Like that old refrain from that overplayed Annie song, I have heard that the sun will come out tomorrow. 17 days of no Sunshine is making the Music City look like Seattle. Everyone is all angst ridden and starting their own grunge bands. So maybe the sun will shine.
Funny thing is, I’m a newsaholic too. Always in search of news on the web. Its all I read anymore. Why should I subscribe to the Tennessean when the majority of their news stories are posted daily to its website.
So the El Salvador preparation class starts Wednesday night and will continue until we leave. I guess we’ll find out what to expect. I understand part of the required viewing is “Romancing the Stone” movie. Or at least it should be. There are limited number of large classrooms available at church. So we’ll probably all get comfy in a small room. Kinda like preparing for the plane ride over there or something. Stuffing 30 people in a small room; stuffing 300 people in a plane…. The Sunday after we get back is Easter. So that will be interesting. I wonder if we will wear our El Salvador homemade shirts on Easter. The first Sunday after you get back from a long extended mission trip or youth trip is bittersweet. I always wish people could get out of their stuffy church buildings and really experience God.

There’s more invisible snow these days. Schools across the midstate closed because somebody thought they saw a snowflake. Are we being overly cautious? Shouldn’t we toughen kids up for this snow rides to and from school, rather than saying “it’s ok, it’s sleeting and we don’t want you on the bus…” All because of that mistake in January with the 7 inches of snow in 3 hours.
The reason why I seem to mention this everytime it happens, is because one of the church camps I help out at occurs at the beginning of the Summer. I know school systems have a billion snow days already built into the calendar, yet I know that it only take a few blizzards to make the kids get out in July. Who knows? But its something I can’t control, so why worry. As long as kids are out by June 9, then I’m happy.
This is MSN Messenger on speed. When I first saw the previews I was intriged by it. Yet after reading other discussion on it, seems like a bad thing with a bunch of security holes which will surely be exploited. Probably a bad thing. Who knows if it will catch on.
I successfully converted a friend of a friend to using Mozilla for browsing the internet. The pluses were the tabbed browsing and supression of pop up windows. I noticed Lipscomb University is using Mozilla too. Maybe this will help turn the tide toward reasonable browsers instead of that awful Internet Explorer that everyone mindlessly uses.
You’ll notice I’ve put in the ability to search Google for the title of this weblog (the “Google for this” link at the bottom of each entry….HINT: I’m using Google as a verb). This is in case you are extremely bored and wanted to search Google for simiar references. (Then again, I already KNOW you are extremely bored since you are here reading this drivel.) Sometimes I might name my entries after some obscure verse in some obscure song. This might clear things up as to what I really meant.

Reprinting this because the newspaper has no website. Be sure to pay special attention about another minister bringing a gun “to kill a large rodent.” Anybody heard of DeCon?

by Brooks Franklin
Mt. Juliet News, February 12, 2003
No arraignment date has yet been schedule for Green Hill Church Music Minister Mark Lancaster, who was indicted last week on four counts of illegally possessing machine guns.
Lancaster, 42, has been free on $50,000 bond since spending more than a week in custody following his early January arrest, which came when agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms seized 15 machine guns from his Mt. Juliet home.
Lancaster was indicted on charges of possessing approximately 15 machine guns, manufacturing machine guns without paying the special occupation tax, possession of approximately 15 machine guns in violation of U.S. law and possession of approximately 15 unregistered machine guns.
An official in the U.S. District Court Clerk’s Office said an arraignment date will likely be scheduled sometime this week.
The arrest of Lancaster seems to have had a strong impact on the church and its congregation, with several members publicly accusing church leaders of being behind the ATF raid that resulted in the charges against him.
Lancaster’s supporters, some of whom have even established a website to establish a defense fund on his behalf, maintain he fell victim to church in-fighting which escalated over a recent budget dispute. In retaliation for his stance over the budget issue, his supporters maintain, those on the opposite side of the controversy contacted the ATF about Lancaster.
“This was done, underhanded, to get rid of Mark. I guarantee you it was,” longtime church member Rusty Roberts said recently.
Affidavits filed by an ATF agent state three confidential informants utilized by the bureau against Lancaster were associated with the music minister through the church, described as recently as last week as still in turmoil over the music minister’s arrest.
Repeated attempts to contact the church’s pastor, Lane Fordham, have been unsuccessful.
But congregation members, each of who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed that questions about Lancaster’s arrest led to revelations that another church official has carried a weapon on church property in the past and unlike the music minister, who has been asked to resign, will apparently face no sanctions for his actions.
And Minister of Education James Mason confirmed the allegations in a faxed statement sent in response to a reporter’s phone messages.
Mason who heads the church’s day care center, not only admitted to carrying a weapon but also said he shot it on church property in the summer of 2002 to kill a large rodent.
He said he offered his resignation to church leaders in order to spare the institution any further embarrassment but that it was refused because of the vast differnences between the incident and the charges against Lancaster.
he said the church has since passed a new policy expressly porhibiting the possession of weapons on church property.
An official with the state Department of Human Services which licenses day care centers, said state laws allows weapons within the facilities only when kept under lock and key. The Green Hill Church day are has never been investigated because oficials have received no complaints about the facility, the DHS spokesperson said.

