Free Republic

A former youth director accused of playing a "shower game" with an 11-year-old boy failed to persuade a judge yesterday to dismiss an indictment charging him with sexual assault and child endangerment. Police accused Donald Hertel, 42, of Dover of dousing the boy's private parts during a Nov. 18, 2006, outing at the West Morris YMCA in Randolph. At the time, Hertel was volunteer director of the Lenape Valley Municipal Alliance, which offered recreational programs for youngsters from Stanhope, Byram and Netcong. When his mother picked him up, the Byram boy proudly told his mother he had broken a record...

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., listens to Dorothy Johnson-Speight as she hold photos of her son Khaalia Johnson, 24, left, and Justin Donnelly, 19, who both died from gun violence in Philadelphia as Clinton makes a campaign stop at the Westside YMCA in Philadelphia, Friday, April 11, 2008. Barack Obama and Clinton are gingerly threading their way between two of the most politically charged numbers in Pennsylvania: the state's almost 1 million licensed hunters and Philadelphia's nearly one-a-day rate of gun murders. Gun control arouses deep emotions in the state. US Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama...

INDIANAPOLIS, March 31, 2008 – The Greater Indianapolis YMCA is offering family members of state National Guardsmen an affordable way to stay active and healthy while their loved ones are deployed. Jaxon Curtis, 3, entertains Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman (left) and Army Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, Indiana National Guard adjutant general, while they wait to address spectators and media at the YMCA in Noblesville, Ind., on March 11, 2008. Jaxon and his sister, Chloe, 1, are the children of Capt. Maurice Curtis, who is deployed to Iraq with 1st Battalion, 293rd Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Brigade Combat...

Palestinian Christians live in constant fear National Post, Canada ... The problem is not their behaviour but, in the eyes of the violent Islamist jihadists, their very presence. They must simply live in hope that some faraway event does not inflame the anti-Christian wrath of their neighbours. Is it any wonder that Christians in such situations desire to emigrate? Could anyone judge harshly the few thousand Christians in Gaza if they were to leave entirely?... and the fact that it [the YMCA attack] was not big news, illustrates the dire situation faced by many Christians living in the Palestinian territories....

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan? It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said. Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding...

Gunmen destroy Gaza Strip's YMCA library, kidnap guards Jerusalem Post, Israel - Feb 16, 2008 Hamas policemen who rushed to the scene discovered another bomb in the library that had not exploded. Although no group claimed responsibility, ...

ISTANBUL/JABALYA, Gaza Strip — The Organization of the Islamic Conference denounced yesterday the reprinting of a blasphemous Danish cartoon, warning it could lead to confrontations between Muslims and Christians. “By reprinting these cartoons we are heading toward a bigger conflict and that shows that both sides will be hostages of their radicals,” OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told AFP in Istanbul. “It is not a way of improving your rights and exercising your freedoms when you use these rights for insulting the most sacred values and symbols of others and inciting hatred,” he said. “This is a very wrong, provocative way...

In the latest attack on Christians in Gaza, 16 Palestinians forced their way into the YMCA library, stole everything but Christian books and then burned down the building. According to Palestinian terrorist sources in Gaza, the attack was carried out by Hamas and its ally, the Popular Resistance Committees. Israeli security sources said Hamas knows exactly who was behind the attack. Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, an Islamic outreach movement that recently announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza, told WND the YMCA had Muslim children in its nursery program. "Gaza is...

In the latest attack on Christians in Gaza, 16 Palestinians forced their way into the YMCA library, stole everything but Christian books and then burned down the building. According to Palestinian terrorist sources in Gaza, the attack was carried out by Hamas and its ally, the Popular Resistance Committees. Israeli security sources said Hamas knows exactly who was behind the attack. Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, an Islamic outreach movement that recently announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza, told WND the YMCA had Muslim children in its nursery program. "Gaza is...

A former ymca worker is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a child. Wake Forest, NC -- 27-year-old, Justin Taylor faces one charge of Indecent Liberties with a Child. Investigators say the abuse happened last month during a YMCA after-school program at an elementary school in Wake Forest. Taylor was suspended from the YMCA and the seminary in Wake Forest, where he is studying to be a minister. related video   Watch  

Thirty-five years after she straddled an enemy cannon in defiance of the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, Jane Fonda has vets in a frenzy about a visit to Palm Beach for a fund-raiser next week. Some of the 7,000-plus members of the American Legion in Palm Beach, Martin and Okeechobee counties were expecting to be called to picket Tuesday's luncheon of the YWCA at The Breakers. The silver-screen legend is scheduled to speak before 300-plus, who plunked down 300 bucks each for the Y's shelter for battered women, Harmony House. Cops and hotel honchos were preparing. But just...

