Undercover officers use Taser on pallbearer at father's funeral

Undercover officers use Taser on pallbearer
Sheriff apologizes; other pallbearers thought it was 'a drug deal gone bad'
updated 22 minutes ago
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Five sheriff's deputies will be disciplined after they used a Taser while serving an arrest warrant on a man at his father's funeral.

Gladwyn Taft Russ III was serving as a pallbearer at the service last Saturday and was loading his father's casket into a hearse when the undercover deputies approached him.

Relatives said two deputies dressed in coats and ties grabbed Russ and kneed him in his back before using a Taser on him. One deputy's gun fell out of its holster.

Russ, 42, had failed to surrender after being charged with threatening his ex-wife, who lives in another state. After his father died on Nov. 11, Russ agreed to surrender to authorities after the funeral.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27822770/

Extreme Makeover for Spc. Patrick Tutwiller after Iraq and tornado

Makeover: Stars descend on community
Carla Strand
City-County Editor
Thursday, Nov 20, 2008

CHAPMAN -- Before a crowd of thousands of people and with TV cameras rolling, the Patrick Tutwiler family was introduced to their new home built by volunteers working with the television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Many of those thousands waited four to five hours through a sunny, chilly and often breezy Tuesday, after e-mail messages sent out by the show Monday night stated the family would be home early to avoid the potential for bad weather late Tuesday.

Joy Burton, who teaches grades 1-8 at the Enterprise Academy, said students from the school attended about two hours of classes Tuesday morning before buses headed to Chapman to watch events unfold.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience,” she said. “There are some things you can’t teach them about. They have to see it for themselves.”

Spc. Tutwiler, who joined the Army following 9/11, was wounded in the neck by a sniper’s bullet while serving in Iraq in 2007, and was back home in Chapman recovering from a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, when the tornado occurred.

Within a matter of months, the family would have been forced to leave after Tutwiler is medically discharged from the Army.

“It was fitting that we named a veteran on Veteran’s Day to receive a home,” said Diane Korman, senior producer, Lock and Key Productions, which produces “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
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Food bank begs religious leaders to help feed hungry

Food bank begs religious leaders to help feed hungry
Jay Hamburg and Kate Santich | Sentinel Staff Writers
November 20, 2008
Unable to keep up with the growing ranks of hungry people, a Central Florida food bank turned to a group of local religious leaders to issue an interfaith plea to the community: Give before the cupboards go bare.

As the economy declines, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida has struggled to keep up with unprecedented demands. The nonprofit agency distributed 2 million pounds of food last month. That compares with 1 million in October 2007.

And the gap between supply and demand keeps growing, said Dave Krepcho, the food bank's president and chief executive officer.

"We need to close that gap, not only with food, but we need to close it with faith," Krepcho said Wednesday at the agency's first multi-faith forum on hunger.


During the event at Lake Eola Park, the group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders all declared it is the faithful's duty to the help the poor and hungry.

"What we need to do is issue a clarion call to the greater faith-based community to take responsibility," the Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, a Church Distributed in Longwood.
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Senior military spouses offer lessons learned

Good Lord! I feel like I should be posting this on my other blog, Screaming In An Empty Room because it feels like that's what I've been doing for 26 years! Is anyone listening to anything I have to say? Can't an advocate some attention by someone who can actually do something with what I've been screaming about?

We have IFOC Chaplains all across this country and they are fully trained, licensed, insured, FBI background checks done, and most of us are ordained. We're good enough for the police and fire departments but not good enough for the military or the VA to turn to in this crisis. What's wrong here?

I am not only a Senior Chaplain, but I belong to NAMI, on the veteran's council and I'm also a lifetime member of the DAV Auxiliary. I've passed the test with the IFOC and passed the test on Military Cultural Competence. Everything I say about veterans with PTSD comes from living with one and studying them for 26 years as well as talking to them, emailing with them and holding them when they crash. I haven't just talked to the wives of PTSD veterans, I am one!

Here we have General Casey' wife saying there is a shortage of mental health help and no one is asking us to help. This is a crisis and has been for a long time. Families are falling apart, kids are suffering and veterans are committing suicide. Domestic violence is going up and most of it does not need to happen if the wives know what PTSD is, understand it and then they can prevent the escalation of arguments turning into life or death situations. Who's in charge here and how do you get past people who do not want to listen?

