Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts

Monday, December 26, 2016

Veteran Chaplain-Priest Removed For PTSD?

Where is Fr. Robert? Archdiocese owes an explanation 
Poughkeepsie Journal
Dennis Maloney December 26, 2016

Where is Father Robert Repenning? On July 1, the Archdiocese of New York removed Father Robert, pastor of Holy Trinity in Poughkeepsie, because they learned he suffered from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder as his reward for serving his country as Army chaplain. 

He, unlike most, served in active combat and is a decorated veteran.

He never hid his PTSD and sought treatment for it at the Veterans Affairs upon homecoming. Not good enough for the Archdiocese! 


They wanted him to go to St. John Vianny, where they send pedophiles to “evaluate” his PTSD by them. Don’t they trust the VA?

Five months after removing him for evaluation, they have not done it! Why?

It’s not important to them that he brought new life to a dying parish. It’s obvious they want to punish him for daring to become a Chaplain!
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Monday, December 19, 2016

Trumps Picks Army Secretary with Ties to Florida, and 101st

Army veteran Vincent Viola, billionaire owner of the Florida Panthers, named Trump’s Army secretary
Washington Post
Dan Lamothe
December 19, 2016

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated as his Army secretary Vincent Viola, an Army veteran who became a billionaire after founding an electronic trading firm and went on to buy the Florida Panthers hockey team.
Businessman Vincent Viola enters Trump Tower in Manhattan on Dec. 16.
(Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
Viola is a 1977 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and funded the creation of its highly regarded Combating Terrorism Center after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A former infantry officer and Ranger School graduate, he has pressed for innovation in cyber warfare, saying at a conference five years ago that the Army of the future will be built on a “gestalt of geekdom.”
Viola was raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., by Italian immigrants, and served in the 101st Airborne Division after the Vietnam War ended. His father and several uncles served in combat in World War II, and he grew up believing that serving in the military was a deeply honorable profession, he recalled in an interview for the West Point Center for Oral History.
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Monday, November 21, 2016

Decorated Veteran Buried in Backyard After Suicide

Family Buried Decorated Korean, Vietnam War Vet In Backyard After Apparent Suicide, Nassau Cops Say
CBS News New York
November 18, 2016

Neighbors identified him as Frank Mabry — a Purple Heart, Korean and Vietnam War veteran in his 80s. His family claims he was ill, took his own life, and had an unusual request.
NORTH BELLMORE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — A North Bellmore neighborhood has had a steady police presence for two days, so neighbors were relieved to hear there was no danger to them.

As CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported, they’re scratching their heads at why a family would bury a loved one in the backyard.

Homicide detectives worked for a second day, scouring the overgrown property surrounding 1369 Pea Pond Road — digging with shovels in the back yard.

By afternoon they found what they were looking for, buried in a shallow 2-foot deep makeshift grave was a body wrapped in blue.
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Sunday, November 20, 2016

Death of Fort Hood Soldier Under Investigation

Pvt. Kevin Paulino, 24, was shot in Peru, Ind., and died Wednesday, officials said. (U.S. ARMY)
If you saw the following copy of the report, it is wrong. The picture below is of a Sailor.
Bronx soldier, 24, fatally shot while serving in Indiana
New York Daily News
Ginger Adams Otis
November 19, 2016

A Bronx soldier serving in Indiana died of a gunshot wound, Army officials said Friday.

Provided by New York Daily News Pvt. Kevin Paulino, 24, was shot in Peru, Ind., and died Wednesday, officials said. - Byron Smith for New York Daily News
Pvt. Kevin Paulino, 24, died Wednesday, according to officials at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas.

Paulino entered active-duty service in May as an infantryman.


He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood in September, officials said.

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Thursday, November 10, 2016

Knicks End Veteran's 18 Month Wait for Service Dog

WATCH: New York Knicks surprise Army veteran with service dog
United States Army Retired Sergeant First Class Luciano Yulfo and Murphy will make quite the team
CBS Sports
Ananth Pandian
November 10, 2016
The New York Knicks may be having issues with the triangle offense and their defense but they are still making dreams come true.

