Tag Archives: Missouri

Military Bans Troops From Vacation Bible School Honor

A small country church in Carthage, Missouri wanted to honor veterans and soldiers during their Vacation Bible School.  The military banned troops from going to the event.

Paramedics, police and firefighters in the community showed up Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to talk to the kids, teach them some basics of their jobs and receive thanks for their efforts to make the community better.

On Thursday, when the National Guard was supposed to show up, no one was there.

The military told the National Guard troops they were banned from the event and if they showed up at all on the grounds of the church they could face discipline.  The military said that just the presence of the troops or any National Guard asset meant they were sponsoring the Baptist religion.”

The military officers were more concerned about someone who is not a Christian being offended by the troops appearing at the church than they were about any Christians who might be upset at being told they weren’t worth visiting.

The Missouri National Guard reportedly tried to do all they could to attend the event but it was at the federal level where the ban on associating with Christians was ordered.

National Guard troops were furious at the Defense Department’s actions.

“We had a lot of disappointed kiddos because of the National Guard being unwilling to allow a Humvee and a few soldiers to spend an hour at a Baptist Church,” a Guardsman said. “It makes we wonder what I’m actually fighting for.”

Missouri Governor Vetoes 72-Hour Abortion Bill

Missouri Democrat Governor Jay Nixon has vetoed a bill that would have required a 72-hour wait before ending the life of a baby via abortion.

The bill would have tripled the current 24-hour waiting period for an abortion.

“[This bill has] no demonstrable purpose other than to create emotional and financial hardships for women who have undoubtedly already spent considerable time wrestling with perhaps the most difficult decision they may ever have to make,” Nixon said.

The governor also said the bill was “extreme and disrespectful” and would “unnecessarily prolong the suffering of rape and incest victims and jeopardize the health and wellbeing of women.”

Republicans said they would attempt to override the veto during a September session.  It would require a 2/3 vote of both houses to override the governor.

Woman Credits Prayer With Saving Life In Car Accident

A Missouri woman says that prayer saved her life after being trapped inside a wrecked car for eight hours.

Cassandra Wiggins was traveling to work Thursday morning when her car hydroplaned, sliding across the road and down an embankment.  The car was 100 feet below the roadway but completely out of sight to the passing cars.

The 39-year-old lost consciousness during the wreck due to a blow to the head.  The woman was reported missing when her employers called Wiggins’ mother saying she had not arrived for work.

“It’s a mother’s gut and the Holy Spirit that told me that there was something seriously wrong,” Anita Finney told KSHB-TV. “And by that point, I could just start praying that the Lord would save her until I found her.”

Wiggins regained consciousness around 3 p.m. and was able to use her foot to reach her cell phone.  It took fire department personnel over two hours to free her from the crumpled car.  She suffered a severe hip injury that required surgery and will need rehab to learn to walk again.

“She said, ‘Daddy, I thought at first I was going to die, then I just kept praying,’” her father, Robert Wiggins, told KCTV News. “That’s what we taught Cass from early childhood, and that’s what she did and the Lord answered her prayer. So we’re grateful.  We’re thankful for the firemen that came and helped her up that hill,” he added. “I don’t see how they got up it; that hill was so long.”

School District Settles Suit With Anti-Christian Group

A Missouri school district has announced a settlement in a lawsuit with an anti-Christian group that claimed they violated the U.S. Constitution by promoting Christianity on the campus.

The anti-Christian American Humanist Association of Washington had filed a lawsuit in November 2013 against the Fayette School District on behalf of an “anonymous student” and “anonymous parent” who claimed the school wrongly promoted Christianity over other religions or no religion.

The complaint said that one of the school’s teachers prayed with students and that the high school’s principal announced weekly prayer meetings of a Christian group on the intercom.

The settlement was reached because the school said they did not want to spend more tax dollars fighting the anti-Christianists.  The school added that while they did find one allegation was accurate, most of the complaints from the anti-Christian group were false, misleading or deliberately taken out of context.

The judge in the case has banned the schools’ teachers from participating in prayer or other religious activities at student events and prohibits teachers from having religious materials in sight of students.

The anti-Christian American Humanist Associated celebrated their latest removal of Christians from public life.

“Public schools must uphold the separation of church and state,” remarked AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt.

Anti-Christianists Enraged Over Principal’s Graduation Speech

Anti-Christianists are outraged that a principal of a Missouri high school spoke about the history of God in public life during his address to graduates.

Kevin Lowery, principal of Lebanon High School, told the graduates during a May 23rd commencement to remember that “God is still important” after the students were prohibited from praying at the event.

“In one of the most famous sentences in American History, taken from our Declaration of Independence, reads, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,’” Lowery said in opening the gathering. “This passage has come to represent a moral standard to which the United States should always strive.  And even though God is reflected in the very fabric of our nation, we are told that it is inappropriate and even illegal to mention God at high school graduations, let alone say a prayer.”

Lowery then asked those in the room to hold a minute of silence.

“[J]ust in case you’re interested, during my moment of silence, I gave thanks to God for these great students, their parents, their teachers, and for this community,” he said after the moment of silence, causing the room to erupt in applause.

