21 people injured after explosion at shopping center

Explosion at Plantation, Florida, shopping center leaves 21 people injured: 'It just looks like an apocalypse'

ABC News
By EMILY SHAPIRO
Jul 6, 2019

Police and fire crews are looking for answers after an explosion at a shopping center in Florida, officials said Saturday.

First responders at the scene of an explosion in Plantation, Fla., July 6, 2019.

Twenty-one people were injured, including two seriously, in the blast in Plantation, just outside of Fort Lauderdale, said Joel Gordon, Battalion Chief for Plantation Fire.

Video shows windows blown out of an LA Fitness while a building next door appeared completely destroyed, with debris strewn in all directions.
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Philly veteran met best friend in Florida...PTSD Service Dog named Maverick

How a very good dog named Maverick is helping a local vet escape the lingering effects of war

Philly Voice
BY BRIAN HICKEY
PhillyVoice Staff
July 2, 2019

Geoff Dempsey was haunted by things he saw in Afghanistan, but an 18-month old canine lightened his mental load

In late April, Geoff Dempsey flew from Philadelphia to Florida knowing he would soon meet his new best friend without any idea who, exactly, that was.

BRIAN HICKEY/PHILLYVOICE Geoff Dempsey said he felt an instant connection with Maverick, a black-and-tan lab who helps him escape a shell brought about by PTSD stemming from his service with the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan.

He and six other veterans – each still troubled by their time in the service – waited in line. One by one, they walked outside of K9s for Warriors headquarters in Ponte Verde for the big moment.

There, the 30-year-old, who served for five years including an eight-month tour in Afghanistan with his fellow U.S. Marines, was introduced to Maverick, a one-and-a-half-year-old black-and tan lab. They hit it off on the spot.

That connection was clearly evident when the duo arrived at Philadelphia’s Fitler Square Park two months later to talk about a non-profit program that matches veterans with “life-changing service dogs.”

In Dempsey’s case, it was all about being saddled with post-traumatic stress disorder related to his military service.

“He was licking me, sniffing me. I felt an instant connection,” he recalled with a smile on Monday morning, with Maverick at his side. “It was clear that he had a lot of love to give.
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Clay County’s once-promising top lawman is under scrutiny

Sheriff’s swagger loses luster: Clay County’s once-promising top lawman is under scrutiny

Florida Times Union
By Eileen Kelley
Jun 30, 2019

They spoke on the phone about four times a month. The older man understood military life, the younger man was just stepping into it.

Darryl Daniels cautioned Larry Smith about the pitfalls of having to leave a spouse for extended periods when out in the field. He guided him on how to develop a strong, committed marriage. To Smith, the former Navy man turned sheriff’s officer was a mentor.

Smith’s wife, Cierra, introduced the two as he got ready to graduate from Florida A and M University and be commissioned in the U.S. Army.

Cierra Smith had worked for Daniels at the Duval County jail since 2013. She called him “Uncle D.” She seemed to revere Daniels, a man twice her age.

Larry Smith said he didn’t look to Daniels in the same father-figure way, although he did respect him for his sacrifices as a military man and law officer.

When Cierra and Larry Smith held their wedding reception in September 2015, Cierra picked Daniels — not a best friend or relative — to give the bridal toast. Larry Smith selected his younger brother.

Fifteen months later, Larry Smith discovered a trove of emails between his wife and Daniels. They were rife with stories and reflections of the things Daniels and Cierra Smith had done together while Smith was likely out in the field for the Army. He then came across a video link on his wife’s iPad.

He clicked on the link and a video popped onto the screen, a video that stunned him. The images showed his wife performing a sex act on his mentor, her boss, the chief of the Duval County jail at the time. Both were in their uniforms. They were in an office, Larry Smith would later tell investigators with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
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Florida police officer proved what good Cops do...and bad guys do to them

To anyone who wants to think that all Police Officers are the bad guys...this proves why they should always have their cameras on. Watch what this guy does to the officer...including trying to grab his gun and then dragging him off the road.

Video shows Florida police officer being dragged by car during traffic stop

Roofers ripped off disabled veteran in Florida

Two Brevard roofers accused of scamming $35,000 from disabled veteran

Florida Today
Tyler Vazquez
June 18, 2019

Two Brevard County roofers are accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a disabled veteran, according to court records.

Craig Favero, 44, and Christopher Harris, 43, used intimidating tactics to compel the customer to pay for uncompleted work after Hurricane Irma, according to arrest records.

