Date: 10/29/2008 8:08 PM
By CHRIS BLANK
Associated Press Writer
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) _ An attorney for the state urged a judge Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit by opponents of embryonic stem cell research seeking to block funding to Missouri’s Life Sciences Research Board.
Missouri Roundtable for Life filed suit earlier this year to bar this year’s $21 million for the life sciences board, which distributes the money as research grants. Critics of embryonic stem cell research worry the money could be used to support the type of scientific investigation they oppose.
But Deputy Attorney General Karen Mitchell argued in Cole County Circuit Court on Wednesday that the issue is not yet ripe for court action, because no grants have yet been awarded.
The $21 million at issue would flow to the Life Sciences Research Board from the Life Sciences Research Trust Fund, which was created in 2003 to spend one-quarter of Missouri’s annual proceeds from a legal settlement between states and tobacco companies.
Among other provisions, the 2003 law bars spending the money for abortion services and human cloning.
Critics of stem cell research worry that the prohibitions were invalidated when voters amended the Missouri Constitution in 2006 to guarantee that any stem cell research legal under federal law is also legal in Missouri.
Attorney Stephen Clark told Judge Richard Callahan on Wednesday that if the restrictions were rendered invalid by the 2006 amendment, then lawmakers also cannot put any money in the Life Sciences Trust Fund because it was created with certain limitations in mind.
“There is a controversy over whether Amendment 2 wiped out the restrictions of the life sciences research fund,” Clark said, referring to the constitutional amendment by its 2006 ballot label. “If Amendment 2 did that, then the life sciences research fund ceases to exist.”
Callahan, who did not rule immediately, struck a skeptical note during the hearing on whether a genuine legal dispute exists before this year’s research grants are awarded.
“It strikes me more like an academic exercise that we’re involved in at this point,” Callahan said, at one point asking Clark specifically, “Who’s your controversy with?”
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the Life Sciences Research Board and several other state entities with administrative roles for the trust fund or the board, such as the Missouri Technology Corp.
The Missouri Technology Corp. is a quasi-state entity that helps private businesses link with universities, particularly emphasizing research in life sciences and other high-tech areas. The governor appoints 11 of the corporation’s 15 board members and selects the chairman.
It has faced some controversy in the Legislature over stem cell research because its former board chairman, Donn Rubin, helped lead efforts to pass the 2006 constitutional amendment.
Last week, Gov. Matt Blunt announced he had appointed Rubin to an additional term on the board and replaced him as board chairman with former state Economic Development Director Greg Steinhoff. The move was described in a news release as “the position’s regular rotation.”
On the same day, technology corporation executive director Rob Monsees said in a deposition for the stem cell lawsuit that he had suggested Blunt pick a new chairman because Rubin had become a “lightning rod.”
“People that want to support the Life Science Trust Fund feel that the controversy associated with Donn Rubin as chair of MTC affects the way that issue is viewed in the General Assembly,” Monsees said in the deposition.
Blunt’s spokeswoman, Jessica Robinson, said Wednesday that potential controversy about Rubin played no role in the governor’s decision to replace him as board chairman.
___
Case is Missouri Roundtable for Life vs. Sarah Steelman, 08AC-CC00517
On the Net:
Courts: http://www.courts.mo.gov
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Brain Injury and Depression
When we think of the impact that brain injury has on a person, it is often the ability to process, record and recover information that comes to the forefront. We focus on the thought processes or problems in memory first, and the emotional aspects of brain injury last. However, depression is a significant and debilitating factor in many brain injuries.
According to the Brain Injury Association of America, significant depression will affect 6 out of 100 people in the general population. However, research has found that if TBI is involved this number may increase by ten times.
Lack of inhibition and compromised frustration levels can affect a brain injured individual’s ability to control anger. The same mechanisms can affect an individual’s emotional responses on many levels and emotional responses may become exaggerated or inappropriate.
Depression, however, is not only triggered by the physical changes in the person’s state.
“Many research studies show that post-TBI depression is associated with poorer rehabilitation outcomes, reduced activities of daily living, increased experience of failure, increased stress, reduced employment, more frequent divorce, increased family burden, reduced social-recreational activity, increased sexual problems, reduced life satisfaction and poorer health-related quality of life.”
Whether depression is triggered by the inability of the brain to cope with emotional signals or environmental changes which occur as a result of decreased functioning or whether it involves an actual chemical change in the brain, depression is a serious issue which needs to be addressed.
Individuals who were exceptionally high functioning before an injury occurred are often at a higher risk for depression because of their inability to achieve pre-injury functioning. A lack of ability to stay on task due to lower frustration levels, inability to multitask and diminished stamina can all contribute to a feeling of worthlessness when measuring themselves against their former selves. This process becomes a cycle between frustration and anger which can isolate the individual from previous social interactions.
It is accepted by the medical community that a feeling of being a burden on others and not being of value in the world can lead to suicidal ideation. When a formerly high functioning individual is placed in a situation which makes them dependent on a caregiver and removes them from pre-injury productivity, it can become a severe blow to self worth, which can lead to depression.
Depression is a highly treatable condition which requires admission that depression is present. This may or may not be possible if the brain injured person has no self awareness about their own emotional functioning. It is important that family members and caregivers understand the signs and symptoms and what they can do to help.
A brain injured person is more likely to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs in an attempt to cope with the changes which have occurred. Because they have a compromised system, they are more vulnerable to the use of substances which can escalate the problem. These issues may need to be addressed as well with a knowledgeable professional experienced in treating brain-injured individuals.
