Veterans Court Judge Lou Olivera Receives Award For Caring Above and Beyond

Judge who served sentence with veteran in North Carolina given award
The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.
By Paul Woolverton
Published: July 26, 2016

When a veteran with PTSD and serving probation failed a drug test in April, Olivera sentenced the man to a night in jail and stayed with him, too, to help him cope.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (Tribune News Service) — Cumberland County District Court Judge Lou Olivera has been cited by the North Carolina Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism for his work with a veteran in his court.

Olivera was presented with the Award for Meritorious and Extraordinary Service during a ceremony Friday at the Chetola Resort in Blowing Rock, says a news release from the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.

"The Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism presents the CJCP Award for Meritorious and Extraordinary Service to the Honorable Lou Olivera for his steadfast commitment to the principles of professionalism as evidenced by his efforts to go above and beyond the call of duty by his tremendous act of humility and compassion toward a troubled veteran in his court," said Chief Justice Mark Martin. "Because of his selfless efforts, the practice of law will continue to remain a high calling in North Carolina."

Olivera presides over Cumberland County veterans court, a venue that takes into account the experiences and troubles veterans who get in trouble with the law may have from their military service.
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Airmen From Florida Died in Southwest Asia

Pentagon identifies airman who died in Southwest Asia
Air Force Times
Oriana Pawlyk
July 19, 2016

The Defense Department on Tuesday identified an airman who died while supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led operation against the Islamic State group, in the Central Command theater.

1st Lt. Anais A. Tobar, 25, died July 18 of non-combat related injuries in Southwest Asia, the Defense Department said in a release. The cause of death has not been released. The Defense Department did not specify where the incident occurred.

Tobar, a Miami, Florida native, was assigned to the 4th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
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Iraq Veteran Killed in North Carolina

Mother says man shot to death was 31-year-old Iraq war vet
WBTV 3 News
By WBTV Web Staff
Wednesday, July 6th 2016

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)
A man was shot and killed at a home in Charlotte's Wesley Heights community early Wednesday morning.

Javarius Roberts, 31 (Photo provided to WBTV by a friend)

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say officers were called by a neighbor who heard commotion in an adjacent apartment on Grandin Road. When officers got to the scene at 3:18 a.m. they found 31-year-old Javaris Roberts shot. Medic pronounced the him dead on scene.

Roberts' mother identified her son on scene to WBTV, police confirmed his name around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. She said her son is a disabled veteran who fought in Iraq.

"He graduated high school and went to college and decided after one year he wanted to join the military," said Roberts' mother.

She says he was stationed at Fort Bragg before being sent overseas to Iraq.

His mother was very emotional since the family had just been together over the 4th of July weekend.
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Man Who Robbed Disabled Veteran Found and Charge

Man accused of stealing from disabled Marine arrested Kevin Lima accused in Yarmouth theft
WCVB News
Jun 23, 2016

YARMOUTH, Mass. —A man accused of stealing from a disabled U.S. Marine combat veteran and his wife who were vacationing on Cape Cod was arrested Thursday.

Kevin Lima, 36, of Acushnet, was arrested in Plymouth after he was identified as the person who stole hundreds of dollars, personal belongings, military identifications and specially made hearing aids from Robert Watson and his wife, authorities said.

The family was vacationing in Plymouth from North Carolina and took a day trip to the Cape Cod Inflatable Park, where their belongings were stolen.

"It’s a sigh of relief knowing he’s behind bars, but the after effect can stay with you forever,” Robert Watson said. “The way I see it is, if he's willing to do it to me after knowing my life as a Marine then there's no telling the next person he would have gotten.”

Lima is scheduled to face charges Thursday in Barnstable District Court.

At the time of the incident, the Watsons said they met a man and his young son at the park who befriended them and thanked him for his service as a Marine.
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North Carolina Bill Just Killed Off Veterans Protection?

Oops! North Carolina’s Anti-LGBT Law Also Hurts Veterans
Vets in Congress says HB 2 is “unconscionable” and should be repealed ASAP.
Huffington Post
Jennifer Bendery
06/03/2016

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Gov. Pat McCrory (R-N.C.) is making friends left and right these days

WASHINGTON — When North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed HB 2 into law in March, with the swish of a pen, he overturned all of the state’s local ordinances that protected lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from being discriminated against.

But there was another consequence to the sweeping anti-LGBT law: It wiped out local anti-discrimination protections for veterans, too.

