'A Little Broken' - First Responders Grapple With Unseen Scars of the 2017 Fire Siege
KQED News
Sukey Lewis
October 12, 2018
Shortly after Lucas Boek joined his local fire department, he saw a veteran firefighter walk into firehouse and drop all his gear. “’That’s it, I’m done,’” Boek remembers the man saying. “’I can’t do this anymore.’ And he left.”
A Cal Fire firefighter watches for spot fires from a controlled burn at the edge of the Ranch Fire in 2018. (Anne Wernikoff/KQED)
Over the years, the incident stuck with him.
Now, Boek is sitting and talking with two other men in a Ukiah high school classroom. Between the three — medic Corey Bender, 44, and firefighters Lucas Boek, 40, and Brendan Turner, 46 — they have nearly 60 years of experience in emergency response. Sixty years of running toward car accidents, gunshots and flames.
But it’s not the physical danger of the work that these guys are talking about today.
It’s something else, something that until recently has been pretty difficult to discuss openly: their mental health. A 2017 study found that police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. Another survey done last year by the University of Phoenix found that 85 percent of first responders have symptoms related to mental health issues.
Veterans Affairs misdiagnoses and delays nearly kill SoCal veteran
ABC 7 News
Robin McMillan and Lisa Bartley
October 9, 2018
NO LEGAL RECOURSE - CALIFORNIA STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS EXPIRES DURING VA DELAYS
To make matters even worse - during the eight months it took the VA to tell Brian that his primary care physician was a not a VA employee, the California one-year statute of limitations on medical malpractice had expired - meaning he could not sue in civil court either.
TEMECULA, Calif. -- Brian Tally is a military veteran, a husband, a father of four - and until a few years ago - a successful small business owner. Now, he spends much of his day in a beat-up recliner chair, the only relief he says from unrelenting pain.
"There's not a day that goes by that I'm not in pain," Tally said. "This is the only thing that takes the pressure off my spine."
Brian served four years in United States Marine Corps, but now he's in what he calls the fight of his life.
Brian's downward spiral began in January 2016. Severe back pain, night sweats - he made urgent phone calls to his primary care doctor through the Department of Veterans Affairs. She prescribed painkillers over the phone.
The pain only got worse. He went to the VA's emergency room in Loma Linda twice. Both times - he did not get to see a doctor. And twice - no one ordered a simple blood test.
"I was on the floor, I was in traumatic pain...I was literally in tears," Brian recalled. "They gave me an X-ray and the VA ER in Loma Linda diagnosed me with having a low back sprain and told me to go stretch."
He was seen by a nurse practitioner both times, but again - no doctor.
Brian followed up, as instructed, with his primary care physician at the VA clinic in Murrieta.
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Marine, woman dead after apparent murder-suicide
Marine Corps Times
By: J.D. Simkins
1 day ago
A San Diego-based Marine and an unidentified woman were killed in an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday night, the Marine Corps has confirmed.
Sgt. Massamba Diatta, 29, and the 23-year-old woman were discovered by police inside their Houston hotel room after authorities were tipped off by an individual assigned to Diatta’s unit who notified them of “disturbing information” being posted by the Marine on social media, Lt. Larry Crowson told the Houston Chronicle.
The caller told authorities the Marine, who was assigned to recruiting school at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, could be suicidal and was likely accompanied by a woman and a child.
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I have friends on both sides and love them dearly. Right now, I am wondering what the hell happened to the GOP that they no longer care about voting for people under indictment!
This is what he is charge with doing, among other things.
"Prosecutors say the couple concealed many of the expenses in federal records, sometimes as donations to charities for veterans."
Indictment of Marine veteran incumbent roils California congressional race
Associated Press
By JULIE WATSON
Published: October 5, 2018
Even with the 47-page indictment detailing alleged misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds, Hunter is the favorite. Republicans hold a nearly 15-point registration edge in the district, where many military veterans identify with Hunter's service as a Marine in Iraq.
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., listens to testimony during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 7, 2017.
CARLOS BONGIOANNI/STARS AND STRIPES
RAMONA, Calif. — In Southern California's most Republican congressional district a GOP incumbent running against a first-time Democratic candidate should be a slam dunk for re-election.
Not this year.
Rep. Duncan Hunter is under indictment as he seeks a sixth term. He has spent as much on legal fees as his re-election campaign while splitting time between meeting voters and fighting corruption charges.