Harris, of Melbourne, was arrested Sunday and charged with exploitation of an elderly or disabled adult and grand theft. Favero, of Satellite Beach, received the same charges in addition to burglary of an occupied dwelling.

Favero and Harris were hired in November of 2017 to provide a new metal roof after damage from Hurricane Irma. At one point, Harris showed up at the customer's house and aggressively demanded payment but refused to accept her credit card, police said.

At various times, they would wait for the customer's husband to leave the house before showing up at her home to aggressively demand money for work they had not yet done, police said.
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Blind veterans in Florida got their hands on flag they can feel!

Blind veterans get a flag they can see with their hands

WCJB ABC 20 News
Landon Harrar 
June 13, 2019

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -- Even if they can't see it, they know it's there and it's there for them.

Here's how blind veterans in Lake City are being honored with their own type of flag that they can see, with their fingers.

It may not be very big, but for the visually impaired veterans in Lake City, it's powerful. A plaque with the stars and stripes raised up so you can feel it with your fingers and the pledge of allegiance written in braille now adorns the VA hospitals walls.

The sight of the flag over Iwo Jima boosted the spirits of marines fighting there.

But there are now many veterans who can't see at all.

Humberto Rodriguez is a U.S. Army veteran who is totally blind who he said "it is important from the standpoint of being blind and the place like we are now in the VA hospital in Lake City. It's very important to know that you're remembered because we're a very small percentage of the population the blind percentage is less than 2 percent."

There are nearly one thousand legally blind veterans in North Florida and four times that many categorized as visually impaired.

Judy McMillan works as a case manager to blind veterans through the VA, she said "to not be able to see the flag is kind of sad. To be able to touch this and remember all the things that this means to you, this way he can touch that and it's going to bring back all those memories of colors."

James Hodges served in the naval reserved and is classified as visually impaired, he said: " you're never far away from it and it's never far from you. So to be included and know there's a flag there for vision impairment even though we can't see the flag, we still can."
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Florida veteran survived Iraq, Fort Hood massacre and attempted suicide by cop

A Suicide-by-Cop Attempt Prompts a Plan to Use Marijuana to Save Veterans

Miami New Times
CARLOS MILLER
JUNE 14, 2019

“Seeing that one of my own service members, a major that I’m supposed to look up to, couldn’t handle his own PTSD and decided to shoot up a soldier-reprocessing site made me feel absolutely terrible," Ortiz says. “I had survivor’s guilt, and I still have survivor’s guilt.”

Having failed at a previous suicide attempt, South Florida Army veteran J.C. Ortiz was determined to succeed the second time.

It was 2009 and he had just returned from his second tour of Iraq, where he had experienced a grueling 15 months of continual combat. Four years earlier, after another 18 months of war, he'd begun suffering from PTSD. He would become addicted to opioids.

Now the plan was to lock himself with bottles of rum and pills in the bathroom of his home on the Fort Hood military base in Texas. Through the door, he would tell his wife he was going to take his own life, knowing she would call military police.

Florida is home to 17 percent of the nation’s homeless, according to the U.S. Census. And the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates veterans make up 11 percent of the nation's homeless population. Ortiz says there are 3,500 homeless veterans in South Florida.
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Florida veteran shot for trying to apologize?

He Wanted to Apologize for Cutting Off Another Driver. It Ended in a Deadly Shootout

Sun Sentinel
By Wayne K. Roustan and Laurel Weibezahn
13 Jun 2019

DAVIE, Florida -- Keith Byrne was trying to do the right thing. After the Marine Corps veteran accidentally cut off another car, he was ready to apologize at the next light.

Before he could, a passenger got out of the cut-off car and shot him square in the chest.

The mortally wounded Byrne, 41, was also prepared to fight back. With his own gun, he fired two shots at 22-year-old Andre Sinclair, and Sinclair died of his injuries at the hospital two days later. Byrne died on scene.

Sinclair had been a passenger in the car his girlfriend was driving. Their toddler was in the backseat.
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Former National Guardsman from Florida Died in Alaska

Alaska Army National Guard soldier dies in Copper River

San Francisco Chronicle
June 10, 2019

Before joining the Alaska Army National Guard, Hepler was in the Florida Army National Guard from 2001 to 2004.

GLENNALLEN, Alaska (AP) — A 35-year-old Alaska Army National Guard soldier from Fort Greely died when he fell into the Copper River while dipnetting for salmon.

Alaska State Troopers say the body of Sgt. 1st Class Russell Hepler was recovered.

Alaska Army National Guard officials say Hepler was a full-time soldier in the 49th Missile Defense Battalion's military police company at Fort Greely.
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Florida veteran built IED and brought it to Bay Pines VA Hospital?

