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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Veteran in Westboro case looks to move beyond his legal troubles

Veteran in Westboro case looks to move beyond his legal troubles

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

Ryan Newell is resting on his three-wheeler in a row of motorcycles in a Wichita garage, its door open to the steamy weather.

Just sitting there, it's hot enough to sweat, but the 26-year-old looks comfortable, calm, wearing his ball cap backward and smiling.

The garage is a refuge for the Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran. Just being there with his friend and fellow veteran Tony Sparling among the shiny, powerful machines boosts Newell's morale after what he's been through — disabling war wounds, PTSD, and a run-in with a controversial Topeka church that got him in trouble with the law and drew national attention.

People still call him Sgt. Newell even though he's no longer in the Army. He was a sergeant returning from a mission in Afghanistan in 2008 when an improvised bomb detonated.

"We lost everybody in the Humvee that day except for me," he says.
read more here and see video report
Veteran in Westboro case looks to move beyond his legal troubles

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