It's become a bare-knuckles affair with Hunter's campaign running an ad saying his San Diego-born opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, changed his name to "hide his family's ties to terrorism" and now wants to "infiltrate" Congress. Campa-Najjar responded by saying Hunter has lost his grip on reality.
Hunter is one of two indicted Republican congressmen seeking re-election. The other is New York Rep. Chris Collins, accused of insider trading.
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Deputy pushes stranded woman's wheelchair one mile to her home
CBS NEWS
By CAITLIN O'KANE
October 4, 2018
Montanez's partner drove the patrol car behind the wheelchair, and lightly teased the walking deputy. "You can pick it up, you're only going about one mile an hour," Deputy Chapman is heard saying in the video he took of Montanez's good deed. Both Montanez and the elderly woman laughed.
A sheriff's deputy in California is being praised after he pushed an elderly woman in a wheelchair one mile to her home. Lancaster Sheriff's Deputies Chapman and Montanez got a call about a traffic hazard earlier this week. They were told it was a wheelchair in the middle of the road, but when they arrived on the scene, they realized it was much more.
There was a wheelchair on the side of the road, but there was "an elderly female sitting in it," the Lancaster sheriff's office wrote on Facebook.
The woman's motorized wheelchair ran out of power and she was stranded. The deputies offered her a ride, but the wheelchair was too heavy to get into their patrol car and the chair was unable to fold because of the battery pack. The woman didn't want to leave the chair behind, because it is her only means of mobility.
So, instead of leaving both the woman and her wheelchair on the road, Deputy Montanez got out of the patrol car and started walking. He pushed the woman all the way to her home, about one mile away, in his full uniform and boots, the Lancaster Sherrif's officer wrote on Facebook.
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Santa Rosa Officer Makes Life Changing Choice For Baby Girl
KPIX CBS News
September 2, 2108
“We were talking and … I was saying as her — ‘You made this choice for her and that we are so grateful,'” Ashley said. “And she said — ‘You’re her mother now.'”
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) — Police officer Jesse Whitten could never have imagined the impact chance meetings with a homeless woman on a Santa Rosa street would ultimately have on his life.
The woman was living on the streets, pregnant and battling a drug addiction. While on patrol, Whitten would show compassion to her and on one such meeting last August, his wife — Ashley — was along side. The two women struck up a conversation about motherhood and its challenges.
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Funeral Plans for Los Angeles County Fire Captain Include Santa Barbara Burial
Noozhawk
By Janene Scully, Noozhawk North County Editor
August 24, 2018
Memorial for Wayne Habell set for Saturday at Camarillo church; graveside service will be Monday at Santa Barbara Cemetery
Firefighters from the Montecito Fire Protection District salute as a motorcade bearing the body of Los Angeles County fire Capt. Wayne Habell is transported south to Camarillo on Thursday. Services will be Saturday in Camarillo and Monday at Santa Barbara Cemetery. (Peter Hartmann / Noozhawk photo)
Los Angeles County fire captain Wayne Habell will be buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery on Monday afternoon following a funeral two days earlier at a Camarillo church.
Habell, 43, died earlier this month of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
His body was found Aug. 18 in Hot Springs Canyon above Montecito after he had been missing for several days.
He was last seen Aug. 13 leaving his home in Newhall headed to a gym in Stevenson Ranch. On Aug. 17, his vehicle was found parked near the trailhead on East Mountain Drive.
Habell had served the agency for 13 years, according to the Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014.
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Original story
Missing Firefighter Captain Wayne Habell
Duncan Hunter in Indictment: ‘Tell the Navy to Go F*** Themselves’
Roll Call
Katherine Tully-McManus
Posted Aug 21, 2018
Hunter’s wife also concealed a number of improper campaign expenditures by saying they were for wounded veterans. In March 2015, Hunter spent campaign funds buying shorts for himself. According to the indictment, Margaret counseled him to buy the shorts at a golf pro shop so that they could falsely describe the purchase later as “some [golf] balls for the wounded warriors.”