An alligator was found swimming in a Central Florida YMCA on Friday morning. The gator, which was about 4 feet long, was discovered by a swimmer in the pool, which is located on the campus of Brevard Community College on Clearlake Road in Cocoa. It is not known how the alligator got into the facility. A YMCA worker joked that the alligator was targeting her because she was wearing an Auburn Tigers sweatshirt. The Florida Gators play Auburn on Saturday. Officials who removed the alligator said it will be released into the wild.

I'm eavesdropping on a locker room conversation, one guy showing another his girlfriend's picture on a cell phone, a younger man talking about how he struggles to find reliable help for his restaurant, another talking about his nephew playing in a big all-star game in Las Vegas, three others piping about woman trouble, an older man cautioning against contradicting an officer of the law. And I'm lost. Everybody in the locker room in this YMCA is speaking English, and, at times, I feel as if I can't understand them. "I'm telling ya, bruh, both y'all's messed up." "Turn up the...

Health advocates wrote to the governor, lobbied legislators and worked closely with the New Jersey League of Municipalities. And their efforts have paid off. Earlier this summer, a 7 percent state tax on gym memberships and health clubs was repealed by the state Legislature -- giving a sigh of relief to health clubs around the state. Rick Gorab, president and CEO of the Metropolitan YMCAs of the Oranges -- which has branches in Livingston, Maplewood, East Orange and Sussex County -- said 44 YMCAs banded together statewide to repeal the tax, which was passed last October. "We are a charitably-based...

Manchester, NH (LifeNews.com) -- A YMCA official who took students at a public middle school to an abortion center has been forced to resign by the community agency. The students were part of an at-risk program YMCA coordinates with the Manchester school district and they were taken to Planned Parenthood without their parents knowing. Harold Jordan, the YMCA's president, told the Associated Press that employee Joyce Palmer, the group's community outreach director, has admitted she was wrong to take the students to an abortion business. Palmer "takes full responsibility for the decision and realizes it was inappropriate to include Planned...

MANCHESTER, N.H. - The city school board ordered an investigation into an after-school program run by the YMCA in which some middle school students were taken to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic. New Hampshire Right to Life, an abortion opponent, is now asking for equal time with the seventh and eighth grade students, as well. The visit was part of the YMCA's STAY program, for students considered at risk of dropping out of school, abusing drugs or getting into trouble with the law. The trip, a week ago, was part of a tour of several social service agencies in the...

Manchester, NH (LifeNews.com) -- Parents in New Hampshire are outraged after learning that the YMCA, in partnership with a local school district, took a group of junior high school students to a Planned Parenthood abortion business. The Manchester school district has come under fire for the trip and promises students will never go there again.The Manchester school district has partnered with the YMCA to put together a program for at-risk students who are in danger of dropping out of school. YMCA took the students to various places around town to show them summer programs and places to get involved in...

(IsraelNN.com) Muslim fundamentalists, aligned with Al Qaeda, bombed a Christian bookstore and two Internet cafes in Gaza on Saturday following previous attacks on churches as part of its religious crusade to replace the secular Fatah faction. The "Sword of Islam" terrorist group took responsibility for the bombings of Internet cafes and music stores, which they consider an offense to the Muslim religion because they represent Western society. The same group has issued warnings to Gaza women not to hang out in Internet cafes. The Swords of Islam has bombed more than a dozen Internet cafes in several weeks and destroyed...

Prior to attack, Christian groups warned to vacate Hamas-controlled West Bank town; identities of attackers known to local government, but no repercussions likely Palestinian gunmen Saturday attacked and set fire to the Young Men's Christian Association headquarters in Qalqiliya, a large West Bank city controlled by Hamas. Local government sources identified the attackers as members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups, saying the identities of the gunmen are "well known" to Qalqiliya's security forces, which are controlled by the Hamas government. Saturday's arson follows a series of warnings by the Muslim leadership of Qalqilya accusing the city's YMCA...

Do you know what the C in YMCA stands for? You may know it stands for “Christian,” but I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t. The YMCA has come far from its founders’ intent when it was organized in 1844—so far that many people have forgotten its roots as a Christian organization established to disciple young men. Today, as John Alexander of the Danville, Illinois, YMCA says, “Unfortunately, people look at us and just see a swim and gym.”