During a break in action against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday, the Knicks utilized the time by honoring United States Army Retired Sergeant First Class Luciano Yulfo, who served the country for 36 years. The Knicks presented Yulfo with a custom jersey and former All-Star Larry Johnson was on hand to thank the retired sergeant for his service. But then the Knicks made the moment even more special for Yulfo as they surprised him with a service dog, which he has been waiting to get for 18 months.
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Monday, November 7, 2016

PTSD Miracle Treatment Or Snake Oil?

Wow, you'd think that researchers would figure out what was done before. If it worked, they'd still be doing it and we would have seen the results. Guess they hope we didn't notice.
Volunteers wanted for PTSD study of treatment some call a miracle
STARS AND STRIPES
By JENNIFER H. SVAN
Published: November 6, 2016

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A treatment involving the injection of a local anesthetic next to a bundle of nerves in the neck has eased post-traumatic stress symptoms in some patients in as little as 30 minutes with dramatic, lasting results.

Now, the Pentagon is funding a study at three Army medical centers to determine if the technique — long used for the treatment of pain — is truly effective in treating PTSD.

The results from the largest random, controlled trial using the stellate ganglion block could revolutionize the way PTSD — considered a mental illness — is viewed and treated, according to doctors familiar with the experimental procedure.

“It really is the tipping point,” Col. James Lynch, command surgeon for U.S. Special Operations Command Africa in Stuttgart, who has seen firsthand the promising effects of the shot, said about the current trial.
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Does this sound new to you? I bet it doesn't because we already read this "research" back in 2010. Remember this blast from the past?

Stellate Ganglion Blocker Offers Hope for PTSD Treatment only that study came out of New York. I just checked and the link to the report is still live.
JAB TO THE NECK TREATS PTSD?
By Dr. Jay Adlersberg and Eyewitness News
July 28, 2010 3:17:47 PM PDT
NEW YORK -- All it takes is one loud noise to trigger a flood of awful memories. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) haunts one in every six soldiers coming back from Iraq, and nearly eight million Americans in all. Standard treatment means therapy and medications that don't always work and have side effects. Now, one doctor is treating PTSD with an injection that he says can block the painful memories.

"I was firing a rocket propelled grenade (RPG). When I pulled the trigger, it malfunctioned, and it blew up in the tube. Injured seven marines and killed three, all good friends of mine," said John Sullivan, an Iraq Veteran.

Thirteen surgeries, several skin grafts, and two years of therapy later, Sullivan is in a much more peaceful place, but that doesn't mean he's safe from the effects of war.

"I was riding on a bus with my uncle going to a baseball game, and the tire blew out?started having a panic attack," Sullivan said.

Sullivan was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder. It can occur after you've seen or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death. According to the National Center for PTSD, statistics indicate that approximately 7 to 8 percent of people in the United States will likely develop PTSD in their lifetime. For combat veterans and rape victims, the chance of developing PTSD is as high as 30 percent.

Untreated PTSD can have devastating, far-reaching consequences. It can prevent someone from functioning in daily life and can ruin relationships. Economically, PTSD can have significant consequences as well. As of 2005, more than 200,000 veterans were receiving disability compensation for this illness, at a cost of $4.3 billion. This represents an 80-percent increase in the number of military people receiving disability benefits for PTSD.

Anti-anxiety meds didn't work for Sullivan, so he's trying an experimental treatment: an injection to the neck to stop PTSD.
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Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Troy Vietnam Memorial Destroyed by Unlicensed Driver

Police: Unlicensed driver destroyed Vietnam memorial in Troy
Oneida Daily Dispatch
By Nicholas Buonanno
September 27, 2016 

TROY 
A Troy woman was ticketed after crashing Sunday morning into a memorial just dedicated just last year to a city native who died in the Vietnam war.
Troy firefighters look over a memorial dedicated in 2015 to a Troy man killed during the Vietnam war that was destroyed Sunday morning when it was struck by a vehicle. SIDEWINDER PHOTOGRAPHY
The incident occurred on Sunday morning near the bridge at Spring Avenue and Hill Street in Troy.