Prosecutors allege California Republican also falsely claimed expenditures for ‘wounded warriors’
The federal indictment of Rep. Duncan Hunter. R-Calif., center, includes details of his cursing the Navy and misrepresenting funds for wounded warriors. He is shown here in a 2012 photo with former Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., left, who resigned in October 2017 after admitting to an extramarital affair, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
A federal indictment alleges that House Armed Services member Duncan Hunter was not happy when he didn’t get a tour of a military base in Italy and had this to say: “Tell the Navy to go f--- themselves.”
Prosecutors also accused the California Republican of falsely claiming that personal expenditures were for “wounded warriors.”
Hunter and his wife, Margaret, were indicted Tuesday for allegedly using $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses, including dental work and trips to Italy and Hawaii.
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Friends drink final toast to slain Vietnam veteran
ABC 10 News
Anthony Pura
Aug 16, 2018
Roth’s wife came home and found him dead Tuesday. Police say he suffered trauma to his upper body. His wife told police the garage door was open.
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) - Dozens of people packed a room at Surfside Tap Room Thursday night for a well-known patron believed to have been killed in his home.
John Roth, 77, was a regular at the bar. More than 50 people came to celebrate his life and drink a final toast.
“He served in Vietnam, he was a topographer,” one of his friends, Tom Andrews said. “He crawled through rice paddies to make sure the maps had the right elevations.”
“We had some intense conversations, but we would always end up laughing,” he added.
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UPDATE
They found his body on Sunday,
“We cannot afford to remain silent any longer — don’t let depression live in the shadows. Each day our members battle post traumatic stress injuries and cumulative stress injuries,” union president Dave Gillotte wrote. “We need to bring these issues into the light to ensure people get the help they need.”
UPDATE
Missing Newhall fire captain’s truck found in Santa Barbara County
Search is on for fire captain missing since Monday
Santa Clarita Signal
Jim Holt
August 15, 2018
A loved and respected veteran firefighter, Capt. Wayne Habell, of Fire Station 73 in Newhall, is now the subject of a missing person’s report that says he has been missing since Monday.
The 43-year-old married father of two boys and one girl was last seen Monday morning on his way to LA Fitness in Stevenson Ranch.
“He suffered from depression, according to his wife,” said Capt. Adam Clint of Fire Station 108.
“His wife and family are devastated,” Clint said, noting his fellow firefighters are also seriously concerned about Habell’s well-being.
Habell’s wife filed a missing person’s report with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
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Sailor killed, another injured in California after fuel tank detached from Sea Hawk helicopter
STARS AND STRIPES
By COREY DICKSTEIN
Published: August 7, 2018
WASHINGTON — A Navy helicopter crewmember was killed and another suffered minor injuries last week at a California base when a fuel tank detached from a utility helicopter and landed on them, Navy officials said Tuesday.
An aircrew assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 85 prepares to take off in a HH-60H Sea Hawk helicopter from Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., Oct. 19, 2016. CHARLES E. WHITE/U.S. NAVY
Navy Helicopter Aircrewman 1st Class Jonathan Richard Clement died July 30 when an auxiliary fuel tank fell on him from an HH-60H Sea Hawk during “hotseat” operations at Naval Air Station North Island, said Navy Cmdr. Ron Flanders, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces. During hotseat operations, a helicopter typically lands, is refueled or the crew is switched out while it is still running and quickly takes off again.
The helicopter was on the ground when the fuel tank fell, Flanders said. It contained fuel and potentially weighed some 1,500 pounds.
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How much louder do they have to scream? That was the question a couple of weeks ago when we posted about veterans committing suicides in very public ways.
Last year, veterans were facing off with law enforcement officers every week. Now there are three within 3 days.
Man taken to hospital after barricading himself inside Byron hotel
The standoff began when police went to do a welfare check and found the man had barricaded himself inside the room
Author: WMAZ Staff
July 24, 2018
When police arrived, they found the door barricaded with all the furniture inside the room.
The SWAT team was called in after family members and police were not able to make contact.
The man inside was confirmed as a military veteran, and police are saying he is under intense mental and physical stress.
No weapon was found and police say he never threatened anyone or himself.
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Man charged with Domestic Battery after Cape Coral standoff
FOX 4 News
Jul 24, 2018
CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- A several-hour long standoff with deputies ended safely Monday with the suspect in jail for Domestic Battery.
Cape Coral Police responded to a welfare check in the 900 block of SW 47th Terrace after a wife called the VA clinic to report her husband was having combat flashbacks and threatened to harm himself.