Two jurisdictions in North Carolina — Greensboro and Orange County — had ordinances in place that barred job discrimination against vets. These types of protections trace back to the Vietnam War, when vets couldn’t get work as a result of their military service. In more recent years, veterans’ advocates have raised concerns about Iraq and Afghanistan War vets being turned away from jobs because of employers’ fears, unfounded as they may be, that they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and would be emotionally unstable on the job.

McCrory eliminated those two local ordinances for veterans when he signed HB 2. The law also ensures that cities and counties can’t pass these kinds of protections going forward.
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Who Failed Mary Louise Mora and Husband Accused of Murder?

Jesus Mora had sought help for PTSD and was on medication. Did his doctor fail to notice that he was in fact a danger to others? Family members were worried. Friends were worried, especially after he attacked someone and bit off a "chunk" of his face during a party. 

Now his wife is dead. So who failed her? 

Was it the military psychological training service members in what we have been told to be "preventing" and helping them to readjust? Was it the medication he was on? Something like this usually does not happen but when it does, we need to be asking a lot more questions about how someone can go from being willing to die to save someone into being accused of murder.

Veterans are far more likely to harm themselves than anyone else so what happened with Mora?

Warrant: Man with PTSD attempted to detach wife's arms, neck from torso in murder
Fay Observer
By Monica Vendituoli Staff writer
Apr 28, 2016

Crying, Mora explained to the deputies that something bad had happened. "I feel that it's real. I hope that it's not real," Mora told deputies, according to the warrant.

A man accused of murdering his wife in February attempted to detach her arms and neck, a search warrant says.

The court documents also say the suspect told deputies he was taking medicine for post-traumatic stress disorder when the incident occurred.

Jesus Guillermo Mora, of the 8900 block of Steeplechase Drive, was charged with second-degree murder Feb. 6 for the killing of his wife, Mary Louise Mora, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said.

He was arrested that day as well.

At 1:23 a.m., Jesus Mora called 911 and asked that deputies come to his residence. They found him in a grassy field near his home talking to the 911 dispatcher. The warrant noted that he appeared to be impaired.

Crying, Mora explained to the deputies that something bad had happened. "I feel that it's real. I hope that it's not real," Mora told deputies, according to the warrant.

Deputies drove Mora back to his residence. During the ride there, the warrant said Mora told deputies that he had been deployed to Afghanistan while in the military and was taking medication for PTSD. Mora also told the deputies he had been drinking.
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Iraq Veteran-Single Mom Finds Hope With New Home

Home is hope for war vet, single mom
Gaston Gazette
By Michael Barrett
Posted Apr 27, 2016

Hogan was one of dozens of people eating in the base's crowded chow hall tent during lunchtime when a suicide bomber disguised as an Iraqi National Guard soldier detonated an explosive vest, killing 22 people and injuring 72 others.

U.S. Army veteran Lauren Hogan with her daughter Roxanne, and her father Otis Whitehurst during the Mission Kickoff at her Bessemer City home that will be renovated by the Purple Heart Homes organization. JOHN CLARK/THE GAZETTE

Lauren Hogan's burden from her time in the Iraq War is symbolized by the shrapnel she carries in her spine.

The bothersome piece of metal has come with her across the country in the decade since she left the Army. It has followed along on her job interviews, on efforts to further her education and during her constant quest to find a permanent, fulfilling home for herself and her two daughters.

As a disabled veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Hogan's journey is similar to those taken by tens of thousands of other soldiers who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. But she and her family are closer to finding solace and a path to a positive future, thanks to a nonprofit that works to help get wounded veterans in reliable homes.
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Judge Spent Night in Jail To Support Special Forces Veteran

UPDATE
Judge gives former soldier unusual sentence for probation violation
CBS News April 29, 2016

Joe Serna during one of his tours in Afghanistan CBS NEWS

View More: On The Road News|U.S. News|Live News|More News Videos

A compassionate judge sentences a veteran to 24 hours in jail, then joins him behind bars
Washington Post
By Yanan Wang
April 22, 2016

The judge knew that Sgt. Joseph Serna had been through a lot.

The former Special Forces soldier did four combat tours in Afghanistan over a nearly two-decades-long career with the U.S. Army. Through those years, the Fayetteville Observer reported, Serna was almost killed three times: once, by a roadside bomb, then again by a suicide bomber.

During a tour in 2008, Serna and three other soldiers were driving down a narrow dirt road in Kandahar when their armored truck toppled into a canal, the Associated Press reported. As water filled the vehicle, Serna struggled to escape.