Schools across Middle Tennessee closed today because someone thought they heard there was snow in Memphis. It was all a big hoax. None of the white stuff is around. They did this because everyone was spooked from the blizzard earlier this year. That type of blizzard only happens once every 10 years. Otherwise snow in the south is just like this: non existant.
Another school day wasted. But what do I care. I’ve been wasting days since September. “Why haven’t you gotten a job yet?” Realistically I probably should have. Realistically I’d probably be digging ditches or something. That’s not something I want to do. Maybe I don’t want to waste my life away in a cubicle working for THE MAN.
Everyone and their brother has my resume. Do I really need to call and bug them for a job?
No call backs. No requests for interviews. Until something turns around in the economy – we have a war or something – I might as well not even bother looking. To those of you who have a job, be thankful.
I delivered food to the shut-ins from church today. Good deed for the day. Maybe it will help me to get into heaven or something.
Things I learned today:

• Old people don’t answer the door. Well, they don’t exactly hear the door sometimes.
• Shut in’s are happy to receive visitors. Hence the name, “shut-in,” which in part has a negative connation to it. Perhaps the less offensive “Homebound” should be used instead. Shut-ins are always happy to see visitors. Sometimes they want you to stay and visit for a while. “Are you still in school?” Nope, been out for 6 years now, but that’s beside the point. If I look younger than I am, I guess that’s a compliment, in some kind of different sort of way.

Speaking of which, I got a Time Magazine offer in the mail. “Senior Citizen’s discount.” Wooohooo! When I’m not trying to fool AOL-Time Warner into thinking I’m someone over 65, I am reading the magazine. Skimming through it at least. Ever since Yahoo Internet Life went away, magazines have been not as good. YIL was good. Introduced me to weblogging. Told me about the wonders of Blogger.com, which in turn introduced me to Movable Type.
Then YIL’s unused subscription turned into Entertainment Weekly….or shall I say “Entertainment Weakly.” Rarely do I get reasonable information out of that rag. Kinda like “Entertainment Tonight” in printed form. Maybe I should subscribe to Wired or some other nerdy magazine.

Wow! Does anyone monitor Channel 4’s discussion boards? Their television discussion board is slightly hilarious. People are saying things like:

“I’ve met Demetria [Kalodimos]. She is the single meanest, least pleasant person I’ve ever met.”
[Demetria Kalodimos] “is a victim to spousal abuse.” (referring to Demetria’s broken arm, actually caused by an auto accident)
“Did I actually see the friday 10pm news with TWO people doing the weather??Bill Hall turns to a female partner to help him with the weather. What is this “Tag-Team” forecast??? WOW!!!!”
“Demetria [Kalodimos] can’t dress. Dan [Miller] has a “hardware store owner” vibe around him. Bill [Hall] is as old as dirt. I don’t even bother thinking about Rudy [Kalis].”
“Pretty soon “Coverage You Can Count On” will be replaced by some other meaningless slogan the station has paid their consultant for.”