There is an excellent brochure available from the Brain Injury Association entitled “Coping with Depression after Traumatic Brain Injury” which describes the factors which may lead to depression and what the survivor and family can do to manage depression.
Gordon Johnson
g@gordonjohnson.com
www.tbilaw.com
www.subtlebraininjury.com
DA: Criminal charges possible in boy’s Uzi death
Date: 10/28/2008 11:01 PM
By RODRIQUE NGOWI
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) _ A prosecutor said Tuesday he is investigating whether criminal charges should be filed after an 8-year-old boy accidentally killed himself while firing an Uzi submachine gun at a gun fair in western Massachusetts.
Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., shot himself in the head when he lost control of the 9mm micro submachine gun as it recoiled while he was firing at a pumpkin. Police have said the shooting at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club on Sunday was an accident.
Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said he is investigating whether the gun fair violated the state’s firearms law by allowing the boy to fire the machine gun, and also whether it was “a reckless or wanton act to allow an 8-year-old to use a fully loaded automatic weapon.”
“At this point in the investigation I have found no lawful authority which allows an 8-year-old to possess or fire a machine gun,” Bennett said in a statement.
Daniel Vice, senior attorney with the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said his interpretation is that Massachusetts law specifically prohibits “furnishing a machine gun to any person under 18.”
“It is unconscionable that the gun fair allowed and encouraged young children to fire machine guns,” he said in a statement.
On Monday, Westfield police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said it is legal in Massachusetts for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and they are supervised by a properly certified and licensed instructor.
The section of the statute that mentions that exception, however, only lists rifles, shotguns and ammunition — and is silent on the use of machine guns.
Bennett did not return calls Tuesday seeking additional comment.
The boy was attending the gun fair with his father and brother Colin, a sixth-grader. His father, Charles Bizilj, said Christopher had experience firing handguns and rifles, but Sunday was his first time firing an automatic weapon. A certified instructor was with the boy at the time.
On Monday, Bizilj told The Boston Globe he was about 10 feet behind his son and reaching for his camera when the weapon fired. He said his family avoided larger weapons, but he let his son try the Uzi because it’s a small weapon with little recoil. The family did not return messages for comment Tuesday.
Francis Mitchell, a trustee and longtime member and shooting range officer for the sportsman’s club, declined comment Tuesday, saying he was unaware that a criminal investigation was under way.
Edward Fleury, owner of COP Firearms & Training, which co-sponsored the event, did not immediately return a message left after business hours.
The Republican newspaper of Springfield reported Tuesday night that the town of Pelham, where Fleury has been police chief since 1991, took undisclosed administrative action after he discharged a loaded rifle during a gun safety class he was teaching in 2003. No one was injured, and Fleury said in a public apology he would take steps to prevent similar incidents.
Pelham selectman Edward Martin told the newspaper Tuesday the board plans to issue a statement to residents this week pointing out that Fleury was at the gun expo on his own time. Martin called Bizilj’s death “a tragic accident.”
Fleury’s company and the sportsman’s club have held the expo since 2002. The newspaper said Fleury described it in a 2005 interview as a safe environment for people “to see and fire some of the guns that they’ve seen in the movies, or on the History Channel, or other events that involve firearms.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By RODRIQUE NGOWI
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) _ A prosecutor said Tuesday he is investigating whether criminal charges should be filed after an 8-year-old boy accidentally killed himself while firing an Uzi submachine gun at a gun fair in western Massachusetts.
Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., shot himself in the head when he lost control of the 9mm micro submachine gun as it recoiled while he was firing at a pumpkin. Police have said the shooting at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club on Sunday was an accident.
Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said he is investigating whether the gun fair violated the state’s firearms law by allowing the boy to fire the machine gun, and also whether it was “a reckless or wanton act to allow an 8-year-old to use a fully loaded automatic weapon.”
“At this point in the investigation I have found no lawful authority which allows an 8-year-old to possess or fire a machine gun,” Bennett said in a statement.
Daniel Vice, senior attorney with the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said his interpretation is that Massachusetts law specifically prohibits “furnishing a machine gun to any person under 18.”
“It is unconscionable that the gun fair allowed and encouraged young children to fire machine guns,” he said in a statement.
On Monday, Westfield police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said it is legal in Massachusetts for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and they are supervised by a properly certified and licensed instructor.
The section of the statute that mentions that exception, however, only lists rifles, shotguns and ammunition — and is silent on the use of machine guns.
Bennett did not return calls Tuesday seeking additional comment.
The boy was attending the gun fair with his father and brother Colin, a sixth-grader. His father, Charles Bizilj, said Christopher had experience firing handguns and rifles, but Sunday was his first time firing an automatic weapon. A certified instructor was with the boy at the time.
On Monday, Bizilj told The Boston Globe he was about 10 feet behind his son and reaching for his camera when the weapon fired. He said his family avoided larger weapons, but he let his son try the Uzi because it’s a small weapon with little recoil. The family did not return messages for comment Tuesday.
Francis Mitchell, a trustee and longtime member and shooting range officer for the sportsman’s club, declined comment Tuesday, saying he was unaware that a criminal investigation was under way.
Edward Fleury, owner of COP Firearms & Training, which co-sponsored the event, did not immediately return a message left after business hours.