It was his fellow soldier, Sgt. James Treber, who saved him.

“I felt a hand come down and unfasten my seat belt and release my body armor,” Serna recalled to the AP. “Sgt. Treber picked me up and moved me to a small pocket of air. He knew there was not enough room for both of us to breathe so he went under water to find another pocket of air.”

Treber died from the accident, but Serna survived. He was the only one who did.

A Gulf War veteran himself, Olivera was concerned that leaving Serna in isolation for a night would trigger his PTSD.

The two passed the time trading stories of their experiences in the military. Serna told WRAL: “It was more of a father-son conversation. It was personal.”
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Navy and Coast Guard Search For Missing Sailor From USS Carter Hall

Navy, Coast Guard Search for Missing Sailor
FOX News
April 10, 2016

The Navy's dock landing ship USS Carter Hall.

One of its crew has been missing since Saturday.

(US Navy photo)

The Navy and Coast Guard have launched a search-and-rescue mission after a junior sailor on board the USS Carter Hall was reported missing, according to reports Sunday. 

The sailor is presumed to have fallen overboard Saturday, the Navy Times reported. The dock landing ship was on a training mission off the coast of North Carolina.

The ship immediately began its search after a female third-class petty officer was discovered missing around 4:20 p.m. Saturday, the Navy Times reported, citing an internal Navy report.

A pair of boots with a note was reported found on deck near the rear of the ship, the report said, according to the Navy Times.

Several Navy and Coast Guard units are assisting in the search and rescue effort, a Navy spokesman said Sunday.
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Almost 1 out of 10 Incarcerated are Veterans

Quaker House vigil to draw attention to mental health care for jailed vets
Fay Observer
By Drew Brooks Military editor
April 10, 2016

"Approximately one in 10 prison inmates have served in the military," Newsom said. "Many suffer from PTSD and/or traumatic brain injury, which increases the likelihood of violent, aggressive and impulsive behavior and requires a regular regime of therapy and medication."

Activists looking to improve the mental health care for jailed veterans will host a vigil outside the Airborne and Special Operations Museum on Monday.

The event will start at 5 p.m. at the museum, 100 Bragg Blvd.

It's led by the Fayetteville Quaker House, which has circulated a petition in recent weeks aimed at encouraging state leaders to provide better care for service members and veterans behind bars, including Joshua Eisenhauer, a former Fort Bragg staff sergeant who was sentenced to between 10 and 18 years in prison last year for charges related to a 2012 shooting at his apartment.

Lynn Newsom, a Quaker House director, said Eisenhauer suffers from severe combat related post-traumatic stress.

She said he is held in an open room with 30 other prisoners, allowed to see a social worker only about once every two months.

And the prison, she said, abuts a shooting range, which worsens his trauma.
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Fort Bragg Soldier Charged After 2 Year Old Daughter Died

Bragg soldier charged in death of 2-year-old daughter
Army Times
Kevin Lilley
March 25, 2016

A Fort Bragg soldier faces murder and child abuse charges related to the December death of her 2-year-old daughter.

Fayetteville, North Carolina, police detectives arrested Spc. Jeanie Ditty, 23, on Thursday, according to a news release from the city's police department. Officers have also charged Zachary Keefer in the child's death; Keefer, reportedly Ditty's boyfriend and not the girl's father, remains at large.

Macey Ditty died Dec. 4, two days after arriving at a local emergency room with bruises all over her body and "life-threatening injuries consistent with child abuse," the release states. The injuries came within a day of the ER visit, medical personnel determined.
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Dream Wedding May Happen For Soldier After 28 Years!

Fort Bragg soldier, fiancee a step closer to fairy tale wedding
Fay Observer
By Drew Brooks Military editor
Updated 9 hrs ago Comments

Fort Bragg Sgt. Maj. Jeff LeMaster and Piper Cronin, a PE teacher in Maine are competing in a competition to win a 100,000 wedding from Real Maine Weddings magazine.

Jeff LeMaster and Piper Cronin have a love story that's nearly 30 years in the making.

Now, the two are a step closer to possibly having a fairy tale wedding, too.

LeMaster, a Fort Bragg sergeant major, and Cronin, a physical education teacher in Maine, are finalists to win a wedding package valued at more than $100,000 from Real Maine Weddings magazine.

The two met in 1988 but were torn apart by the constant moves of Army life. They rekindled their relationship in recent years.

Speaking by phone from Fort Bragg and Maine this week, the two said having each other now makes the long wait worth it.

