Chicago-area soldier killed in Texas hit-run

Chicago-area soldier killed in Texas hit-run
November 3, 2008
A soldier from the Chicago area was struck and killed by a car over the weekend near his U.S. Army base in El Paso, Texas, officials said today.

Spec. Joseph Binion, 23, was assigned to the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, and was stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas, in El Paso, according to Ft. Bliss officials. His hometown was not immediately available.
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Ex-Navy Officer Charged With Lying About Injuries on 9-11 at Pentagon

Ex-Navy Officer Charged With Lying About Injuries


By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 3, 2008; 4:32 PM

A retired Navy commander who was awarded the Purple Heart for his actions after the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon has been charged with lying about his injuries to collect more than $330,000 from a victims' fund.

Charles E. Coughlin, 49, of Severna Park pleaded not guilty today to federal charges of mail fraud, theft of public money and filing fraudulent claims in connection with a scheme that helped him purchase cars and a $1 million house, prosecutors said.

A grand jury indicted Coughlin and his wife, Sabrina, 46, on Friday. Sabrina Coughlin pleaded not guilty today to mail fraud at the federal courthouse in Washington.

They were released on personal bond after a brief appearance this afternoon before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in federal court in the District. They declined to comment after the hearing.

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Benning soldier discharged in trainee beating

Benning soldier discharged in trainee beating

By Russ Bynum - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Nov 3, 2008 14:54:46 EST

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Fort Benning officials say a soldier who assaulted a Jewish trainee in September has been kicked out of the Army.

Fort Benning spokesman Bob Purtiman said Monday the accused soldier received an administrative discharge in the beating of Pvt. Michael Handman.

Handman was assaulted in September days after he complained of religious harassment in his basic training unit.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_jewish_soldier_110308/

Parents want soldier’s death re-examined

“As his parents, we can’t understand how he survives Iraq then gets killed in Texas,” Tammy Garren said. “We can’t understand how he was safer in Iraq than he was in Harker Heights.”

Parents want soldier’s death re-examined

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Nov 3, 2008 17:39:57 EST

KILLEEN, Texas — The parents of an Army soldier who was run over at a sports bar near Fort Hood, Texas, don’t believe his death was accidental and want the case reopened.

“We feel that there wasn’t justice for Michael,” said Jerry Garren of Staatsburg, N.Y., father of Spc. Michael Anthony Garren, 20, who had served in Iraq.

After investigating the June 1 incident, Harker Heights police presented a criminally negligent homicide case to the Bell County District Attorney’s Office. Initial police reports indicated some people were arguing in a parking lot when a man threatened them, got in his truck and then knocked Garren down and ran over him.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_soldier_death_110308/

Kidnappers kill Mexican 5 year old child with acid injection

Kidnappers kill Mexican child with acid injection
Nov. 3, 2008 02:23 PM
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - Kidnappers killed a 5-year-old boy by injecting him with acid after his family sought police help — a new low even for Mexico's brutal kidnapping gangs.

Mexico City Attorney General Miguel Mancera said Monday that assailants injected the acid into the boy's heart and buried him on a hill outside the capital — a death that showed the plague of kidnappings for ransom afflicts the working class as well as the wealthy.

A kidnapper seized the child at a street market in the gritty borough of Iztapalapa on Oct. 26 and the boy was killed three days later, Mancera's office said in a statement.
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Police mourn off-duty death of officer

Police mourn off-duty death of officer
by Michael Ferraresi - Nov. 3, 2008 05:01 PM
The Arizona Republic


As police mourned fallen officer Shane Figueroa last week, they also reflected on the recent off-duty passing of another officer who worked in northeast Phoenix.

Jim Stenholm, a Desert Horizon Precinct officer with 13 years' experience, died at his home in Anthem on Oct. 24. He was 37 years old.

Stenholm's death hit Phoenix police nearly the same weekend Figueroa suffered fatal injuries after a suspected drunk driver collided with his patrol car as he responded to an emergency call in south Phoenix.


Stenholm's death leaves a void on a northeast Phoenix neighborhood enforcement unit, nicknamed the 'X-ray squad,' organized as a rapid-response team for areas north of Bell Road.

The 100 Club of Arizona, a local non-profit group that raises money to support law enforcement officers and their families, reported Stenholm's death on its Web site recently.

The cause of Stenholm's death has not been confirmed.
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With Daddy Home From War, A Thankful Family Adapts

With Daddy Home From War, A Thankful Family Adapts
By RINKER BUCK | The Hartford Courant
November 3, 2008

LEDYARD — - Zoë Hoekman is a spunky and adorable 5-year-old who, all of a sudden now, joyfully skips off alone to Sunday school and charges out of the minivan when her mother drops her off at a friend's house for a play date.

In the lives of most girls, happy, spontaneous moments like these would barely be noticed.

But for Zoë, whose father, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Keith Hoekman, spent 15 months in Afghanistan last year, skipping off alone to Sunday school and charging out of the minivan at a friend's house represent considerable progress.