Deputies responded and attempted to contact the resident, 48-year-old Michael DeArmas, who refused to come out or cooperate with deputies. He later walked out and was taken into custody without incident.
DeArmas' wife spoke to detectives and told them that DeArmas is a combat veteran who has flashbacks and becomes delusional, especially when drinking, as the couple had been doing last weekend.
She said he had access to guns and had threatened to kill himself and their dog.
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Deadly officer involved shooting after standoff in West Central Fresno
July 21, 2018
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- With Action News cameras recording from a distance and witnesses hiding out in neighboring hotel rooms, Fresno Police officers shot a man in the parking lot of the Parkway Inn.
"Officers fired two rounds. One of those rounds struck the suspect at which point he dove right in through a broken window into the hotel room," said Deputy Chief Pat Farmer.
Officers knew they'd hit him and paramedics rushed in, but they could not save the suspect and a standoff ended.
Action News talked to some of Maya's family members, including a woman who was with him at the motel.
They say he was a good man who once served in the army.
They called him a family man who had turned his life around over the last ten years and state records show he also owned his own business.
Both weapons turned out to be pellet guns, but police say they looked very realistic, especially from a distance.
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How much louder do they have to scream?
Firefighter killed in Lincoln crash was Marine veteran
KCRA 3 News
July 13, 2018
South Placer Fire: David Volk received Purple Heart Citation after being injured in Iraq
LINCOLN, Calif. (KCRA) —
A South Placer firefighter who was killed Friday in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash on a Highway 65 off-ramp was a Marine who was wounded in Iraq, according to the fire district.
David Volk, 31, died after his motorcycle crashed on the Lincoln Boulevard off-ramp, the fire department said in a released statement.
It's unclear what time the crash happened, but the scene was discovered sometime around 6 a.m. Friday.
"We're kind of looking at everything. There's some physical evidence, there's some skid marks. So, we have to look at everything before we can make that determination," California Highway Patrol Office David Martinez said.
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2 VA Employees Charged With Stealing Gov. Money for Spending Spree
NBC 7 News San Diego
By Bridget Naso
Jul 11, 2018
"VASDHS leadership has been cooperating with the Office of Inspector General on this investigation since 2013. Now that the investigation is complete, we are pursuing appropriate personnel actions.
Two San Diego Veterans Administration employees have been charged in federal court for using government money to buy luxury items for themselves, others and to sell online.
The spending spree started in 2013, according to court documents. Some of the items included large screen televisions, home theater systems, computers and sporting goods.
Nicholas Pilchak, assistant U.S. attorney said, “The indictment alleges over $23,000 in specific property that Mr. Soleimani misappropriated.”
Shawn Soleimani worked as a Social Service Assistant at the VA's Aspire Center. The Aspire Center is run by the San Diego VA Medical Center. It is a shelter with services for homeless veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Navy Corpsman Found Dead in Barracks ID'd as Emmett Blake Rowan
NBC 7 News San Diego
By Alexander Nguyen
July 6, 2018
The sailor that was found dead in his barracks Monday was identified Friday as Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Emmett Blake Rowan, Navy officials said.
Rowan was found around 9 a.m. at Naval Medical Center San Diego, where he was stationed.
Rowan, a native of Brookville, Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Navy on June 25, 2013, and reported to basic training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois from June 25, 2013, to Aug. 24, 2013.
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UPDATE
"Seaman Shaun Palmer is assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.“Please help me find my son,” his mom, Diane, tweeted, adding that her son’s phone is dead and there has been no activity on his credit cards."
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Search for missing Navy sailor last seen in Waikiki
KHON 2 News
By: Brigette Namata
Posted: Jul 02, 2018
HONOLULU (KHON2) - U.S. Navy Seaman Shaun Palmer failed to report for duty at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on July 1, and was classified as unauthorized absence on July 2, after 24 hours.
Palmer is a hospital corpsman assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
A missing persons report has been filed with the Honolulu Police Department and his command is working closely with local and military officials to find the missing sailor.
Palmer was not scheduled to participate in the ongoing Exercise Rim of the Pacific, a large maritime exercise taking place on and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California.
Palmer's mother Elizabeth Diane Unterein, who lives in California, said she received a call from the military of her son's disappearance on Monday morning. She ran multiple scenarios in her head. "Maybe he just went out and had too much to drink and he'll show up... and he hasn't shown up."