Do you know what the C in YMCA stands for? You may know it stands for “Christian,” but I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t. The YMCA has come far from its founders’ intent when it was organized in 1844 — so far that many people have forgotten its roots as a Christian organization established to disciple young men. Today, as John Alexander of the Danville, Illinois, YMCA says, “Unfortunately, people look at us and just see a swim and gym.” Sadly, over the years the YMCA has redefined its original mission right out of existence. At first, the YMCA’s...

'High-roller' gets prison for Y theft Susan Miller's charges from embezzling $20,000 from the YMCA is prefaced by a 17-year criminal history that brought her more than $300,000 in financial gain. By Juliette Rule rep9@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Because she didn't learn her lesson the first time, the woman convicted of stealing money from the Cheyenne Family YMCA to support her high-roller gambler status will spend six to nine years in prison. Susan J. Miller, 42, heard those words from Laramie County District Judge Nicholas Kalokathis at her Tuesday morning sentencing hearing. In a fairly complicated...

No wait, not six. To hell with that. Make it 10. Ten bucks a gallon, no matter what the going rate for a barrel of light sweet crude. That would so completely, violently, brilliantly do it. Revolutionize the country. Firebomb our pungent stasis. Change everything. Don't you agree? Here's what we could do: Give gas discounts to cab drivers (at least initially) and metro transit systems and low-income folks, those who have to drive their busted-up '78 Honda Civics to their jobs scrubbing restaurant toilets and flipping burgers and vacuuming the residual cocaine from the seat cushions of numb SUV...

Think sex and drugs destroy America? Try naive chastity. Oh, and "Purity Balls" There are these things. These unholy events called "Purity Balls" and you should probably fall to your knees right this minute and thank a merciful and lubricious and happily polyamorous God that you do not know what they are and that you have access right this minute to vast quantities of wine to deflect their nasty karmic arrows because, you know, oh my God. But hey, free country. Purity Balls. No, not some sort of newfangled spherical chastity device to be inserted using vacuum tubes and pulleys,...

It's a shockingly eco-friendly plan from the world's most toxic retailer. Did hell just freeze over? Sometimes you just have to let the possibility breathe. Sometimes you just have to allow that something grand and good and healthy might actually be born from the bowels of the dank and ravenous megacorporate world, like flowers from a dung heap, like vodka from old potatoes, even if it comes right alongside the nastiest, most abusive federal environmental policy you will see in your lifetime. Take Wal-Mart, the most famously offensive, town-destroying, junk-purveying, labor-abusing, sweatshop-supporting, American-job-killing, soul-numbing, seizure-inducing, hope-curdling retailer in the known...

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2006 – The Armed Services YMCA honored individuals and organizations for their support of military families in 2005 at its 19th Annual Recognition Luncheon here today. Bryce Moorehouse, 11, shows Navy Force Master Chief Dave Pennington his art contest entry that earned first place during the Armed Services YMCA 19th Annual Recognition Luncheon in Washington. Bryce's mother, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Andrea Palermo, is stationed at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington. Photo by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The ASYMCA provides social and support services for military families, organization officials said. Last...

A Christian organization betrays its mission and early beliefs and sides with Muslim terrorists. Then this organization finds out the truth about the Muslim terrorists too late. The group then becomes the target of the Muslim terrorists' wrath only because of its empty "Christian" name...YMCA gets its just deserts

JERUSALEM -- The leadership of a West Bank Palestinian city now controlled by Hamas has warned a local Young Men's Christian Association to close its offices and leave town or face likely Muslim violence, WorldNetDaily has learned. The move highlighted long-standing fears Hamas would use its win in last January's Palestinian parliamentary elections to impose an anti-Christian, anti-Jewish hard-line Islamist regime in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Flushing YMCA said four people were killed in an accident on the New York State Thruway at 7 a.m. en route to a swimming meet in Buffalo, N.Y. The victims included a 47-year-old woman, her two sons and a 14-year-old girl, who died when a tanker truck slammed into their minivan, New York 1 reported. Two other passengers in the vehicle were removed from the battered minivan and taken to a local area hospital, New York 1 reported. In addition, the driver of the tanker truck was taken to the hospital, according to New York 1. Neither the Flushing...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The lifeguards find bare breasts distracting. That's one of the reasons officials at the Ann Arbor, Mich., YMCA said they've banned breast-feeding at the pool. But nursing moms counter that's no excuse. The breast-feeding mothers plan a nurse-in at the Y Saturday to protest the ban. However, Krista Dragun, one of the protest organizers, said they'll be nursing their babies in the lobby, not the pool area. She said they want the Y to adopt a more mother-baby friendly policy for the pool. Y officials note there's no eating or drinking allowed at the pool for...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The lifeguards find bare breasts distracting. It's News that Dares to be News! Click here for more Bizarre Bazaar. That's one of the reasons officials at the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Y-M-C-A say they've banned breast-feeding at the pool. But nursing moms counter that's no excuse. The breast-feeding mothers plan a nurse-in at the Y tomorrow to protest the ban. However, Krista Dragun, one of the protest organizers, says they'll be nursing their babies in the lobby, not the pool area. She says they want the Y to adopt a more mother-baby friendly policy for the pool....

