Tyler Perry Treats Philly Pool Kids to Disney World
Posted by Carmen Dixon on Jul 21st 2009 2:00PM
Tyler Perry is treating the 65 day campers who were ejected from the Philadelphia-area Valley Swim Club to the vacation of a lifetime. Perry is stepping in to help heal the scars and hearts of the kids, who believe they were rejected because they were "too dark to swim." Here's what Perry had to say:
Since you all have put me in the position to be able to do something, I feel like by me doing this, we are all doing it together.
So what I did was on Aug 1st through the 3rd, I'm sending these kids to Disney World and then to a Disney water park. I want them to know that for every act of evil that a few people will throw at you, there are millions more who will do something kind for them. This is all about the kids. So, thank you for letting me do this. Thank you so much.
read more here
Tyler Perry Treats Philly Pool Kids to Disney World
Background on this story
Pool denies turning away minority kids
Philadelphia swim club says safety, not race, led to cancellation
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Hayward man killed in firefighter training
Hayward man killed in firefighter training
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
(07-22) 12:49 PDT WILLOW CREEK, HUMBOLDT COUNTY -- A Hayward man working as a U.S. Forest Service firefighter died after falling from a helicopter during a training exercise in Humboldt County, authorities said today.
Thomas Marovich, 20, died at about 10:10 a.m. Tuesday after falling 200 feet from a Bell 212 helicopter at the Backbone Helibase in Willow Creek, authorities said.
read more here
Hayward man killed in firefighter training
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
(07-22) 12:49 PDT WILLOW CREEK, HUMBOLDT COUNTY -- A Hayward man working as a U.S. Forest Service firefighter died after falling from a helicopter during a training exercise in Humboldt County, authorities said today.
Thomas Marovich, 20, died at about 10:10 a.m. Tuesday after falling 200 feet from a Bell 212 helicopter at the Backbone Helibase in Willow Creek, authorities said.
read more here
Hayward man killed in firefighter training
Retired Orange County Catholic priest arrested in alleged molestation
Retired Orange County Catholic priest arrested in alleged molestation
Denis Lyons is held on suspicion of molesting a boy in the 1990s while assigned to a Costa Mesa church.
By Paloma Esquivel
July 22, 2009
A retired Roman Catholic priest from Orange County who escaped prosecution six years ago for allegedly molesting a teenage boy has been arrested on suspicion of molesting another boy in the 1990s, authorities said Tuesday.
Denis Lyons, 75, of Seal Beach was arrested Monday afternoon while he was playing cards at a community center near his home in the Leisure World retirement community, prosecutors said.
Lyons faces four felony counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 and a sentencing enhancement for substantial sexual conduct with a child, which would make him subject to a mandatory prison sentence, according to prosecutors. The abuse occurred between 1992 and 1995 while Lyons was assigned to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa, prosecutors said.
Criminal charges in an earlier case against Lyons were dropped after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 invalidated as unconstitutional a California law that had extended the statute of limitations on child molestation to include decades-old cases.
read more here
Retired Orange County Catholic priest arrested in alleged molestation
Denis Lyons is held on suspicion of molesting a boy in the 1990s while assigned to a Costa Mesa church.
By Paloma Esquivel
July 22, 2009
A retired Roman Catholic priest from Orange County who escaped prosecution six years ago for allegedly molesting a teenage boy has been arrested on suspicion of molesting another boy in the 1990s, authorities said Tuesday.
Denis Lyons, 75, of Seal Beach was arrested Monday afternoon while he was playing cards at a community center near his home in the Leisure World retirement community, prosecutors said.
Lyons faces four felony counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 and a sentencing enhancement for substantial sexual conduct with a child, which would make him subject to a mandatory prison sentence, according to prosecutors. The abuse occurred between 1992 and 1995 while Lyons was assigned to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa, prosecutors said.
Criminal charges in an earlier case against Lyons were dropped after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 invalidated as unconstitutional a California law that had extended the statute of limitations on child molestation to include decades-old cases.
read more here
Retired Orange County Catholic priest arrested in alleged molestation
Man fatally shoots woman, then shoots himself at Fort Lewis
UPDATE
Woman fatally shot at Fort Lewis in attempted murder-suicide
A retired U.S. soldier opened fire on a female vendor during the packed lunch rush at Fort Lewis' Post Exchange, fatally wounding her before turning the gun on himself, Army officials said. The alleged shooter is in emergency surgery for a gun shot wound to the head and is listed in serious condition at Madigan Army Medical Center
Woman fatally shot at Fort Lewis in attempted murder-suicide
A retired U.S. soldier opened fire on a female vendor during the packed lunch rush at Fort Lewis' Post Exchange, fatally wounding her before turning the gun on himself, Army officials said. The alleged shooter is in emergency surgery for a gun shot wound to the head and is listed in serious condition at Madigan Army Medical Center
Man fatally shoots woman, then shoots himself at Fort Lewis
Military police are investigating a double-shooting today at the Fort Lewis after a man fatally shot a woman inside the base's main post exchange and then shot himself.
By Lewis Kamb and Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporters
Military police are investigating a double-shooting today at Fort Lewis after a man fatally shot a woman and then shot himself inside the base's main post exchange.
The woman was pronounced dead shortly after noon, officials said. The man is still being treated for a gunshot wound.
"Preliminary indications are there are two victims, one man and one woman," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Kubisteck. "Indications are that the man shot the woman and turned the gun on himself."
read more here
Man fatally shoots woman, then shoots himself at Fort Lewis
Homeless and jailed 124 times gets chance to turn life around
Rosevelt Richardson has a chance because the Orlando Sentinel did a story about him and a judge cared enough to help instead of just sending him back to jail. This is a great story about what people can do when they care enough to help.
Homeless and jailed 124 times, Rosevelt Richardson now has new lease on life
Bianca Prieto
Sentinel Staff Writer
6:54 PM EDT, July 21, 2009
Rosevelt Richardson is behind bars for the 124th time but it looks as though it could be his last.
His revolving-door relationship with the Orange County Jail may be about to stop spinning.
In May, a judge ordered him to a work-release program where he may be able to learn skills that will help him get off the streets and land a job.
"By taking a few extra minutes, I wanted to see if there might be a way to help him break the cycle," said Circuit Judge Heather Higbee, who saw Richardson in her courtroom three times in three weeks. "As a judge you try to impart sentences that are appropriate and also, if possible, to come up with consequences that can help everyone."
Richardson has been booked into the jail more times in the last decade than anyone else. He's been arrested mostly for misdemeanor crimes, such as panhandling, open-container violations or loitering.
In May, the Orlando Sentinel featured Richardson in a story about frequent residents at the jail. The 59-year-old homeless man said then that he felt lost and wanted someone to give him a chance to get out of the rut he was in.
read more here
Homeless and jailed 124 times, Rosevelt Richardson now has new lease on life
Bright House employees are on lookout for trouble in Central Florida
Bright House employees are on lookout for trouble in Central Florida
By Gary Taylor
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 22, 2009
Larry the Cable Guy won't be scouring your neighborhood for bad guys and suspicious incidents.
But starting Thursday, Larry the Bright House employee will, along with Bob, Sam, Jill, Mary and every other worker the company employs.
Deploying a program locally that has proved successful in other areas, including Tampa Bay, Bright House Networks is launching Operation Bright Eyes in the nine-county area it serves in Central Florida.
Bright House's more than 3,000 employees in Central Florida are being trained to help enforcement agencies in the areas where they work, spokesman Brian Craven said.
Technicians in the field will be the most visible, "but everyone will be familiar with the program," he said.
read more here
Bright House employees are on lookout for trouble
By Gary Taylor
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 22, 2009
Larry the Cable Guy won't be scouring your neighborhood for bad guys and suspicious incidents.
But starting Thursday, Larry the Bright House employee will, along with Bob, Sam, Jill, Mary and every other worker the company employs.
Deploying a program locally that has proved successful in other areas, including Tampa Bay, Bright House Networks is launching Operation Bright Eyes in the nine-county area it serves in Central Florida.
Bright House's more than 3,000 employees in Central Florida are being trained to help enforcement agencies in the areas where they work, spokesman Brian Craven said.
Technicians in the field will be the most visible, "but everyone will be familiar with the program," he said.
read more here
Bright House employees are on lookout for trouble
Ocoee Florida police say teens stabbed homeless man
Ocoee police say teens stabbed homeless man
Anika Myers Palm
Sentinel Staff Writer
12:10 PM EDT, July 22, 2009
Two teens allegedly stabbed a homeless man to death early Wednesday morning in Ocoee, sources said.
Police are questioning people this afternoon at the police station, according to the sources.
Ocoee Police have not provided any information.
Police have not released the names of the suspects or the victim.
Check back for updates
Anika Myers Palm
Sentinel Staff Writer
12:10 PM EDT, July 22, 2009
Two teens allegedly stabbed a homeless man to death early Wednesday morning in Ocoee, sources said.
Police are questioning people this afternoon at the police station, according to the sources.
Ocoee Police have not provided any information.
Police have not released the names of the suspects or the victim.
Check back for updates
Shaquille O'Neal's wife hurt in car crash
Shaq's wife in Orlando car crash
generateDate
Updated: 11:51 a.m.
The wife of former Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal was injured Tuesday when she was involved in a traffic accident in Orlando. Read more...
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Updated: 11:51 a.m.
The wife of former Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal was injured Tuesday when she was involved in a traffic accident in Orlando. Read more...
Suicidal woman, mother who called police die in shootout
Suicidal woman, mother who called police die in shootout
Story Highlights
Barbara Baker died at the scene; daughter, Penny Schwartz, 51, died at hospital
Baker had called police, said Schwartz was trying to shoot herself, police say
When officer arrived, Baker said Schwartz had said she wanted "police to shoot her"
Pair shot after Schwartz pointed gun at officer, police say
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A 75-year-old suburban Atlanta woman who called police for help died in a shootout between the policeman who responded and her suicidal daughter, police said Wednesday.
Barbara Baker of Duluth died at the scene Tuesday night, and her daughter, Penny Schwartz, 51, died overnight at a hospital, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department.
read more here
Suicidal woman, mother who called police die in shootout
Story Highlights
Barbara Baker died at the scene; daughter, Penny Schwartz, 51, died at hospital
Baker had called police, said Schwartz was trying to shoot herself, police say
When officer arrived, Baker said Schwartz had said she wanted "police to shoot her"
Pair shot after Schwartz pointed gun at officer, police say
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A 75-year-old suburban Atlanta woman who called police for help died in a shootout between the policeman who responded and her suicidal daughter, police said Wednesday.
Barbara Baker of Duluth died at the scene Tuesday night, and her daughter, Penny Schwartz, 51, died overnight at a hospital, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department.
read more here
Suicidal woman, mother who called police die in shootout
Soldier on leave for funeral dies
Soldier on leave for funeral dies
By Seth Robbins, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, July 22, 2009
BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Family and friends are mourning the loss of a 22-year-old soldier who died while on leave at his home in Litchfield, Maine.
Pvt. Lawrence "Larry" Gowell II died at home on Saturday from what his father suspects was a blood clot. Gowell had been at the warrior transition unit in Baumholder after being diagnosed last fall with post-traumatic stress disorder. He had just served his first tour in Iraq.
He had returned to Maine on July 15 to attend a relative’s funeral. His father, also named Larry, said Tuesday that an official cause of death has not been determined, but that he suspected it was a blood clot.
"He had a sore around his leg," the father said by phone from his home in Maine. "It was hurting him bad. I tried getting him to go to the hospital, but he didn’t want to because he had just gotten home."
Gowell leaves behind a wife, Crystal; a 2-year-old son and a 15-month-old daughter, as well as his parents, Larry and Lisa, both of Litchfield.
By Seth Robbins, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, July 22, 2009
BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Family and friends are mourning the loss of a 22-year-old soldier who died while on leave at his home in Litchfield, Maine.
Pvt. Lawrence "Larry" Gowell II died at home on Saturday from what his father suspects was a blood clot. Gowell had been at the warrior transition unit in Baumholder after being diagnosed last fall with post-traumatic stress disorder. He had just served his first tour in Iraq.
He had returned to Maine on July 15 to attend a relative’s funeral. His father, also named Larry, said Tuesday that an official cause of death has not been determined, but that he suspected it was a blood clot.
"He had a sore around his leg," the father said by phone from his home in Maine. "It was hurting him bad. I tried getting him to go to the hospital, but he didn’t want to because he had just gotten home."
Gowell leaves behind a wife, Crystal; a 2-year-old son and a 15-month-old daughter, as well as his parents, Larry and Lisa, both of Litchfield.
read more here
Not Enough Colleges link veterans with others
This is a very interesting article but I wanted to spotlight the part that only 32 percent have set up veterans groups so they can find each other. Considering they already feel out of place, more colleges need to focus on putting these veterans in touch with others. This way they can find the support they may not be able to find on their own.
Survey of Services for Veterans
July 22, 2009
Colleges are preparing for an influx of student veterans, but how prepared are they? A new report from a group of five higher education associations, "From Soldier to Student: Easing the Transition of Service Members on Campus," represents, the authors write, the first attempt to assess the current state of programs and services nationally.
A new, much-expanded Post-9/11 GI Bill goes into effect August 1 (less than two weeks from now). In anticipation, many colleges have been stepping up their outreach to and support for veterans -- creating veterans' offices, training faculty and staff on challenges unique to student veterans, creating specialized orientation programs, expanding counseling center capacity, and, perhaps most significantly, putting extra money into institutional aid for veterans by joining the Yellow Ribbon program. The new report attaches numbers to the anecdotes.