On Saturday night, Palmer was last seen outside the Kelly O'Neil's bar on Lewers Street in Waikiki.
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Veteran firefighter killed, 2 others injured in shooting at California retirement home
The Associated Press
June 25, 2018
Fire Capt. Dave Rosa, who had worked for the department for 17 years, died at a hospital Monday morning, DuRee said. He is survived by a wife and two children, the chief said.
LONG BEACH, Calif. – A resident of a retirement home in Southern California opened fire on firefighters responding to a report of an explosion in the building, killing a veteran fire captain and wounding a second firefighter and another person, officials said.
The shooting happened after firefighters responded to a 3:49 a.m. alarm at the 11-story retirement facility in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, and found some windows blown out, activated sprinklers, the smell of gas and a fire that they extinguished, authorities said.
Firefighters were searching the building when shots were fired at 4:08 a.m. and the two firefighters were hit, Long Beach Fire Chief Michael DuRee said.
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Motorcyclist Killed on I-5 Was Aspiring Navy SEAL
By NBC 7 Staff
Jun 21, 2018
A member of the U.S. Navy was killed when his motorcycle collided with a car on Interstate 5 near the San Diego-Coronado Bridge Friday.
Lt. j.g. mid Mason Calhoun, 24, was an active-duty midshipman who lived in Pacific Beach, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.
Calhoun was on his way to turn in paperwork as part of the application process to be a US Navy SEAL, his mother told a Virginia television station.
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Prosecutor: Doc hired by VA sexually assaulted four female patients
San Diego Union Tribune
Carl Prine
June 18, 2018
Manzanera’s arrest came two days before one of his former patients filed a series of lawsuits in state and federal courts against the doctor, the VA and his former employer, QTC Medical Services.
Four female patients from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs were sexually assaulted by an Oceanside physician who was arrested on Wednesday, authorities say.
Out on a $150,000 bond, Dr. Edgar Manzanera is slated to be arraigned on Wednesday afternoon in California Superior Court’s North County Regional Center in Vista on four separate felony counts of sexually penetrating the women with a foreign object.
A physician contracted by VA to review pension disability claims, Manzanera also is accused of violating the state’s professional code for health providers by allegedly making sexual contact with his patients.
“If there are any other potential victims, please contact the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office,” said deputy prosecutor Dan Owens during a telephone interview on Monday.
Manzanera did not return a Union-Tribune message left with a woman at his home on Monday.
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And about QTC Medical
DIAMOND BAR, Calif., Aug. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- QTC Medical Services, Inc. (QTC), a Leidos (NYSE: LDOS) company, was awarded its second prime contract by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to continue to provide medical disability examinations for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). The contract has a one-year base period of performance, four one-year options, and a total contract ceiling of $6.8 billion, if all options are exercised. This second award follows the initial award of VBA's only nationwide contract supporting disability examinations for separating and retiring Department of Defense servicemembers.
Veteran's remains stolen from vehicle in Wendover
KSL.com
By Jacob Klopfenstein
Posted Jun 11th, 2018
WENDOVER — Authorities are searching for the ashes and remains of a combat veteran that were stolen from a business vehicle at a Wendover motel on Monday.
The remains were stolen from a black Mercedes Benz ECO van belonging to Legacy Estate Management, Wendover Police Department officials said on Facebook. The vehicle was parked at the Quality Inn Motel at 245 E. Wendover Blvd.
Legacy Estate Management helps U.S. veterans and their families after their deaths, police said. The stolen remains were being escorted to the California coast, according to police. Also stolen from the vehicle were some clothing and electronics.
Wendover police are asking for anyone with information about the stolen items to contact them at 435-665-7771.
go here for more
On 06/11/2018, the Wendover Police Department investigated a vehicle burglary at the Quality Inn Motel in Wendover, Utah. The vehicle burglarized was a black Mercedes Benz ecovan with a business logo representing "Legacy Estate Management."
Items stolen from the vehicle included electronics and clothing. Legacy Estates Management serves veterans and their families after the passing of U.S. War Veterans. A specific item that was stolen from the vehicle was the ashes and remains of a combat veteran who was being escorted to the California coast.
The victim of this case would like to recover the remains of the deceased. Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of stolen remains are asked to contact the Wendover Police Department. Please share.
