Free Republic

Camp Hill residents are now able to post more than two political yard signs ahead of the election without risk of being fined, after an agreement Thursday between a GOP political group and the borough. The Borough agreed not to enforce its sign ordinance instead of fighting a restraining order and requested injunction against the ordinance that had been filed by Marc Scaringi, a lawyer who is challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance. The ordinance, in place since last year, restricted residents to a maximum of two signs on their front lawn and those signs could only be posted 60...

A Cumberland County man already running for office said Wednesday that he is pivoting to a bigger stage as the shock waves from Eugene DePasquale’s non-candidacy for Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District continue to wash over through the midstate. Rick Coplen, a retired Army officer and current Carlisle school board member residing in Dickinson Township, has become the first - but maybe not the last - to give regional Democrats what they wanted most this week: a candidate to challenge incumbent Rep. Scott Perry, R-York County. “The family meeting to discuss this decision was short and sweet,” Coplen said in announcing...

Protesters gathered in Fayetteville in North Carolina for a second night on Monday after a black man was shot dead by an off-duty cop, who claims he acted in self-defense to protect his wife and daugter. Jason Walker, 37, was killed just after 2.15pm on Saturday outside his home on Bingham Drive. The deputy involved in the shooting, identified as Lieutenant Jeffrey Hash, was taken into custody, but not arrested, and put on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

There were about half a dozen prisoner of war camps in Tennessee during World War II — the best known of which was Camp Crossville, in Cumberland County. We know a lot more about Camp Crossville than the others because of Gerhard Hennes. Hennes was a German officer captured in North Africa in May 1943. Five months later, he entered the gates of Camp Crossville, where he was interred for two years. After World War II, Hennes would become an American citizen, and in 2004 he published The Barbed Wire: POW in the USA. In it he gives a detailed...

An Amish couple was killed and their eight children were injured after their horse-drawn buggy was hit by a pick-up truck over the weekend.... ...KIRO 7 reported that 38-year-old Barbie Esh was pronounced dead at the scene and that her husband, 39-year-old John Esh, died at VCU Medical Center on Monday night. The outlet added that the horse pulling the buggy was euthanized because of the injuries it sustained.... ...[Stoltzfus ]also shared in an update on Wednesday that all eight children had been released from the hospital. "I don't have a list of exact injuries but I know there are...

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said Monday that he will veto a bill banning transgender athletes from playing women's sports in the state, should it pass the state legislature, reported the Hill. “I’ll veto this discriminatory bill if it gets to my desk,” he tweeted. The "Fairness in Women's Sports Act" is Pennsylvania's version of similar bills advancing in state legislatures across the country. Meanwhile, five GOP Pennsylvania House members — Reps. Barbara Gleim of Cumberland County, Valerie Gaydos of Allegheny County, Stephanie Borowicz of Clinton County, Dawn Keefer of York County and Martina White of Philadelphia — say...

Noncitizens are embedded in North Carolina jury and voting pools, raising new questions about the integrity of elections, according to an immigration reform group. The Immigration Reform Law Institute on Monday said it had uncovered examples of noncitizens, and likely also illegal immigrants, in the pools in Charlotte, North Carolina, and other key areas dating back to 2012. Working with the Voter Integrity Project, IRLI conceded that the numbers were not enough to overturn election results but point to the lack of “political will” by government officials to clean up their rolls. Voter Integrity Project co-founder Jay Delancy said, “The...

A New Jersey detention officer who allegedly wrote on Facebook that a 5-year-old boy fatally shot in North Carolina “should’ve ducked” has been suspended, county officials said. Rome Smith, who works at the Cumberland County Juvenile Detention Center, wrote on Facebook Friday about the Aug. 9 shooting that killed Cannon Hinnant as the boy rode his bike outside his family’s home, a screenshot shows.

After a series of crashes on Interstate 81 in the Carlisle area in April, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Thursday approved a resolution that asks PennDOT to prioritize and expedite plans to widen the highway to three lanes in each direction across the county. Commissioners said the current design of the ramps and two-lanes of traffic no longer supports the number of vehicles traveling the interstate. “Interstate 81, along with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, brings tremendous economic opportunity. But the interstate also poses safety concerns as traffic volume increases and congestion worsens,” the board said in a joint statement. “In...

Authorities in North Carolina say there isn’t enough evidence to press charges against Donald Trump for his behavior in connection with a violent altercation at one of his rallies last week. In a statement issued Monday night, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said legal counsel advised and Sheriff Earl “Moose” Butler agreed that the evidence doesn’t meet the requisites of North Carolina law to support a conviction for inciting a riot. […] An initial statement on Monday said investigators were continuing to look at the rally last Wednesday in Fayetteville, during which a man was hit in the face while...