City police spokesman Capt. Daniel DeWolf said Neressa Harden, 36, failed to stop at the intersection of Spring Avenue and Ida and Hill streets, proceeding through the intersection and crashing into a memorial to Robert Felter, a U.S. Marine who was killed in action Dec. 11, 1965.
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Saturday, September 24, 2016

Ground Zero Responder Turned Away From Hospital Because of PTSD Service Dog?

Ground Zero Worker Turned Away from Hospital When He Brings Service Dog
NBC New York

By Lori Bordonaro
September 23, 2016

Hazan later told NBC 4 New York, "At a mental health care facility, it makes it an egregious violation of human rights."
A ground zero first responder suffering post-traumatic stress disorder was turned away from a New York City hospital when he tried to bring his service dog to a therapy session, he says. Fifteen years after responding to ground zero, former New Jersey EMT Jamie Hazan had finally gotten the perfect prescription for his post-traumatic stress disorder: Bernie, a service dog.

He takes Bernie nearly everywhere, including doctors appointments. But when Hazan arrived at New York State Psychiatric Institute hospital in Washington Heights for his therapy session Tuesday, he was told Bernie wasn't welcome.

Hazan began recording the exchange on his cellphone.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Long Island VA Director "There weren't suicides here"

Vets Slam Northport VA During Congressional Hearing On Long Island
CBS New York
September 20, 2016
“There weren’t suicides here,” Moschitta said. “There weren’t two veterans. One was a staff employee, the other one by a car exam, indicated that he died of other issues. So you’re gonna see a continuous array of falsehoods because people have other issues here.”
NORTHPORT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Accusations of patient neglect and suicide consumed much of a congressional hearing on veteran’s affairs at a VA hospital on Long Island on Tuesday.

Northport VA Medical Center Director Phil Moschitta says the hospital did not turn away a patient that later committed suicide in the hospital’s parking lot, WCBS 880’s Mike Xirinachs reported.

Earlier this year, Peter Kaisen, 76, a retired police officer from Islip, was found in a parking lot at the medical center suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.
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Monday, September 12, 2016

Memories From Priests Who Went to Battle on 9/11

Ground Zero: Memories From Priests Who Went to Battle on 9/11
The terror attacks of Sept. 11 left an imprint on the nation — and also on the lives of clergy who witnessed it and ministered to the victims.
National Catholic Register
BY PETER JESSERER SMITH
09/11/2016

When people ask him — and many have — “Where was God that day?” Father Colucci says that he saw, firsthand, the Body of Christ in action. “The best of humanity came out that day.”
An American flag flies above the cross of steel beams discovered in the rubble at Ground Zero on Aug. 19, 2002, in New York City. – Mario Tama/Getty Images
NEW YORK — “It started coming down on us.”

Fifteen years ago, Capt. Thomas Colucci led the men of his 31st Street firehouse into what would be the finest hour for New York City’s fire, police and emergency responders: Ground Zero on Sept. 11.

After the South Tower collapsed, the Catholic fire captain and his firefighters began digging through the wreckage, searching for any hope of survivors and the firefighters who had gone into the tower to save them.

Then, at 10:28am, the sky opened up with a roar, and a collective scream of terror erupted from the ground — the North Tower and iconic spire begin to fall — and the men and women who donned the uniforms of New York’s first responders would give the final sacrifice amid a hail of steel, concrete and debris.

As they escaped, Colucci saw some of his comrades struck down — he and a few of the firefighters found their only refuge sheltering behind a car. Enveloped in that cloud of darkness, the fireman’s vocation became clear: He would become a priest, helping those in darkness see a great light.

Nearly 3,000 men, women and children perished in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. But the legacy of 9/11 is that more than 25,000 other lives were saved that day, because ordinary men and women put on their uniforms and ran to save others from death and danger. On a Tuesday morning, 343 firefighters and emergency personnel, 23 New York Police Department and 37 Port Authority officers laid down their lives for others. Many more would give their lives — a payment deferred by cancer they gathered from the rescue work.

Colucci retired in 2004, and, this year, he became Father Colucci.
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Iraq Veteran Learns to Walk Again and Then Brew Ale

Wounded in Iraq, veteran starts over again at Flagship Brewing Co.
Staten Island Advance
Lauren Steussy
September 12, 2016

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — If you want to know what a country looks like 15 years after a terrorist attack, you could look inside a certain kettle of boiling pre-fermented beer — changing, restoring and improving with time.