A man who helped make famous the songs "YMCA" and "In the Navy" will soon be featured on the television show "America's Most Wanted," after failing to appear in a San Mateo County courtroom for his sentencing in October, according to San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. (snip) Willis was found to be in possession of 3.23 grams of cocaine and a loaded .45-gauge, semi-automatic handgun, according to the district attorney's office... (snip) ...also charged with violating his probation from a 2003 incident in which he was found in possession of 4 grams of cocaine.

In what may be the oldest Thanksgiving Dinner for the homeless in New York City, if not the country, The Salvation Army will be providing a holiday feast for thousands of men, women and children in the Greater New York area at the McBurney YMCA on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24. The centerpiece of the Thanksgiving Dinner program for the hungry and homeless will be held at the McBurney YMCA, located across the street from The Salvation Army's Greater New York Divisional Headquarters, 120 West 14th St., from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. "We are thrilled to be able to partner...

LOS ANGELES A consultant to top state Democratic leaders has admitted that he molested two brothers while working at a Y-M-C-A more than 30 years ago. John Robert Stevens was an adviser to former Governor Gray Davis and Assembly speakers Antonio Villaraigosa (vee-yah-ry-GOH'-sah), Herb Wesson and Fabian Nunez. In April, he testified in a deposition for a lawsuit accusing the Y-M-C-A of Metropolitan Los Angeles of failing to protect the boys from Stevens' abuse. He admitted he fondled and masturbated the brothers, who were then 13 and 10, when he was youth director of the Rio Vista Y-M-C-A in South...

Yes, I know you were drunk. Must've been. Either drunk or on serious meds and/or you just didn't give much of a damn about anything anyway because you're just one of those people, one of those types who comes lurching around the city like a chunk of numbed pain in your big-ass mid-'80s burgundy car with the white top and chrome bumpers -- an old Cadillac? Monte Carlo? -- early last Sunday morning to wreak casual havoc. Is that about right? Do you remember any of it? Here is what I'm guessing: probably not. Let me tell you what happened,...

Arkansas mom gives birth to a whole freakin' baseball team. How deeply should you cringe? Who are you to judge? Who are you to say that the more than slightly creepy 39-year-old woman from Arkansas who just gave birth to her 16th child yes that's right 16 kids and try not to cringe in phantom vaginal pain when you say it, who are you to say Michelle Duggar is not more than a little unhinged and sad and lost? And furthermore, who are you to suggest that her equally troubling husband -- whose name is, of course, Jim Bob...

Apparently, it wasn't just "invade Iraq and Afghanistan in my name." A special report: Scene: White House private residence, night, not long ago. President Bush present in his most favoritest guns 'n' bunnies PJs. Laura asleep, knocked out by a combination of too much Good Housekeeping and excessive hair-spray fumes. Suddenly, a burst of black smoke. A deep, resonant voice speaks: "Psst! George! God here, taking a break from supervising the well-being of eight billion troubled souls along with infinite galaxies of unimaginable vastness to speak with you directly one more time because, well, you're special, aren't you, George? Yes...

Leather, techno, sex & war: more only-in-SF juice to make you proud. Take that, uptight neocons. It was the moment when we walked by a jam-packed S.F. City Hall and realized it was open to host a VIP techno dance party, while immediately outside its gilded doors upward of 50,000 revelers wandered and shimmied and flaunted their costumes and drank nasty Red Bull cocktails in the huge Civic Center plaza for the third annual Love Parade, everyone baring flesh and shaking their groove thangs to any one of 200 world-class (well, some of them) DJs spinning their wares on over...

