Rev. Martin Murphy, a pastor in Sumter County, Alabama, has purportedly recruited pro-succession Southerners to join his York Presbyterian Church. This prompted Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway to order Murphy to leave the premises. In the past, Murphy was affiliated with the League of the South, a Tuscaloosa-based national organization urging Southern states to peacefully leave the Union, the Birmingham Times reports. Murphy, whose followers call Hardaway's ruling a troubling intrusion by the state into church matters, said he will appeal the ruling, which gave control of the church and its bank account to a group of longstanding church members. Tennessee Inmate's Legal Blast At State Backfires
As long as jails have been around, there have been jailhouse lawyers, inmates who use their free time to understand the legal system and use it to their advantage. Take Lamar Fletcher, a prisoner at the Cold Creek Correctional Facility in Nashville, Tenn. Unfortunately for Fletcher, a suit he filed against Tennessee in 1996 recently brought unintended consequences -- specifically a $44.90 charge in litigation tax, interest and fees. Accountants deducted that amount from Fletcher's inmate trust fund, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. Even in jail, legal maneuvering tends to be costly.
Michigan Rats Still Have a Price On Their Narrow Little Heads
Since 1915, anyone carrying a severed rat's head can approach any city clerk in Michigan and receive a 10-cent bounty for the beady-eyed varmint. The clerk is then required to burn the rat head. While it's doubtful any bounties have been paid in the latter half of this century, Republican state Sen. Thaddeus McCotter wants to knock Michigan's rat-head law off the books. The fact that McCotter's mother, Joan McCotter, happens to be the city clerk of Livonia, Michigan, could explain his interest. A Senate Law Revision Task Force is also trying to repeal a statute that created the position of official cream tester, one that prohibits dueling and one outlawing walkathons, the Detroit Free Press said.
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