This past weekend, Marine veteran Ray Sumner brewed a Georgia Peach Ale at Flagship Brewing Co. There, in Tompkinsville, he's doing his time as a 54-year-old intern, embarking on a third career in the beer industry.

It's the completion of a life's trajectory, which started when the Staten Island native saw the smoke and ashes rise out of lower Manhattan from St. George. Two years after the September 11 attacks, he got "the call that no Marine can resist."

Sumner didn't have much of choice at first. In 2005, his platoon was clearing insurgents in Haditha, Iraq, when he was shot in the hip. The bullet severed an artery in his leg and landed him in a coma for 10 days.

His sergeant was among the nearly 50 killed and 450 wounded in his unit, which took on the most casualties of any other unit in the war. It took Sumner two years to learn how to walk again.
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Sunday, September 11, 2016

Retired Marine Chaplain Walking From New York to Merritt Island

Marine Corps veteran to walk from New York City to Merritt Island
FLORIDA TODAY
R. Norman Moody
September 9, 2016

"When I walk I can't stop walking. When people know that you walk they want to join you. I don't make excuses, I just walk. I trust God."
Rev. Danny Garcia begins his walk Sunday from New York City
(Photo: R. Norman Moody / FLORIDA TODAY)
Retired Marine Sgt. Danny Garcia started walking long-distance to heal from personal difficulties.

Many years later and thousands of miles of walking for causes in various countries around the world, he is beginning a new long distance trek: Many Steps for Many Vets 2016 Walk, from Sept. 11 to Nov. 11.

At age 71, the Melbourne resident is taking on a 1,450-mile trek beginning Sunday from near the site of the 9/11 memorial near Liberty and Greenwich streets in New York City, with the goal of reaching the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center on Veterans Day, Nov.11.

On that day, the center will hold its Veterans Day ceremony and the grand opening of its expanded museum and the adjacent 82-acre veterans park.

"This walk is not a game," he said. "This walk is not a marathon. Our country is bleeding right now. Yes, the walk is for our veterans, but it is also for our country."
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Saturday, September 10, 2016

Workers In Twin Towers 30 Percent More Likely to Have PTSD

Health Dept. Report Says 9/11 Survivors More at Risk for Serious Health Problems Than Initially Expected
By NY1 News
Friday, September 9, 2016

A new report from the city's Health Department finds that September 11th survivors are more at risk for serious health problems than initially expected.

The report says September 11th first responders are 11 percent more likely to have cancer than the average New York State resident.

Civilians who were near the World Trade Center that day are 8 percent more likely to have cancer.

Workers who were evacuated from the towers are 30 percent more likely to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, and workers with September 11th health-related issues are more inclined to retire early or lose their jobs.

The Health Department conducted the study between 2007 and 2011.
go here for videos

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Humans of New York Reminder Troops Are Still Only Human

Humans of New York decided to profile veterans. The response has been overwhelming.
Washington Post
By Dan Lamothe
August 31, 2016 


At the outset of the project, Stanton said on Facebook he expected that the project would show conflicting feelings: “patriotism, disillusionment, pride, regret, gratitude, and grief.” 

Zachary Iscol appears in the picture in a light-blue shirt and tousled hair, a 5 o’clock shadow on his face. In accompanying text, he mourns the loss of his friend “Ronnie Winchester,” a first lieutenant with the Marine Corps who died in Iraq in 2004, just a few years after graduating from the Naval Academy.

“He was the nicest guy you can imagine,” Iscol said. “My 22nd birthday was during our officer training course. None of us had slept. We were all starving. We were only getting one ration per day. But Ronnie wanted to give me a memorable birthday. So he put a candle in his brownie and gave it to me. That’s how nice of a guy he was. Ronnie ended up getting killed in Iraq. And if a guy like Ronnie got killed, you can’t help but wonder why you deserve to be alive.”