But colleges have much more work to do in the following areas, the report notes:
Assisting in the transition to college. Just 22 percent of colleges with services for veterans provide such assistance.
Offering professional development to faculty and staff, on transition issues and issues specific to students with brain injuries and other disabilities.
Easing the path to re-enrollment for service members once they return from deployments. Again, just 22 percent of colleges with services for veterans have an expedited re-enrollment process in place (16 percent even require veterans to reapply and be readmitted to re-enroll!).
Helping veterans connect with other veterans. Just 32 percent of colleges with services for veterans have a club (although that might be changing, given the rapid growth in Student Veterans of America chapters).
read more here
Survey of Services for Veterans
New PTSD Program Answers Need
New PTSD Program Answers Need
July 21, 2009
Army News Serviceby Capt. Bryan Lewis
LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Germany - Symptoms of combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder include continual nightmares, avoidance behaviors, denial, grief, anger and fear.
Some Soldiers, battling these and other symptoms, can be treated successfully as an outpatient while assuming their normal duties. For others, however, returning to work and becoming their old selves again were challenges recognized by several mental health professionals across the European theater.
"We were looking at how we can best meet the needs of our clientele, and we were identifying that a lot of the Soldiers needed more than once-a-week outpatient, individual therapy and probably needed more than once- or twice-a-week group therapy," said Joseph Pehm, chief of Medical Social Work at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
The solution came in the creation of an intensive eight-week therapeutic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Day Treatment Program called "evolution" that began in March 2009 at LRMC. During the eight-hour days, patients enrolled in the program participate in multiple disciplines and interests, including art therapy, yoga and meditation classes, substance abuse groups, anger and grief management, tobacco cessation, pain management and multiple PTSD evidence-based practice protocols.
read more here
New PTSD Program Answers Need
July 21, 2009
Army News Serviceby Capt. Bryan Lewis
LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Germany - Symptoms of combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder include continual nightmares, avoidance behaviors, denial, grief, anger and fear.
Some Soldiers, battling these and other symptoms, can be treated successfully as an outpatient while assuming their normal duties. For others, however, returning to work and becoming their old selves again were challenges recognized by several mental health professionals across the European theater.
"We were looking at how we can best meet the needs of our clientele, and we were identifying that a lot of the Soldiers needed more than once-a-week outpatient, individual therapy and probably needed more than once- or twice-a-week group therapy," said Joseph Pehm, chief of Medical Social Work at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
The solution came in the creation of an intensive eight-week therapeutic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Day Treatment Program called "evolution" that began in March 2009 at LRMC. During the eight-hour days, patients enrolled in the program participate in multiple disciplines and interests, including art therapy, yoga and meditation classes, substance abuse groups, anger and grief management, tobacco cessation, pain management and multiple PTSD evidence-based practice protocols.
read more here
New PTSD Program Answers Need
Nam Guardian Angel IFOC Charter
It is complicated figuring out how to tell people what I do but I think I managed to do it a bit better on this post on my website. If you're still confused, please go there and read it. It should help clear things up.
Nam Guardian Angel IFOC Charter
by Chaplain Kathie
Nam Guardian Angel is trilled to become a Charter of the International Fellowship of Chaplains.
My heart was tugged by veterans in 1982 when I met a Vietnam veteran I ended up marrying. I've been doing this every since. In 2004 my family moved from Massachusetts to Florida partly so that I could focus more on the needs of veterans. Before 2001, it was a matter of trying to reach the Vietnam veterans and their families so they understood what PTSD was. They lacked information they needed to begin to heal. After the attacks of 9-11, I knew that PTSD issues would only increase and no one seemed to be ready for any of it.
click link to read more
Nam Guardian Angel IFOC Charter
by Chaplain Kathie
Nam Guardian Angel is trilled to become a Charter of the International Fellowship of Chaplains.
The International Fellowship of Chaplains, Inc. (IFOC) is a non profit, providing training, recognition, certification and information in the varied areas of Chaplaincy. We also interface with the secular and ministry worlds for the purpose of promoting tolerance and understanding, as well as, provide professional, trained and dedicated Chaplains in the various fields of need.
The work of the Chaplain differs greatly from the work of the Pastorate. The Pastor cares for the Spiritual needs of the congregation; whereas, the Chaplain must care for the needs of the Secular World as well.
There are several fields of Chaplaincy, some of which are easily recognized. Others are not. The IFOC endorses all types of Chaplains and recognizes the need for Credentialed Coverage. Some Chaplaincy areas of note are, Police, Fire, Hospital, Jail, Industrial, Transportation, Search & Rescue, Sports, Collegiate, Hospice, Nursing Home, Motor Cycle, and the list goes on. All are valid in scope and design. All need Education, Credentials & Guidance to do the work their hearts desire. www.ifoc.org
My heart was tugged by veterans in 1982 when I met a Vietnam veteran I ended up marrying. I've been doing this every since. In 2004 my family moved from Massachusetts to Florida partly so that I could focus more on the needs of veterans. Before 2001, it was a matter of trying to reach the Vietnam veterans and their families so they understood what PTSD was. They lacked information they needed to begin to heal. After the attacks of 9-11, I knew that PTSD issues would only increase and no one seemed to be ready for any of it.
click link to read more
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Newborn baby abducted by family dog
Dog Drags Newborn From Family Home
By JEFFREY McMURRAY, AP
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21) - A father was frantically calling 911 to report his newborn missing when he spotted the baby, bleeding from the mouth and clutched in the mouth of a family dog who had carried him from his crib to the heavily wooded backyard.
Four-day-old Alexander James Smith was rushed to the emergency room at University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington, where he was listed in critical condition Tuesday with two collapsed lungs, a skull fracture, broken ribs and various cuts and bruises.
read more here
Dog Drags Newborn From Family Home
By JEFFREY McMURRAY, AP
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21) - A father was frantically calling 911 to report his newborn missing when he spotted the baby, bleeding from the mouth and clutched in the mouth of a family dog who had carried him from his crib to the heavily wooded backyard.
Four-day-old Alexander James Smith was rushed to the emergency room at University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington, where he was listed in critical condition Tuesday with two collapsed lungs, a skull fracture, broken ribs and various cuts and bruises.
read more here
Dog Drags Newborn From Family Home
Secondhand trauma: Workshop looks at effects of PTSD on loved ones
Secondhand trauma: Workshop looks at effects of PTSD on loved ones
By Cindy Sutter
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
When Beth Grant moved to Boulder a year ago to live with her boyfriend, Ryan Nieto, she began to see a side of him she had never seen before.
"I started to notice that something was affecting him, something was wrong," she says. "There were times where he was withdrawn, times where he kind of shut himself off and pulled back. (I'd think) 'he's mad at me. What did I do wrong?'"
Grant knew her boyfriend was a veteran of the Iraq war. A Marine, he went in with the first wave of troops in 2003 and served six months there. But Grant got to know him after his deployment as a fellow college student in Ventura, Calif. They both got interested in rock climbing, and as the relationship got more serious, decided to move to Boulder and live together. Last year, Nieto began to have trouble sleeping and realized he was depressed, He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Not surprisingly, Nieto's struggles in coming to terms with his war experience began to affect Grant. Many loved ones who are close to veterans have symptoms of what local psychotherapist Trish Dittrick calls Secondary PTSD. It's a phenomenon, sometimes termed empathy fatigue, that has been studied among medical and mental health professionals in the aftermath of traumatic events such as Sept. 11 or Hurricane Katrina. Dittrick will participate in a workshop July 29 on Secondary PTSD, sponsored by Veterans Helping Veterans Now, a local nonprofit in which veterans help other veterans find the services they need. The group also runs a support group for female family members, which gave rise to the workshop.
"There's such a need for families of veterans to get support," Dittrick says. "The talk is meant for veterans and their families."
read more here
Workshop looks at effects of PTSD on loved ones
By Cindy Sutter
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
When Beth Grant moved to Boulder a year ago to live with her boyfriend, Ryan Nieto, she began to see a side of him she had never seen before.
"I started to notice that something was affecting him, something was wrong," she says. "There were times where he was withdrawn, times where he kind of shut himself off and pulled back. (I'd think) 'he's mad at me. What did I do wrong?'"
Grant knew her boyfriend was a veteran of the Iraq war. A Marine, he went in with the first wave of troops in 2003 and served six months there. But Grant got to know him after his deployment as a fellow college student in Ventura, Calif. They both got interested in rock climbing, and as the relationship got more serious, decided to move to Boulder and live together. Last year, Nieto began to have trouble sleeping and realized he was depressed, He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Not surprisingly, Nieto's struggles in coming to terms with his war experience began to affect Grant. Many loved ones who are close to veterans have symptoms of what local psychotherapist Trish Dittrick calls Secondary PTSD. It's a phenomenon, sometimes termed empathy fatigue, that has been studied among medical and mental health professionals in the aftermath of traumatic events such as Sept. 11 or Hurricane Katrina. Dittrick will participate in a workshop July 29 on Secondary PTSD, sponsored by Veterans Helping Veterans Now, a local nonprofit in which veterans help other veterans find the services they need. The group also runs a support group for female family members, which gave rise to the workshop.
"There's such a need for families of veterans to get support," Dittrick says. "The talk is meant for veterans and their families."
read more here
Workshop looks at effects of PTSD on loved ones
Double tragedy for family after mom's suicide, daughter dies in car crash
Woman dies rushing to family emergency
SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The tragedy of a Concrete woman's suicide took another heartbreaking turn Monday when her 26-year-old daughter died in a head-on collision while rushing to her mother's side.
By Tahlia Ganser
Skagit Valley Herald
SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The tragedy of a Concrete woman's suicide took another heartbreaking turn Monday when her 26-year-old daughter died in a head-on collision while rushing to her mother's side.
Stefanie A. Heggie of Concrete died when she tried to pass a vehicle while driving east on Highway 20 about two miles east of Sedro-Woolley and struck two large trucks coming in the other direction. Neither truck driver was injured in the accident.
The accident left debris scattered across the highway, which was closed for more than five hours as State Patrol detectives investigated the scene.
Part of Heggie's orange 2008 Kia Spectra looked like what a state trooper at the scene called "a crinkled piece of aluminum foil" on the road. Chunks of glass and plastic were strewn on the highway, along with tires ripped from vehicles in the collision.
SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The tragedy of a Concrete woman's suicide took another heartbreaking turn Monday when her 26-year-old daughter died in a head-on collision while rushing to her mother's side.
By Tahlia Ganser
Skagit Valley Herald
SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The tragedy of a Concrete woman's suicide took another heartbreaking turn Monday when her 26-year-old daughter died in a head-on collision while rushing to her mother's side.
Stefanie A. Heggie of Concrete died when she tried to pass a vehicle while driving east on Highway 20 about two miles east of Sedro-Woolley and struck two large trucks coming in the other direction. Neither truck driver was injured in the accident.
The accident left debris scattered across the highway, which was closed for more than five hours as State Patrol detectives investigated the scene.
Part of Heggie's orange 2008 Kia Spectra looked like what a state trooper at the scene called "a crinkled piece of aluminum foil" on the road. Chunks of glass and plastic were strewn on the highway, along with tires ripped from vehicles in the collision.
At about 10 a.m. Heggie's 44-year-old mother, of Concrete, was apparently in the Rockport area and sent a text message to a Skagit County sheriff's deputy and acquaintance about her suicidal thoughts, said Chief Criminal Deputy Will Reichardt. The deputy started driving to see her right away, but found her dead when he arrived, Reichardt said.
read more here
St. Petersburg offering nonprofits $338,000 in grants to help homeless
St. Petersburg offering nonprofits $338,000 in grants to help homeless
By Jackie Alexander, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, July 22, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG — With the help of city grants, groups like Boley Centers can help homeless people get off the street.
St. Petersburg is offering $338,000 in grants the next budget year for local nonprofits to help the homeless.
Miriam Williams, the chief executive officer at Boley Centers, said it was able to hire a case manager with a $25,000 grant this year. As a result, about 35 people have received help getting benefits and finding places to live.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article1020399.ece
By Jackie Alexander, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, July 22, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG — With the help of city grants, groups like Boley Centers can help homeless people get off the street.
St. Petersburg is offering $338,000 in grants the next budget year for local nonprofits to help the homeless.
Miriam Williams, the chief executive officer at Boley Centers, said it was able to hire a case manager with a $25,000 grant this year. As a result, about 35 people have received help getting benefits and finding places to live.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article1020399.ece
Apopka police commander faces battery charge
17 years on the job with nothing like this happening before? What made him snap?
Apopka police commander faces battery charge
By Stephen Hudak
Sentinel Staff Writer
11:28 AM EDT, July 21, 2009
TAVARES - An Apopka police commander, accused of punching a woman and her restrained brother outside a restaurant/bar in Mount Dora, has turned himself in to face charges stemming from the February scrum, authorities said today.
David Call, 41, a 17-year police veteran, was suspended with pay, said Officer Steven Popp, Apopka police spokesman.
Call faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of aggravated battery, a third-degree felony that accuses him of breaking the ribs of Robert Henns of Eustis. Read more...
N.J. cop injured in shootout dies day before 38th birthday
N.J. cop injured in shootout dies day before 38th birthday
Story Highlights
Marc DiNardo was one of five officers injured in New Jersey shootout last week
Two suspects were killed in shootout; DiNardo was shot twice in face
DiNardo's family plans to donate his organs, medical center's president says
By Stephanie Gallman
CNN
(CNN) -- A Jersey City, New Jersey, police officer shot in the line of duty last week died of his injuries Tuesday, a day before his 38th birthday, a spokeswoman for the city's mayor announced.
