Free Republic

The theory: a cargo ship with a "dirty bomb" was just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The notion came to life during a live YouTube broadcast Wednesday evening. During the broadcast, conspiracy theorist George Webb initially claimed a "source" had told him that there was "a dirty bomb planned for a major city." Based on the information from the "source," Webb said he believed Memphis might be the target. The Coast Guard said in a further statement provided to CNN that the source of the threat had been detained by authorities for further questioning. The statement did not mention Webb's...

ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Amid expressions of horror and revulsion at the killing of dozens of wild animals in Ohio — and photographs of their bloody carcasses — animal rights advocates agreed there was little local authorities could have done to save the dangerous creatures once they began roaming the countryside after their owner released them before taking his own life. Sheriff's deputies shot 48 animals — including 18 rare Bengal tigers and 17 lions — after Terry Thompson, owner of the private Muskingum County Animal Farm near Zanesville, threw their cages open Tuesday and then committed suicide.

ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Dozens of animals escaped Tuesday from a wild-animal preserve that houses bears, big cats and other beasts, and the owner later was found dead there, said police, who shot several of the animals and urged nearby residents to stay indoors. The fences had been left unsecured at the Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, in east-central Ohio, and the animals' cages were open, police said. They wouldn't say what animals escaped but said the preserve had lions, wolves, tigers, giraffes, camels and bears. They said bears and wolves were among 25 animals that had been shot...

Former Protestant Pastor Helps Shepherd Catholic Converts Marcus Grodi's Coming Home Network Focuses on Inquiring Clergy ZANESVILLE, Ohio, OCT. 8, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Every year, about 100 clergy from dozens of denominations make a step toward the Catholic Church by contacting the Coming Home Network International. The network, which has 800-some clergy members who have converted or are still discerning their conversion, connects those inquirers with others from the same background who have converted to Catholicism, and provides them with prayerful, moral and sometimes financial support. Marcus Grodi, who was a Congregationalist and Presbyterian pastor before coming into the Catholic Church...

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry is surrounded by staff as he delivers a speech at a night time political rally in Zanesville, Ohio, July 31, 2004. Kerry is the first presidential candidate to come out of his nominating convention with a negative impact on his poll ratings since George McGovern, for whose 1972 campaign Kerry once worked. McGovern recently advised Kerry not to deliberately postpone his own nomination as that would be "the worst idea since I delayed my 1972 acceptance speech until 2 a.m., when all the voters were asleep." McGovern went on to lose 49...