Police find clues in potential car bomb vehicle
From Susan Candiotti and Jeanne Meserve, CNN
May 2, 2010 11:00 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Vehicle Identification Number found on potential car bomb vehicle
SUV found in Times Square had propane tanks, gas cans, NYC mayor says
Vendor saw smoke coming from box in car, notified police
Police looking at surveillance video to determine who left vehicle
(CNN) -- A T-shirt vendor who noticed smoke coming out of a dark green sport utility vehicle alerted police to what turned out to be a potential bomb placed in the city's iconic Times Square -- teeming with tourists and theater-goers on a balmy spring evening.
"We avoided what could have been a very deadly event," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg early Sunday morning. "It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact."
The atmosphere at Times Square returned to normal Sunday, but questions remained about the contents of the vehicle.
Two federal officials said Sunday it was too early to tell whether the incident involved al Qaeda or another international terror group. The national threat level remained at yellow, or elevated.
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Police find clues in potential car bomb vehicle
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Coast Guard defends response to Gulf oil spill
The Department of Defense, the National Guard and the Coast Guard have all been called in to clean this up. The question is, will BP pay for what the government (tax payers) has to do to take care of what they failed to do? Will they cover the risk to our first responders? Will they take care of the families of the missing and take care of the wounded? What about the way this will hurt the natural world?
Coast Guard defends response to Gulf oil spill
By Cain Burdeau - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday May 2, 2010 10:14:54 EDT
MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER — Oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico oozed into Louisiana’s ecologically rich wetlands Friday as storms threatened to frustrate desperate protection efforts. The White House put a hold on any new offshore oil projects until the rig disaster that caused the spill is explained.
Crews in boats patrolled coastal marshes early Friday looking for areas where the oil has flowed in, the Coast Guard said.
The National Weather Service predicted winds, high tides and waves through Sunday that could push oil deep into the inlets, ponds and lakes that line the boot of southeastern Louisiana. Seas of 6 to 7 feet were pushing tides several feet above normal toward the coast, compounded by thunderstorms expected in the area Friday.
As the sun rose over Venice, dozens of boats, some carrying booms that will help hold back the oil, sat ready at Cypress Cove pier. Fishing guide Mike Dickinson, 56, was taking out some fishermen from Georgia in hopes of making money before more oil washes in.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/04/ap_gulf_oil_spill_043010/
25 attempted suicide calls and investigated one successful suicide at Camp Pendleton in 2009
21 rapes,176 domestic violence calls and 72 aggravated assaults, added to the suicide attempts should be sounding alarm bells across the nation. Seven of the suicide attempts were tried by "juveniles living on the base."
MILITARY: Crime inside gates of Camp Pendleton
2009 Camp Pendleton crime report shows high number of assaults, sex offenses
Crime doesn't stop at the gates of Camp Pendleton, the home and workplace for about 64,000 people on an average workday.
In an unprecedented release of annual crime statistics, the combined civilian and military police force for the sprawling Marine Corps base just north of Oceanside says it responded to 21 rapes and 176 domestic violence calls in 2009.
Officers also investigated 72 aggravated assaults, answered 25 attempted suicide calls and investigated one successful suicide.
The statistical snapshot of lawbreaking over a 12-month period included only one robbery and one homicide.
Eighteen of the potential suicide calls involved Marines and one member of the Navy. Seven involved juveniles living on the base, and alcohol or drugs figured in a majority of them, according to the report.
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Crime inside gates of Camp Pendleton
Sgt. Robert J. Barrett touched the lives of many
The casket containing the body of Sergeant Robert J. Barrett, who was killed in Afghanistan, was carried by an honor guard into the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in Fall River. (Photos By Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)
Guardsman touched the lives of many
Barrett is called devoted to his family, country
By Jeannie Nuss
Globe Correspondent / May 2, 2010
FALL RIVER — Sophia Barrett, yellow ribbon in her hair, black ribbon on her sweater, cried at her father’s funeral yesterday when a priest waved incense over the flag-draped coffin, when a uniformed officer wiped away tears, and when her great-uncle read aloud a letter her father wrote.
The 2-year-old cried until a comforting hand showed her a photo of her father, Sergeant Robert J. Barrett.
“My dad,’’ she whispered and pointed to the casket at the front of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River.
Barrett, a 20-year-old member of the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s 101st Field Artillery Regiment, was killed in a suicide bombing on April 19 in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was training new recruits for the Afghan National Army.
Sophia was her father’s pride and joy, said friends and fellow service members. Since Barrett deployed to Afghanistan in January, he calmed her restless nights on the phone and online.
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Guardsman touched the lives of many
Valley son, veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet
Valley son, veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Combat was a good career move for award-winning war poet Brian Turner, though it came at a price.
The San Joaquin Valley native and Fresno State graduate now has a deep, dark pool of memories to draw from. He dips down, if he dares, and there they are.
"I [have been] learning how to write about the ghosts that live among us, whether we recognize them or not," Turner said.
Now, the former Army sergeant is out with his second volume of poems influenced largely by his year in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The collection called "Phantom Noise" follows up on "Here, Bullet," which changed Turner's life irrevocably.