Jennifer Morrill said Officer Marc DiNardo, who was wounded last Thursday in a shootout, passed away Tuesday morning.
Jersey City Police Chief Thomas Comey told reporters Monday night that DiNardo was not expected to live.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/21/new.jersey.cops.shot/index.html
Story Highlights
Marc DiNardo was one of five officers injured in New Jersey shootout last week
Two suspects were killed in shootout; DiNardo was shot twice in face
DiNardo's family plans to donate his organs, medical center's president says
By Stephanie Gallman
CNN
(CNN) -- A Jersey City, New Jersey, police officer shot in the line of duty last week died of his injuries Tuesday, a day before his 38th birthday, a spokeswoman for the city's mayor announced.
Jennifer Morrill said Officer Marc DiNardo, who was wounded last Thursday in a shootout, passed away Tuesday morning.
Jersey City Police Chief Thomas Comey told reporters Monday night that DiNardo was not expected to live.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/21/new.jersey.cops.shot/index.html
Pfc. James Gonzalez, missing Fort Hood soldier kidnapped
UPDATE July 23, 2009
Missing Hood soldier located in Laredo
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 23, 2009 8:59:38 EDT
LAREDO, Texas — A Fort Hood soldier from Robstown who was reported as a possible kidnap victim was located unharmed in Laredo.
Spokesman Christopher Grey with the Army Criminal Investigations Command told the Associated Press early Thursday there are no indications that Pfc. James Gonzalez was abducted.
read more here
Missing Hood soldier located in Laredo
Missing Hood soldier located in Laredo
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 23, 2009 8:59:38 EDT
LAREDO, Texas — A Fort Hood soldier from Robstown who was reported as a possible kidnap victim was located unharmed in Laredo.
Spokesman Christopher Grey with the Army Criminal Investigations Command told the Associated Press early Thursday there are no indications that Pfc. James Gonzalez was abducted.
read more here
Missing Hood soldier located in Laredo
Missing Ft. Hood soldier reportedly kidnapped
Posted : Tuesday Jul 21, 2009 14:29:39 EDT
McALLEN, Texas — A Fort Hood-based soldier has been missing for about a week since telling family members he was heading to a Texas border town, and the FBI says the Army was told the missing private had been kidnapped, the soldier’s brother said Tuesday.
The family of Pfc. James Gonzalez, 24, last saw him July 11 at his mother’s house in Robstown, near Corpus Christi, said his older brother, J.C. Gonzalez. James Gonzalez said he was headed to Laredo that afternoon to hang out with friends before returning to base July 13, his brother said.
But on July 13, Gonzalez’s commander called looking for the private. Later that day, the FBI called the family to say that the Army had received a call saying that Gonzalez had been kidnapped. The caller demanded $100,000 and the withdrawal of all troops from the border.
About 575 National Guard troops remain on the border, but the thousands that had been patrolling the area withdrew last year.
read more here
Missing Ft. Hood soldier reportedly kidnapped
Can You Be Scared to Death?
Can You Be Scared to Death?
Adapted excerpt from "The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities: An Unconventional Compendium of Health Facts and Oddities, From Asthmatic Mice to Plants That Can Kill" by Nicholas Bakalar. Copyright © 2009 by Nicholas Bakalar. Reprinted by arrangement with Times Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company LLC.
We say we're "scared to death" or "scared stiff" -- but can that actually happen? An article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine describes various stories, some of dubious historicity, of people who dropped dead from strong emotions. The Roman emperor Nerva (A.D. 30-98) died in a fit of anger at a senator who had offended him. A 13th century pope, Innocent IV, is said to have died of grief after the overthrow of his army. Some American patriots reportedly died of happiness after learning that General Cornwallis's army had been defeated at Yorktown.
read more here
Can You Be Scared to Death
Adapted excerpt from "The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities: An Unconventional Compendium of Health Facts and Oddities, From Asthmatic Mice to Plants That Can Kill" by Nicholas Bakalar. Copyright © 2009 by Nicholas Bakalar. Reprinted by arrangement with Times Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company LLC.
We say we're "scared to death" or "scared stiff" -- but can that actually happen? An article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine describes various stories, some of dubious historicity, of people who dropped dead from strong emotions. The Roman emperor Nerva (A.D. 30-98) died in a fit of anger at a senator who had offended him. A 13th century pope, Innocent IV, is said to have died of grief after the overthrow of his army. Some American patriots reportedly died of happiness after learning that General Cornwallis's army had been defeated at Yorktown.
read more here
Can You Be Scared to Death
Iraq vets' caregivers seek training, compensation
While I cannot share emails I've received because of confidentiality, this is a really big issue. I can help them with emotional support but I cannot help them with what they need the most and that's financial support. There are arriving in this situation from all walks of life and all professional backgrounds. They give up jobs but what they try like hell to not give up on is the person they love just because they need help. As this report points out, many family members just get to a point where they cannot do it anymore. It's not just a matter of the stress of taking care of someone, but compounded with the loss of income plus the psychological cost of losing one's place in the world. When you have jobs outside of the home, you usually have that job as part of your identity. "What do you do for a living" is the question most of us get when we meet someone. Being a volunteer or a caregiver to a family member, that identity is often responded to with a lowering of the listeners perception of you. It happens all the time.
There is nothing to be ashamed of when you can put everything else aside for someone you love. It should be valued and honored. Too often it's ignored. It's also a sacrifice that saves the government money in the long run, but above that, the care given by loving hands aids in the quality of life of the veteran.
There is nothing to be ashamed of when you can put everything else aside for someone you love. It should be valued and honored. Too often it's ignored. It's also a sacrifice that saves the government money in the long run, but above that, the care given by loving hands aids in the quality of life of the veteran.
Iraq vets' caregivers seek training, compensation
By KIMBERLY HEFLING (AP) – 9 hours ago
WASHINGTON — On good days, Michelle Briggs has to remind her 40-year-old husband to shower and eat. On bad days, she lifts him out of bed and picks him up when he falls.
Robert W. Briggs, a former Army sergeant, was severely injured in Iraq and needs constant monitoring because of traumatic brain injury, blindness in one eye and paralysis on one side. He walks with the help of a service dog. Briggs gave up her job as a veterinarian technician to care for him and their two kids.
With tissue in hand, Michelle Briggs huddled Monday in a hotel conference room with 15 other caregivers who shared hugs and exchanged stories. They will go to Capitol Hill this week with a message to Congress: We need help.
"Mentally, it takes a very big toll on you," said Briggs, 34, of Hillsboro, Iowa, whose husband was injured in a rocket grenade attack in 2005 while serving with the Iowa National Guard. "You have to be a very strong person to get through a lot of it. It's a choice whether you stay or not. It's very much a choice."
Briggs said she's met other spouses of injured veterans who sought a divorce.
"It doesn't make them a bad person at all, but they just couldn't handle the situation because it's very, very stressful and you have to fight for the things that you're entitled to," Briggs said.
The caregivers say parents, spouses and siblings of the disabled have given up jobs, health insurance and college to care for a loved one. Yet they get no compensation to ease the burden.
read more here
Iraq vets caregivers seek training, compensation
Man bursts into flames after Taser shock
Man bursts into flames after Taser shock
Story Highlights
Man holding a lighter, douses himself with petrol, charges police officer
Officer fires Taser stun gun when he ignores command to stop, man catches alight
Police had received a report that the man and some others were sniffing glue
Man airlifted to hospital to undergo treatment for severe burns in Perth, W. Australia
By Saeed Ahmed
CNN
(CNN) -- A man, who doused himself with gasoline and charged at an officer, burst into flames when he was hit with a Taser, police in Australia said Tuesday.
"He was carrying a lighter and pouring himself with petrol," said Inspector Bill Munnee with the West Australian Police. "We don't know if the lighter set it off or something from the Taser."
Authorities have launched an inquiry into what happened Monday when an officer arrived at the 36-year-old man's house in the remote desert community of Warburton.
Police had received a report that the man and some others were sniffing glue, Munnee said.
At the sight of the arriving officers, the man ran out of the house with a container of gasoline and a cigarette lighter, police said.
When he ignored the officer's command to stop, the officer fired his Taser stun gun -- and the man "caught alight," Munnee said.
When used, some stun guns emit an electric spark as they deliver an electric current. The jolt of electricity inhibits voluntary control of muscles, temporarily incapacitating the person.
While the officer tried to put out the fire, a woman from inside the house threw rocks at him, Munnee said. The officer suffered both burns from the fire and cuts from the rocks.
Man bursts into flames after Taser shock
Story Highlights
Man holding a lighter, douses himself with petrol, charges police officer
Officer fires Taser stun gun when he ignores command to stop, man catches alight
Police had received a report that the man and some others were sniffing glue
Man airlifted to hospital to undergo treatment for severe burns in Perth, W. Australia
By Saeed Ahmed
CNN
(CNN) -- A man, who doused himself with gasoline and charged at an officer, burst into flames when he was hit with a Taser, police in Australia said Tuesday.
"He was carrying a lighter and pouring himself with petrol," said Inspector Bill Munnee with the West Australian Police. "We don't know if the lighter set it off or something from the Taser."
Authorities have launched an inquiry into what happened Monday when an officer arrived at the 36-year-old man's house in the remote desert community of Warburton.
Police had received a report that the man and some others were sniffing glue, Munnee said.
At the sight of the arriving officers, the man ran out of the house with a container of gasoline and a cigarette lighter, police said.
When he ignored the officer's command to stop, the officer fired his Taser stun gun -- and the man "caught alight," Munnee said.
When used, some stun guns emit an electric spark as they deliver an electric current. The jolt of electricity inhibits voluntary control of muscles, temporarily incapacitating the person.
While the officer tried to put out the fire, a woman from inside the house threw rocks at him, Munnee said. The officer suffered both burns from the fire and cuts from the rocks.
Man bursts into flames after Taser shock
Sgt. Danny Facto wanted to help others with PTSD
The Patriot Guard Riders are heroes to many military and veterans families across the country. The family of Sgt. Danny Facto sent a letter about the man they would be escorting to his final rest. It just broke my heart. Sgt. Facto had PTSD. While he was in his words "eating him alive" he wanted to do whatever he could to help others. (These men and women are simply amazing that while carrying such a heavy burden they want to help others.) Please read the letter from his family and know that they all have their own stories and most of them should be told.
Veterans and Families Foundation
Let's Get Homecoming Right This Time!
The Veterans and Families Foundation is a 501(c) (3) non-profit community service and support organization, founded and directed by Veterans, parents, grandparents, family members, employers, mental health professionals, academics, philanthropists and community leaders.
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive how the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their Nation"
...George Washington November 10, 1781
http://www.veteransandfamilies.org/home.html
PGR Members,
We have been requested to attend Services for Danny Facto who lost his life on July 15th 2009 in a motorcycle accident. Danny was a 29 year old decorated Army Veteran (Sgt) with two tours in Afghanistan. He left behind a Wife (Kristen), two young children (6 and 8 years old) plus both parents. I had asked a family member for a brief bio on Danny and I will include it in this post, please take a minute to read this.
Letter from Family member
Hi Patrick,
First and foremost, I would like to thank you for being so kind and accommodating to myself and the family during this difficult time. You have been amazing, thank you.
I want to start off and tell you a little about Danny. He was originally from Arizona and joined the army the day he graduated from high school. When stationed later in Fort Drum, NY, he met his wife now, Kristen George, now Kristen Facto. During his two tours in Afghanistan and back, Kristen and Danny had their two beautiful kids. Tia, who will be eight next week and Sidney, who turned 6 in March. During his stay in Afghanistan. he sustained a head injury and an elbow injury. Because of his immense courage and the injuries he sustained, he was awarded a purple heart.
After he came back from his second tour due to family problems, he started figuring out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. While suffering major PTSD, he realized this could be his calling. He once said to me, this PTSD, eats you up alive, it destroys you even though you're home and safe. He attended Onondaga Community College in 2007 and received an Associates Degree. Wanting to continue his education and become a social worker, he started at Syracuse University. Within studying at OCC he was still trying to get the cause out for PTSD. He turned to Channel 9 news in 2006 to get the word out and ask the community for support while soldiers come back from the war.
read more here
Danny Facto, 29, OEF Veteran, Bridgeport NY, 23 JUL 09
Veterans and Families Foundation
Let's Get Homecoming Right This Time!
The Veterans and Families Foundation is a 501(c) (3) non-profit community service and support organization, founded and directed by Veterans, parents, grandparents, family members, employers, mental health professionals, academics, philanthropists and community leaders.
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive how the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their Nation"
...George Washington November 10, 1781
http://www.veteransandfamilies.org/home.html
Still no reason found why Spc. Adam Kuligowski died
Do you ever wonder what kind of investigations the military runs? This must be hard on the families and the unit soldiers served with. You'd think that since there is such a small group of people that finding someone in a murder investigation would be easier or a reason for a death from suicide or other causes but these investigations often take too long. How many are going on right now? Does the media ever ask? There are so many non-combat deaths that it's hard to even guess anymore but each one comes with families waiting for answers and units wondering if their lives even matter enough anymore to find out what happened.
Investigation of soldier's death continues
DERRY, N.H. — The military is still investigating the cause of Army Spc. Adam Kuligowski's death and has not determined if a crime was involved, according to a U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman.
