant regulation counsel Louise Culberson-Smith said that the McLean and Stevens' use of an "adverse possession claim" to win the land does not constitute a violation of the Rules of...

The Thompson fund-raising event was at the private residence of William & Christine Barr. Mr. Barr was Attorney General under Bush 41 and their home is wonderfully full of mementos like photos with the Pope, Pres. Reagan, and a host of other notables. We got there promptly at 6pm and they valet parked our car, and we went inside where we met our hosts, the Barrs, and talked to them as people arrived. They are warm, wonderful and normal people. At about 6:20 there were about 125-150 of us in their "library" and there was a buzz in the room...

A former West High School student teacher whose affair with a student led to murder snatched her children from her mother’s Nashville home last week and hasn’t been seen or heard from since, her estranged husband’s attorney confirmed today. Erin McLean climbed through a window of her mother’s home on Gale Lane in Nashville last Saturday, grabbed her two sons, ages 11 and 8, and left, defense attorney Bruce Poston said, citing information from Erin McLean’s grandmother and younger sister. “She told an uncle she was going to California to meet a man she met over the Internet,” Poston said....

Capital One Financial Corp. said Monday it will cut 1,900 jobs and shutter its wholesale mortgage banking business, a move that comes as lenders continue to struggle in the nation's housing and mortgage markets. ADVERTISEMENT Capital One said it will shut down GreenPoint Mortgage and eliminate most of the jobs by the end of year. The McLean, Va.-based company will close 31 GreenPoint locations in 19 states and "cease residential mortgage origination" effective immediately but said it will honor commitments to customers with locked rates who have loans already in the pipeline. "Over the past few months, we have experienced...

Capital One, the McLean financial services company, announced yesterday that it will purchase NetSpend Holdings, a retail seller of prepaid debit cards, for $700 million. The acquisition would give Capital One, best known for its credit card offerings, a bigger presence in the growing market for prepaid debit cards and extend its reach to the estimated 70 million U.S. citizens who don't have bank accounts, the company said. "It's adjacent to our core business," said Tatiana Stead, a spokeswoman for Capital One. "We now have an opportunity to provide an option for everybody." Prepaid debit cards can be used like...

Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, has again cut the asking price on her McLean, Va., estate, this time to $12.5 million, from $25 million when it went up for sale in 2003. John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, bought the 12-bedroom mansion in 1953 shortly after he joined the U.S. Senate. In 1957 the future president sold the home to his brother, who raised his 11 children there. Set on more than five acres, the 19th-century mansion has 18 rooms, 10½ baths and 12 fireplaces. The property also includes a pool, pool house, tennis court and...

Political friendships, and political animus, apparently are not made to last. Six years ago, former Reagan Navy secretary James Webb was a Republican, and he opined that President Bill Clinton's administration was "the most corrupt administration in modern memory." He made the comments at a news conference endorsing Republican George F. Allen for the Senate, and renouncing his past support of Virginia Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb. Today, Webb is a Democrat, running against the incumbent Allen. And Webb's campaign said last night that Clinton has agreed to headline a fundraiser for Webb this fall at -- just to complete...

Today President Bush traveled to the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Virginia to attend a briefing. Following the briefing, the President made a statement to the press, crediting the agency for its part in foiling the terror plot in England last week. FR's Finest has done a thread on "Twins" and there's a great photo collage of the President's and First Lady's lovely daughters right HERE . (Thanks to Dolly for the link!) Enjoy your trip to Sanity Island on the Daily Dose!!

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2006 – The federal government’s duty is to protect the American people, and the work being done at the National Counterterrorism Center is doing just that, President Bush said today. “I want to thank all the people in this building and around our government who spend an incredible amount of time and energy and effort to do a very difficult job, and that's to protect the American people,” Bush told the nation’s counterterrorism team at the center’s headquarters in McLean, Va. Bush said the U.S. is safer now than in the past, but he was quick...

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - A former Commerce Department official killed his 12-year-old son and himself early Friday following an apparent domestic dispute, police said. Police found the bodies of William Lash III, 45, a law professor at George Mason University and a former assistant secretary of commerce, and his son William IV inside a bedroom of their home following a barricade that lasted more than six hours, said Mary Ann Jennings, a Fairfax County police spokeswoman. Lash's wife called police Thursday night and said her husband and son were barricaded inside the home, Jennings said. Shortly after officers arrived, they...