Florida man arrested for allegedly placing bomb at veterans hospital

ABC News
By LUKE BARR
Jun 5, 2019

A man in Florida was arrested for allegedly placing an improvised electronic device (IED) outside of a Veterans Administration hospital in Bay Pines.

Mark Edward Allen, 60, allegedly made the explosive device found at the hospital, as well as an IED found at a home in St. Petersburg, Florida, according to court documents. He made his initial court appearance on Tuesday.

Allen is charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device.

Tampa police found the IED at the hospital on May 29. Later, Allen’s wife later called the St. Petersburg police and told them that her husband had made a bomb. While he was sleeping, she drove the IED to a friend’s house because she was "scared,” according to court documents.

Allen, a U.S. Army veteran, was captured on surveillance video allegedly placing the IED at the hospital, prosecutors say.
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Florida veteran saved from suicide marking D Day as alive day

'We Saved the World.' Veteran saved from suicide ready to mark D-DAY's 75th

First Coast News
Author: Jeannie Blaylock
May 30, 2019

Kevin Crowell, a veteran himself, will jump from a plane in Normandy on the 75th Anniversary of D-DAY to honor his fellow veterans from 1944.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Kevin Crowell stands in awe of the soldiers, paratroopers, and sailors who fought on D-DAY in Normandy. "We saved the world. We saved the world from tyranny," he says in reference to the might of the American military effort on June 6th, 1944.

Crowell says it's his time to say thank you to the young men who volunteered to fight off Hitler. "And think of this," Crowell says. "The Americans who died left their homes and left their farms and left their families and left their town to fly across a giant ocean and go serve."

Crowell is particularly focused on the paratroopers. Some 13,000 American paratroopers jumped behind enemy lines to clear the canals, bridges, and gun nests of the Germans to enable the soldiers' assault onto the Beaches.

According to Dr. Rob Citino, Senior Historian for The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, the paratroopers were critical. "They discombobulated the Germans."

Crowell is fired up about making a jump this D-DAY in a drop zone in Normandy. As a veteran member of the 82nd Airborne himself, he says he's practiced jumping in replica drop zones at Ft. Bragg. Now, in France, he'll jump into the real ones.

Crowell is also celebrating his own personal victory. He came home from Iraq to face a major struggle with PTSD. He'd seen his buddies blown up in an IED attack. He even planned a suicide attempt.

It failed, though. "I passed out and found myself the next morning. I felt it was my second chance." He says his service dog, Bella, from K9s for Warriors is a huge factor to his turning his life completely around. Bella even wore a cap and gown at Crowell's college graduation.
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Florida Congressman gets it wrong on veterans committing suicide

Member of congress gets it all wrong on veterans committing suicide...

This is wrong

“So just in the last 18 months, 34 service members have committed suicide in a Veterans Affairs hospital or clinic — in the actual place that’s supposed to be taking care of them..."

That would be veterans...not service members.

This is wrong

"The nation’s suicide epidemic among veterans and active-duty personnel — 20.6 self-inflicted fatalities a day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs"

VA suicide numbers do not include Active Duty. They retracted the statement saying that they were included due to the fact that would mean the DOD was wrong when they were reporting an average of 500 a year.

Rep. Steube trying to halt veteran suicide ‘crisis’

Herald Tribune
By Billy Cox
Staff Writer
Posted May 29, 2019

“So just in the last 18 months, 34 service members have committed suicide in a Veterans Affairs hospital or clinic — in the actual place that’s supposed to be taking care of them ... And if anybody here has a solution to that problem, or ways we can identify service members who are in a higher risk for that category ... I’m all ears to that.”

Freshman Congressman supports removing marijuana from its wrongly classified Schedule 1 status

NORTH PORT — Staggered by the burgeoning numbers of veteran suicides, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube said on Wednesday he supports removing marijuana from its wrongly classified Schedule 1 status.

“And I think you’d be surprised by the amount of Republicans that would support it,” said the Sarasota Republican, who added Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would likely block a descheduling bill. But Steube said a vote would enjoy broad bipartisan support in the House and could come up for a vote this session.

“I think as you’re seeing a younger generation of elected officials — I mean, look at (Florida Gov. Ron) DeSantis and some of the things he’s done — and their positions on those issues are very different.”

Steube’s remarks followed a town hall meeting sponsored by Concerned Veterans of America at the Suncoast Technical College Conference Center. The nation’s suicide epidemic among veterans and active-duty personnel — 20.6 self-inflicted fatalities a day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs — cast a shadow across the forum, even as many gathered to hear about the latest wrinkles in the Mission Act.