Called the first collection of poems by an Iraq War veteran, "Here, Bullet" helped Turner win the 2009-2010 Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Fellowship.
Read more: Valley son veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Combat was a good career move for award-winning war poet Brian Turner, though it came at a price.
The San Joaquin Valley native and Fresno State graduate now has a deep, dark pool of memories to draw from. He dips down, if he dares, and there they are.
"I [have been] learning how to write about the ghosts that live among us, whether we recognize them or not," Turner said.
Now, the former Army sergeant is out with his second volume of poems influenced largely by his year in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The collection called "Phantom Noise" follows up on "Here, Bullet," which changed Turner's life irrevocably.
Called the first collection of poems by an Iraq War veteran, "Here, Bullet" helped Turner win the 2009-2010 Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Fellowship.
Read more: Valley son veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet
Police Sergeant Joseph Bergeron killed in the line of duty
Police Officer Killed Was 26 Year Veteran
By KSFY Staff
A suburban Saint Paul police officer shot and killed Saturday morning was a 26-year veteran of the force.
Maplewood police say Sergeant Joseph Bergeron was responding to a carjacking when he was ambushed by two men while sitting in his patrol car at about 6:45 am.
go here for more
http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/92604224.html
By KSFY Staff
A suburban Saint Paul police officer shot and killed Saturday morning was a 26-year veteran of the force.
Maplewood police say Sergeant Joseph Bergeron was responding to a carjacking when he was ambushed by two men while sitting in his patrol car at about 6:45 am.
go here for more
http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/92604224.html
Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets
Depressed, Steve Bours lost interest in everything and turned to methamphetamine. (April 2, 2010)
Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets at home
A woman’s death in combat was a turning point. Depressed after returning home, he lost interest in everything, his marriage dissolved and he turned to drugs. And then things got worse.
By Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times
May 2, 2010
Gerry Chicorelli was driving north on Paramount Boulevard in Downey in late March when he spotted a man holding a hatchet and walking into southbound traffic.
The man had a glazed look. Drivers braked and yelled at him, peeling away as they spotted the raised hatchet in his hands.
Chicorelli realized he knew the man.
It was Steve Bours, a handsome kid who'd once worked for him in his roofing business.
Bours, 30, had joined the Army Reserve and was sent to Iraq in 2004 with a supply unit based near Fallouja, site of the war's most brutal battle.
Chicorelli was the third or fourth to call 911. As he slowed his car to a crawl, he watched Bours march, hatchet raised, into traffic for what would be the last hundred yards of his life.
The whole time, Chicorelli recalled, "he never said a word."
Athletic and muscular, he was quiet and sweet-natured — a "gentle giant," people called him.
In Iraq, he spoke little, listened a lot and was intensely loyal. "You always knew he had your back," said Jennifer Kramer, a friend from the 208th.
His fellow soldiers say Bours' manner helped them endure the war.
"You have the quiet people like Steve who didn't say much, but when it came time [for missions] they'd volunteer," Danny Rivas said.
Bours' room became the place to hang out.
"You could tell Steve anything," Rivas said, "but I think Steve felt like he was there to listen and he didn't have an outlet, people he could talk to about his problems."
........On Dec. 13, 2004, a unit sergeant, Tina Time, was killed when the supply truck she was driving collided with an oncoming U.S. military vehicle in a sandstorm.
Time, the first Samoan American woman killed in combat, was beloved in the 208th. Her death was "a turning point," Kramer said. "People just lost it. You'd see all these really tough guys breaking down all the time."
Bours told his family he had had to retrieve Time's severed torso when no one else wanted to. It was the one event from the war that he later spoke of, his family recalled.read more here
Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets
A home fit for a Marine
A home fit for a Marine
By Chris Cobb
The Herald-Zeitung
Published May 2, 2010
MARION — Jose Ivan Perez was trying not to get too emotional. He’s a strong man. After all, he’s a Marine.
But the 24-year-old wouldn’t be blamed for letting emotions get the best of him Friday, as dozens of volunteers were pounding nails and cutting lumber, working to build a new house for the wounded veteran.
“It’s hard to believe it’s actually happening,” he said. “I’m a very proud person. I’ve always done things for myself and kept my feelings in check, but this is just amazing.”
Marine Cpl. Perez, along with the Army Sgt. Nathan Hunt and Marine Cpl. Neil Frustaglio, will all have new homes built for them in a Marion subdivision this weekend by volunteers for Homes for Troops.
The nonprofit uses community donations to build houses for troops who have been severely wounded in the line of duty, many of them amputees. They provide special custom homes to tailor to their needs, and they do so at no cost to the veterans.
read more here
A home fit for a Marine
By Chris Cobb
The Herald-Zeitung
Published May 2, 2010
MARION — Jose Ivan Perez was trying not to get too emotional. He’s a strong man. After all, he’s a Marine.
But the 24-year-old wouldn’t be blamed for letting emotions get the best of him Friday, as dozens of volunteers were pounding nails and cutting lumber, working to build a new house for the wounded veteran.