The Republican newspaper of Springfield reported Tuesday night that the town of Pelham, where Fleury has been police chief since 1991, took undisclosed administrative action after he discharged a loaded rifle during a gun safety class he was teaching in 2003. No one was injured, and Fleury said in a public apology he would take steps to prevent similar incidents.
Pelham selectman Edward Martin told the newspaper Tuesday the board plans to issue a statement to residents this week pointing out that Fleury was at the gun expo on his own time. Martin called Bizilj’s death “a tragic accident.”
Fleury’s company and the sportsman’s club have held the expo since 2002. The newspaper said Fleury described it in a 2005 interview as a safe environment for people “to see and fire some of the guns that they’ve seen in the movies, or on the History Channel, or other events that involve firearms.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Laws help limit use of wellness program data
Date: 10/28/2008
By TOM MURPHY
AP Business Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Wellness programs can spawn some Big Brother-like fears among employees who may worry that they give the boss too much information about health problems and pricey treatments.
But federal laws and program setups help prevent these programs from yielding a treasure trove of confidential information your boss can use against you.
Companies must keep employee medical information confidential and separate from personnel files, said Mark Kittaka, a labor and employment attorney with the law firm Barnes & Thornburg.
Employers can share this information with managers only on a need-to-know basis. For instance, a manager may need to make accommodations for an employee’s condition at work.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires this protection. It also tells employers they can’t discriminate against someone based on “their status as a qualified individual with a disability,” Kittaka said.
Your boss cannot fire you simply because he sees you as an expensive medical risk.
Companies that hire an outside firm to handle their wellness program add another barrier separating them from confidential information.
Your boss also may not want to know too much about you. Knowledge of an employee’s disability or condition leaves a company vulnerable if it fires someone and then gets slapped with a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Kittaka said.
Finding out too much means the company can’t argue that it didn’t know about the disability.
“You may get information that you didn’t really want to know,” he said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By TOM MURPHY
AP Business Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Wellness programs can spawn some Big Brother-like fears among employees who may worry that they give the boss too much information about health problems and pricey treatments.
But federal laws and program setups help prevent these programs from yielding a treasure trove of confidential information your boss can use against you.
Companies must keep employee medical information confidential and separate from personnel files, said Mark Kittaka, a labor and employment attorney with the law firm Barnes & Thornburg.
Employers can share this information with managers only on a need-to-know basis. For instance, a manager may need to make accommodations for an employee’s condition at work.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires this protection. It also tells employers they can’t discriminate against someone based on “their status as a qualified individual with a disability,” Kittaka said.
Your boss cannot fire you simply because he sees you as an expensive medical risk.
Companies that hire an outside firm to handle their wellness program add another barrier separating them from confidential information.
Your boss also may not want to know too much about you. Knowledge of an employee’s disability or condition leaves a company vulnerable if it fires someone and then gets slapped with a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Kittaka said.
Finding out too much means the company can’t argue that it didn’t know about the disability.
“You may get information that you didn’t really want to know,” he said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Boy, 8, killed in Mass. gun show accident
Date: 10/27/2008 1:50 PM
WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) _ An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun under adult supervision at a gun fair.
The boy lost control of the weapon while firing it Sunday at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, police Lt. Lawrence Vallierpratte said.
Police said the boy, Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., was with a certified instructor and called the death a “self-inflicted accidental shooting.”
“The weapon was loaded and ready to fire,” police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. “The 8-year-old victim had the Uzi and as he was firing the weapon, the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head.”
Christopher died at Baystate Medical Center.
Police said the boy’s father, Charles Bizilj, attended the event with his son. The father is the medical director of emergency medicine at Johnson Memorial Hospital, in Stafford Springs, Conn.
Francis Mitchell, a longtime member and trustee of the club, said he saw the boy’s father supporting his son from behind when the accident happened.
“My reaction is shock,” said Mitchell, who lives down the street from the club. “In the last five years, there has never been a problem or a bad accident. I’ve been sick all night.”
Although the death appears to be an accident, police and the Hampden district attorney’s office were investigating, officials said.
It is legal for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and are supervised by a properly certified and licensed instructor, Lt. Hipolito Nunez said.
Those conditions were met in this case, he said. He declined to release the instructor’s name.
The event, run in conjunction with C.O.P Firearms and Training, said in an ad that people are allowed to fire weapons at vehicles, pumpkins and other targets at the event.
The club said it would offer machine gun demonstrations and rentals and free handgun lessons.
“It’s all legal & fun — No permits or licenses required!!!!” reads the ad, posted on the club’s Web site.
Officials with the firearms group could not be reached for comment. Messages left on answering machines for the club and the C.O.P. group were not returned Monday.
The sportsman’s club was founded in 1949 and describes itself on its Web site as promoting “the interest of legal sport with rod, gun, and bow and arrow, both directly and through training.”
It has eight firing ranges as well as archery and fishing facilities located on 375 acres in Westfield, about 100 miles west of Boston.
___
On the Web:
Westfield Club: http://www.westfieldsportsman.com
COP Firearms: http://www.copfirearms.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) _ An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun under adult supervision at a gun fair.
The boy lost control of the weapon while firing it Sunday at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, police Lt. Lawrence Vallierpratte said.
Police said the boy, Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., was with a certified instructor and called the death a “self-inflicted accidental shooting.”
“The weapon was loaded and ready to fire,” police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. “The 8-year-old victim had the Uzi and as he was firing the weapon, the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head.”
Christopher died at Baystate Medical Center.