(All the above comments represent the views of channel 4 viewers and should not be considered my views). Actually all I watch is channel 5.
And you know the single greatest thing about the snow coverage a couple of Thursdays ago? More special snow reports by Victoria Hansen. I was at home all day that snow day (my blessing for not having a job). Victoria is singly the most beautiful thing on Nashville television, right ahead of the Watson girl.
Meanwhile, Channel 2 WKRN is using the same free message board software I’m using on the church webpage.
So I’m going to Corinth Church of Christ in Portland tomorrow for a camp meeting. I help out with their summer camp. Sorta an inheritance or something. The Mt. Juliet remnant remains.
I’m sure the camp director, Mark Sexton, will have a lot of things to discuss. Mark’s a good guy. Never had a problem with him. He’s been very encouraging to me. Down to earth. Easily approachable. His kids are cool too.
The kids have told me of various improvements they’d like to see at camp. “More games of wink.” You got it. 9 hour wink marathons. “Better, faster, longer slip-n-slide.” Since I’m not in charge of slip-n-slide maintenance, I’m not sure if upgrading the slip-in-slide to bionic proportions, which Steve Austin would be afraid to ride, is even a possiblity. In short we just don’t have the technology. I suppose if we make it too long, some of the kids would slip right off into the woods. And that would be a bad thing. Skinned knees are always a bad thing.

This news story just won’t go away.

by Brooks Franklin
The Lebanon Democrat, January 24, 2003
Supporters of a Mt. Juliet church music minister facing federal firearms charges have established a website seeking donations for a newly formed defense fund.
Green Hill Church minister of music, Mark Lancaster, 40, is free under bond after being arrested earlier this month on charges of illegally possessing machine guns.
A member of the church, Brian Copeland, said he developed the website at the urging of other friends of Lancaster “to get the word out” about his case.
“It’s just an opportunity for people to tell Mark that they love him and that they support him,” said Copeland, who develops websites professionally.
Launched only Wednesday, the site is located at www.freemarklancaster.com. Many of its pages are still under construction, but already operational is a method for contributing to a fund being established to aid Lancaster financially.
Copeland said he has “spend some time” with Lancaster since his release following more than a week in federal custody, describing the music minister as “spiritually renewed” and in high spirits.
“He recognizes that at times like this you depend on God,” Copeland said.
During his incarceration Lancaster “got to witness to others in custody, Copeland said.
“To him it was just an awesome experience. Of course you don’t like the circumstances, but that’s not up to you, you let God use you wherever you’re at,” Copeland said.
The case has been closely linked in court documents to the church, with affidavits from an agent stating that a search warrant for Lancaster’s home was obtained based on information received from three people “associated” with the music minister through Green Hill Church. The agent also testified he met the three at the church early in the investigation.
Some friends of Lancaster have alleged that the ATF was contacted about his gun collection because of a church budget dispute which put him at odds with some church leaders.
Earlier this week a Lancaster friend who had been a member of the church’s congregation since 1982 flatly accused church leaders of orchestrating the charges against the music minister.
“This was done underhanded, to get rid of Mark…I guarantee you it was,” said Rusty Roberts.
He and other members of the church spoke out strongly on behalf of Lancaster, describing him as a dedicated music minister who continues to be well liked among the congregation despite the charges against him.
The leadership of the church has repeatedly refused to discuss Lancaster since his arrest. Numerous telephone messages seeking comment form the church officials have drawn no response.
Copeland, a member of the church for the past year, said he believes “caution” is the reason church leaders have declined to discuss Lancaster’s case publicly.
“I think caution is the word of the day,” Copeland said. “I don’t know what their motive is, but we’re less concerned about that than making sure the church follows through on what the Bible tells us to do in times like this.”
Agents seized 15 machine guns from Lancaster’s home. Some were described as World War II era weapons while others were said to be manufactured in recent years.
Though Lancaster held a license as a collector of curios, authorities said that did not entitle him to possess the machine guns.