A March profile in The Courant described the difficulties that Zoë's mother, Lori Hoekman, experienced raising three young children (and pregnant with a fourth) while her husband was deployed in a remote part of Afghanistan. That article described how Zoë had endured particularly tender pangs while her father was away, clinging to the legs of men and refusing to let her mother out of her sight when she played with friends.

"After Keith left for Afghanistan, Zoë realized that she had already lost one parent, and she wasn't about to lose another," Lori Hoekman said. "Something as simple as a play date with a friend, or going to Sunday school, she just couldn't face alone."

But Keith Hoekman, 33, a Navy nurse practitioner who ran medical clinics for Afghan villagers in the remote Ghazni province, returned to a joyful reunion with his family at Bradley International Airport on March 25. During the seven months since his return, the family has welcomed a new addition; their fourth child, Titus Leander, was born Sept. 6. (Lori conceived while Keith was home during a brief Christmas break last year.) And they have enjoyed many other touching returns to normalcy.
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Non-combat death in Iraq reported

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pfc. Bradley S. Coleman, 24, of Martinsville, Va., died Oct. 29 at Qayyarah Airfield, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 51st Transportation Company, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Mannheim, Germany.

The incident is under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/oif/

Palin: Do Democrats think 'terrorists have become good guys'?

Dear Gov. Palin,
You have said some pretty terrible things during your campaign, because you fail to notice that you are not the top of the ticket, McCain is, but this is really the lowest a person can sink.



Maybe you don't care that while our troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan, billions of dollars has gone unaccounted for. Any idea what that kind of money could do for the wounded veterans standing in line to have their wounds treated or for the families who have to travel to be with them while giving up their jobs to do it? Ever once think of what that kind of money could have done to protect the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with the proper equipment?

Billions more have gone to Halliburton, KBR and other defense contractors with no accountability. If you had bothered to read the reports out of the GAO, you'd know that. So much for watching out for tax payers money or the troops.

I happen to be a Democrat and unlike you, I have taken all of this very seriously. Most Americans have and we're really tired of people like you calling us terrorist supporters when we are trying to get answers out of politicians like you. We're tired of being called anti-military when we care about the lives sent, the reason they are sent, the plans they have to live with and what happens while they're gone just as much as we care about what happens to them when they come home. See, Sarah, we don't just care about the people in our own family, we care about all of them. That's the difference between Democratic elected and what the Republicans have become. They used to care as well. There was a time when the Republicans cared about the troops as much as they cared about the defense contractors, but those days are long gone. They all had the information and the time and the power to take care of all these wounded troops, but they didn't. They had a chance to take care of the tax payers who have to pay for all of this, but they didn't. The only people they wanted to take care of were the rich and corporations.

What are you going to say when the old news about General Petraeus and Secretary of Defense Gates want to talk with the Taliban? Are you going to call them terrorists too? Anti-military? Anti-American?

The cut in military spending is not cutting the military or their equipment or anything they need. It's cutting the wasted billions and holding contractors accountable. It's to stop spending money in Iraq when Iraqis have billions in surplus but have not problem bleeding our economy dry. It's about taking that money and investing it right here for our own people for a change. Too bad you and your supporters don't seem to care about any of this.

Palin: Do Democrats think 'terrorists have become good guys'?
Nick Juliano
Published: Monday November 3, 2008


With time running out, Sarah Palin has delivered what might be the most incendiary line of the entire presidential campaign.

Not content to just disagree with her opponents on policy, the Republican vice presidential nominee has accused Democrats of outright sympathizing with terrorists.

"What do they think? Do they think the terrorists have all the sudden become the good guys and changed their minds?" she asked a crowd in Jefferson City, Mo. "No, the terrorists still seek to destroy America and her allies and all that it is that we stand for: freedom, tolerance, and equality. The terrorists have not changed their minds."
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http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Palin_Do_Dems_think_terrorists_are_1103.html

Police: Spring ISD junior slain for dating suspect's sister

Police: Spring ISD junior slain for dating suspect's sister
By MIKE GLENN Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 3, 2008, 12:00PM
Two high school seniors from Houston have been charged with murder in the death of a schoolmate, who Montgomery County authorities say was killed because he was dating one suspect's 14-year-old sister.

Edgar Arturo Sazo, 17, and Edson H. Olvera Garza, 18, are being held without bail in the Montgomery County Jail.

Both are seniors at Westfield High School in the Spring school district, said sheriff's Lt. Bill Bucks.

They have given statements about the death of Eugene Posana Villaruel, 17, a junior at Westfield, Bucks said.

His body was found about 8:30 a.m. Sunday by a jogger, who spotted it in a wooded area near the 28000 block of Ascot Farms. He had been stabbed numerous times in the head and upper body, Bucks said.

Villaruel apparently was killed somewhere nearby before his body was dumped at the spot, investigators believe.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6091520.html