Police said the boy’s father, Charles Bizilj, attended the event with his son. The father is the medical director of emergency medicine at Johnson Memorial Hospital, in Stafford Springs, Conn.
Francis Mitchell, a longtime member and trustee of the club, said he saw the boy’s father supporting his son from behind when the accident happened.
“My reaction is shock,” said Mitchell, who lives down the street from the club. “In the last five years, there has never been a problem or a bad accident. I’ve been sick all night.”
Although the death appears to be an accident, police and the Hampden district attorney’s office were investigating, officials said.
It is legal for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and are supervised by a properly certified and licensed instructor, Lt. Hipolito Nunez said.
Those conditions were met in this case, he said. He declined to release the instructor’s name.
The event, run in conjunction with C.O.P Firearms and Training, said in an ad that people are allowed to fire weapons at vehicles, pumpkins and other targets at the event.
The club said it would offer machine gun demonstrations and rentals and free handgun lessons.
“It’s all legal & fun — No permits or licenses required!!!!” reads the ad, posted on the club’s Web site.
Officials with the firearms group could not be reached for comment. Messages left on answering machines for the club and the C.O.P. group were not returned Monday.
The sportsman’s club was founded in 1949 and describes itself on its Web site as promoting “the interest of legal sport with rod, gun, and bow and arrow, both directly and through training.”
It has eight firing ranges as well as archery and fishing facilities located on 375 acres in Westfield, about 100 miles west of Boston.
___
On the Web:
Westfield Club: http://www.westfieldsportsman.com
COP Firearms: http://www.copfirearms.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Suicide is a major risk factor for brain injured individuals
http://subtlebraininjury.blogspot.com/2008/10/crisis-calls-increase.html
Earlier this week we posted an AP news story about the increase in suicides with the downturn in Wallstreet and the economy. I am old enough to remember my parents’ stories about the suicides on Wallstreet after the 1929 crash, so was certainly not surprised about this development. Suicide prevention is one of the areas of advocacy that does not get enough attention. Suicide is a major risk factor for brain injured individuals, as depression and organic brain injury create a dangerous synergism.
There are surprisingly inadequate suicide resources on the web. I have previously linked some of those, but will endeavor in the coming days to supplement those we have discussed before. However, the most significant thing that can be done to prevent actual suicides is to insure that no one who is potentially despondent, has access to a handgun.
Included is a chart of the statistical analysis of suicide deaths in the US. Many have seen the movie Bowling for Columbine, which is Michael Moore’s treatment of gun control. While I agree with Moore, what Moore doesn’t say in this movie is that two-thirds of the gunshot deaths in the United States are suicides.
Look at the 5th column on the chart below – Case Fatality Rate. The success rate on all suicide attempts (including guns) is only 8.66%; the rate for those who attempt it with a gun – 85%. Even those who jump succeed only 31% of the time. The only other method that has more than a 50% success rate is those who attempt suicide through suffocation.
THE REAL REASON FOR GUN CONTROL? Of the 16,899 who killed themselves with guns, 16,200 would still be alive. I represent depressed people. The impulse to kill themselves is something they get past. But not when the impulse is combined with a gun.
800-992-9447
©Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr. 2008
Earlier this week we posted an AP news story about the increase in suicides with the downturn in Wallstreet and the economy. I am old enough to remember my parents’ stories about the suicides on Wallstreet after the 1929 crash, so was certainly not surprised about this development. Suicide prevention is one of the areas of advocacy that does not get enough attention. Suicide is a major risk factor for brain injured individuals, as depression and organic brain injury create a dangerous synergism.
There are surprisingly inadequate suicide resources on the web. I have previously linked some of those, but will endeavor in the coming days to supplement those we have discussed before. However, the most significant thing that can be done to prevent actual suicides is to insure that no one who is potentially despondent, has access to a handgun.
Included is a chart of the statistical analysis of suicide deaths in the US. Many have seen the movie Bowling for Columbine, which is Michael Moore’s treatment of gun control. While I agree with Moore, what Moore doesn’t say in this movie is that two-thirds of the gunshot deaths in the United States are suicides.
Look at the 5th column on the chart below – Case Fatality Rate. The success rate on all suicide attempts (including guns) is only 8.66%; the rate for those who attempt it with a gun – 85%. Even those who jump succeed only 31% of the time. The only other method that has more than a 50% success rate is those who attempt suicide through suffocation.
THE REAL REASON FOR GUN CONTROL? Of the 16,899 who killed themselves with guns, 16,200 would still be alive. I represent depressed people. The impulse to kill themselves is something they get past. But not when the impulse is combined with a gun.
www.tbilaw.com
www.subtlebraininjury.com
g@gordonjohnson.com
800-992-9447
©Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr. 2008
Iraqi puppy decked out in red, white and blue arrives in US
9:36 PM EDT, October 20, 2008
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER | Associated Press Writer
CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) — A black puppy decked out in a red, white and blue bandanna jumped out of his crate and wagged his tail at the airport Monday, three flights and two days after leaving Iraq en route to his new home with a U.S. soldier.
Army Spc. Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis says she couldn’t have made it through her 13-month deployment without Ratchet, who she and another soldier rescued from a burning pile of trash in May. Ratchet, wearing a dog-bone-shaped collar with its name, will spend two nights in a kennel before flying to Minneapolis, where Beberg’s parents will pick him up. Beberg is scheduled to return home next month.