During a Donald Trump rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina last week John Franklin McGraw punched a protestor being taken out of the event. He has been charged with assault and Trump is looking into how he can pay for McGraw's legal fees as a defendant. In the past, Trump has said protestors should be "taken out on stretchers" and that they should be "punched in the face." He's also said he will pay the legal fees of those who choose to engage protestors in a violent, physical manner. Now, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department is looking into whether Donald Trump...

<p>Cumberland County man cannot keep his grandfather's World War II rifle because it is an illegal assault firearm, according to a Sept. 15 New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division decision.</p> <p>The New Jersey State Police seized Danny Burt's M1 carbine and 20 other firearms in April 2013 after a temporary restraining order was lodged against him.</p>

Update: Abu-Bakr Abdur Rahman was arrested shortly before 2 a.m. today in Lumberton, the Fayetteville Police Department reported. He is being held without bail in the Cumberland County Detention Center. --- A man detained by a Cumberland County judge this summer for refusing to cover or remove Voodoo beads he wore in court is wanted for murder by the Fayetteville Police Department. Abu-Bakr Abdur Rahman, 33, was charged Friday with first-degree murder and possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine. He is accused of fatally shooting 36-year-old Desmond Deron Smith on Sunday during a deal to sell 25 grams...

Video and photo included. SNIPPET: "FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — After four days of deliberation, a Cumberland County jury found hit-and-run rampage suspect Abdullah El-Amin Shareef guilty of 10 charges, including first-degree murder and attempted murder, for a hit-and-run rampage that encompassed parts of three counties in 2004. Shareef, 31, of Raeford, will be sentenced on Thursday. He faces the death penalty." SNIPPET: "Shareef's family and friends say the jury’s decision ignored testimony from mental health professionals like Rashad Rahmaan. Rahmaan, a friend of Shareef's family..."

Investigators say they believe 64-year-old Paulette Locklear was beaten to death outside her home Tuesday afternoon after confronting a man who was trying to break in. Julio Cesar Ramos, 45, is charged with first-degree murder in Locklear’s death. Ramos, who is from Honduras, has been deported from the U.S. several times and is in the country illegally, said Debbie Tanna, spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. Ramos told investigators he is homeless and unemployed., Tanna said. Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies responded to Locklear’s home on the 1200 block of Wilmington Road after she called 911 Tuesday afternoon to report...

NOTE TO ADMIN MODERATOR: This story has been posted, but I hope you will leave this as a separate post. It took a few hours of digging, but I found this teacher. News reports were incorrect that she was in Asheville, NC. She teaches in Fayetteville. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ OUTRAGEOUS TEACHER, DIANTHA HARRIS, BROWBEATING LITTLE GIRL WHOSE DAD IS IN THE MILITARY I already have a call in to the school and am awaiting a return call from the Superintendant's office. SCHOOL WEBSITE SCROLL DOWN ON THIS PAGE TO 5TH GRADE, D. HARRIS, TO SEND HER A MESSAGE....BE CIVIL

Teacher Controversy A former Asheville teacher causes a stir on the internet when bloggers say she berates a young student for supporting John McCain. Diantha Harris used to teach at Jones Elementary, and now works for a school in Cumberland County. A video clip making its way around the internet shows Harris asking students why they support certain candidates, and then singling out a young McCain supporter. She tells the girl, whose father is in the military, that McCain would keep her father in the service for another 100 years. Harris tells News 13 the clip is heavily edited, and...

An 18-year-old from Pennsylvania is facing a felony charge after he was caught videotaping a police officer handing out a traffic ticket on a public street. "I didn't think I could get in trouble for that," Brian D. Kelly told The Patriot-News. Apparently, neither did a long list of members of the public, who have erupted on the newspaper's comment page. "This is the most asinine thing I have EVER heard. Citizens have the right, and indeed, often the DUTY to film police officers performing their job," wrote ZippoPA. "I will donate right now to a fund to defend this...

Live thread from Fayetteville, NC. About 50 early arrivals in support of the troops have gathered ahead of the leftist "anti-war" rally in Rowan Park. This is the third year that FreeRepublic, in conjunction with Rolling Thunder, the veteran's motor cycle club, has organized a Support the Troops Rally to counter the Leftist Demonstrations here in the home town of Fort Bragg and Pope Airforce Base. This is the home of 82nd airborne division and 18 airborne corps, and we are proud and grateful for all they do to defend freedom! I am posting from a handheld, so those of...

FAYETTEVILLE) - Fayetteville is known as a town that supports the military, but there are some there who support bringing the troops home now. The city has had an anti-war rally at Rowan Park every year since the war began, but that almost didn't happen this year. The park might have been quiet Wednesday afternoon, but by Saturday, crowds will fill be filling up the park. Just like in previous years, protestors will stage an anti-war rally, marking the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion into Iraq. This year’s event would have looked a lot different if members of a...