Las Vegas VA betting veterans want help to heal

VA opens gambling addiction treatment center in Vegas

Military Times
By: Patricia Kime
11 minutes ago

LVR3 has 20 beds, including a separate wing with five beds for women veterans, and will focus on individual treatment plans using a “whole health approach” geared to emotional, physical and mental healing.

VA has opened its newest inpatient treatment facility in Las Vegas. The center is available for veterans nationwide. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Department of Veterans Affairs has opened its second in-patient gambling addiction recovery center, right in the heart of Sin City.

VA officials announced this month that the Las Vegas VA Residential Recovery and Renewal Center, or LVR3, will host 30- and 45-day programs for gambling and substance abuse treatment.

The facility is the second of its kind in nearly 50 years at VA: the department’s first gambling addiction center – a trailblazing treatment facility that was the first of its kind in the country for addressing compulsive gambling – opened at the Brecksville, Ohio, VA Medical Center in 1972.

Now part of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, it was the sole inpatient treatment center for gambling addiction, drawing more than 100 veterans annually from around the country for care.
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Cranky note left on veteran's car...because she is a female veteran!

‘Women serve too’; Note left on veteran’s car prompts conversation among female vets

WECT 6 News
By Amanda Foster
December 2, 2019

INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. (WBTV) - A female veteran parked in a “reserved veteran parking” spot at an Indian Trail Harris Teeter says someone left a note on her car that was disappointing.

The woman wrote “Women serve, too” in part of a post on the ‘What’s Up Indian Trail?” Facebook page. She says after she parked in the reserved veterans’ space at the grocery store, someone left her a note – on what looks like a napkin - with the message, “R U A Veteran!” written in blue.

“It is disappointing to think there are people out there…but it’s reality. There’s going to be stereotypes everywhere,” Air Force veteran Mindy Mills says.

Mills is one of several other female veterans now commenting on the social media post, sharing their own stories of sideways looks, notes, even confrontations. One woman writes, “I very seldom use the spots but I have been asked twice by men if I am a veteran.” Another commenter tells a story of someone following her into a store and yelling at her for parking in the space.
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Operation Combat Bikesaver mending veterans of all generations

Hot rod therapy: Vets tout positive influence of motorcycle building workshop; ‘It’s really amazing what getting your knuckles dirty and bloody can do’

Chicago Tribune
By CARRIE NAPOLEON
POST-TRIBUNE
DEC 08, 2019

Participants are from different branches of the service and different wars and conflicts including Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. What they find on those Sundays is the camaraderie they had while serving and a place to work through their feelings physically by working on projects or their own bike.

U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Indiana), right, visits the headquarters of Operation Combat Bikesaver in Center Township near Crown Point on Friday, December 6, 2019. At left is organization CEO, president and founder, Jason Zaideman. (Michael Gard/Post-Tribune) (Michael Gard / Post-Tribune)

Marine veteran Dan Riordan explained to U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., how the motorcycle he is building at Operation Combat Bikesaver Inc. will look when the project is done.

The bike will be Marine Corps dress blue with the red stripe. There will be a Gold Star in front with the names of the members of his battalion “Mad Ghosts 224” killed in action listed, Riordan said. The battalion logo will be on the sides.

“It’s gonna be looking good and sounding even better,” Riordan, of Griffith, said.

Young was in Crown Point to tour the Operation Combat Bikesaver facility and learn more about the work done there to help veterans struggling with issues including depression and PTSD find their footing.
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Did you return veteran's wallet in Tampa Florida?

A stranger's good deed lands Florida veteran his wallet

By: WFTS Digital Staff
Dec 07, 2019

"I see so much negativity out there about people," said McCormick. "I wanted to make public that here’s a guy that for no reason at all, except that he was a good guy, just stopped and brought home something that he didn’t have to do."

TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa man's mistake could have cost him big, but a stranger's kind gesture saved the day.

Joe McCormick says a routine trip to the grocery store nearly put his entire identity at risk. He dropped his wallet while shopping at Winn-Dixie on Swann Avenue.

“Driver’s license, military ID, veterans ID, medicare card, car insurance," said McCormick. "Everything that you need to have to get through life was in that, I had no idea I had even lost it."

Not long after returning to his home on Davis Islands, an unexpected knock came at the front door.

A man McCormick describes as in his 20s, driving a blue four-door sedan returned his wallet.
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Medal of Honor Bruce W. Carter Vietnam War Fallen Hero Needs to Be Buried at Arlington!

War hero’s mother wants son buried at Arlington — 50 years later

Miami Herald
BY THEO KARANTSALIS SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD
DECEMBER 08, 2019

“Dying for freedom isn’t the worst thing that can happen,” said Carter’s mother, Georgie Carter-Krell, 88, of Virginia Gardens. “Being forgotten is.”

Georgie Carter-Krell, 88, of Virginia Gardens, speaks at a 2011 Veterans Day event about how her son, Pvt. First-Class Bruce W. Carter, was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. THEO KARANTSALIS FOR THE MIAMI HERALD

A teenage Marine knew what to do when he was pinned down by enemy fire in Vietnam and a grenade was tossed between him and his friends.

Pvt. First-Class Bruce W. Carter, 19, was posthumously awarded the nation’s highest medal for valor in combat.

“Dying for freedom isn’t the worst thing that can happen,” said Carter’s mother, Georgie Carter-Krell, 88, of Virginia Gardens. “Being forgotten is.”

Carter-Krell said she has reached out to President Trump’s office for help in transferring her son’s body from Miami to Arlington but has not yet received a call back.

A message from the Herald seeking comment from President Trump’s press office Thursday was not immediately returned.

“Something like this needs to come from the top,” said Carter-Krell.
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VA clinic sharing space with funeral home no longer a good idea?

New VA clinic in Niagara Falls won't share space with a funeral home after all

Buffalo News
By Thomas J. Prohaska
December 8, 2019

"It just sends a bad message" Krause said. "We're going to go in the front door and go out the back door?"

A VA clinic will now have the entire space at 1300 Pine Ave. in Niagara Falls, rather than share quarters with a funeral home. (Google image)

When veteran Robert Krause heard that the new Veterans Administration outpatient medical clinic in Niagara Falls would share a building with a funeral home, he and other veterans were unhappy.

"It just sends a bad message" Krause said. "We're going to go in the front door and go out the back door?"

But now it's the funeral home that has gone out the door.

Spallino-Amigone Funeral Home has moved out of its longtime location at 1300 Pine Ave., leaving the entire building to the VA.

Some local veterans were glad to see that, feeling that it was just a bad look for a medical clinic to share space with a funeral home.

"It just didn't seem right, Krause said. "A lot of us were planning to go somewhere else."

Anthony Amigone Jr., president of the Amigone Funeral Home chain, said Spallino-Amigone moved to Military Road in the Town of Niagara about two months ago.

He said the move was requested by the new owner of 1300 Pine, Acquest Development of Williamsville.
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