The Lebanon Democrat has no website. We’ll provide a welcome wagon when they venture into the 21st century.

by Brooks Franklin
The Lebanon Democrat, January 22, 2003
His supporters say a church music minister charged with illegally possessing machine guns is not only a far cry from the man portrayed by authorities, but also a victim of infighting within his church’s leadership.
Three members of Green Hill Baptist Church spoke out in support of music minister Mark Lancaster, 40, of Mt. Juliet on Tuesday.
Lancaster was freed from federal custody under a $50,000 bond Friday, over a week after authorities seized 15 allegedly illegal machine guns from his home.
Though church officials have steadfastly refused to comment on Lancaster, his friends within the congregation described him as a “great guy” and a “loving man” interested primarily in “the work of the Lord.”
They also said Lancaster’s gun hobby was well known to his church congregation and may have been used as leverage to remove Lancaster from his leadership role amid a heated budget dispute.
“I would be willing to leave my kids with him right now and wouldn’t worry for a minute about them,” said Mt. Juliet’s Kevin Costley. “I wouldn’t say that if I thought he was any kind of danger whatsoever. It’s just not true.”
An Old Hickory man who is also part of Green Hill Church’s congregation, Blake Wylie, called Lancaster “a great friend.”
“I don’t think he has an evil bone in his body,” Wylie added. “Everything I know about him is positive. There really isn’t anything negative you could say about him.”
Rusty Roberts, a member of the church since 1982, described the music minister as “a great guy, a real loving man who wants to do the work of the Lord.”
Robers said Lancaster is in “high spirits” since his return home, buoyed by considerable support among his friends and fellow church-goers.
“He’s doing great,” Roberts said. “he’s got a lot of people who support him who have called on him to let him know they’re praying for him.”
At the time of his arrest agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said they raided Lancaster’s home based on information from three informants, described in affidavits as people “associated” with the music minister through the church.
Agents said a telephone tip led to their investigation of Lancaster, with a caller describing him as an emotionally unstable “Nazi buff.” Agents said after his arrest, however, that they found no link to Lancaster or any hate groups.
His friends scoffed at the notion of Lancaster as a person with any interest of Nazis outside of his usual fascination with American history.
Two of them, in separate interviews, said Lancaster participated in a World War II reenactment over the summer in which he was asked to wear a German uniform.
Saying Lancaster is something of a “history buff,” Costley said. “That whole Nazi thing was just ridiculous. When 9-11 happened he led a special aptriotic ceremony that really moved a lot of people. He does special things for Veterans Day every year, that whole Nazi thing really blew my mind, that anyone would even say that.”
Wylie said he had participated in such a reenactment with Lancaster, like Costley describing the music minister as a “history buff.
“Someone is just taking his interest in history and just twisting that around,” Wylie said. “Basically he has a very strong interest in history especially World War II, and somebody, being very malicious, is making it sound like something it wasn’t.”
At the time of his arrest authorities said Lancaster did not have the proper license to possess machine guns, though Costley said his friend was “in the process” of obtaining such a license.
“I don’t know how far along in the process he was, but I do know he was in the process of getting a license,” Costley said.
Lancaster, according to authorities, held a license as a collector of curios but that did not entitle him to possess the machine guns. Some were described as World War II era models while some were said to have been manufactured in recent years.
“He had a hobby of collecting guns and like a lot of people, I’m sure, he never even though about getting into any kind of trouble for it,” Costley said.
All three men said they believe Lancaster enjoys strong support among members of the church’s congregation despite the charges pending against him.
“I think as far as the people go, everybody is pretty much in support of him,” Wylie said.
But both he and Roberts said they believe a church dispute may lie at the heart of Lancaster’s legal woes.
“I can only say there have been some recent issues dealing with the budget,” Wylie replied when asked if Lancaster had been at odds with anyone within the church in recent months.
Roberts was more blunt, saying flatly he believes someone within the church turned Lancaster over to authorties as a result of the budget dispute.
“This was done, underhanded, to get rid of Mark…I guarantee you it was,” said Roberts who estimated that “probably 90 percent of the members” knew about Lancaster’s gun collection.
Roberts said Lancaster “really didn’t want to say anything” about the church budget dispute but eventually did so because “he’s the one that will stand up and tell you what his beliefs are…He told it like it was.”
Both Roberts and Wylie indicated the dispute center over how much the church should budge its leaders for expenditures such as equipment.
Roberts said he believes the dispute and Lancaster’s subsequent arrest mean the music minister will never be allowed to return to the church in the same capacity.
“As for the congregation, most everybody wants him back, but the staff and church council are totally against him,” Roberts said.
Repeated attempts by The Lebanon Democrat to contact church officials for comment since the arrest have been unsuccessful. Telephone calls to church officials on Monday and Tuesday were not returned for this story.
Church leaders obtained a temporary restraining order barring Lancaster from church property shortly before his federal court hearing last week. The attorney who represented the church in obtaining the retreating order, Larry Crain, has been out of town and was unavailable for comment this week.
Roberts said he believes many members of the church’s congregation are both saddened and puzzled by their leadership’s continued silence over Lancaster.
“They (church leaders) have turned their back on their brother is what they’ve done,” he remarked.