They're one of three finalists for the wedding package at Real Maine Weddings. The winners are expected to be announced this weekend.

The winner will be determined based on popular vote and on the selection of participating vendors, according to officials. Online voting ends today at midnight.
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Marine Adam Sharp Still Missing

Sad Update
Remains pulled from river ID’d as missing Marine veteran, police say

Mother of missing Marine longs for son's safe return
My Central New Jersey
Suzanne Russell
February 19, 2016

Adam apparently got out of the friend's car in the Fords section of Woodbridge without his wallet, backpack, veterans identification and bank card.

Adam Sharp saw active combat in Afghanistan.

(Photo:Courtesy of Highland Park Police Department)

HIGHLAND PARK - Trudy Sharp longs to hear some good news about the location of her 23-year-old son, Adam, a. U.S. Marine Corps veteran.

For more than a month, there has been no word.

"Nothing at all," said Sharp. "It's bizarre. He's one of those kids that kept in touch all the time. I'm not sure what to do. I don't know where he is."

Adam Sharp is a graduate of Edison High School who entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 2010 and rose up the ranks to become a sergeant, his mother said.

"He did so well," said Sharp, of Red Bank. "He's just a great individual and very friendly."

Adam Sharp lives in North Carolina. During the recent holiday season, he came to New Jersey to visit family. He was staying with his brother's family in Highland Park. She said her son also is close to his sister, a medical school student slated to graduate next year.

"He was fine Christmas Day," Sharp said.
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Joplin High School Won't Hold Empty Chair for Tornado Victim?

Anguished mom wants seat saved for son at graduation
WZZM 13 ABC News
January 30, 2016

"They should at least do something," he said. Williams is now 21 and a member of the U.S. Marine Corps stationed in North Carolina's Camp Lejeune. His unit is expected to deploy soon.

JOPLIN, Mo. — A woman whose son was killed almost five years ago in a monster tornado that struck southwest Missouri wants an empty chair saved for him at what would have been his high school graduation.

Officials at Joplin High School and the school district rejected the request, saying it doesn't comply with their policy. Now Tammy Niederhelman hopes to put pressure on Joplin School District officials through an online petition.

"I'll never see my son graduate. I know that. I'll never see him get married. I'll never hold my grandchildren," Niederhelman said. "This is very important to me — to have a seat for him."

Zachary Zachary Allen Williams was 12 and hadn't finished middle school when he died May 22, 2011, as he huddled in a bathroom of the Niederhelmans' house; 160 other people died that same day.

"No parent should ever have to beg, plead, and fight for their deceased student to be honored with their own seat at graduation and for their name to be called," Niederhelman wrote in her Change.org petition, which more than 4,500 people had signed as of Friday. "Zach will not sit in the seat as he should have but he was, is, and always will be a Joplin Eagle Class of 2016."
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Veteran-Pastor Disarms Vet During New Year's Service

North Carolina Pastor Disarms Vet During New Year's Service
NBC News
by TIM STELLOH
January 3, 2016

Bishop Larry Wright had been preaching for about 20 minutes on New Year's Eve when he saw the front door of his North Carolina church swing open. In marched a young disheveled man whom he'd never seen before. In one hand the man had a semi-automatic assault rifle; in the other, a magazine.

As the man approached the pulpit — and as Wright carefully moved toward him — some of the 60 or so congregants at Wright's Heal the Land Outreach Ministries in Fayetteville believed the gunman was a prop, Wright told NBC News, that their pastor was using an unusual method to emphasize a point he had been making at that precise moment about gun violence: "At any moment your life could be taken from you."

He wasn't.

Wright, 57, is a City Council member. But he was also a career military man — a former paratrooper and drill sergeant who retired in 1997 — so his training kicked in as he descended the pulpit's three steps: Was there a bullet still in the chamber? Would he need to tackle the man? Would he need to subdue him?

Wright began with a simple question.

"I asked him, 'Can I help you?'" Wright recalled. "He said, 'Can you pray for me?'"
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Afghanistan Veteran Marine Missing in New Jersey

Former Edison man, Marine vet reported missing
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
By Brian Amaral
December 31, 2015

Adam Sharp is seen in a photograph supplied by his family in an effort to locate him.

Brian Amaral | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

EDISON — A former Edison man who retired from the Marines about a year ago has gone missing, and may be walking to his home in North Carolina, his family said.