Senior military spouses offer lessons learned

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Nov 19, 2008 16:02:09 EST

Prolonged, continuous deployments and their effects on military families need to be seriously addressed in the coming year, said the wife of the Chief of Naval Operations, the wife of the Army chief of staff, and other senior spouses who participated in a panel discussion Nov. 18.

“It’s also long-term effects — we do not know the effects of these deployments on our children,” said Sheila Casey, wife of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, noting that little research has been done to date in that area.

“You do a study, and you are already there. The effects are already there,” she said.

“The Air Force is the newer service to commit to longer deployments,” said Bev Fraser, wife of Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. William Fraser. “We’ve learned from our sister services, but we’ve learned it’s still difficult.”

One things the Air Force is beginning to see, she said, is that retention is not always a positive thing these days. For some, it’s about “being bitter because you have to stay in” due to the faltering economy and civilian job market.

One thing Casey said she hears everywhere she travels to talk to Army families is difficulty in getting access to medical and mental health care.

“Doctors are deployed, and staff levels are down. It’s hard to get appointments. And you have to get an appointment to get a referral,” she said.

The military has been working to get more mental health doctors in its network, she said, but there is a shortage of mental health providers nationwide.
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VA document-shredding no shock to vets

VA document-shredding no shock to vets
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Nov 19, 2008 17:14:41 EST

Doubts were raised Wednesday about whether the Bush administration can do anything to restore confidence in the Veterans Affairs Department following the discovery last month of almost 500 key benefits claims documents in shredding bins at regional offices.

But the problem, initially discovered by teams of auditors from the VA inspector general’s office, didn’t exactly shock the veterans’ community. Veterans have complained for decades about VA losing or destroying claims documents, making an already complicated process even more difficult to deal with.

Veterans’ advocates attending a roundtable discussion arranged by the House Veterans Affairs Committee said VA’s admission of mishandling documents is a sign of the fundamental problems that veterans have seen for years.

Rick Weidman, executive director for government affairs of Vietnam Veterans of America, said the only real news is that VA now acknowledged the problem.

“Shredding is not the issue,” he said, calling instead for focus on “the integrity of the process.”

Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., said he is worried that leaving key documents to be shredded is a sign of a larger workload problem and pressure to meet production quotas. Mitchell said it has led him to wonder whether VA officials have been completely honest when they said they had all of the resources they needed to handle claims.
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Fort Carson:Army shreds documents on friendly fire deaths

Army shreds documents on friendly fire deaths
John Byrne
Published: Thursday November 20, 2008


In late 2006, two American soldiers from Fort Carson died in Iraq. The army said the privates were killed by enemy action. But in October of this year, Salon revealed that the two men had in fact been killed by friendly tank fire.

Now, Salon has found that the documents related to the men's deaths were shredded just hours after the story was published.

"Three soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo. including two who were present in Ramadi during the friendly fire incident, one of them just feet from where Nelson and Suarez died were ordered to shred two boxes full of documents about [Albert] Nelson and [Roger] Suarez," reporter Mark Benjamin writes. "One of the soldiers preserved some of the documents as proof that the shredding occurred and provided them to Salon. All three soldiers, with the assistance of a U.S. senator's office, have since been relocated for their safety."

The night the Salon story ran, Oct. 14, 2008, a staff sergeant told three soldiers to shred two boxes of documents relating to the privates' deaths.
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Brigadier General Anthony Cucolo, right, presents Jean Feggins the American flag that draped the casket of Pfc. Albert M. Nelson, of Philadelphia, during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 1285-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711
DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died December 4, 2006, in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries suffered from small arms fire while conducting security and observation operations. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado.

Killed were:

Private First Class Albert M. Nelson, 31, of Philadelphia.

Private First Class Roger A. Suarez-Gonzalez, 21 of Miami.

The incident is under investigation.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/amnelson.htm

Filner advocates 'de-boot camp' for returning GIs

I've sent Congressman Filner and Senator Akaka letters about the suffering the veterans are going thru as well as their families. All of them have been ignored. After all, since I'm not an important person, a well connected person, they probably feel as if they just don't have the time to listen to someone like me or even respond. I have a feeling their aids never even showed them the letters. Why should they?