Passed in 2018 to give veterans better access to VA health care, the new regulations will go into effect on June 6. The new law allows patients who’ve been waiting for more than 20 days or who drive more than 30 miles to enter a VA facility to visit a community doctor closer to their residences. The expansion is huge, as it opens new avenues of services to roughly 40 percent of the veteran population. Under current rules, just 8% of veterans have those options.

But solving the suicide epidemic has no easy fix, as Steube told a crowded meeting room. In fact, there’s so much misinformation about what veterans in Florida and other medical marijuana-legal states are liable for with their medical-cannabis prescriptions, the House freshman said he intends to introduce a bill to codify protection for veterans whose urinalyses may test positive for marijuana.

“The directive is, you can’t be denied VA services, but I’ve heard from veterans in my own district who say they’ve been told otherwise ... So I have a bill to make it law that if you live in a state that has lawfully opened up medicinal marijuana and you have a recommendation for a prescription ... you cannot lose those VA benefits.”

A member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Steube calls the suicide epidemic a crisis that can’t ignore any potential remedies. He says the VA is trying to be proactive in its screening procedures, but the numbers continue to skyrocket.
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On the medical pot thing, that is correct and a lot of doctors with the VA would prefer to give their veterans it instead of most of the drugs that actually come with warnings of increasing suicidal thoughts...

Fred Franks, a retired U.S. Army general, reflects on his more than 35 years in service

Naples veteran committed to service after decades in the military

WINK
Reporter: Teri Evans
Writer: Jack Lowenstein
May 28, 2019

A four-star army general with a storied military career from Vietnam and beyond lives right here in Southwest Florida. Twenty-five years into retirement, he remains committed to fulfilling the trust that’s owed to all who serve.

Fred Franks, a retired U.S. Army general, reflects on his more than 35 years in service.

In 1970, Franks was wounded in Cambodia. His leg was amputated from below the knee, but it was not long before he went back to active duty in the combat unit.

“I really wanted to stay in the Army,” Franks said. “I didn’t want to do anything other than be a soldier.”

But when soldiers returned from Vietnam, there were no parades, only protests against an unpopular war like at the 1967 national rally in Washington D.C. Soldiers got caught in the crossfire of blame, and their trust in military officials and the American people were broken.

“Duty, honor, country, didn’t it mean anything?” Franks said. “These young people went, did what our country asked. So that lit a hot blue flame in me. That for the rest of my service, for the rest of my life, I would devote myself to seeing to it that trust was never fractured again.”

Gen. Franks is best known for serving in Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War and leading the VII Corps of the U.S. in a famous maneuver that forced the retreat of the Iraqi Army.

“What we call the left-hook attack,” Franks said. “There wasn’t a day on Desert Storm that I didn’t remember my fellow veterans.”

Through he retired in 1994, Franks never stopped thinking about the troops, especially those returning from war with both visible and invisible wounds.
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REMINDER
Vietnam is still the longest war to anyone paying attention! 

Vietnam War, (1954–75), a protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Called the “American War” in Vietnam (or, in full, the “War Against the Americans to Save the Nation”), the war was also part of a larger regional conflict (see Indochina wars) and a manifestation of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies.

The last deaths came in 1975 and here is the first name added.

Vietnam Memorial Wall Page
THE FIRST KNOWN CASUALTY

Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.
His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who has a casualty date of Sept. 7, 1965.

Remembering the fallen on Memorial Day

The fallen were remembered in Casselberry and Oviedo Florida

Sgt. Dave Matthews of Never Forgotten Memorials put on his uniform to remember two local heroes even though it was 100 degrees!

Staff Sgt. Robert Miller's Dad

These are from Rock and Brews

Service dog killed by gator, owner committed suicide next day

Service dog mauled to death by gator outside Palmetto dog park

WFLA News
By: Victoria Price
May 24, 2019

PALMETTO, Fla. (WFLA) - PALMETTO, Fla. (WFLA) - Pet owners in Manatee County are sounding the alarm after a gator mauled and killed a man's service dog at Dog Leg Park at Buffalo Creek.

The attack happened Friday shortly before dusk. Sharil Dowling and other witnesses say the chocolate lab somehow got loose while outside the fence with its owner.

Next thing Dowling knew, the lifeless dog was slumped over a man's shoulders, covered in blood.

Dowling described the scene as horrifying but had previous feared such an attack was an accident waiting to happen.