“I’m very excited that Ratchet will be waiting for me when I get home from Iraq! Words can’t describe it,” Beberg said in an e-mail to friends and family. “I hope that Ratchet’s story will inspire people to continue the efforts to bring more service members’ animals home from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
The dog was rescued by Baghdad Pups, run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International. The group, which has now brought 63 animals to the U.S., says the effort both saves dogs and cats and helps soldiers who benefit from the bond with the animals.
The military bars troops from caring for pets on duty or taking them home, citing reasons such as health issues and difficulties in caring for the animals. The U.S. military has said the dog was free to leave but American troops could not be responsible for its transportation.
Baghdad Pups coordinator Terri Crisp, who brought the puppy back from Iraq, said animals adopted by soldiers help them get through difficult times.
“I hope Ratchet and his story will lead to some dialogue with the military,” Crisp said as she stroked the puppy.
Ratchet flew on a charter flight to Kuwait, then flew commercial from Kuwait to Amsterdam and on to Washington. Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines picked up the cost of the last two legs.
Ratchet frolicked on a grassy patch outside the airport before heading off to Clocktower Animal Hospital in Herndon, Va., for a checkup and some shots.
“Your tail’s wagging!” said Dr. Chris Carskaddan, the veterinarian, as he greeted the dog. “So cute.”
Ratchet didn’t bark at all, but let out a whimper during the shots. Afterward, Carskaddan declared the dog “extremely healthy.”
Copyright 2008 Associated Press.
Baghdad Pups site: http://www.baghdadpups.com
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER | Associated Press Writer
CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) — A black puppy decked out in a red, white and blue bandanna jumped out of his crate and wagged his tail at the airport Monday, three flights and two days after leaving Iraq en route to his new home with a U.S. soldier.
Army Spc. Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis says she couldn’t have made it through her 13-month deployment without Ratchet, who she and another soldier rescued from a burning pile of trash in May. Ratchet, wearing a dog-bone-shaped collar with its name, will spend two nights in a kennel before flying to Minneapolis, where Beberg’s parents will pick him up. Beberg is scheduled to return home next month.
“I’m very excited that Ratchet will be waiting for me when I get home from Iraq! Words can’t describe it,” Beberg said in an e-mail to friends and family. “I hope that Ratchet’s story will inspire people to continue the efforts to bring more service members’ animals home from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
The dog was rescued by Baghdad Pups, run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International. The group, which has now brought 63 animals to the U.S., says the effort both saves dogs and cats and helps soldiers who benefit from the bond with the animals.
The military bars troops from caring for pets on duty or taking them home, citing reasons such as health issues and difficulties in caring for the animals. The U.S. military has said the dog was free to leave but American troops could not be responsible for its transportation.
Baghdad Pups coordinator Terri Crisp, who brought the puppy back from Iraq, said animals adopted by soldiers help them get through difficult times.
“I hope Ratchet and his story will lead to some dialogue with the military,” Crisp said as she stroked the puppy.
Ratchet flew on a charter flight to Kuwait, then flew commercial from Kuwait to Amsterdam and on to Washington. Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines picked up the cost of the last two legs.
Ratchet frolicked on a grassy patch outside the airport before heading off to Clocktower Animal Hospital in Herndon, Va., for a checkup and some shots.
“Your tail’s wagging!” said Dr. Chris Carskaddan, the veterinarian, as he greeted the dog. “So cute.”
Ratchet didn’t bark at all, but let out a whimper during the shots. Afterward, Carskaddan declared the dog “extremely healthy.”
Copyright 2008 Associated Press.
Baghdad Pups site: http://www.baghdadpups.com
Crisis Calls Increase
Date: 10/21/2008 3:01 AM
ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — Calls to the Georgia Crisis and Access line from people with concerns about financial difficulties increased 64 percent during July to September over the same period in 2006. Mandy Mercer’s company, Behavioral Health Link, operates the hot line. She said 930 callers used words such as mortgage foreclosure, bank and debt when describing their problems to counselors.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — Calls to the Georgia Crisis and Access line from people with concerns about financial difficulties increased 64 percent during July to September over the same period in 2006. Mandy Mercer’s company, Behavioral Health Link, operates the hot line. She said 930 callers used words such as mortgage foreclosure, bank and debt when describing their problems to counselors.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Suspect dead, 4 hurt in Ga. law office explosion
Date: 10/17/2008 11:05 PM
By KATE BRUMBACK and GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer
DALTON, Ga. (AP) _ A bitter family dispute over property in north Georgia apparently erupted Friday when a 78-year-old man threw an explosive into a law firm that represented his son, causing a blast that killed the father and injured four people in the office.
The explosion blew out windows of the two-story, colonial-style house where attorneys worked, and some in the small blue-collar town of 30,000 felt vibrations from more than a block away.
Authorities identified the bomber as Lloyd Cantrell, a man known around town for wearing bib overalls and carrying a small Chihuahua. Over the years, Cantrell amassed several parcels of land in the area, and gave some of the property to his son.
His son had grown fearful of his father, though, and filed a lawsuit seeking to keep his dad off the property the son had been given, claiming the elder man stole tools, kicked down a door and was suicidal.
Authorities said it was too early to talk about a motive in the case, but the dispute between the father and son was well-documented in court records.
“Essentially, what we’ve got here is not an act of terrorism,” said Scott Sweetow, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “It is a depraved individual, by all accounts, who decided to launch what ended up being a suicide attack.”