“It’s hard to believe it’s actually happening,” he said. “I’m a very proud person. I’ve always done things for myself and kept my feelings in check, but this is just amazing.”
Marine Cpl. Perez, along with the Army Sgt. Nathan Hunt and Marine Cpl. Neil Frustaglio, will all have new homes built for them in a Marion subdivision this weekend by volunteers for Homes for Troops.
The nonprofit uses community donations to build houses for troops who have been severely wounded in the line of duty, many of them amputees. They provide special custom homes to tailor to their needs, and they do so at no cost to the veterans.
read more here
A home fit for a Marine
Marine sacrifice gets national level honor
Marine's sacrifice gets national level honor
Sunday, May 02, 2010
By FRED CONTRADA
fcontrada@repub.com
HOLYOKE - When Marine Lance Cpl. Clayton K. Hough Jr. came home from Vietnam without his legs, he could have spent his time feeling sorry for himself.
Instead, Hough put his considerable energy into working with teenagers who aspired to be Marines like him.
Hough, who died in 2004 at the age of 55, earned the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the National Defense Service Medal among other honors for his stint in Vietnam.
This month, the U.S. Department of Defense will bestow upon him one final honor by adding his name to the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The 35th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War was Friday.
Hough is among six veterans whose names are being added to the monument, which is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the Vietnam war. Six years after his passing, the government has concluded that Hough died of the wounds he suffered in Vietnam.
"Medical evidence submitted by the Department of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery indicates that Lance Cpl. Hough qualifies as having 'died as a result of wounds (combat or hostile related) sustained in the combat zone' due to the amputations that he received as a result of his wounds," reads the defense department's conclusion. His "date of casualty" is listed as Feb. 22, 1969.
read more here
Marine's sacrifice gets national level honor
Sunday, May 02, 2010
By FRED CONTRADA
fcontrada@repub.com
HOLYOKE - When Marine Lance Cpl. Clayton K. Hough Jr. came home from Vietnam without his legs, he could have spent his time feeling sorry for himself.
Instead, Hough put his considerable energy into working with teenagers who aspired to be Marines like him.
Hough, who died in 2004 at the age of 55, earned the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the National Defense Service Medal among other honors for his stint in Vietnam.
This month, the U.S. Department of Defense will bestow upon him one final honor by adding his name to the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The 35th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War was Friday.
Hough is among six veterans whose names are being added to the monument, which is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the Vietnam war. Six years after his passing, the government has concluded that Hough died of the wounds he suffered in Vietnam.
"Medical evidence submitted by the Department of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery indicates that Lance Cpl. Hough qualifies as having 'died as a result of wounds (combat or hostile related) sustained in the combat zone' due to the amputations that he received as a result of his wounds," reads the defense department's conclusion. His "date of casualty" is listed as Feb. 22, 1969.
read more here
Marine's sacrifice gets national level honor
UK:The true cost of the Afghan war in mental illness
The true cost of the Afghan war in mental illness for our soldiers revealed
May 2 2010
by David Williamson, Wales On Sunday
THE true cost of the war in Afghanistan to our troops can be revealed today.
Figures exclusive to Wales On Sunday show that hundreds of troops are suffering with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health issues that often leave them plagued by nightmares and turning to drink.
And it is claimed our soldiers do not receive the help they need as they fight to cope with what they have seen and experienced.
Figures show that since 2007, 260 British Army soldiers have been assessed as having PTSD.
Almost one in 10 of those were medically discharged from the British Army over a 30-month period.
A total of 5,000 other army personnel were given assessments for “other mental health” issues between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. The Army said that 170 were medically discharged – 90 of them because of “mental and behavioural disorders”.
But the total number of soldiers suffering from mental health issues as a result of the war in Afghanistan is far higher. The war started in 2001.
Plaid Cymru, which obtained the figures, is now calling for systematic stress counselling to help soldiers come to terms with the trauma of the war. It is concerned that a “macho culture” stops people seeking help.
read more here
The true cost of the Afghan war in mental illness
May 2 2010
by David Williamson, Wales On Sunday
THE true cost of the war in Afghanistan to our troops can be revealed today.
Figures exclusive to Wales On Sunday show that hundreds of troops are suffering with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health issues that often leave them plagued by nightmares and turning to drink.
And it is claimed our soldiers do not receive the help they need as they fight to cope with what they have seen and experienced.
Figures show that since 2007, 260 British Army soldiers have been assessed as having PTSD.
Almost one in 10 of those were medically discharged from the British Army over a 30-month period.
A total of 5,000 other army personnel were given assessments for “other mental health” issues between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. The Army said that 170 were medically discharged – 90 of them because of “mental and behavioural disorders”.
But the total number of soldiers suffering from mental health issues as a result of the war in Afghanistan is far higher. The war started in 2001.
Plaid Cymru, which obtained the figures, is now calling for systematic stress counselling to help soldiers come to terms with the trauma of the war. It is concerned that a “macho culture” stops people seeking help.
read more here
The true cost of the Afghan war in mental illness
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