Yesterday, Christopher Grey, the command's chief of public affairs, said a report in this week's Sunday Eagle-Tribune miscast the current status of the investigation by reporting the April 6 death was being probed as a crime.
read more here
Investigation of soldier death continues
Soldiers Question the Defense Secretary About Long Deployments
Soldiers Question the Defense Secretary About Long Deployments
Washington Post
By Walter Pincus
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Outside the military, not much attention is paid to the personal problems of families caught up in the endless rotational deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan that mark serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
Last Friday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates dealt with a handful of those problems in a town hall meeting at Fort Drum, N.Y., in front of Army units that either were coming from Southwest Asia or preparing to go there.
Many of the questions focused on disparities among units when it comes to "dwell time" -- time spent at home between deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan. With 130,000 troops remaining in Iraq through the end of the year and 68,000 more scheduled to be in Afghanistan during the same period, pressures on military family life have grown.
An Army sergeant opened by pointing out that one brigade has alternated between one year at home and one year deployed over the past five years, whereas another brigade in the same division has been spending two-year stretches at home. He asked whether anything could be done to even out the dwell time.
read more here
Soldiers Question the Defense Secretary About Long Deployments
Washington Post
By Walter Pincus
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Outside the military, not much attention is paid to the personal problems of families caught up in the endless rotational deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan that mark serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
Last Friday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates dealt with a handful of those problems in a town hall meeting at Fort Drum, N.Y., in front of Army units that either were coming from Southwest Asia or preparing to go there.
Many of the questions focused on disparities among units when it comes to "dwell time" -- time spent at home between deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan. With 130,000 troops remaining in Iraq through the end of the year and 68,000 more scheduled to be in Afghanistan during the same period, pressures on military family life have grown.
An Army sergeant opened by pointing out that one brigade has alternated between one year at home and one year deployed over the past five years, whereas another brigade in the same division has been spending two-year stretches at home. He asked whether anything could be done to even out the dwell time.
read more here
Soldiers Question the Defense Secretary About Long Deployments
Man Shoots Ex-Girlfriend, Self at Texas Hospital
Man Shoots Ex-Girlfriend, Self at Texas Hospital
Monday, July 20, 2009
TYLER, Texas — Police say a man killed himself Monday after shooting his ex-girlfriend as she arrived for work at a Tyler hospital.
The woman was shot three times near East Texas Medical Center, but she managed to run to the emergency room, where she is an admissions clerk.
read more here
Man Shoots Ex-Girlfriend, Self at Texas Hospital
Monday, July 20, 2009
TYLER, Texas — Police say a man killed himself Monday after shooting his ex-girlfriend as she arrived for work at a Tyler hospital.
The woman was shot three times near East Texas Medical Center, but she managed to run to the emergency room, where she is an admissions clerk.
read more here
Man Shoots Ex-Girlfriend, Self at Texas Hospital
BBC reports:Veteran mental care 'inadequate'
Veteran mental care 'inadequate'
Care offered by the NHS to military veterans with post traumatic stress disorder is "a spit in the ocean", the head of the charity Combat Stress says.
Outgoing chief executive Commodore Toby Elliott says his charity has 9,000 registered patients but the government provides for less than half of them.
He says six community NHS mental health pilot schemes are inadequate and may end up providing patchy service.
The Department of Health says it is working hard to provide adequate care.
Currently, 300 former service personnel who served in Iraq or Afghanistan are being treated by the charity, which looks after veterans with psychological injuries.
In January this year, Britain's highest-decorated serving soldier criticised the government for failing to help ex-servicemen and women suffering mental health problems.
Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the Victoria Cross, said it was "disgraceful" some veterans struggled to get treatment.
read more here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8160294.stm
Care offered by the NHS to military veterans with post traumatic stress disorder is "a spit in the ocean", the head of the charity Combat Stress says.
Outgoing chief executive Commodore Toby Elliott says his charity has 9,000 registered patients but the government provides for less than half of them.
He says six community NHS mental health pilot schemes are inadequate and may end up providing patchy service.
The Department of Health says it is working hard to provide adequate care.
Currently, 300 former service personnel who served in Iraq or Afghanistan are being treated by the charity, which looks after veterans with psychological injuries.
In January this year, Britain's highest-decorated serving soldier criticised the government for failing to help ex-servicemen and women suffering mental health problems.
Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the Victoria Cross, said it was "disgraceful" some veterans struggled to get treatment.
read more here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8160294.stm
Bliss Soldier Pleads Guilty On Intoxicated Manslaughter Charge
Bliss Soldier Pleads Guilty On Intoxicated Manslaughter Charge
KFOXtv.com
Monica Balderrama-KFOX News Reporter
Posted: 2:03 pm MDT July 20, 2009
Updated: 3:04 pm MDT July 20, 2009
EL PASO, Texas -- The Fort Bliss soldier accused of killing a 19-year-old Burgess graduate while drinking and driving pleaded guilty on Monday during his intoxicated manslaughter trial. The trial moved forward to the punishment phase where the jury will decide the soldier's fate.
Staff Sgt. Edison Bayas, 37, waived his right to a jury trial when he pleaded guilty Monday morning. But the jury still has to decide his punishment, which could range from two to 20 years in prison.
As KFOX reported in December 2007, 19-year-old Valerie Talamantes was stopped at a red light on Montana and Hawkins and Bayas allegedly came barreling through and crashed into the back of Talamantes' car.
click link for the rest
Was he self-medicating? Does he have PTSD? Your guess is as good as mine. The outcome is a soldier is facing jail and a young woman is now dead. A family is grieving while another family must be trying to come to terms with what happened. Could it have been avoided?
Fort Hood Soldier killed at party
Fort Hood soldier shot, killed at party on post
© 2009 The Associated Press
July 20, 2009, 5:38PM
FORT HOOD, Texas — Fort Hood officials have a soldier behind bars after another soldier was shot and killed at a party on the Central Texas Army post.
They say 30-year-old Spc. Ryan Richard Schlack of Oshkosh, Wis., died Saturday. The Killeen Daily Herald reports he was hit by a bullet another soldier fired into a crowd on the lawn.
read more here
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6538516.html
© 2009 The Associated Press
July 20, 2009, 5:38PM
FORT HOOD, Texas — Fort Hood officials have a soldier behind bars after another soldier was shot and killed at a party on the Central Texas Army post.
They say 30-year-old Spc. Ryan Richard Schlack of Oshkosh, Wis., died Saturday. The Killeen Daily Herald reports he was hit by a bullet another soldier fired into a crowd on the lawn.
read more here
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6538516.html
Veterans Collaboration Group training teams to help veterans
My friend Lily Casura over at Healing Combat Trauma sent me this link. I'm thrilled she did. Lily is one of the best friends veterans could ask for. (And one that I depend on)
This is one of the best things that could happen right now. It's what I've been trying to do for years but I'm just like everyone else. I have very little power and I'm not rich, so people with the power to do things that need to be done never listen to me.
With all the training I've done over the years I've often wondered why crisis intervention programs didn't include veterans already here in crisis. I supposed that it was simply a matter of numbers instead of need. Considering responders are trained to rush in after a localized crisis, like hurricanes, it only makes sense that they do the same for the over 1.7 million veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Even thinking about those numbers it is vital to also include veterans we already have trying to heal from trauma along with the families involved. Each program I've taken has touched on PTSD but since these programs are designed to address the traumatic event head on, the result of long term conditions like PTSD were considered pretty much avoided. After all that's the intent of these programs.
Washington State apparently has decided that it's time for the mobilization of teams to respond to veterans in crisis with their unique traumatic events. It is widely known that the sooner help begins the less of a mental health toll these veterans will pay. This is a good thing!
This is one of the best things that could happen right now. It's what I've been trying to do for years but I'm just like everyone else. I have very little power and I'm not rich, so people with the power to do things that need to be done never listen to me.
With all the training I've done over the years I've often wondered why crisis intervention programs didn't include veterans already here in crisis. I supposed that it was simply a matter of numbers instead of need. Considering responders are trained to rush in after a localized crisis, like hurricanes, it only makes sense that they do the same for the over 1.7 million veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Even thinking about those numbers it is vital to also include veterans we already have trying to heal from trauma along with the families involved. Each program I've taken has touched on PTSD but since these programs are designed to address the traumatic event head on, the result of long term conditions like PTSD were considered pretty much avoided. After all that's the intent of these programs.
Washington State apparently has decided that it's time for the mobilization of teams to respond to veterans in crisis with their unique traumatic events. It is widely known that the sooner help begins the less of a mental health toll these veterans will pay. This is a good thing!
Contact: David Weston, 360-902-0782, westodb@dshs.wa.gov
Contact: David L. Reed, HRSA, DSHS, 360-902-0793, reeddl@dshs.wa.gov
Contact: Tom Schumacher, 360-725-2226, tom@dva.wa.gov
July 07, 2009
DSHS, WDVA schedule training workshops to help first responders deal with troubled veterans
TACOMA -- Two state departments are working together to train mental health workers, police, drug treatment counselors, tribal representatives and other community service personnel in how they can better serve troubled veterans returning to the United States after traumatic service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mental health and crisis experts with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Social and Health Services are partnering with community organizations to sponsor a series of trainings this summer.
"The Veterans Collaboration Group," as they have dubbed themselves, will hold trainings on July 9 in Tacoma and July 30 in Yakima. An earlier session was held in Bellingham in June.
Partner agencies include WDVA, the DSHS divisions that coordinate substance abuse treatment and mental health services, Washington Association of Designated Mental Health Professionals and the federal Veterans Administration as well as local groups.
Additional information about the remaining two sessions is available by contacting David L. Reed, a mental health worker in the Health and Recovery Services Administration of DSHS, or Tom Schumacher, PTSD Program Director with WDVA.
As communities welcome veterans' home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is important that providers and first responders are prepared to serve their special needs, particularly if the veteran is struggling with readjustment issues related to war trauma or deployment.
"We are interested in helping crisis workers and police know how to identify a veteran with war exposure and symptoms, and to help these professionals respond effectively," said Schumacher. "Many crises can be quickly resolved when local professionals can help define what is needed and offer services locally. These regional workshops are all about education, creating empathy for the experiences of warriors, understanding their significant homecoming challenges, and establishing networks that work for the benefit of the veteran, their family, and the community."
Reed said the workshops were developed in response to the serious challenges that face local communities as soldiers still dealing with war trauma return from the battlefield after prolonged and repeated deployments.
The workshops focus on the basics – what works and what doesn't – and instructors encourage participants to look ahead at the kind of crisis situations in which they may face a returning soldier losing control or posing a threat.
"The workshops provide information about the soldiers' needs," Reed said, "and they are upfront about the challenges these veterans may be dealing with at that point. We teach specific skills that you need to de-escalate this kind of crisis."
Other topics in the curriculum include veteran and military cultures, war trauma, traumatic brain injury, war-related post traumatic stress disorder and combat-related mental illness and stigma.
Collaboration Group training
July 9, Tacoma
July 30, Yakima
For additional details, e-mail David Reed at reeddl@dshs.wa.gov
FOR ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND, INFORMATION:
Heidi Audette, Communications Director, Department of Veterans Affairs, 360-725-2154.
Jim Stevenson, Communications Director, HRSA, 360-725-1915 (Pager: 360-971-4067).
http://www.dshs.wa.gov/mediareleases/2009/pr09109.shtml
Monday, July 20, 2009
Message to Congress, please stop letting my friends die
by
Chaplain Kathie
Two years ago a friend of mine named Jen of Stuart FL was not feeling well. She went to the emergency room and called me from home. It was a shock to hear the doctors told her they suspected cancer but even more shocking she walked out of the hospital planning on not going back. She didn't have health insurance. Her husband was a contractor and they didn't have much money. They were just working class people trying to do the best they could. She was afraid to die but more afraid of what the financial cost would do to her husband.
Jen, ended up getting the care she needed and ended up dying in a hospice. She left her husband with the heartache of losing her and the mountain of bills to pay for. See, Jen and her husband were separated for a while. They got back together a few months before she found out about having cancer. They thought they just had a miracle happen when her husband was right by her side every step of the way. The problem was, when it came to healthcare, they were left standing alone.
Then we have another friend of mine, Capt. Agnes "Irish" Bresnahan. She fought a long battle with the VA because she had Agent Orange illnesses and PTSD. In March she had a hearing in Washington on her claim. She died there because the VA changed one of her medications to a generic and she ended up with internal bleeding. They gave her a transfusion but her heart just couldn't take it. See, Irish, well she was a tiny dynamo. She just didn't take care of her own claim with her own fight, but fought for all veterans to make sure they were getting the care they needed. Throughout most of it, she had to pay for a lot of things the VA would have if her claim had been approved to the level it should have been. Maybe she would have still been here if she could have had the treatment she needed instead of suffering with Agent Orange killing her and PTSD crushing her.
I have this blog and another one. Between the two of them there are over 17,000 posts. Not bad considering these blogs have only been up since 2005. Most of the posts are about our veterans needing help but not getting it. There are posts on homeless veterans too. Among them are stories about how people end up suffering, end up homeless, end up with a pile of bills because they didn't have health insurance that worked.
Now, I see the commercials about how terrible healthcare is in Canada, but I had a friend up there too and she had cancer. She received all the test and all the treatment she needed and couldn't understand why it was that in this country, not only did veterans have to fight to be taken care of, so did everyone else. Up there, things are not perfect and they have veterans needing more help than they are getting but at least they can get care.
So how is it that things in this country are not working right for people trying to make ends meet? How is it that there are now more billionaires but people like me can't get buy? I have health insurance but basically it's making us suffer to pay for it. My husband gets great care from the VA and I come under CHAMPA but most doctors will end up billing me the difference so we carry a private insurance as well. How is this far? I've heard some of you act as if healthcare is a luxury instead of a necessity for years. It's time to get it right and take care of us because when we lose our jobs, we lose healthcare. We're not looking for free ride but it would be nice to finally be able to arrive at a point where we don't have to be afraid to stay alive because it will cost too much money.