Police were called Friday morning to a disturbance at the firm of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham in Dalton, 26 miles southeast of Chattanooga, Tenn. An officer saw a man get out of a sport utility vehicle and run behind the building. The explosion followed.
Authorities think Cantrell threw the explosive through a front window or door. As of late Friday, they hadn’t identified the nature of the explosive.
Inside the SUV, authorities found cylinders of natural gas, propane gas and gasoline, which they carefully removed before towing the vehicle late Friday.
Two of the injured were treated at a hospital and released, and one was admitted. A fourth, attorney Jim Phillips, was taken to a burn center in Augusta. Hospital spokeswoman Anne Cordeiro said he was in critical condition.
A block and a half from the blast site, bank executive Wayne Russell said he heard and felt the explosion.
“It sounded like a transformer that’s blown,” said Russell, 53, executive vice president of Omni National Bank. “We could actually feel a sort of rocking motion from the explosion.”
The firm housed the office for Samuel L. Sanders, who represented Lloyd Cantrell’s son in a bitter legal dispute that dated back at least two years. A police spokesman said he didn’t know whether Sanders was in the office at the time of the explosion.
Lloyd Cantrell’s attorney, David Blackburn, said Cantrell’s son, Bruce, filed a lawsuit seeking to block his father from the land, in part claiming that his dad carried a pistol with him and threatened to kill himself.
“He has repeatedly said that ‘The only thing that would keep me off the property is to be put in jail,'” according to a complaint filed by Bruce Cantrell’s attorney in 2006. Several attempts to reach Bruce Cantrell Friday were unsuccessful.
The case was set to go trial in August, but it was delayed.
“I know he got frustrated because it took so long,” Blackburn said of his client. He described the family as “abysmally dysfunctional.”
“He was a pretty nice old man,” Blackburn said of the father. “He was a little cantankerous at times, and I think he was really frustrated.”
Four miles from the explosion, investigators streamed in and out of the suspect’s house, which sits on a large wooded lot with a rusting tractor in front. The white house resembles a large garage with a small living area and a corrugated tin roof. A riding lawn mower and an old recreational vehicle were in the back.
Attorney Robert Smalley, a lawyer at the firm, left 15 to 20 minutes before the blast but turned back when he received phone calls about it.
“We’ll take today with our families and try to regroup,” he said “Our thoughts right now are with the injured and their families.”
Police cordoned off the block and shut down a post office near the law firm, which specializes in personal injury and wrongful death cases, according to its Web site.
Students at an elementary school across the street were evacuated to a nearby church.
___
Bluestein reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Walter Putnam and Dorie Turner in Atlanta also contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By KATE BRUMBACK and GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer
DALTON, Ga. (AP) _ A bitter family dispute over property in north Georgia apparently erupted Friday when a 78-year-old man threw an explosive into a law firm that represented his son, causing a blast that killed the father and injured four people in the office.
The explosion blew out windows of the two-story, colonial-style house where attorneys worked, and some in the small blue-collar town of 30,000 felt vibrations from more than a block away.
Authorities identified the bomber as Lloyd Cantrell, a man known around town for wearing bib overalls and carrying a small Chihuahua. Over the years, Cantrell amassed several parcels of land in the area, and gave some of the property to his son.
His son had grown fearful of his father, though, and filed a lawsuit seeking to keep his dad off the property the son had been given, claiming the elder man stole tools, kicked down a door and was suicidal.
Authorities said it was too early to talk about a motive in the case, but the dispute between the father and son was well-documented in court records.
“Essentially, what we’ve got here is not an act of terrorism,” said Scott Sweetow, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “It is a depraved individual, by all accounts, who decided to launch what ended up being a suicide attack.”
Police were called Friday morning to a disturbance at the firm of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham in Dalton, 26 miles southeast of Chattanooga, Tenn. An officer saw a man get out of a sport utility vehicle and run behind the building. The explosion followed.
Authorities think Cantrell threw the explosive through a front window or door. As of late Friday, they hadn’t identified the nature of the explosive.
Inside the SUV, authorities found cylinders of natural gas, propane gas and gasoline, which they carefully removed before towing the vehicle late Friday.
Two of the injured were treated at a hospital and released, and one was admitted. A fourth, attorney Jim Phillips, was taken to a burn center in Augusta. Hospital spokeswoman Anne Cordeiro said he was in critical condition.
A block and a half from the blast site, bank executive Wayne Russell said he heard and felt the explosion.
“It sounded like a transformer that’s blown,” said Russell, 53, executive vice president of Omni National Bank. “We could actually feel a sort of rocking motion from the explosion.”
The firm housed the office for Samuel L. Sanders, who represented Lloyd Cantrell’s son in a bitter legal dispute that dated back at least two years. A police spokesman said he didn’t know whether Sanders was in the office at the time of the explosion.
Lloyd Cantrell’s attorney, David Blackburn, said Cantrell’s son, Bruce, filed a lawsuit seeking to block his father from the land, in part claiming that his dad carried a pistol with him and threatened to kill himself.
“He has repeatedly said that ‘The only thing that would keep me off the property is to be put in jail,'” according to a complaint filed by Bruce Cantrell’s attorney in 2006. Several attempts to reach Bruce Cantrell Friday were unsuccessful.
The case was set to go trial in August, but it was delayed.
“I know he got frustrated because it took so long,” Blackburn said of his client. He described the family as “abysmally dysfunctional.”
“He was a pretty nice old man,” Blackburn said of the father. “He was a little cantankerous at times, and I think he was really frustrated.”