"Most people, if they knew they were that close to marsh and gators, they wouldn't walk back there," she said. "I can't imagine the anguish that guy was in."

A line of trees just outside the dog park obscures wetlands, and both Dowling and other pet owners who frequent the dog park fear not enough people are aware of the dangers hidden away.

In the five years Tim Todd has come to Dog Leg Park, he knows of at least three dogs eaten by alligators. After Friday, he reached out to the county, demanding it put up warning signs.

"It was too late to do anything for that dog, but what could we do to help other people?" Todd asked.

Snake and gator warning signs were installed earlier this week.

News Channel 8 has learned the dog killed Friday, Java, was a service dog for Andrew Epp, a local man who suffered mental health issues. Epp was so distraught, according to family and friends, that he took his own life the very next day.
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Heroes’ Mile is a for-profit recovery center?

New treatment center to be run for veterans, by veterans

West Volusia Beacon
Joe Crews
May 22, 2019

The 45-bed center, located at 2775 Big John Drive, is on 10 acres of secluded land. The center will offer a full range of inpatient and outpatient programs for veterans struggling with mental health and substance use.

RECOVERY HAPPENS HERE — Heroes’ Mile is a for-profit recovery center dedicated to helping veterans exclusively, with a full range of inpatient and outpatient programs for veterans struggling with mental health and substance use. PHOTO COURTESY OGLETHORPE INC.

Heroes’ Mile Veteran Recovery and Transition Center, a for-profit recovery center dedicated to helping veterans exclusively, with programs developed for veterans and services delivered by veterans, is having a grand-opening event Friday, May 31, at its facility on Big John Drive, east of DeLand.

Guest speakers will include U.S. Rep. (U.S. Army, retired) Michael Waltz of the 6th Congressional District of Florida; U.S. Rep. (U.S. Army, retired) Brian Mast of the 18th Congressional District of Florida; Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs (FDVA) and U.S. Army Capt. Danny Burgess; and Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood.

A full slate of events beginning at 3 p.m. will culminate just before 5 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting hosted by the West Volusia Regional Chamber of Commerce. A reception and tours will follow from 5 to 7 p.m.

As a patient-centric center, Heroes’ Mile follows veterans through recovery and into a new, healthy way of living. Unlike other recovery centers, Heroes’ Mile not only treats addiction but also treats invisible wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and military sexual trauma (MST).

The Heroes’ Mile facility is owned and managed by Oglethorpe Inc., a national hospital-management company headquartered in Tampa. The company has recovery and behavioral health centers in Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, Texas and Nevada, according to its website. All of them treat veterans, but Heroes’ Mile is the only one dedicated solely to treating veterans.
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82-year-old Vietnam veteran ripped off by woman he tried to help

update Exploited DeLand Veteran Lands Big Donations

update Florida couple left veteran, 82, suicidal after emptying his bank account, police say

Woman accused of emptying DeLand veteran's life savings

WESH 2
Claire Metz
May 14, 2019

DELAND, Fla.
A Central Florida veteran called a service center saying he couldn't take it anymore and wanted to die.

Police said they believe the veteran was scammed out of his life savings and left with nothing.

Jessica Henry, 31, is accused of cleaning out an elderly man's bank account by lying to him and taking advantage of his good nature, according to police.

Police said the 82-year-old victim contacted the veterans crisis center and told them he wanted to commit suicide due to his money being depleted.

Investigators said the victim met Henry three years ago when she told him she was a single mother who was struggling to feed her kids.

The victim started giving Henry rides to drop her children off at school and gave her a few dollars to purchase food, officials said.

Police said six months ago, Henry contacted the victim again and said she needed money for probation costs after being arrested.
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Side by side hundreds of bikers escorted the Vietnam Memorial traveling wall into Wickham Park

update..make that 1,000

SPACE COAST DAILY TV: More than 1,000 motorcycles and hundreds of cars escorted the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall from the Eastern Florida State College campus in Cocoa to Wickham Park on Sunday morning. The Friday Night Locker Room’s Steve Wilson and Orville Susong covered the impressive procession live on Space Coast Daily TV.

Wickham Park Wall Escort 2019

Wounded Times and PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 5, 2019

This morning I was at Wickham Park in Melbourne Florida for the Vietnam Memorial Wall Escort. It is the start of the week long reunion for veterans. While it started as a Vietnam veterans reunion, it was changed so that all veterans felt like family!

It is one of my favorite events and I wanted to share it with you, so, no PTSD Patrol video as usual today. Besides, when it comes to empowerment...sometimes it comes on two wheels and side by side~