Body of Missing Air Force Veteran Found in Adirondacks

Missing Webster hiker found dead in the Adirondacks
By Spectrum News Staff
August 2, 2017

Baker also served in the Air Force for 26 years, where he was discharged under the title Master Sargent. That experience allowed him to connect with other veterans in the program.

Skip Baker of Webster disappeared during a solo hike in the Adirondack mountain range on Sunday

A search and rescue team found his body on Monday in the East Branch of the Ausable River.

The 50-year-old joined the "EquiCenter's" therapeutic equestrian program five years ago.

It helps those with disabilities, at-risk youth and veterans like Baker reach their therapeutic goals.

Operations Consultant, Dr. Susan Taylor Brown, says that she grew fond of Baker.

"I was one of the first people who knew him. He was a very shy, no nonsense, quiet person," said Brown.

And like most veterans who are introduced to the program, they start in therapeutic riding.

"It was more comfortable for him to be around horses than people," said Brown.

According to Brown, Baker had a special connection with one horse in particular: Harley.

"Harley is an Irish draft and Skips' Irish also, they shared a bond," said Brown.

After getting more comfortable there, Baker took on additional roles and skills from goal setting to even volunteering.
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Iowa Veterans Charities Still Waiting For Donations After Fireworks Sales?

Following the Money: Where are the donations from fireworks to veterans?

KWWL 7 News

Elizabeth Amanieh

August 1, 2017

"These people are our heroes, why are they homeless?" said an Iowa Fireworks Company employee. "They deserve our respect, our admiration, they deserve our help..."

Iowa fireworks sales have come and gone. But some are questioning one company that advertised they would be donating a portion of the money they made to veterans. 

Iowa Fireworks Company, who operated a number of tents across the state, advertised with the slogan, "Buy Local, Help Nonprofits. Celebrate Freedom."

One of their tents selling fireworks was stationed along LaPorte Rd. in Waterloo. During their sales, the tent advertised they would be donating a portion of the money they made to veterans. 

In an interview with KWWL, an employee for Iowa Fireworks Company who was working the tent, explained where a portion of the sales profit would go.

"These people are our heroes, why are they homeless?" said an Iowa Fireworks Company employee. "They deserve our respect, our admiration, they deserve our help. And that's what we're here to do so a portion of the proceeds from this tent is going to be donated directly to the Americans for Independent Living who manage the Waterloo transitional veterans homes. "

After firework tent sales were over on July 8th, the tent closed down, and left. 24 days later, and neither Americans for Independent Living nor the Black Hawk County VA received a single penny in donations from Iowa Fireworks Company, which led KWWL to follow the money. 
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Arizona Homeless Shelter Caring For Veterans Losing Funding--Write Congress!

Homeless shelter that helps veterans losing thousands in funding

ABC 15 News Arizona 
Sonu Wasu 
Aug 1, 2017

Limbs described it as "rock bottom" and said the staff at CASS helped save his life.

PHOENIX - State lawmakers and veterans groups are rallying around a Phoenix homeless shelter that provides services for homeless veterans in need.

It's a fight for those who fought for the country.

State Representative Mark Cardenas (D-AZ), a veteran himself, said he knows many vets who have received shelter and services at Central Arizona Shelter Services, also known as CASS.

"These are people that have put their lives on the line for you, gave up their best years for the community, and gave up their best years for the country," said Cardenas.

Mark Holleran, the CEO for CASS said the most frustrating part was not knowing why they were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. The shelter had received the $550,000 in funding for more than the last decade.

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Veteran Died of Fatal Overdose, While in VA Lockdown?

Widow wants to know how Marine got drugs before fatal overdose in VA lockdown

Boston Herald

Jack Encarnacao, Chris Villani 

Monday, July 31, 2017

The widow of a Marine who fatally overdosed on fentanyl while on lockdown supervision at the Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatric campus in Brockton is demanding to know how he got the drugs, while the VA has simply attributed his death to the nation’s larger opioid scourge.

‘WHAT HAPPENED?’ Jamie Lee Hasted, right, is seeking answers from the Veterans Administration after her husband, Hank Brandon Lee, left, died in March of a fentanyl overdose.

“Since he has passed, the VA has told us nothing,” Jamie Lee Hasted told the Herald in an emotional interview about her late husband, Hank Brandon Lee. “Answers, the bottom line is answers. ... Did he take it willingly, not willingly, mixed up in the medicine? You have video cameras, where is the video? What happened? Let me try to get some type of closure.”

Lee, a Marine lance corporal and mortarman who served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, died at age 35 of acute fentanyl intoxication March 4 after he was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, according to his death certificate.

The day he died, Lee was found unresponsive by a nursing assistant and medication nurse in the day room of the inpatient psych ward. He “appeared to be sleeping sitting up in chair with head tilted to right, color ashen” when found, and didn’t answer when they called him, according to VA records reviewed by the Herald. First responders found him “unresponsive, pulseless,” according to fire department records.

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Empty Envelope Delivered to Veterans Charity By Fraud

Empty promise: Local veterans charity thought big gift was coming
KGW NBC News
Kyle Iboshi
Published on July 31, 2017

LIFT FOR THE 22 HAD NEVER RECEIVED SUCH A LARGE DONATION IN ITS TWO YEARS OF EXISTENCE. THE FUNDS WOULD ALLOW THE NONPROFIT TO PAY FOR THE 350 VETS WHO WERE WAITING FOR GYM MEMBERSHIPS.

PORTLAND, Ore. — It was a donation that would change everything. A Gresham man promised to contribute $425,000 to a nonprofit organization that provides gym memberships to veterans. The Beaverton-based charity, Lift For The 22, celebrated the announcement with a check presentation streamed live on its Facebook page.

“This is going to take us to the next level,” said Lift For The 22 co-founder Dennis Wright as he received an envelope from Garyn Bowen. The 22-year-old Bowen said he was a wealthy business owner who wanted to help the program by providing cash, connections and access to his corporate jet.

In reality, the envelope was empty. Bowen never delivered the money.

“I figured the guy must be doing something right to donate that kind of money,” said Robert Sanders, who met Bowen at the gym. “It was all made up. It was all a lie.”
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