Four miles from the explosion, investigators streamed in and out of the suspect’s house, which sits on a large wooded lot with a rusting tractor in front. The white house resembles a large garage with a small living area and a corrugated tin roof. A riding lawn mower and an old recreational vehicle were in the back.
Attorney Robert Smalley, a lawyer at the firm, left 15 to 20 minutes before the blast but turned back when he received phone calls about it.
“We’ll take today with our families and try to regroup,” he said “Our thoughts right now are with the injured and their families.”
Police cordoned off the block and shut down a post office near the law firm, which specializes in personal injury and wrongful death cases, according to its Web site.
Students at an elementary school across the street were evacuated to a nearby church.
___
Bluestein reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Walter Putnam and Dorie Turner in Atlanta also contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Imprisoned vets tell their war stories for history
Date: 10/18/2008 12:01 AM
By DAVID DISHNEAU
Associated Press Writer
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) _ As U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam in early 1974, Seaman Apprentice Frederic D. Jones was fighting his own battles.
The cocky Baltimore teenager spent nearly three months AWOL in the Philippines. There, he said, he played cat-and-mouse with shore patrol while fending off a murderous drug dealer, romancing the sister of a militia leader and robbing other servicemen to feed his heroin habit.
Eventually caught, Jones negotiated an honorable discharge but couldn’t stay clean. An armed robbery spree in 1995 got him a 45-year sentence in the Maryland Correctional Institution near Hagerstown.
While Jones, now 52, is locked away from society, his war story has been preserved for posterity. He is among the first incarcerated veterans to tell his military service tale to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.
Video recordings of more than 30 inmates at the medium-security prison are archived at the library’s American Folklife Center, along with those of nearly 60,000 other veterans. Just one other prison, the Fairton Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, N.J., has collected veterans’ stories, said Bob Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project.
Congress created the oral history program in 2000 to document the personal wartime experiences of American service members. The library doesn’t try to verify their stories, but The Associated Press confirmed the service records of the inmates mentioned in this report.
Patrick said that by recognizing their roles in history, the project dignifies the service of veterans who take part. Jones was so proud of his videotape that he had a copy sent to his elderly mother.
“She was so overjoyed and surprised,” he said.
Since any veteran, no matter how decorated or disgraced, can contribute to the archive, Jones’ story was as welcome as that of any admiral. And it’s hard to imagine one more colorful.
On his nearly 90-minute recording, Jones recounts his adventures as a “young, wild, impulsive,” 18-year-old in and around the Subic Bay Naval Base. There, he said, a female gang called the Black Stockings helped him steal cash and watches from drunken sailors and aided him in avoiding a drug dealer he had wronged.
“I ended up getting a contract on my life,” Jones says. “I felt like I had never left home.”
Jones, who is black, said he enlisted in the Navy seeking structure and style — he liked the bell-bottomed uniforms — but he quickly grew disenchanted by the racism and drug use he found.
“I’d had my own preconceived ideas what the military was — I mean straight-up, strict discipline,” Jones says on the video, made a year ago. “The drugs, the gang mentality — it was all right there in the military. It was a big letdown.”
In a June interview with the AP, Jones said he doesn’t blame the military for his mistakes but has found in prison the sort of discipline he had expected from the Navy. Behind bars, he and 58-year-old John E. Barba, who is serving a life sentence for robbing and murdering a methamphetamine maker, have become co-chairmen of the prison’s veterans history committee.
Guided by materials from the Library of Congress, they have become such skilled interviewers since last fall that they and prison librarian Mary Stevanus, who spearheaded the history project, hope to produce a how-to booklet or video for other veterans groups, in or out of prison.
“What you’re looking for is the meat of the stuff,” said Barba, who served domestically in the Navy from 1970 to 1974. Working together, he and Jones conduct informal “pre-interviews” with their subjects, making notes of compelling material “so when they’re giving their interview, we can dive in,” Barba said.
They extracted a harrowing account from Ronald L. McClary, 62, of his experience under fire as a fresh-faced Marine in Vietnam. On his video, the burly inmate, seated before a large U.S. flag, recalls his daily “search-and-destroy” missions.
“Every day, you would look at one of your buddies and wonder who wasn’t going home today or who was going to get killed today. Everybody knew it was going to be somebody,” said McClary, who is serving 12 years for the second-degree murder of his wife in Baltimore 2005.
He recounted a firefight in which two buddies were killed.
“Three rounds went off. The first round hit Amos in the head. Amos fell. When Amos fell, Cope looked around and looked down at Amos. The second round hit Cope in the head. And I seen it. I told you, three rounds went off. Cope was to my left. Amos was to my left, and then there was me. You cannot tell me today the third round wasn’t meant for me. But I was down. I was eating dirt.”
Ordered by his lieutenant to get up and charge the enemy, McClary fired two shots before his gun jammed. “I had to get back down,” he says on the video. “I’ve never been so scared in all my life.”
Jones said he feels privileged hearing such stories.
“These guys have kept this stuff to themselves for 40 years,” he said. “You’ll see one guy that actually breaks down and cries. I mean, these are hardened criminals and he breaks down and cries on his video.”
About 226,000 of the national’s 25.1 million veterans were in prison or jail in 1998, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics’ most recent report on the subject.
Matt Davison, chairman of an incarcerated veterans project for New York-based VietNow National, a veterans advocacy group, said most inmate vets he’s met are proud of having served — and many feel remorse for having done something dishonorable.