I've listened to all the debates and frankly I think some of you should be ashamed of yourselves. The ones complaining the most seen to find no problem allocating all the money they want when they can get something in return from rich people. The people needing help with healthcare are not rich so I guess we don't matter very much to you but we do matter to the people who care if we live of die young.
Is it really too much to ask that you stop letting people die because you don't want to find the money to keep them alive? You seemed to manage so well when Iraq and Afghanistan were being pumped with hundreds of billions of dollars never being added into the budget. Yes, those speeches of your's are all on tape as well. We heard them on CSPAN. Now they are in the budget and now you notice the deficit. The problem is while you were ignoring us, we were paying close attention to all of you and we noticed that we really don't matter to you. All we can give you is our tax dollars and votes. When it comes to our lives, you just don't think.
Do you have a clue what most families could do to the economy if we had the extra $1,000 a month of more if we didn't have to pay that kind of money on healthcare? Do you know what businesses could do if they had healthy employees instead of terrified ones too afraid to go to the doctor? Every member of congress needs to finally stop and think for a change because the American people are dying for your attention!
Pass a healthcare bill that will give us a chance to live instead of just dream.
Chaplain Kathie
Two years ago a friend of mine named Jen of Stuart FL was not feeling well. She went to the emergency room and called me from home. It was a shock to hear the doctors told her they suspected cancer but even more shocking she walked out of the hospital planning on not going back. She didn't have health insurance. Her husband was a contractor and they didn't have much money. They were just working class people trying to do the best they could. She was afraid to die but more afraid of what the financial cost would do to her husband.
Jen, ended up getting the care she needed and ended up dying in a hospice. She left her husband with the heartache of losing her and the mountain of bills to pay for. See, Jen and her husband were separated for a while. They got back together a few months before she found out about having cancer. They thought they just had a miracle happen when her husband was right by her side every step of the way. The problem was, when it came to healthcare, they were left standing alone.
Then we have another friend of mine, Capt. Agnes "Irish" Bresnahan. She fought a long battle with the VA because she had Agent Orange illnesses and PTSD. In March she had a hearing in Washington on her claim. She died there because the VA changed one of her medications to a generic and she ended up with internal bleeding. They gave her a transfusion but her heart just couldn't take it. See, Irish, well she was a tiny dynamo. She just didn't take care of her own claim with her own fight, but fought for all veterans to make sure they were getting the care they needed. Throughout most of it, she had to pay for a lot of things the VA would have if her claim had been approved to the level it should have been. Maybe she would have still been here if she could have had the treatment she needed instead of suffering with Agent Orange killing her and PTSD crushing her.
I have this blog and another one. Between the two of them there are over 17,000 posts. Not bad considering these blogs have only been up since 2005. Most of the posts are about our veterans needing help but not getting it. There are posts on homeless veterans too. Among them are stories about how people end up suffering, end up homeless, end up with a pile of bills because they didn't have health insurance that worked.
Now, I see the commercials about how terrible healthcare is in Canada, but I had a friend up there too and she had cancer. She received all the test and all the treatment she needed and couldn't understand why it was that in this country, not only did veterans have to fight to be taken care of, so did everyone else. Up there, things are not perfect and they have veterans needing more help than they are getting but at least they can get care.
So how is it that things in this country are not working right for people trying to make ends meet? How is it that there are now more billionaires but people like me can't get buy? I have health insurance but basically it's making us suffer to pay for it. My husband gets great care from the VA and I come under CHAMPA but most doctors will end up billing me the difference so we carry a private insurance as well. How is this far? I've heard some of you act as if healthcare is a luxury instead of a necessity for years. It's time to get it right and take care of us because when we lose our jobs, we lose healthcare. We're not looking for free ride but it would be nice to finally be able to arrive at a point where we don't have to be afraid to stay alive because it will cost too much money.
I've listened to all the debates and frankly I think some of you should be ashamed of yourselves. The ones complaining the most seen to find no problem allocating all the money they want when they can get something in return from rich people. The people needing help with healthcare are not rich so I guess we don't matter very much to you but we do matter to the people who care if we live of die young.
Is it really too much to ask that you stop letting people die because you don't want to find the money to keep them alive? You seemed to manage so well when Iraq and Afghanistan were being pumped with hundreds of billions of dollars never being added into the budget. Yes, those speeches of your's are all on tape as well. We heard them on CSPAN. Now they are in the budget and now you notice the deficit. The problem is while you were ignoring us, we were paying close attention to all of you and we noticed that we really don't matter to you. All we can give you is our tax dollars and votes. When it comes to our lives, you just don't think.
Do you have a clue what most families could do to the economy if we had the extra $1,000 a month of more if we didn't have to pay that kind of money on healthcare? Do you know what businesses could do if they had healthy employees instead of terrified ones too afraid to go to the doctor? Every member of congress needs to finally stop and think for a change because the American people are dying for your attention!
Pass a healthcare bill that will give us a chance to live instead of just dream.
Off-Duty Milwaukee firefighters save family from burning SUV
Rescuers save 3 people from burning SUV
By Ryan Haggerty of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: July 19, 2009
A group of people including two off-duty firefighters and an off-duty police lieutenant rescued a woman and her two children from a burning SUV that crashed on Milwaukee's south side Sunday afternoon.
Most of the rescue was filmed by a bystander. The video shows the 1992 Chevrolet Blazer on its left side near S. 22nd Place and W. Layton Ave., its back half engulfed in flames and black smoke.
Two men eventually use metal pipes to break through the windshield, freeing the woman, who is a 32-year-old Tennessee resident, and her 2-year-old daughter.
They suffered minor injuries, police said.
The woman's 4-year-old son was still trapped inside.
Two brothers - John and Joel Rechlitz, who are Milwaukee firefighters and were off duty - were notified of the fire by one of their wives, who lives near the scene and saw the crash, said Tiffany Wynn, a Fire Department spokeswoman.
read more here
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/51148722.html
By Ryan Haggerty of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: July 19, 2009
A group of people including two off-duty firefighters and an off-duty police lieutenant rescued a woman and her two children from a burning SUV that crashed on Milwaukee's south side Sunday afternoon.
Most of the rescue was filmed by a bystander. The video shows the 1992 Chevrolet Blazer on its left side near S. 22nd Place and W. Layton Ave., its back half engulfed in flames and black smoke.
Two men eventually use metal pipes to break through the windshield, freeing the woman, who is a 32-year-old Tennessee resident, and her 2-year-old daughter.
They suffered minor injuries, police said.
The woman's 4-year-old son was still trapped inside.
Two brothers - John and Joel Rechlitz, who are Milwaukee firefighters and were off duty - were notified of the fire by one of their wives, who lives near the scene and saw the crash, said Tiffany Wynn, a Fire Department spokeswoman.
read more here
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/51148722.html
Patriot Services Inc. enters guilty plea in government contracts charges
Georgia temporary staffing company pleads guilty in Kan. case
By Associated Press
9:42 AM CDT, July 20, 2009
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Justice Department says a Georgia temporary staffing company and its owner have agreed to plead guilty in a Kansas case involving government contracts at government agencies.
Patriot Services Inc. and owner Stephanie Blackmon have agreed to plead guilty to making a false statement to the Small Business Administration.
The federal case, filed in Kansas City, Kan., is part of an investigation into fraudulent conduct involving contracts the Veterans Affairs' mail outpatient pharmacies at Leavenworth, Kan., and Hines, Ill.
Blackmon is black and a service-disabled veteran. She admitted she used that status to act as the figurehead owner so Patriot could secure government contracts specifically set aside for companies operated by socially and economically disadvantaged persons.
By Associated Press
9:42 AM CDT, July 20, 2009
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Justice Department says a Georgia temporary staffing company and its owner have agreed to plead guilty in a Kansas case involving government contracts at government agencies.
Patriot Services Inc. and owner Stephanie Blackmon have agreed to plead guilty to making a false statement to the Small Business Administration.
The federal case, filed in Kansas City, Kan., is part of an investigation into fraudulent conduct involving contracts the Veterans Affairs' mail outpatient pharmacies at Leavenworth, Kan., and Hines, Ill.
Blackmon is black and a service-disabled veteran. She admitted she used that status to act as the figurehead owner so Patriot could secure government contracts specifically set aside for companies operated by socially and economically disadvantaged persons.
Couple Arrested After Leaving Kids Alone In Disney Hotel Room
What makes this worse is that the woman says she's a school counselor!
Kids Alone In Disney Hotel Room
Monday, July 20, 2009 5:20:34 PM
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- Two children under the age of 5 are found by themselves at a Disney hotel room while their parents were swimming in the hotel pool.
Stephen Simmons, 49, and Kimberly Simmons, 41, from Michigan were arrested and charged with child neglect Saturday.
Kimberly, a school counselor, told authorities that they've left the foster children alone in the past.
read more here
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/7/20/kids_alone_in_disney_hotel_room.html
Mary Setterholm on a wave of forgiveness
A wave of forgiveness
Steve Lopez
July 19, 2009
It's another beautiful day in paradise and I'm out on the ocean, riding waves with a former national surfing champion and onetime prostitute who's about to join a seminary.
Go ahead, try to name one other state where I could have written that sentence.
"Terrific!" yells Mary Setterholm, my instructor, who forgives my every wipeout and cheers when I finally ride a wave all the way to shore.
Setterholm, who now runs a Santa Monica surfing school, won the U.S. Women's title in 1972, at age 17. And you're not going to believe where her trophy is:
On Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's desk.
Where do I even begin?
Perhaps with the e-mail from Ann Hayman, a minister at Brentwood Presbyterian, who remembered that I once wrote about a skid row prostitute who lived in a Porta-Potty but later turned her life around. Hayman, who worked with prostitutes for 28 years, had someone she wanted me to meet.
So I drove to Brentwood to meet Hayman and Setterholm. Over coffee -- and the next day at the beach -- Setterholm spun a tale both tragic and triumphant:
As a young child, Setterholm told me, she was physically and sexually abused repeatedly by a baby-sitter, and then beginning in seventh grade, she was molested for years by a now-deceased priest from her Catholic church in Westwood. When her family moved to the Huntington Beach area, Setterholm found herself drawn to the sea. There was honesty and security in the rhythm of the waves, but the ride to the shore was fraught with danger.
read more here
A wave of forgiveness
Steve Lopez
July 19, 2009
It's another beautiful day in paradise and I'm out on the ocean, riding waves with a former national surfing champion and onetime prostitute who's about to join a seminary.
Go ahead, try to name one other state where I could have written that sentence.
"Terrific!" yells Mary Setterholm, my instructor, who forgives my every wipeout and cheers when I finally ride a wave all the way to shore.
Setterholm, who now runs a Santa Monica surfing school, won the U.S. Women's title in 1972, at age 17. And you're not going to believe where her trophy is:
On Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's desk.
Where do I even begin?
Perhaps with the e-mail from Ann Hayman, a minister at Brentwood Presbyterian, who remembered that I once wrote about a skid row prostitute who lived in a Porta-Potty but later turned her life around. Hayman, who worked with prostitutes for 28 years, had someone she wanted me to meet.
So I drove to Brentwood to meet Hayman and Setterholm. Over coffee -- and the next day at the beach -- Setterholm spun a tale both tragic and triumphant:
As a young child, Setterholm told me, she was physically and sexually abused repeatedly by a baby-sitter, and then beginning in seventh grade, she was molested for years by a now-deceased priest from her Catholic church in Westwood. When her family moved to the Huntington Beach area, Setterholm found herself drawn to the sea. There was honesty and security in the rhythm of the waves, but the ride to the shore was fraught with danger.
read more here
A wave of forgiveness
Homeless man’s death called homicide
WEYMOUTH
Homeless man’s death called homicide
The death of a homeless man in Weymouth is an apparent homicide, according to a statement from Norfolk County District Attorney William R. Keating. At 9:20 a.m. yesterday, police found Ronald Pratt, 50, dead in a wooded area behind a building on Washington Street, officials said.
read more here
Homeless man death called homicide
Homeless man’s death called homicide
The death of a homeless man in Weymouth is an apparent homicide, according to a statement from Norfolk County District Attorney William R. Keating. At 9:20 a.m. yesterday, police found Ronald Pratt, 50, dead in a wooded area behind a building on Washington Street, officials said.
read more here
Homeless man death called homicide
After Murder of Office Cleaner, a New Light on an Isolated Job
After Murder of Office Cleaner, a New Light on an Isolated Job
By JOSEPH BERGER
Published: July 19, 2009
When other workers in her office building are calling it a day, Elizabeth Magda is just beginning hers. She dumps out their wastebaskets, swipes a rag across their desks, dusts their computers and stocks their bathrooms with toilet paper and paper towels.
As the vast skyscraper empties out and a twilight desolation slowly descends on her floor, Ms. Magda finishes off her night by vacuuming a half acre of carpet, making sure to discard the pizza cartons of the few office workers who stay especially late. By midnight, she is usually the only person left on the floor, yet she does not feel isolated or lonesome, she said, because she knows she will soon be on her way home to Ridgewood, Queens.
“My personality is that I don’t need much people around me,” she said. “I don’t like a factory with a hundred people. It’s my job and I’m doing my job and I’m not thinking I’m lonely or somebody is coming in. You have to do your job.”