Adam Sharp was last seen four days ago, when he walked off while with a friend, said his sister-in-law Samantha Johnson. Sharp did not bring his wallet, clothes or supplies, and his cellphone has been turned off, his family said.

Police said Sharp was last seen near Route 9 in Woodbridge.

Sharp served in the Marines in Afghanistan, and grew up in Edison, Johnson said. He later settled in North Carolina, where he lives on a farm. He was in New Jersey visiting family for the holidays.
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Second Fort Bragg Soldier Found Dead Within Days

Fort Bragg soldier found dead in barracks 
WRAL News
December 11, 2105

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Officials said an 82nd Airborne Division soldier was found dead Thursday in his barracks room at Fort Bragg.

Spc. Trenton Weston, 22, of Washington, Ill., was a signal support systems specialist. He was assigned to the 82nd Special Troops Battalion and 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade.

"Specialist Weston was known throughout the battalion as being absolutely selfless when it came to helping others and accomplishing the mission. He will be sorely missed,” said Lt. Col. David E. Vandevander, commander of the 82nd Sustainment Brigade. “Our heartfelt condolences go out to Spc. Weston’s Family and loved ones during this time of great loss.”
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Luke Carreiro

VA’s Camp Lejeune decision ‘idiotic’

Sen. Nelson: VA’s Camp Lejeune decision ‘idiotic’ 
News Channel 8
Investigative Reporter Steve Andrews
Published: December 11, 2015

“This is illogical. It’s idiotic that that veteran would get an answer like that,” Senator Bill Nelson

Drinking and bathing in toxic water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina has caused medical nightmares for countless Marines and their families.

“They’re losing major organs from their body, they’re dying, and it seems like they don’t care,” Judy Zambito said. Judy’s husband Joe is a former Marine, stationed at Camp Lejeune. Joe lost his right kidney to cancer in 1999. He lost his bladder then his left kidney to cancer in 2010.

“So his life now is to live the rest of his life on dialysis,” Judy explained. The Zambitos learned about Camp Lejeune contamination from the news. When Joe went to the VA to be evaluated in 2012, Judy points out that he was never seen by a VA doctor.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ties kidney and several other cancers to the Camp Lejeune water contamination. But in Joe’s case, the VA didn’t. Records show Joe’s private doctors were not consulted nor were his private medical records reviewed. Nonetheless, the VA determined his kidney cancer was not connected to Camp Lejeune, but his bladder cancer was.
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Disabled Veterans Going a Long Way for Relief

Marijuana Refugees: Wounded Veterans Willing to Move for Medicinal Pot
Military.com
by Rebekah Sanderlin
Dec 09, 2015

Two Army doctors even suggested that their family move from North Carolina, where medical marijuana is not legal, to a state that allows use of medical cannabis. Those doctors said that marijuana would likely be a safer substitution for his myriad prescriptions.

In this photo taken Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, marijuana is measured in 3.5-gram amounts and placed in cans for packaging at the Pioneer Production and Processing marijuana growing facility in Arlington, Wash. Elaine Thompson/AP

Last month, the U.S. Senate passed legislation with a provision that would allow Veterans Affairs Department doctors to recommend medical marijuana to patients in states where the drug is legal.

The language, which hasn't yet passed the House, would not change existing laws that prevent possessing or distributing marijuana on VA property, nor does it do anything for veterans in the states where medical marijuana is not legal. But for veterans and their caregivers pushing to make the drug a legal option for all, it's a welcomed start. And for some, like the spouse of a retired Army Green Beret, it's a reason to become a "marijuana refugee."

Her husband served 26 years on active duty before he was medically retired because of the mental and physical injuries he racked up during a career that included more than 50 combat missions. Like other sources interviewed for this story, the woman requested that Military.com withhold her name so she could speak freely about the issue.
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Shelter for Homeless Female Veterans Under New Management

New management seeks clean slate at troubled Fayetteville home for female vets
WRAL News
December 7, 2015

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The woman who founded a Fayetteville nonprofit that houses homeless female veterans has been removed from management of the operation after several years of questions by state regulators over how money is raised and spent.

Jubilee House was built on Langdon Street in 2011 for the ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Cumberland County deputies escorted Barbara Sumney Marshall off the property last week after the nonprofit's board voted to keep her away.

Marshall, who resigned from the nonprofit after the vote, initially agreed to discuss the situation Monday but then backed out of an interview.

The North Carolina Attorney General's Office and the Secretary of State's Office last summer accused Marshall of soliciting charitable contributions without a license and other violations of state law.
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