Barba said most of the inmates he has interviewed for the history project express gratitude that they were able to serve.
In one video, white-haired World War II vet Lee D. Gerhold, doing 50 years for arranging an ex-wife’s murder, grips his cane and says, “I’m thankful to the country for accepting me.”
___
On the Net:
Veterans History Project: http://www.loc.gov/vets
VietNow National: http://www.vietnow.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By DAVID DISHNEAU
Associated Press Writer
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) _ As U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam in early 1974, Seaman Apprentice Frederic D. Jones was fighting his own battles.
The cocky Baltimore teenager spent nearly three months AWOL in the Philippines. There, he said, he played cat-and-mouse with shore patrol while fending off a murderous drug dealer, romancing the sister of a militia leader and robbing other servicemen to feed his heroin habit.
Eventually caught, Jones negotiated an honorable discharge but couldn’t stay clean. An armed robbery spree in 1995 got him a 45-year sentence in the Maryland Correctional Institution near Hagerstown.
While Jones, now 52, is locked away from society, his war story has been preserved for posterity. He is among the first incarcerated veterans to tell his military service tale to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.
Video recordings of more than 30 inmates at the medium-security prison are archived at the library’s American Folklife Center, along with those of nearly 60,000 other veterans. Just one other prison, the Fairton Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, N.J., has collected veterans’ stories, said Bob Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project.
Congress created the oral history program in 2000 to document the personal wartime experiences of American service members. The library doesn’t try to verify their stories, but The Associated Press confirmed the service records of the inmates mentioned in this report.
Patrick said that by recognizing their roles in history, the project dignifies the service of veterans who take part. Jones was so proud of his videotape that he had a copy sent to his elderly mother.
“She was so overjoyed and surprised,” he said.
Since any veteran, no matter how decorated or disgraced, can contribute to the archive, Jones’ story was as welcome as that of any admiral. And it’s hard to imagine one more colorful.
On his nearly 90-minute recording, Jones recounts his adventures as a “young, wild, impulsive,” 18-year-old in and around the Subic Bay Naval Base. There, he said, a female gang called the Black Stockings helped him steal cash and watches from drunken sailors and aided him in avoiding a drug dealer he had wronged.
“I ended up getting a contract on my life,” Jones says. “I felt like I had never left home.”
Jones, who is black, said he enlisted in the Navy seeking structure and style — he liked the bell-bottomed uniforms — but he quickly grew disenchanted by the racism and drug use he found.
“I’d had my own preconceived ideas what the military was — I mean straight-up, strict discipline,” Jones says on the video, made a year ago. “The drugs, the gang mentality — it was all right there in the military. It was a big letdown.”
In a June interview with the AP, Jones said he doesn’t blame the military for his mistakes but has found in prison the sort of discipline he had expected from the Navy. Behind bars, he and 58-year-old John E. Barba, who is serving a life sentence for robbing and murdering a methamphetamine maker, have become co-chairmen of the prison’s veterans history committee.
Guided by materials from the Library of Congress, they have become such skilled interviewers since last fall that they and prison librarian Mary Stevanus, who spearheaded the history project, hope to produce a how-to booklet or video for other veterans groups, in or out of prison.
“What you’re looking for is the meat of the stuff,” said Barba, who served domestically in the Navy from 1970 to 1974. Working together, he and Jones conduct informal “pre-interviews” with their subjects, making notes of compelling material “so when they’re giving their interview, we can dive in,” Barba said.
They extracted a harrowing account from Ronald L. McClary, 62, of his experience under fire as a fresh-faced Marine in Vietnam. On his video, the burly inmate, seated before a large U.S. flag, recalls his daily “search-and-destroy” missions.
“Every day, you would look at one of your buddies and wonder who wasn’t going home today or who was going to get killed today. Everybody knew it was going to be somebody,” said McClary, who is serving 12 years for the second-degree murder of his wife in Baltimore 2005.
He recounted a firefight in which two buddies were killed.
“Three rounds went off. The first round hit Amos in the head. Amos fell. When Amos fell, Cope looked around and looked down at Amos. The second round hit Cope in the head. And I seen it. I told you, three rounds went off. Cope was to my left. Amos was to my left, and then there was me. You cannot tell me today the third round wasn’t meant for me. But I was down. I was eating dirt.”
Ordered by his lieutenant to get up and charge the enemy, McClary fired two shots before his gun jammed. “I had to get back down,” he says on the video. “I’ve never been so scared in all my life.”
Jones said he feels privileged hearing such stories.
“These guys have kept this stuff to themselves for 40 years,” he said. “You’ll see one guy that actually breaks down and cries. I mean, these are hardened criminals and he breaks down and cries on his video.”
About 226,000 of the national’s 25.1 million veterans were in prison or jail in 1998, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics’ most recent report on the subject.
Matt Davison, chairman of an incarcerated veterans project for New York-based VietNow National, a veterans advocacy group, said most inmate vets he’s met are proud of having served — and many feel remorse for having done something dishonorable.
Barba said most of the inmates he has interviewed for the history project express gratitude that they were able to serve.
In one video, white-haired World War II vet Lee D. Gerhold, doing 50 years for arranging an ex-wife’s murder, grips his cane and says, “I’m thankful to the country for accepting me.”
___
On the Net:
Veterans History Project: http://www.loc.gov/vets
VietNow National: http://www.vietnow.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.