At last, one scientist BushCo will definitely -- albeit resentfully -- listen to. Sometimes. So now we know. This is what it takes. This is how far the nation has to crumble and this is how many people have to die and this is how many tens of billions it has to cost and this is how far his dirt-low poll numbers have to fall before Bush will finally come out and say he agrees with one of those godforsaken gul-dang book-learned scientist types. You know the ones. Those informed and well-educated data-crunchers he normally despises like a kid hates...

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif., Sept. 13, 2005 – For more than 140 years, the Armed Services YMCA continues to increase quality of life for service members and their families by offering support to communities and families. For director Anita Neu-Fultz and her staff at the Combat Center ASYMCA, that goal is paramount and unwavering as they volunteer to help others year-round. "Many people do not even know the Armed Service YMCA even exists," said Neu-Fultz. "They hear YMCA, and they think of sports programs and hotels and gyms and pools. But not many realize what we actually do here. We are...

Body of Thread. body of thread.

The New York Sun takes on the Air America story today and advances it by leaps and bounds, talking with the president of the non-profit which had its money taken by Air America founder Evan Cohen. It turns out that Cohen didn't just get money for the netlet, but also managed to get plenty for his own pockets as well while sitting on the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club board: Initially, members of the executive committee viewed Mr. Cohen fondly because he had thrown a tremendously successful fund-raising affair for Gloria Wise in Manhattan last year. They recalled being...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. .................................................................. .................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should...

CD Raises Awareness for Armed Services YMCAAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, June 14, 2005 – Sony BMG Music Entertainment company today, Flag Day, released a CD entitled Patriotic Country 2, which features 17 patriotic songs from well-known country music artists. The CD will raise awareness and money for the Armed Services YMCA, a leading private provider of social and support services for military families. Patriotic Country 2 is a compilation of popular, wholesome, contemporary country music hits that express pride in America, according to a fact sheet from the music company. It is the follow up to last year's...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

The Royal Navy has turned to Stonewall, the gay lobby group, for advice on how to recruit and retain homosexual sailors. Senior officers want to encourage more gay and lesbian sailors, estimated at 2,100, to “come out”, paving the way for the first openly gay admiral. The partnership, to be announced tomorrow, will provide the template for a wider change in the culture of the armed forces. Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, said: “We hope that the RAF and the army will be following shortly.” Vice-Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, Second Sea Lord, said he looked forward to working with...

What happens when habitual warmongering and BushCo lies become part of our daily diet? And then you read the appalling little story about how BushCo is now "taking steps" to further the investigation into why their original intelligence on Iraq was so painfully, treasonously, colon-clenchingly wrong, why they thought Saddam had giant Costco-sized warehouses stacked to the rafters with snarling nukes and nasty biotoxins and active warheads when, in fact, he had nothing but a couple Dumpsters full of rusty 20-year-old shell casings and a bucket of stale glue.

We kill millions of pets every year Who cares if a few get posh shelters and humane laws? OK. So I tend to think people who insist on calling themselves pet "guardians" instead of "owners" are exasperating and a bit wrongheaded, and that such uber-PC thinking does almost nothing to change or improve the behavior of the thousands of animal abusers in this country. And I tend to agree with fabulous dog writer Jon Katz that such semantic sidestepping does more harm to the animals than good, and leads to naive treatment, lack of decent training and an outright ignorance...

A new year, a Bush-gutted, storm-ravaged world and you in need of some juicy, heartfelt pledges -- This is the year. No, really. This is the it. This is the year you resolve to let it all hang out and lick the fingertips of the divine and stop holding back and stop quivering with unchecked anticipation/dread as you realize that, if you care a whit for self-definition and spiritual nuance and hot wet intelligence and deep karmic color in this tsunami-hammered, Bush-ravaged world, you are desperately needed right now. It's true. Alas, many are dejected. Many of the blue or...

YMCA Chief Fired for Transgender Ball Flap Dec 24, 10:00 AM (ET) CHICAGO (AP) - A YMCA director has been fired and overnight facility rentals banned after the parents of young children arriving for a morning swim meet clashed with participants in an overnight transgender fashion show and ball. Greg Weider, who had been acting director of the New City YMCA for two years, was fired Wednesday. Programming manager Michael Horton, who oversaw scheduling at the center, resigned two days earlier. "We've taken very swift, decisive action, and we will do everything we can in order to restore the...