It’s one of many sentiments that have been shared recently by veterans on Humans of New York, the popular social-media group that was created to document the lives of New Yorkers and now has nearly 18 million followers on Facebook and 5.8 million more on Instagram. The series has seen numerous veterans and military family members share their observations of the world with photographer Brandon Stanton.

At the outset of the project, Stanton said on Facebook he expected that the project would show conflicting feelings: “patriotism, disillusionment, pride, regret, gratitude, and grief.” Many of the veterans involved have post-traumatic stress, Stanton said, but the hardships they shared in interviews with Humans of New York are too nuanced for that diagnosis to capture everything involved.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Marine Corps Reserve turned 100 years old

Hundreds gather to celebrate Marine Corps Reserve’s centennial
Stars and Stripes
August 30, 2016

The Marine Corps Reserve turned 100 years old Monday, and hundreds of active-duty, former and future Marines celebrated with a mass gathering in New York City’s Times Square.

“This gathering is a reminder to all Marines who ever served that you are still a member of the Corps.” Lt. Gen. Rex McMillian
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The Marine Corps Reserve turned 100 years old Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, and hundreds of active-duty, former and future Marines celebrated with a mass gathering in New York City’s Times Square.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

76 Year Old Veteran Killed Himself At VA After Being Turned Away

Veteran Kills Himself in Parking Lot of V.A. Hospital on Long Island
New York Times
By KRISTINA REBELO
AUG. 24, 2016

“He went to the E.R. and was denied service,” one of the people, who currently works at the hospital, said. “And then he went to his car and shot himself.”
A 76-year-old veteran committed suicide on Sunday in the parking lot of the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Long Island, where he had been a patient, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

Peter A. Kaisen, of Islip, was pronounced dead after he shot himself outside Building 92, the nursing home at the medical center.

The hospital is part of the Veterans Affairs medical system, the nation’s largest integrated health care organization, which has been under scrutiny since 2014, when the department confirmed that numerous patients had died awaiting treatment at a V.A. hospital in Phoenix. Officials there had tried to cover up long waiting times for 1,700 veterans seeking medical care. A study released by the Government Accountability Office in April indicated that the system had yet to fix its scheduling problems.

Why Mr. Kaisen decided to end his life was not immediately known, but two people connected to the hospital who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his death said that he had been frustrated that he was unable to see an emergency-room physician for reasons related to his mental health. “He went to the E.R. and was denied service,” one of the people, who currently works at the hospital, said. “And then he went to his car and shot himself.”
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Monday, August 22, 2016

Judge Asked Iraq Veteran If He Killed Anybody?

Albany judge to Iraq war veteran: 'Did you kill anybody, as far as you know?'
New York Upstate

Douglas Dowty
August 22, 2016
Albany, NY -- An Albany judge agreed to resign this month after being accused of making improper comments from the bench, among other behavior.

Specifically, City Court Judge Thomas Keefe, 64, admitted in his resignation letter to "exceedingly poor" judgment in the case of Iraq war veteran Joseph Hayner.

Hayner was before Keefe in 2013 on a marijuana case. The veteran disputed a positive drug test, but the judge questioned his honesty. Keefe asked about Hayner's military record and discovered he had fought in Iraq, the New York Law Journal reported.

"Did you kill anybody, as far as you know?" the judge asked.

"I don't want to talk about that, sir," Hayner replied.

"Have you killed anybody here in Albany in the past week?" the judge asked.

"No," Hayner responded.

The judge told Hayner he could not smoke marijuana under an alternative sentenciung program and that he must tell the truth about any drug use, the Law Journal reported.
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Sunday, July 24, 2016

Australian Army Captain Suicide Between Canada and New York

Behind a mask of despair
Townsville Bulletin
July 23, 2016

Since 2000, data suggests nearly three times as many active Australian soldiers and nearly five times as many veterans have committed suicide as have died in Afghanistan. But before Paul, almost none had been nationally recognised.
ON the second-last day of 2013, a stranger arrived in Saranac Lake, a 5400-person mountain town 112km shy of the Canadian border.

Set amid the patchwork of forest preserves and villages, Saranac Lake is the “Capital of the Adirondacks”, a one-time best small town of New York, and the place where I’m from.