I'm just a wife of a veteran out of millions of others. I'm glad someone managed to get thru to Congressman Filner so that he came up with this idea. It's long overdue. I've been trying to do what I can to open their eyes to know that most of the suffering going on does not have to happen. Filner bought up how the troops get a boring information program and most of them are either not paying attention or fall asleep. They are in a hurry to get out there. After looking at what the government had to offer, I came up with the videos I make but powerful people don't want to bother with them. The difference between people like me and the "professionals" is this is all we focus on. This is also what we live with everyday of the year. It's all personal to us and we know these veterans very well. Research is not done just by reading books and having a few interviews or spending an hour a day with a veteran. It's living lives with them, learning from them, listening to them, watching for the signs, studying what works and doing it right by their side instead of above them.

Maybe the powerful people in Washington could have saved a lot of time if they bothered to listen to people like me when Vietnam veterans came home. We've had all these years to know what works and what doesn't.

Filner advocates 'de-boot camp' for returning GIs
Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA

EXCLUSIVE: Filner advocates 'de-boot camp' for returning GIs
Urges wide trauma screening
Audrey Hudson (Contact)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
EXCLUSIVE:

A key House leader is proposing to establish a "de-boot camp," where returning service members would undergo mandatory diagnosis for brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in order to reduce instances of domestic violence and suicide.


JOSEPH SILVERMAN/THE WASHINGTON TIMES HELPING VETS: Rep. Bob Filner, California Democrat, says new veterans need public support.

Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said Wednesday he will lobby the Obama administration for the de-boot camp and other new initiatives for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as veterans from the Vietnam era.

"There were more suicides [postwar] by Vietnam veterans than those who died in the war. We cannot make the same mistakes again. Mental illness is an injury that has to be dealt with," Mr. Filner said during an editorial board at The Washington Times. "We all have to understand what they are facing. We all have to understand PTSD."

The California Democrat said he wants the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reduce a backlog of claims by granting all claims made by Vietnam veterans who say they suffer illnesses from exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.

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Support for Troops, After Combat

Support for Troops, After Combat
SSW gets $1.5 million to help military families
By Caleb Daniloff

BU’s School of Social Work, the only school of social work tapped to tackle post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) issues stemming from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has won a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to study the impact of war-related stress on military families.

Ellen DeVoe and Ruth Paris, SSW assistant professors, have teamed up with Betsy McAlister Groves, director of the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center, to examine the impact of deployment stress and combat trauma on military families with young children and to develop sustainable programs to deal with issues such as separation and reassimilation. The four-year collaborative effort also involves experts from the School of Public Health and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
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http://www.bu.edu/today/2008/11/19/support-troops-after-combat

California:Autistic boy seeks hope in wildfire's ashes

Autistic boy seeks hope in wildfire's ashes
Seven-year-old Jonathan Reyes whimpered softly as he and his parents approached what was left of their house, one of more than than 500 structures destroyed by wildfires in Los Angeles County. The Reyeses were anguished about explaining the loss to their son. Any child would find such loss devastating, but Jonathan is even more fragile. He has autism. full story
Family says goodbye to burned home
Bonfire sparked wildfire, authorities say

FBI Agent Slain In Drug Raid

FBI Agent Slain In Drug Raid
Rookie Agent In Pittsburgh, 33, Was Former Cop, Teacher

GLENSHAW, Pa., Nov. 19, 2008


(CBS/AP) A former Baltimore police officer who had been an FBI agent for less than two years was shot and killed Wednesday while serving a warrant at a home near Pittsburgh, and an alleged cocaine dealer who lived there was taken into custody.

Special Agent Samuel Hicks, who was taking part in a drug-ring roundup, was shot around 6 a.m. in Indiana Township, a middle-class community about 10 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The home's owner, Robert Korbe, was in federal custody in connection with the shooting, said a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.

Hicks, 33, had been with the FBI since March 2007, and was assigned to the Pittsburgh office in August 2007, said Michael Rodriguez, special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh FBI office. A former Baltimore police officer and school teacher, Hicks graduated from Southmoreland High School in Alverton and from the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown with a degree in chemistry in 1999. He leaves behind a wife, Brooke, and a 3-year-old son.

"Special Agent Hicks made the ultimate sacrifice that any law enforcement officer makes for his country," Rodriguez said in a statement read to reporters. "He served with honor and bravery and will be greatly missed by his colleagues here in Pittsburgh and throughout the FBI."
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/19/national/
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