Few people pay attention to the workers who clean their offices, as long as the desks are clean in the morning and papers are not tampered with. But every once in a while, something happens to cast a spotlight on their relatively solitary, uncelebrated occupation. On July 11, there was a grisly discovery that did just that: the body of a cleaning woman was found stuffed in an air-conditioning duct in the Lower Manhattan office building where she had worked at night.
The victim, Eridania Rodriguez, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the early 1990s, was last seen four nights before. The police found her face down, her hands bound behind her back with black and yellow tape, still in her blue custodial uniform. An elevator operator, Joseph Pabon, 25, was arrested on Friday night and charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the killing of Ms. Rodriquez.
read more here
After Murder of Office Cleaner, a New Light on an Isolated Job
By JOSEPH BERGER
Published: July 19, 2009
When other workers in her office building are calling it a day, Elizabeth Magda is just beginning hers. She dumps out their wastebaskets, swipes a rag across their desks, dusts their computers and stocks their bathrooms with toilet paper and paper towels.
As the vast skyscraper empties out and a twilight desolation slowly descends on her floor, Ms. Magda finishes off her night by vacuuming a half acre of carpet, making sure to discard the pizza cartons of the few office workers who stay especially late. By midnight, she is usually the only person left on the floor, yet she does not feel isolated or lonesome, she said, because she knows she will soon be on her way home to Ridgewood, Queens.
“My personality is that I don’t need much people around me,” she said. “I don’t like a factory with a hundred people. It’s my job and I’m doing my job and I’m not thinking I’m lonely or somebody is coming in. You have to do your job.”
Few people pay attention to the workers who clean their offices, as long as the desks are clean in the morning and papers are not tampered with. But every once in a while, something happens to cast a spotlight on their relatively solitary, uncelebrated occupation. On July 11, there was a grisly discovery that did just that: the body of a cleaning woman was found stuffed in an air-conditioning duct in the Lower Manhattan office building where she had worked at night.
The victim, Eridania Rodriguez, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the early 1990s, was last seen four nights before. The police found her face down, her hands bound behind her back with black and yellow tape, still in her blue custodial uniform. An elevator operator, Joseph Pabon, 25, was arrested on Friday night and charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the killing of Ms. Rodriquez.
read more here
After Murder of Office Cleaner, a New Light on an Isolated Job
Soldiers' emotional battle scars put doctors in dilemma
What happened first to "do no harm" when it came to the doctors not telling the commander of the National Guard? Times have not changed enough, that's for sure.
It seems like centuries ago when I had to fight a mental health worker to have my husband's life saved. I was working in a mental health hospital at the time. Not one of my favorite jobs, but I worked for 6 psychiatrists. My husband wanted to die and I was terrified he was planning on it. Long story short, he got the help he needed but a mental health worker almost got in the way. This "woman" (you know I'm thinking of another word) told me that I violated my husband's civil rights by "acting like God" and she was so full of herself. That is until I told her where I worked and who I worked for. She was gone soon after. In between this encounter and my husband getting help, it had to be done away from the mental health hospital, with the police department and a long distance phone call to a boss away on vacation. The police did the right thing and so did my boss. My husband is still alive and I am grateful for the help he was given that day while still infuriated with the clueless "woman" supposedly working to help people.
Here we have a young National Guardsman, needing help, going for help, getting help and a family standing behind him. Everything that needed to be done was being done. That is until the doctors decided not to inform the National Guards. I'm no lawyer but it seems that since this "patient" was a danger to himself, they had more obligation to inform the National Guards than to keep that information from them. Consider this part. They also endangered the lives of the other Washington National Guardsmen had Tim Juneman been deployed.
It seems all too often that families do the right thing for their veterans but too many are not and we need to be asking why not. Tim Juneman hung himself after seeking help because he just wasn't helped enough. There needs to be clear rules on this because I'm sure the doctors cared but now a young National Guardsman is dead and a family left behind when everyone did it all right.
It seems like centuries ago when I had to fight a mental health worker to have my husband's life saved. I was working in a mental health hospital at the time. Not one of my favorite jobs, but I worked for 6 psychiatrists. My husband wanted to die and I was terrified he was planning on it. Long story short, he got the help he needed but a mental health worker almost got in the way. This "woman" (you know I'm thinking of another word) told me that I violated my husband's civil rights by "acting like God" and she was so full of herself. That is until I told her where I worked and who I worked for. She was gone soon after. In between this encounter and my husband getting help, it had to be done away from the mental health hospital, with the police department and a long distance phone call to a boss away on vacation. The police did the right thing and so did my boss. My husband is still alive and I am grateful for the help he was given that day while still infuriated with the clueless "woman" supposedly working to help people.
Here we have a young National Guardsman, needing help, going for help, getting help and a family standing behind him. Everything that needed to be done was being done. That is until the doctors decided not to inform the National Guards. I'm no lawyer but it seems that since this "patient" was a danger to himself, they had more obligation to inform the National Guards than to keep that information from them. Consider this part. They also endangered the lives of the other Washington National Guardsmen had Tim Juneman been deployed.
It seems all too often that families do the right thing for their veterans but too many are not and we need to be asking why not. Tim Juneman hung himself after seeking help because he just wasn't helped enough. There needs to be clear rules on this because I'm sure the doctors cared but now a young National Guardsman is dead and a family left behind when everyone did it all right.
COURTESY OF THE JUNEMAN FAMILY
Tim Juneman and his mother, Jacqueline Hergert, are pictured in 2006. The Army National Guard specialist killed himself in 2008.
Soldiers' emotional battle scars put doctors in dilemma
The suicide of an Iraq war veteran in Eastern Washington has highlighted an ethical dilemma confronting the Department of Veterans Affairs and the military: how far to go in protecting patient confidentiality as troubled veterans are called back to front-line duty.
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
Tim Juneman went to a Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatrist in January 2008 to talk about his recurrent thoughts of suicide.
The 25-year-old Washington State University student was an Iraq war veteran who had survived a year of tough fighting that left him with a twin diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury.
His biggest worry, according to notes taken by the VA psychiatrist, was a looming call back to active duty by the Washington National Guard. The order would have sent the specialist back to Iraq.
A VA psychiatrist hospitalized Juneman but never notified the National Guard unit of his patient's distress over redeployment. Juneman was released that month, then missed follow-up appointments.
In early March 2008, Juneman hanged himself in his Pullman apartment. His body was discovered some 20 days later, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.
His death underscores an unsettling new reality for VA health-care providers. Unlike in decades past, they now often treat veterans headed back to war. And this can pose an ethical challenge for VA doctors if they think PTSD, traumatic brain injury or other unhealed wounds could put a patient or others at greater risk on the front line.
Jacqueline Hergert, Juneman's mother, says the VA should have contacted the National Guard about her son's plight.
"In Tim's case," Hergert said, "he had already been placed under suicide watch, and somebody should have told his unit. Perhaps doing that would have saved my son. What he really needed was for the VA to be an advocate for him."
read more here
Soldiers emotional battle scars put doctors in dilemma
Mom, son, dog found dead in New Port Richey in apparent murder-suicide
Mom, son, dog found dead in New Port Richey in apparent murder-suicide
By Joel Anderson, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, July 20, 2009
NEW PORT RICHEY — After Richard Owen, his elderly mother and their pet chihuahua didn't venture outside their home for several days, one of their neighbors placed a call to the authorities.
People were getting worried.
"We got called out on a welfare check," said Kevin Doll, a spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. "The neighbors hadn't seen them in a few days and they started to smell decay."
When deputies arrived at the home at 4455 Grandwood Lane Saturday night, the neighbors' worst fears were confirmed: Owen and his 87-year-old mother, Joan Owen, were both dead inside, apparently of a murder-suicide.
Preliminary information indicates Richard Owen, 62, killed his mother and the dog, and then fatally shot himself. An autopsy will determine the exact cause of death for Joan Owen.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1019803.ece
By Joel Anderson, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, July 20, 2009
NEW PORT RICHEY — After Richard Owen, his elderly mother and their pet chihuahua didn't venture outside their home for several days, one of their neighbors placed a call to the authorities.
People were getting worried.
"We got called out on a welfare check," said Kevin Doll, a spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. "The neighbors hadn't seen them in a few days and they started to smell decay."
When deputies arrived at the home at 4455 Grandwood Lane Saturday night, the neighbors' worst fears were confirmed: Owen and his 87-year-old mother, Joan Owen, were both dead inside, apparently of a murder-suicide.
Preliminary information indicates Richard Owen, 62, killed his mother and the dog, and then fatally shot himself. An autopsy will determine the exact cause of death for Joan Owen.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1019803.ece
After decades apart, woman finds mom -- homeless in Orlando
After decades apart, woman finds mom -- homeless in Orlando
Jessica Wisnoski and Lani Burgos are reunited after Wisnoski spent $20,000 and decades searching for the mother she hadn't seen since she was a toddler.
Susan Jacobson
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 20, 2009
For nearly four decades, all Jessica Wisnoski had to remember her mother was a tattered photo of 2-year-old Wisnoski sitting in her mom's lap.
The yearning to know her mother never left Wisnoski, 38, who lives near Houston. She and her husband, Bryan, spent $20,000 and 17 years searching for Lani Burgos, 58, who left her only child with Burgos' father and stepmother while she tried to kick a drug habit.
On Saturday night, Wisnoski finally found her mom — homeless and living in Orlando.
After years of dashed hopes and false leads, the Wisnoskis, with the help of a private investigator, tracked Burgos to a Salvation Army shelter in Ocala and, from there, to Central Florida.
During the weekend, they drove to Orlando, where they planned to hand out fliers offering a reward for helping them find Burgos. On the way to the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, they stumbled on police Officer Jonathan Adkins. He offered to drive them.
read more here
After decades apart, woman finds mom -- homeless in Orlando
Jessica Wisnoski and Lani Burgos are reunited after Wisnoski spent $20,000 and decades searching for the mother she hadn't seen since she was a toddler.
Susan Jacobson
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 20, 2009
For nearly four decades, all Jessica Wisnoski had to remember her mother was a tattered photo of 2-year-old Wisnoski sitting in her mom's lap.
The yearning to know her mother never left Wisnoski, 38, who lives near Houston. She and her husband, Bryan, spent $20,000 and 17 years searching for Lani Burgos, 58, who left her only child with Burgos' father and stepmother while she tried to kick a drug habit.
On Saturday night, Wisnoski finally found her mom — homeless and living in Orlando.
After years of dashed hopes and false leads, the Wisnoskis, with the help of a private investigator, tracked Burgos to a Salvation Army shelter in Ocala and, from there, to Central Florida.
During the weekend, they drove to Orlando, where they planned to hand out fliers offering a reward for helping them find Burgos. On the way to the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, they stumbled on police Officer Jonathan Adkins. He offered to drive them.
read more here
After decades apart, woman finds mom -- homeless in Orlando
13-year-old gunned down in Daytona Beach
13-year-old gunned down in Daytona Beach
Walter Pacheco
Sentinel Staff Writer
6:20 AM EDT, July 20, 2009
A 13-year-old boy died in Daytona Beach this morning after a man shot him in the face through a sliding glass door.
The suspect also fired the gun at the boy's father, grazing him on the arm.
The boy, identified by police as Lloyd Robinson Jr., died at the scene. Rescue crews transported his father, Lloyd Robinson, to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. His injury is non-life-threatening, police said.
read more here
13-year-old gunned down in Daytona Beach
Walter Pacheco
Sentinel Staff Writer
6:20 AM EDT, July 20, 2009
A 13-year-old boy died in Daytona Beach this morning after a man shot him in the face through a sliding glass door.
The suspect also fired the gun at the boy's father, grazing him on the arm.
The boy, identified by police as Lloyd Robinson Jr., died at the scene. Rescue crews transported his father, Lloyd Robinson, to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. His injury is non-life-threatening, police said.
read more here
13-year-old gunned down in Daytona Beach
Vermont National Guardsman job denied due to Afghan duty
How is this right? It isn't but it's what members of the National Guards face all over the country. It is especially hard for them in this kind of economy. The regular military, well, they don't have to worry about their jobs while they deploy because they are doing their jobs, but for Guardsmen and Reservists, they have to depend on civilian jobs to take care of their families. Does anyone realize what we are putting these men and women through? You would think that Congress would smarten up and pass some kind of help for them when we keep sending them back to Iraq and Afghanistan leaving them to suffer financially for it.
Prison guard: Job denied due to Afghan duty
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 20, 2009 9:16:01 EDT
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Several temporary correctional officers at the state prison in Springfield say they were denied permanent jobs because of their pending deployment to Afghanistan with the Vermont National Guard.
At least one of the officers is planning to file a complaint against the Vermont Department of Corrections in federal court.
Tim Nolan of Chittenden tells Vermont Public Radio he was hired as a temporary correctional officer last October with the understanding that if he performed well he could become permanent when a spot became available.
Nolan says his new career was on track until he notified officials about his pending deployment.
Corrections officials say they're looking into the situation.
Miramar Marine accused of attack on estranged wife, family
It is also reported Baskin did two tours of duty.
Miramar Marine accused of attack on estranged wife, family
7:46 a.m. July 17, 2009
San Diego Union Tribune - San Diego,CA,USA
A Miramar-based Marine was in custody in Fresno County today on suspicion of attacking his estranged wife and her family in Reedley, it was reported.
Dejon Baskin, 26, stole a car from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar late Wednesday night and drove more than 300 miles to his estranged wife's family's home in Reedley around 8 a.m. Thursday, Reedley Police Chief Steve Wright told KFSN-TV, an ABC affiliate news station.