Gunfire at McLean Home Followed Fight With Wife A former Bush administration official, after arguing violently with his wife Thursday night, shot and killed his 12-year-old son inside their McLean home, then turned a shotgun on himself and committed suicide, Fairfax County police said. William H. Lash III, 45, was an assistant secretary of commerce from 2001 until last year, then returned to teach at George Mason University Law School in Arlington, where he had begun as a professor in 1994. His wife, Sharon K. Zackula, fled the house before the shootings, and police said yesterday they were not sure...

Friends of U.S. peace activist Tom Fox, who was kidnapped and killed in Iraq, cited his stance against retribution on Saturday and called for the remembrance of all victims of violence around the world. Members of the Langley Hill Friends Meeting, a peace group in northern Virginia to which Fox belonged, read a statement he co-wrote in October 2004 in which he shunned violence, even to rescue him should he ever be kidnapped. "We reject violence to punish anyone who harms us," said Doug Smith, quoting Fox, in a statement read to reporters at the group's headquarters in McLean, Virginia....

FAIRFAX, Va. - A CIA worker was arrested and charged with being a serial burglar responsible for more than a dozen incidents near the spy agency's headquarters. Fairfax County police said Tuesday that George C. Dalmas III had been charged with 17 burglaries in McLean, Va., between October and last month. Dalmas, 44, of Falls Church, faced numerous counts of burglary and grand larceny, and investigators said other charges were possible. Investigators said Dalmas was tracked down after a Jan. 24 robbery at the home of Lori Myer, who was able to give police information from the license plates of...

Gannett Co. reported its earnings fell 9.2% in the fourth quarter, due primarily to weak ad sales at its U.K. newspapers and a drop in television revenue. The nation's largest newspaper publisher, which publishes USA Today and 90 other daily papers, said net income dropped to $343.4 million, or $1.44 a share, from $378.1 million, or $1.47 a share a year earlier. Earnings were at the high end of Gannett's forecast of $1.40 to $1.44 a share, and beat analysts' consensus estimate of $1.41 a share, according to a survey by Thomson First Call. Revenue increased 5.7% to $2.05 billion...

This morning, President Bush, accompanied by Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and Attorney-General Alberto Gonzalez, signed H.R. 972, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Later the President spoke to members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at their meeting in Washington, highlighting progress in fashioning democracy in Iraq, rebuilding the economy and training Iraqi forces. He then welcomed the 2005 Little League Softball World Series Champions, from McLean, Va, in the Oval Office. First Lady Laura Bush today delivered a speech at the National Conference on At-Risk Youth, opening the Coordinating Council...

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2005 – The aroma of fresh-baked cookies filling the entryway of the small apartment brings a reminiscent feeling of home for many visitors. It does not, however, give an idea of the magnitude of the efforts of the one-woman cookie factory within these walls. Germaine Broussard, also known as "The Cookie Lady," has been baking cookies for troops serving overseas for a year and a half. She has baked thousands of cookies and sent them to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines -- most of whom she has never met. Broussard started her baking ventures around Christmas 2003,...

FAIRFAX, Va. — A man who abducted the wife of U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., from her McLean home and forced her to withdraw money from a bank at knifepoint was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison. Michael J. Pierre, 27, of Upper Marlboro, Md., pleaded guilty in February to robbery and abduction charges. His accomplice, Christopher L. Forbes, 33, was sentenced last month to 15 years. "I am eternally sorry, your honor," said Pierre, who appeared before Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Michael P. McWeeny. Pierre and Forbes acknowledged sneaking into the Greggs' home through an open garage...

Kennedy discount Just in time for the inauguration is Ethel Kennedy's blowout sale. The widow of RFK has lowered the price of her famed "Hickory Hill" estate by $5 million. The 18-room Colonial residence on 6 acres in McLean, Va., is now sporting a price tag of $20 million. "It's an extraordinary piece of property, but that price is still unheard of in Virginia," said one broker. Bobby Kennedy purchased the estate in 1957 from his older brother, then-Senator John F. Kennedy, who bought the property after he wed wife Jackie in 1953. The house features 13 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms,...