“Oh, I’m not finished,” he continued. “I asked God to protect these students as they go their separate ways into the world. I asked God to avail Himself in every possible way.  I asked God to watch over them, to protect them, and to bless them with self-fulfillment, with compassion, inner peace, and personal prosperity. Thank you for indulging the thoughts I had during my moment of silence. And yes, God is still important, and let us not ever forget it.”

The school district has reported that anti-Christianists have sent angry messages to the school after news reports of the principal’s comments reached the internet.  The complaints have come from people who do not live in the community and did not attend the ceremony.

Major Food Recalls Due To Listeria Hit Midwest

If you purchased walnuts, hummus or dips in Missouri or Illinois between March and May 2014, you need to check some packaging.

Sherman Produce has announced an immediate recall of “Schnucks brand 10-ounce trays of walnuts” with the UPC code 00338390032 because the product could be contaminated with listeria.  The USDA detected listeria in walnuts that were sampled at the production facility.

Consumers are used to throw them away immediately or seek a refund.

Hot Mama’s Foods has recalled almost 15,000 pounds of hummus and dip products because of Listeria.   The items were sold at Target, Trader Joe’s and other retailers.

The listeria was discovered during a routine test by the Texas Department of Health.  Customers are advised not to eat the recalled products and return them to the place of purchase for a refund.  Customers can also call 1-877-550-0694 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Missouri Passes 72-Hour Abortion Wait

The Missouri legislature has passed a law that will require any woman who is seeking an abortion to wait 72 hours after they initially contact a clinic.

The measure triples the current waiting period in the state and makes Missouri the third state behind Utah and South Dakota to require 72 hours.  The waiting period would be waived in the event of a medical emergency.

The bill passed the Missouri House 111-39 and sent it to the governor who has a pattern of allowing abortion restrictions to become law without signing the bills.  Last year, Nixon ignored a bill that requires doctors to be in the room when the initial dose of drugs for medical abortion is injected.

Nixon told reporters that he would review the waiting period and make a decision in line with his other decisions regarding abortion legislation.

Pro-abortion advocates were furious at the passage of the law saying that it could be medically dangerous to make a woman wait two more days before ending the life of their child via abortion.

Students Carry Bibles To Protest Teacher’s Actions

The Bible was seen all over the hallways at a Missouri school after a teacher told two students they weren’t allowed to even read their Bibles in the hallway.

Kiela English, 15, a freshman at Potosi High School, was reading the Bible with a friend and discussing a passage when a teacher confronted them and said they had to put the Bible away and stop pushing their religion on people.  The two girls had not been speaking to anyone else about the Bible or its contents.

Kiela’s mother posted on Facebook about the incident and it developed into a call for students to bring their Bibles to school and carry them around as a form of protest showing their rights to have their Bibles in school.

Students say the protest was effective in that not only did they show their dedication to the Scriptures, they also did it in way that did not disrupt the school day or show disrespect to the administration.

Potosi Superintendent Randy Davis said an investigation is ongoing regarding the incident but that he had no problem with the girls bringing their Bibles.

“We have absolutely no problem with our students bringing their Bible,” Davis said.  “We firmly believe in freedom of religion and students practicing their religion.”

Anti-Christian Group Sues Teacher Who Prayed For Injured Student

The anti-Christian activist group American Humanist Association is suing allegedly on behalf of two students accusing teacher Gwen Pope and the Fayette Missouri R-III School District of violating the Constitution by allowing a Christian club to meet before the start of the school day.

The lawsuit says the teacher committed the crimes of praying for an injured student, organizing a project to feed hungry children and was cavorting with a Methodist.

Pope is no longer teaching at the school but was the sponsor of the Fellowship of Christian Students at Fayette High School. The group has gathered since 2010 to meet and pray before the start of the school day along with reading the Bible.

The anti-Christian group says the two unnamed students had faced “unwelcome encounters with the classroom prayer sessions.” Apparently the students could see their classmates inside the classroom as they walked past in the mornings.

The group also said the teacher having a Bible in her possession “violates the Establishment Clause as a student would reasonably perceive it as her promoting her religious views to her students.”

The school superintendent told Fox News that he cannot comment on the suit because they had not yet received a copy but that they will defend their students’ and teachers’ First Amendment rights.

Midwestern Tornadoes Leave Six Dead

At least six people are confirmed dead after a Sunday outbreak of tornadoes across the Midwest.

The town of Washington, Illinois was devastated by a massive tornado that tore an 1/8th mile wide track through the entire town. Mayor Gary Manier said that up to 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed and that some neighborhoods are completely destroyed.

“How people survived is beyond me,” Manier said.

The tornadic storms are considered unusual for mid-November. Damaging winds and tornadoes were reported in 12 states: Michigan, Iowa, Illnois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York.

The storms moved so fast at times that weather forecasters were warning people to see shelter even before they could see a change in the weather.

The storm threatened the Chicago area forcing the game between the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens to be delayed for two hours as teams and spectators huddled under the stadium.