Once there, Baskin slashed 24-year-old Rachel Baskin's throat and shot her 22-year-old brother in the head and stabbed the siblings' mother in the neck, according to Wright.
read more here
Miramar Marine accused of attack on estranged wife, family
Vietnam Veterans Day to be established in Wisconsin
Vietnam Veterans Day to be established in Wisconsin
Posted: Jul 19, 2009 9:57 PM EDT
Chippewa Falls (WQOW) - A group of veterans are getting a long overdue "thank you" for their service to the country.
Monday, July 20, Gov. Doyle will sign a bill that establishes March 29 as Vietnam Veteran's Day here in Wisconsin. Sen. Kathleen Vinehout and a Chippewa Falls woman, whose father is a Vietnam veteran, worked on creating the legislation. She, along with several area veterans are traveling to Madison to be part of the historical signing.
"He [Gov. Doyle] understands the Vietnam Veteran's War, not only with the war, but within a lot of soldiers that came back," says David Backstrom, Vietnam veteran.
Watching the signing first hand will be Thuy Smith; the driving force behind the bill. Her father served in Vietnam. Now she's made it her mission to help Vietnam veterans heal their wounds.
"Whether you agree with the war or not, it's not political, it's about these guys. The least any of them did was their duty and for that they should be proud and we should be proud of them," says Thuy Smith, bill advocate.
Traveling to Madison with Smith is David Backstrom, George Adrian and Al Weix; three of the ten Vietnam veterans invited to share in the history.
read more here
Vietnam Veterans Day to be established in Wisconsin
Posted: Jul 19, 2009 9:57 PM EDT
Chippewa Falls (WQOW) - A group of veterans are getting a long overdue "thank you" for their service to the country.
Monday, July 20, Gov. Doyle will sign a bill that establishes March 29 as Vietnam Veteran's Day here in Wisconsin. Sen. Kathleen Vinehout and a Chippewa Falls woman, whose father is a Vietnam veteran, worked on creating the legislation. She, along with several area veterans are traveling to Madison to be part of the historical signing.
"He [Gov. Doyle] understands the Vietnam Veteran's War, not only with the war, but within a lot of soldiers that came back," says David Backstrom, Vietnam veteran.
Watching the signing first hand will be Thuy Smith; the driving force behind the bill. Her father served in Vietnam. Now she's made it her mission to help Vietnam veterans heal their wounds.
"Whether you agree with the war or not, it's not political, it's about these guys. The least any of them did was their duty and for that they should be proud and we should be proud of them," says Thuy Smith, bill advocate.
Traveling to Madison with Smith is David Backstrom, George Adrian and Al Weix; three of the ten Vietnam veterans invited to share in the history.
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Vietnam Veterans Day to be established in Wisconsin
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Veterans Honored With Special Ceremony In Tulsa
Veterans Honored With Special Ceremony In Tulsa
News On 6 - Tulsa,OK,USA
By Dan Bewley, The News On 6
TULSA, OK -- Veterans received a welcome home 34 years in the making.
Veterans of the Vietnam War were honored by one of their own. It was part of a special ceremony to thank all veterans.
There was a musical tribute from the heart of a Vietnam veteran. Leo Perez served for the U.S. Army in 1970.
"We drove truck and delivered ammo and we did our part," said Leo Perez, a Vietnam War veteran.
Saturday night, Perez was part of a special tribute for all military veterans as part of Welcome Home Day.
"This is to celebrate our veterans," said Adam Walmus, VA Medical Center Director.
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News On 6 - Tulsa,OK,USA
By Dan Bewley, The News On 6
TULSA, OK -- Veterans received a welcome home 34 years in the making.
Veterans of the Vietnam War were honored by one of their own. It was part of a special ceremony to thank all veterans.
There was a musical tribute from the heart of a Vietnam veteran. Leo Perez served for the U.S. Army in 1970.
"We drove truck and delivered ammo and we did our part," said Leo Perez, a Vietnam War veteran.
Saturday night, Perez was part of a special tribute for all military veterans as part of Welcome Home Day.
"This is to celebrate our veterans," said Adam Walmus, VA Medical Center Director.
click link for more
Man loses two fingers saving his dog in gator attack
Man loses two fingers saving his dog in gator attack
By Jerome Burdi
Sun Sentinel
8:53 PM EDT, July 18, 2009
PALM BEACH COUNTY - David Grounds was walking his 7-year-old dog by the pond behind his home west of West Palm Beach on Saturday morning when he saw the wake of a 7-foot alligator approaching.
He screamed for Mandy, a wheaten terrier, to get away but it was too late: the gator clamped down on Mandy's midsection and the squealing dog was helpless as the alligator started thrashing. Grounds, 65, rushed over and grabbed the gator's mouth with his hands while poking it in its eye with his thumb.
"He was powerful," Grounds said from his Palms West Hospital bed Saturday night.
The gator released its grip and Mandy was saved. But then the gator snapped at Grounds, taking part of his right index and ring fingers.
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By Jerome Burdi
Sun Sentinel
8:53 PM EDT, July 18, 2009
PALM BEACH COUNTY - David Grounds was walking his 7-year-old dog by the pond behind his home west of West Palm Beach on Saturday morning when he saw the wake of a 7-foot alligator approaching.
He screamed for Mandy, a wheaten terrier, to get away but it was too late: the gator clamped down on Mandy's midsection and the squealing dog was helpless as the alligator started thrashing. Grounds, 65, rushed over and grabbed the gator's mouth with his hands while poking it in its eye with his thumb.
"He was powerful," Grounds said from his Palms West Hospital bed Saturday night.
The gator released its grip and Mandy was saved. But then the gator snapped at Grounds, taking part of his right index and ring fingers.
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USF kicker injured after 35-foot fall from Busch Gardens ride
USF kicker injured after 35-foot fall from Busch Gardens ride
Maikon Bonani of Polk County was working at the theme park at the time
TAMPA - A University of South Florida football player was recovering at a hospital after falling 35 feet from a gondola ride while working at Busch Gardens in Tampa, team officials said.
Team officials identified the player as Maikon Bonani, 20, USF's starting kicker. The park did not immediately release the employee's name or the extent of his injuries, said spokeswoman Jill Revelle.
The employee was working Saturday at the Skyride attraction. After sending passengers on a gondola out of the station, the employee thought the door might be unlocked and held onto the door to check it while guests sat on the ride, according to a park statement. He held on as the gondola took off -- then 35 feet above the ground -- let go and dropped into a landscaped area, the statement added.
"He was trying to make sure they were safe," said Revelle of those on the ride. She added that no one else was injured.
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Maikon Bonani of Polk County was working at the theme park at the time
TAMPA - A University of South Florida football player was recovering at a hospital after falling 35 feet from a gondola ride while working at Busch Gardens in Tampa, team officials said.
Team officials identified the player as Maikon Bonani, 20, USF's starting kicker. The park did not immediately release the employee's name or the extent of his injuries, said spokeswoman Jill Revelle.
The employee was working Saturday at the Skyride attraction. After sending passengers on a gondola out of the station, the employee thought the door might be unlocked and held onto the door to check it while guests sat on the ride, according to a park statement. He held on as the gondola took off -- then 35 feet above the ground -- let go and dropped into a landscaped area, the statement added.
"He was trying to make sure they were safe," said Revelle of those on the ride. She added that no one else was injured.
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More soldiers are being treated for chlamydia
Upward trend in chlamydia cases extends to Army
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 19, 2009 12:28:11 EDT
More soldiers are being treated for chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease whose reported cases are also on the rise among the civilian population.
The number of chlamydia cases reported at Army medical facilities by active and reserve-component soldiers has steadily risen from 6,138 in 2004 to 8,192 in 2008. Reporting so far in 2009 indicates a continuing upward trend.
Army medical professionals say they cannot attribute the rise to any particular cause.
read more here
Upward trend in chlamydia cases extends to Army
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 19, 2009 12:28:11 EDT
More soldiers are being treated for chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease whose reported cases are also on the rise among the civilian population.
The number of chlamydia cases reported at Army medical facilities by active and reserve-component soldiers has steadily risen from 6,138 in 2004 to 8,192 in 2008. Reporting so far in 2009 indicates a continuing upward trend.
Army medical professionals say they cannot attribute the rise to any particular cause.
read more here
Upward trend in chlamydia cases extends to Army
Detroit family dead after ‘glitch’ led to power shut-off
Detroit family dead after ‘glitch’ led to power shut-off
By Daniel Tencer
Falling behind in your bills can be deadly, as the tragic story of a Detroit family shows.
A 46-year-old father and this three children are dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after their local energy company cut off their power, prompting the family to use a generator that poisoned them with carbon monoxide.
And the family’s power company says a bureaucratic “glitch” caused them to shut the power off when it shouldn’t have been.
Vaughn Reed, 46, and his three children, Markeisha, 17, DeMarco, 12, and DeMarte, six, died in the early morning hours of Friday from carbon monoxide emitted by a generator in the basement of the family’s two-story home on Detroit’s west side.
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Detroit family dead after glitch led to power shut-off
Linked from RawStory
By Daniel Tencer
Falling behind in your bills can be deadly, as the tragic story of a Detroit family shows.
A 46-year-old father and this three children are dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after their local energy company cut off their power, prompting the family to use a generator that poisoned them with carbon monoxide.
And the family’s power company says a bureaucratic “glitch” caused them to shut the power off when it shouldn’t have been.
Vaughn Reed, 46, and his three children, Markeisha, 17, DeMarco, 12, and DeMarte, six, died in the early morning hours of Friday from carbon monoxide emitted by a generator in the basement of the family’s two-story home on Detroit’s west side.
read more here
Detroit family dead after glitch led to power shut-off
Linked from RawStory
44 hurt after light rail cars collide in San Francisco
44 hurt after light rail cars collide in San Francisco
Story Highlights
Conductor miscalculated a turn, police officer says
No life-threatening injuries reported, Muni spokesman says
Collision occurred at West Portal Station, spokesman says
Service disrupted on K/T, L and M lines
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Two light rail transit cars collided Saturday in San Francisco, causing multiple injuries, but none appeared life-threatening, a rail system spokesman said.
"Apparently the conductor for one of the trains miscalculated a turn. It's still under investigation right now," a police officer told CNN. He would not provide his name.
At least 44 people were injured, a fire official said.
None of the injuries was extremely serious, said Leslie Dubbin, administrator for operations at San Francisco General Hospital.
44 hurt after light rail cars collide in San Francisco
Story Highlights
Conductor miscalculated a turn, police officer says
No life-threatening injuries reported, Muni spokesman says
Collision occurred at West Portal Station, spokesman says
Service disrupted on K/T, L and M lines
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Two light rail transit cars collided Saturday in San Francisco, causing multiple injuries, but none appeared life-threatening, a rail system spokesman said.
"Apparently the conductor for one of the trains miscalculated a turn. It's still under investigation right now," a police officer told CNN. He would not provide his name.
At least 44 people were injured, a fire official said.
None of the injuries was extremely serious, said Leslie Dubbin, administrator for operations at San Francisco General Hospital.
44 hurt after light rail cars collide in San Francisco
Captured soldier identified by DoD
Captured soldier identified by DoD
Staff report
Posted : Sunday Jul 19, 2009 10:13:20 EDT
The Defense Department on Sunday identified the soldier who has been listed as missing/captured in Afghanistan.
Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, was declared Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown on July 1. His status was changed to missing/captured July 3.
Bergdahl is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, of Fort Richardson, Alaska.
read more here
Captured soldier identified by DoD
Family of captured soldier asks for privacy
By John Miller - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jul 19, 2009 15:28:25 EDT
HAILEY, Idaho — A soldier from Idaho who disappeared from his base in Afghanistan has been captured, the Pentagon confirmed Sunday, a day after he was seen in a Taliban video posted online.
The Defense Department released the name of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, who was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment. The private was serving at a base near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold.
read more here
Family of captured soldier asks for privacy
Staff report
Posted : Sunday Jul 19, 2009 10:13:20 EDT
The Defense Department on Sunday identified the soldier who has been listed as missing/captured in Afghanistan.
Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, was declared Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown on July 1. His status was changed to missing/captured July 3.
Bergdahl is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, of Fort Richardson, Alaska.
read more here
Captured soldier identified by DoD
Family of captured soldier asks for privacy
By John Miller - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jul 19, 2009 15:28:25 EDT
HAILEY, Idaho — A soldier from Idaho who disappeared from his base in Afghanistan has been captured, the Pentagon confirmed Sunday, a day after he was seen in a Taliban video posted online.
The Defense Department released the name of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, who was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment. The private was serving at a base near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold.
read more here
Family of captured soldier asks for privacy
Marine Cpl. Lembke's body is returned to Oregon
Ross William Hamilton, The Oregonian
Marine Cpl. Matthew Lembke returned to Oregon on Thursday night, six days after he died at Bethesda Naval Hospital from wounds he sustained in a June bombing in Afghanistan. His parents, Claudia and Dale Lembke of Tualatin and their daughter Carolyn Lembke (right) of Sherwood met his casket at the Hillsboro Airport. About 120 family, friends, military and members of the Patriot Guard riders escorted the body to the Wilsonville funeral home.
Marine Cpl. Lembke's body is returned to Oregon
by Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian
Saturday July 18, 2009, 10:25 AM
Forty-eight flags snapped at the Hillsboro Airport as Claudia Lembke waited for the small military charter to arrive.
She waited, as she had since an IED exploded in southern Afghanistan June 22. Waited as her son Marine Cpl. Matthew Lembke was airlifted to Germany, days later flown on to Bethesda Naval Hospital, where she waited for weeks at his bedside.