What do you do with shirts that say “Tennessee Titans: 2003 AFC Champions?” They will be boxed up and destroyed. Wow. America at its worst. Thousands of homeless people without adequate warm clothing and they are destroying misprinted merchandise, all in the name of capitalism. I suppose they could send it off to some remote 3rd world country which we’d never see the natives wearing this misprinted merchandise. Not good enough. Too expensive in transport cost.
So I guess the people who bought the “Oakland Raiders: 2003 AFC Champions” shirts paid extra to offset the cost of the extra printing of the Titans shirts. All this so that they could be the first ones on their block wearing the hot merchandise.
So the snow is gone. It melted mostly yesterday. Still there are plenty of schools that were closed today or went late. Mostly it’s those counties like Pickett and Overton. Get a little snow and they’re closed for 2 weeks. When do these kids get out for Summer vacation? July? I guess they don’t have adequate snow removal equipment. That coupled with being some of the more poorer counties with small populations…doesn’t let them improve the situation much in spending.
I would strongly encourage these counties to go to year round schools. Perhaps even having a few weeks off in January/February to offset the inevitable snow day.
My contact at NewsChannel5 said they put news reporters up in downtown hotels during this snow storm. So that’s how they do it. It is interesting that the newsreporters were able to get around in the snowstorm…seemingly everywhere….schools with snowbound kids w/ no buses…. Interstates which were inpassible. Yet buses weren’t able to get kids home and snow plows were unable to get to icy roads.
Johnny Cash does a superb cover of Nine Inch Nails’ song “Hurt” ( smaller version of the video is here ). That’s what makes Johnny Cash so cool. He’s covered hard rock songs from NIN and Soundgarden. Still cool after all these years.
School District Stays Open on MLK Day. Says King thought education was the great equalizer.

From the “This-Newspaper-Doesn’t-Have-a-Website Department”