He was a 31-year-old infantry captain in the Australian Army who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Afghanistan two years before. He arrived on the one bus that comes each day: an Adirondack Trailways coach that chugs slowly uphill from Albany.

To get to Albany, he’d travelled more than 17,000km. He was good looking – wholesome and tidy, with intelligent eyes. He’d been a battle captain in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province, near Kandahar, working as part of Mentoring Task Force 3 with about 700 other Townsville soldiers. But he had a medical review coming up and, his family would later tell the police, he feared he might be discharged.

On New Year’s Eve, he bought a shovel and a blanket at the shopping plaza and set off on foot towards Lake Placid.
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Thursday, July 21, 2016

Man Held 81 Navy Veteran 4 Years For Checks!

UPDATE
WATCH: Video of Navy Veteran Allegedly Held Captive at Motel for 4 Years that Led Cops to Rescue Him
PEOPLE
BY HARRIET SOKMENSUER
07/22/2016

New details are emerging in the case of an 81-year-old Korean War veteran with dementia allegedly held hostage in a Highland Falls, New York, motel room for four years by a man stealing his pension and Social Security checks.

In video filmed by witness Natasha Blanc, a man police have identified as Perry Coniglio, 43, can be seen berating and forcing Navy veteran David McClellan back into a room at the U.S. Academy Motel, near West Point. Police arrested Coniglio on Tuesday, charging him with grand larceny, unlawful imprisonment and other offenses.

Coniglio is being held at Orange County jail on $15,000 bail and is expected to appear in court on July 25, ABC 7 reports. He automatically had a not guilty plea entered for him, police say. Calls to the Legal Aid Society of Orange County were not returned Thursday or immediately Friday.

"I'm really grateful that [police] took action because otherwise, no one would have," Blanc tells PEOPLE. "He would have died here."
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Navy Vet Held Captive in NY Motel Room for Years: Police
NBC News 4 New York

U.S. Navy veteran David McClellan was taken to the hospital and is in the care of adult protective services
A New York man held an 81-year-old Navy veteran captive for four years, starving and beating him, in order to steal his pension checks for drugs, authorities say.

Perry Coniglio, 43, was arrested in Orange County Wednesday on multiple charges, including unlawful imprisonment, endangerment of an incompetent person, grand larceny and criminal possession of a weapon.

Highland Falls police said Coniglio, a motel handyman, held former U.S. Navy veteran David McClellan captive for four years at the U.S. Academy Motel, near West Point.

Police said they had gotten complaints for years that Coniglio, who was posing as the victim's caretaker, was verbally abusing the elderly man. But when video surfaced that it turned more physical, they raided the motel Tuesday night.
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Friday, July 1, 2016

Vietnam Veteran Handcycles Back Hope

After Bitter Decades, a Wounded Vietnam Veteran Handcycles Back to Hope
New York Times

By NOAH REMNICK
JULY 1, 2016

“When I’m riding, it’s like I’m finally free,” he said. “I can forget about all of my problems and just feel the breeze on my face. Nothing else matters.”
You would be forgiven if, one of these afternoons in Central Park, you failed to notice a cyclist named William Alvarez. He’s easily lost amid the whirl of riders and runners, and of course there is the matter of his considerable velocity, 12.5 miles per hour on average.

When he stops, though, for a drink of water or a red light, a few of his trademarks come into focus. First is the fact that Mr. Alvarez is not riding a bike, but a three-wheeled recumbent handcycle. Next you might notice the trio of flags flapping behind him in the wind: one for the United States, one for the United States Army and one for prisoners of war. And then there is the oversize sack strapped to the rear of his cycle, where he stashes a pair of beige-colored carbon fiber legs.

Though Mr. Alvarez rides with the commitment of a lifelong devotee, this routine once seemed unimaginable. As a soldier during the war in Vietnam, Mr. Alvarez, now 71, lost both his legs in a land mine explosion, an episode that set off decades of severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Last year, however, Mr. Alvarez resolved to break the cycle of solitude and torment that had consumed him for half a century. Handcycling, he says, has provided him with a newfound resilience and autonomy. These days he rides at least five times a week, typically 20 to 30 miles a trip, as he trains to compete in the New York City Marathon this fall.
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