Time enough for friends to launch a Web page, trust fund and Facebook group, to unfurl the prayer chains and imagine the success story: a Marine who lost both legs, whose heart and breathing stopped and was restarted, a man who hung on.
But he died of complications July 10 with both parents and sister Carolyn beside him.
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Marine Cpl. Lembke body is returned to Oregon
Family, friends remember Army Sgt. Mark R. Ecker II
Photo by JESSICA HILL
Debra Ecker and Mark Ecker Sr,. parents of Army Sgt. Mark R. Ecker II, receive a flag from Kevin McMaster, left, of American Legion Post 293 during their son's funeral Saturday at East Longmeadow High School.
Family, friends remember Army Sgt. Mark R. Ecker II
by The Republican Newsroom
Saturday July 18, 2009, 5:30 PM
By LORI STABILE
lstabile@repub.com
EAST LONGMEADOW - Debra W. Ecker read a letter to her son, Army Sgt. Mark R. Ecker II, at his funeral Saturday.
"Markie, how do I say goodbye to you?" she said.
Ecker, 23, was killed July 10 when he was a passenger in a car that crashed on Interstate 93 in Andover. Just two years ago, Ecker survived a bomb blast in Ramadi, Iraq, that took his lower legs.
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Family, friends remember Army Sgt. Mark R. Ecker II
Energy Drinks: The Monster on Fort Bragg
Energy Drinks: The Monster on Fort Bragg
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
With names like Monster, Full Throttle and Red Bull, energy drinks are the new beverage of choice at Fort Bragg.
This year, Monster Energy is eclipsing Mountain Dew as the top-selling drink on post. But with 13 teaspoons of sugar and three times more caffeine than a can of Mountain Dew, doctors question whether Monster and other energy drinks are safe when consumed in high quantities.
Karen Daigle, a dietitian at Womack Army Medical Center, said ingesting between 200 and 400 milligrams of caffeine a day can increases focus and performance.
But soldiers who consume energy drinks all day can easily reach the point where performance is hurt, Daigle said.
A 16-ounce can of Monster contains 160 milligrams of caffeine. At least two brands of energy drinks contain 500 milligrams or more.
By comparison, a typical cup of brewed coffee contains about 107 milligrams of caffeine.
In high quantities, Daigle said, the drinks can cause jitters, extreme increases in heart rate and gastrointestinal problems.
"It's harder to focus at those higher ranges" of caffeine, Daigle said.
Stimulants also increase the risk of heat injuries, she said, but that may be less of an issue in the military because of how much the services stress hydration to their troops, pushing them to drink enough water.
read more here
Energy Drinks The Monster on Fort Bragg
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
With names like Monster, Full Throttle and Red Bull, energy drinks are the new beverage of choice at Fort Bragg.
This year, Monster Energy is eclipsing Mountain Dew as the top-selling drink on post. But with 13 teaspoons of sugar and three times more caffeine than a can of Mountain Dew, doctors question whether Monster and other energy drinks are safe when consumed in high quantities.
Karen Daigle, a dietitian at Womack Army Medical Center, said ingesting between 200 and 400 milligrams of caffeine a day can increases focus and performance.
But soldiers who consume energy drinks all day can easily reach the point where performance is hurt, Daigle said.
A 16-ounce can of Monster contains 160 milligrams of caffeine. At least two brands of energy drinks contain 500 milligrams or more.
By comparison, a typical cup of brewed coffee contains about 107 milligrams of caffeine.
In high quantities, Daigle said, the drinks can cause jitters, extreme increases in heart rate and gastrointestinal problems.
"It's harder to focus at those higher ranges" of caffeine, Daigle said.
Stimulants also increase the risk of heat injuries, she said, but that may be less of an issue in the military because of how much the services stress hydration to their troops, pushing them to drink enough water.
read more here
Energy Drinks The Monster on Fort Bragg
Traumatized soldiers told they are not alone
Traumatized soldiers told they are not alone
By Susan Herendeen
sherendeen@modbee.com
People can heal any hurt, including the lingering trauma that comes from being a soldier in a combat zone, according to an expert on family violence, who gave a presentation Saturday sponsored by the American GI Forum at Teamsters Hall in Modesto.
But the stigma that comes with mental illness means many veterans won't ask for help, even if they are so tense and anxious that they are "on guard" at all times.
Researchers worry that domestic violence will rise because an increasing number of veterans are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after serving multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a result, the veteran's group is using a $75,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to sponsor domestic violence prevention programs at its 25 chapters across California.
In Modesto, therapist Jerry Tello assured a dozen former soldiers and their families that they are not alone.
"The second war is the recovery," said Tello, who served in the Vietnam War after being drafted into the Army. He is director of the Sacred Circles Healing Center in Whittier and says lingering trauma can make people turn to violence or drugs because they are hypersensitive to everyday stressors.
read more here
Traumatized soldiers told they are not alone
By Susan Herendeen
sherendeen@modbee.com
People can heal any hurt, including the lingering trauma that comes from being a soldier in a combat zone, according to an expert on family violence, who gave a presentation Saturday sponsored by the American GI Forum at Teamsters Hall in Modesto.
But the stigma that comes with mental illness means many veterans won't ask for help, even if they are so tense and anxious that they are "on guard" at all times.
Researchers worry that domestic violence will rise because an increasing number of veterans are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after serving multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a result, the veteran's group is using a $75,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to sponsor domestic violence prevention programs at its 25 chapters across California.
In Modesto, therapist Jerry Tello assured a dozen former soldiers and their families that they are not alone.
"The second war is the recovery," said Tello, who served in the Vietnam War after being drafted into the Army. He is director of the Sacred Circles Healing Center in Whittier and says lingering trauma can make people turn to violence or drugs because they are hypersensitive to everyday stressors.
read more here
Traumatized soldiers told they are not alone
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Platoon leader remembers 3 fallen Minnesota soldiers
Platoon leader remembers 3 fallen Minnesota soldiers
By Renee Tessman
The Minnesota National Guard offered its condolences Saturday after one of the deadliest days for Minnesota troops in Iraq since 2005.
Three soldiers were killed Thursday evening in an attack on a base in Basra. They are 27-year-old Specialist Carlos Wilcox IV of Cottage Grove, 20-year-old Specialist James Wertish of Olivia and 22-year-old Specialist Daniel Drevnick of Woodbury. All were members of the Minnesota National Guard 34th Red Bull Infantry Division based in Stillwater.
At a press conference at the Stillwater Armory Saturday, Lt. Col. Michael Wickman says, "On behalf of all the men and women in the MN National Guard, I express my deepest sympathy."
National Guard officials say it was an indirect fire attack that killed the three soldiers. That could mean a mortar or missile attack. But Wickman says that's still unclear stating, "Many of the details are still under investigation by U.S. military authorities in Iraq."
read more here
Platoon leader remembers 3 fallen Minnesota soldiers
By Renee Tessman
The Minnesota National Guard offered its condolences Saturday after one of the deadliest days for Minnesota troops in Iraq since 2005.
Three soldiers were killed Thursday evening in an attack on a base in Basra. They are 27-year-old Specialist Carlos Wilcox IV of Cottage Grove, 20-year-old Specialist James Wertish of Olivia and 22-year-old Specialist Daniel Drevnick of Woodbury. All were members of the Minnesota National Guard 34th Red Bull Infantry Division based in Stillwater.
At a press conference at the Stillwater Armory Saturday, Lt. Col. Michael Wickman says, "On behalf of all the men and women in the MN National Guard, I express my deepest sympathy."
National Guard officials say it was an indirect fire attack that killed the three soldiers. That could mean a mortar or missile attack. But Wickman says that's still unclear stating, "Many of the details are still under investigation by U.S. military authorities in Iraq."
read more here
Platoon leader remembers 3 fallen Minnesota soldiers
A better plan needed for 4-year-old panhandler
This sure isn't your average homeless family story. No one can explain why some people don't want help but this story also points out there are a lot of people trying to help and that's a good thing
A better plan needed for 4-year-old panhandler
C.W. Nevius
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Little Gavin Mills, the 4-year-old panhandler who evoked so much sympathy and concern from San Franciscans, has been taken from his parents by Child Protective Services.
It is an incredibly difficult decision to take a child away from his mother and father, but in this case it is the right choice.
"Gavin deserves a chance in life," said Mary Long, who began a crusade to improve Gavin's and his mother Toni's life after seeing them at the Embarcadero BART Station. "He wasn't getting one being used as a panhandler tool by his chronically homeless mom."
City officials say the family was repeatedly offered beds, services and child care. But their offers, they say, were rebuffed, and people like Long kept seeing Gavin panhandling.
read more hereA better plan needed for 4-year-old panhandler
Body found of man who rescued child from Cowlitz river
Body found of man who rescued child from Cowlitz river
KELSO, Cowlitz County — The Cowlitz County Sheriff's office says the body of a man who rescued a 3-year-old girl from drowning in the Cowlitz River, then disappeared in the water, has been found.
By The Associated Press
KELSO, Cowlitz County — The Cowlitz County Sheriff's office says the body of a man who rescued a 3-year-old girl from drowning in the Cowlitz River, then disappeared in the water, has been found.
The body of 20-year-old Alan Heck was found 50 yards down river from where he was last seen.
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Body found of man who rescued child from Cowlitz river
U.S. Capitol officer wounded in shootout
U.S. Capitol officer wounded in shootout
Published: July 17, 2009 at 12:13 PM
GREENBELT, Md., July 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Capitol Police say a Capitol police officer was shot and wounded while exchanging gunfire with a suspect in Greenbelt, Md.
Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the officer, whose identity was not reported, was off-duty Thursday when he/she suffered non-life threatening injuries in the shootout, Politico reported.
read more here
U.S. Capitol officer wounded in shootout
Published: July 17, 2009 at 12:13 PM
GREENBELT, Md., July 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Capitol Police say a Capitol police officer was shot and wounded while exchanging gunfire with a suspect in Greenbelt, Md.
Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the officer, whose identity was not reported, was off-duty Thursday when he/she suffered non-life threatening injuries in the shootout, Politico reported.
read more here
U.S. Capitol officer wounded in shootout
Veterans go to war against budget cuts
Veterans go to war against budget cuts
By Carl Orth The Suncoast News
Published: July 17, 2009
Updated:
NEW PORT RICHEY - Pasco County veterans are going into battle against a proposal to cut the budget of the county veterans services office by about 60 percent and lay off four of its six staff members.
Some 54,000 veterans call Pasco home. So the Pasco Veterans Council launched a petition drive to protest drastic cuts at the Division of Veterans Affairs before county officials finalize the fiscal 2010 budget, in September.
"We need to stand up and speak up for what we think is fair," said James Bradley, president of the veterans council.
But property tax revenue has been plunging along with home values, Pasco officials say.
"Something has got to give," said Dan Johnson, assistant county administrator for public services. The preliminary budget numbers represent a "worst-case scenario," he emphasized.
read more here
Veterans go to war against budget cuts
"Something has got to give" did he really say that when he's talking about veterans? Did he really say that when there are two military campaigns going on? Did he really say that when we have veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq needing as much help as they can get? Something has got to give? Well he must have forgotten they already gave and that's why we call them veterans!
By Carl Orth The Suncoast News
Published: July 17, 2009
Updated:
NEW PORT RICHEY - Pasco County veterans are going into battle against a proposal to cut the budget of the county veterans services office by about 60 percent and lay off four of its six staff members.
Some 54,000 veterans call Pasco home. So the Pasco Veterans Council launched a petition drive to protest drastic cuts at the Division of Veterans Affairs before county officials finalize the fiscal 2010 budget, in September.
"We need to stand up and speak up for what we think is fair," said James Bradley, president of the veterans council.
But property tax revenue has been plunging along with home values, Pasco officials say.
"Something has got to give," said Dan Johnson, assistant county administrator for public services. The preliminary budget numbers represent a "worst-case scenario," he emphasized.
read more here
Veterans go to war against budget cuts
"Something has got to give" did he really say that when he's talking about veterans? Did he really say that when there are two military campaigns going on? Did he really say that when we have veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq needing as much help as they can get? Something has got to give? Well he must have forgotten they already gave and that's why we call them veterans!
Man may face amputation after Walmart snakebite
Snakebite victim home, weighs lawsuit
Jeriel Joiner, the Palm Coast man who was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake in a St. Augustine Walmart store on Tuesday, was released from the hospital Friday evening. Joiner's fiancee, Rhiannon Gross, said doctors could do little for him except monitor his condition and recovery after the pair opted against a second attempt to administer an antivenin treatment that caused a nearly fatal allergic reaction Tuesday.
Jeriel Joiner, the Palm Coast man who was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake in a St. Augustine Walmart store on Tuesday, was released from the hospital Friday evening. Joiner's fiancee, Rhiannon Gross, said doctors could do little for him except monitor his condition and recovery after the pair opted against a second attempt to administer an antivenin treatment that caused a nearly fatal allergic reaction Tuesday.
Man may face amputation after Walmart snakebite
By HEATHER SCOFIELD
Staff Writer
ST. AUGUSTINE -- A trip to a store to buy a fern left a Palm Coast couple facing one of the most difficult decisions of their lives Thursday.
It was all part of an ordeal that began Tuesday after Jeriel Joiner, 27, was bitten by a baby pygmy rattlesnake while shopping at a St. Augustine Walmart.
Joiner and his fiancee, Rhiannon Gross, 30, were forced to decide whether Joiner would undergo a second $30,000 emergency medical treatment after the first such attempt nearly killed him Tuesday night.
read more here
Man may face amputation after Walmart snakebite
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