By Clint Brewer
Lebanon Democrat, January 16, 2003
A Mt. Juliet church got a restraining order against its music minister Wednesday after he was charged with possessing illegal weapons.
Green Hill Church filed a temporary restraining order against Mark Lancaster to keep him from coming onto church property until the conclusion of any pending criminal investigation or prosecution, according to court documents.
Lancaster, 40, is charged with illegally manufacturing and possessing 15 machine guns in his Mt. Juliet home. He was arrested when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms raided is Page Drive home Jan. 8 and found 15 unregistered machine guns. He is on suspension with pay from the church, but is in federal custody.
Larry Crain, Green Hill Church’s attorney, said the church decided to file a restraining order after learning Lancaster had fired a weapon on church property.
“That was new information for us as well,” he said. “That was a key point for us in deciding to pursue this order… Until all the facts were in, we decided it was prudent to do this.”
The ATF started investigating Lancaster after receiving a tip at its Washington, D.C., hotline. The called claimed Lancaster had “converted the Green Hill Baptist Church bus into a shooting rang,” according to the federal affidavit. But that was partly inaccurate, ATF spokesman Mark Leiser said.
“It was not converted into a shooting range,” he said. “It was a bus that had not been used…It’s not an old bus that was somewhere out in a field.”
ATF agents, however, did find a church bus with three bullet holes in it.
Green Hill Church also decided for the restraining order to ease parent’s minds about their children attending its day care.
“The nature of their (church member’s) concerns were that parents with children in day care that they take steps to ensure the children’s safety,” Crain said. “The day care is open to the public and has non-church members’ children in it as well.”
Crain said Lancaster has not had any contact with church leaders.
“Certainly, there are those who are awaiting the opportunity to meet and speak with him, but we have not been able to since he has been in custody,” he said.
The guns collected by the ATF were mainly war-era type. Lancaster had a federal firearms license as a collector of curios, but did not have the proper license to possess machine guns, Leiser said.
Lancaster is schedule for a detention hearing at 2 p.m. Thursday, assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Wehby said. Wehby’s office has filed to keep Lancaster in custody.

(from another newspaper that doesn’t have an up-to-date website)

By Elizabeth M-K Kruse
Mt. Juliet News – Jan. 15, 2003
An anonymous tip from three informants led to the arrest of Green Hill Church Music Minister Mark Lancaster last Wednesday by agents from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms after they were told of Lancaster’s cache of at least 15 automatic weapons.
Since the arrest, there has been some speculation in the community that the informants could be members of Victory Baptist Church a congregation of about 350 members which broke from Green Hill about two years ago due to disagreements about Lancaster’s contemporary musical selections.
An affidavit filed by ATF Agent Patrick Hand specifically states that all three informants were from Green Hill Church. Hand interviewed the group at the church about a week before the arrest and seizure.
Prominent Mt. Juliet citizen Ron Britt is a member of Victory Baptist Church. Britt was a member of Green Hill for 22 years before he and more than 100 members became unhappy with the music ministry. When Dr. Lane Fordham was named pastor of the church in 1998.
Lancaster was hired as the new music minister. Lancaster’s approach to church music did not sit well with the church’s more traditional members.
“Lancaster had decided to go with contemporary music verses traditional,” Britt said, speaking for himself and not a representative of the church. “That’s all it amounted to.”
The addition of drums guitars and a band seemed foreign to what Britt described as historically traditional Southern Baptists. The overall leadership of the church supported the new music style and this was enough to spur members to leave, Britt explained.
Britt said he would be surprised if rumors were circulating that it may have been members of VBC who informed ATF agents about Lancaster’s cache of guns.
“I really would be shocked if it was form my church,” Britt said. “We now have a congregation of like-minded folks in terms of philosophy…and we have a great spirit.”
“I really regret this happened,” Britt added. “And I can honestly say my wife and I take no pleasure in seeing this happen because it’s not an ‘I told you so’ issue. What happened with the break-away was bigger than one individual.”
Lancaster is in custody and while the outcome for him is unknown, a community of concerned Green Hill Church members waits here at home.
In an effort to help the church’s young people deal with the situation, Associate Minister of Youth and Music Andy LaValley spent some time with Green Hill youth at Mt. Juliet High School last week.
“We always see our kids on Wednesday,” LaValley said.
“Really right now is a bad time to discuss this,” LaValley said when asked about Lancaster. “For the safety of the church’s integrity it would be better if we wait to discuss this.”
Kathy Kee, 16, is a junior at MJHS and has attended Green Hill for the past year. She is also a member of the choir.
“I’m disappointed in what happened,” Kee said. “Mr. LaValley just wanted to let us know that we need to keep our hopes up and that everything will be fine.” Lancaster “never struck me as strange or anything like that.”
Lancaster is scheduled to appear before the federal magistrate in Nashville tomorrow. He could face up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000. Tomorrow’s hearing will determine if Lancaster must continue to remain in custody or be released on bond. Fordham, head pastor at Green Hill Church, did not return requests for comment. Chuck Grover, pastor of Victory Baptist was unavailable as well.