Two charter buses crash in Seattle filled with passengers

Charter bus dangles over I-5 after icy accident
Two charter buses packed with passengers collided while sliding down a slippery hill in Seattle, and one is now hanging precariously over a 30-foot wall beside Interstate 5. The buses crashed through a metal railing and screeched to a stop seconds before tumbling onto the freeway below. Read more »

600 human studies at Seattle VA have been suspended

Seattle VA hospital suspends some research

By Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) - The Veterans Affairs hospital in Seattle has halted new enrollments in human research studies after a federal audit found shortcomings in its paperwork.

Auditors determined in November that the VA Puget Sound Health Care System should have done a better job of documenting that people who enroll in the studies are not vulnerable, such as prisoners, pregnant women or those suffering from mental health disorders.

The work of some researchers could be delayed by a week or more as the hospital updates its documentation methods. The decision applies to about 600 studies being conducted at the hospital and at the University of Washington, which has close ties to the VA hospital.
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11 year old Brenden Foster: 'I could have done more'"

Brenden Foster: 'I could have done more'
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The local boy whose dying wish to feed the homeless inspired thousands across the world has taken a turn for the worse. Brenden Foster is growing weaker. His body is failing, his skin yellowing. His mother is trying to decide on the wording for his grave marker.

BOTHELL, Wash. -- The local boy whose dying wish to feed the homeless inspired thousands across the world has taken a turn for the worse.

Brenden Foster is growing weaker, but his message is growing stronger.

His body is failing, his skin yellowing. His mother is trying to decide on the wording for his grave marker.

"B-Man is his nickname, or Mr. B. But most people call him B-Man," said Wendy Foster.

The end is near, and Brenden has one question for God.

"Why at so young an age? I could have done more. But if it has to be now, it has to be now," he said.

It's easy to imagine all he could have accomplished after seeing what the 11 year old has achieved in his final days. Brenden's dying wish to help the homeless has touched hearts from Saudi Arabia to South Carolina. Many of them left voice messages for their new hero.

"We saw you on television and love you with all of our hearts and we're praying for you," said Gayle Cleveland.

"(I'm) 59 years old and it brings tears to my eyes every time I see him -- someone with that initiative that wants to help the homeless," said Danny Billingsly.

"We collected over 20,000 cans of food and donated it to a local food bank in your honor," said a woman named Nina.

A Vietnam vet from Kentucky who lost his leg in the war wants me to give Brenden his Purple Heart for bravery.

"This is for you, little angel," said Jim Jones. "A bunch of guardian angels here and a bunch of guardian angels are waiting for you in heaven."

Brenden's message inspired Daniel Chairez, a 12-year-old boy in California who is also battling leukemia.

"He really inspired me because he's not afraid. And he wants to help people and he's not selfish," he said.

How you can help

In Brenden's honor, KOMO News will be holding a food drive for Northwest Harvest and Food Lifeline. You can drop off food on Thursday, November 20th at Fred Meyer stores in Issaquah (6100 E Lake Sammamish Parkway SE), Federal Way (33702 21st Avenue SW) or Brenden's hometown of Bothell (21045 Bothell-Everett Hwy).

If you can't make it in person, you can donate online by going to the Problem Solvers donation page and select "Brenden Foster Food Drive" from the donation options list.

Donations to the family can be made to the "Brenden Foster Cancer Fund" at any Washington Mutual bank branch.
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89 year old found dead of gun shot in burned out apartment after eviction notice

Man found in burned apartment building killed himself, Seattle police say
An 89-year-old man whose body was found in a Capitol Hill apartment building that caught fire Monday killed himself with a gunshot wound to the head, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday.

By Noelene Clark and Sonia Krishnan

Seattle Times staff reporters


An 89-year-old man whose body was found in a Capitol Hill apartment building that caught fire Monday killed himself with a gunshot wound to the head, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday.

Fire officials determined that the blaze at 1605 Bellevue Ave. was started deliberately and began in the man's first-floor unit. Seattle police are investigating the arson.

Edward Jackson, longtime building manager at the apartments, was supposed to move out that day because the building was going to be torn down to make way for condominiums.

Stabbed in heart, pregnant woman tries to keep hate out of the healing

Stabbed in heart, woman tries to keep hate out of the healing
A pregnant Seattle woman who police say was stabbed in the heart by her boyfriend earlier this month has returned home to recover. The injured woman and her baby will survive.

By Jennifer Sullivan

Seattle Times staff reporter

Lying in the yard of her neighbor's home earlier this month, Hortencia Salas felt a throbbing pain in her hip and sensed that she — and her unborn baby — were still in danger.

Above her stood her boyfriend. Salas said he was being restrained by their neighbor after punching her in the face, causing Salas, who is 5-½ months pregnant, to tumble down a flight of stairs. When the neighbors tried to help Salas into their North Seattle home, her boyfriend lunged forward and thrust a knife into her heart, she said.

"I saw all of the blood and I told my daughter everything was OK and I laid down and I passed out on the couch," recalled Salas, 36.

Police arrived a few minutes later and arrested Carlos Diaz-Galvin, of SeaTac, following the Aug. 16 attack outside the home of Salas' neighbors. He has been charged with first-degree domestic-violence assault, second-degree assault, third-degree assault and fourth-degree child assault.

Doctors at Harborview Medical Center were unsure at first whether Salas and her unborn son would live, Seattle police said. Salas said she underwent open-heart surgery and has permanent stitches in her heart.

How to help

A fund to help Hortencia Salas and her unborn son has been set up. Donations to the "Baby Boy Survivor Fund" can be made at any Bank of America branch.
Lying in the yard of her neighbor's home earlier this month, Hortencia Salas felt a throbbing pain in her hip and sensed that she — and her unborn baby — were still in danger.

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Trisha Pearce Starting A Network Of Healing PTSD

Nicole Brodeur

Starting a network of healing

Nicole Brodeur

Seattle Times staff columnist



Study details high, costly psychological toll on troops
Nicole Brodeur's columns via RSS
The deepest war wounds are the ones you can't see.

Then, suddenly, there they are: The man who freaks out in line at Starbucks. The road rager on the freeway. The haunted husband. The distant wife.Trisha Pearce can see those wounds, though. After 30 years as a psychiatric nurse for drug addicts and abused women, her eye is quick to recognize souls in need of soothing.

There will be thousands among us as a new generation of veterans returns home, this time from Iraq and Afghanistan. (Some 50,000 Washington state men and women have been deployed for Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom; 8,000 are there now).

"I am tired of feeling impotent about this war," said Pearce, 55. "I am tired of being mad at the Veterans Administration, at the government. I wanted to do something other than sit around, drink coffee and say 'Isn't it awful?' and that they should do something."

So Pearce, who lives in Stanwood, is starting a Northwest chapter of The Soldiers Project, a network of licensed mental-health counselors who offer free psychological treatment to active-duty soldiers, National Guard members, reserves, veterans and their families.

The nonprofit Soldiers Project was founded in 2004 by Los Angeles psychiatrist Judith Broder, who was moved to act after seeing a performance of monologues written by an active-duty Marine and featuring Iraq veterans.

Some 35 percent of Iraq War veterans seek counseling in the year they return. This year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will spend $3 billion providing mental-health care to about 1 million veterans.

That helps, Pearce said, but the VA's culture of bureaucracy alienates some veterans.

Others don't want to get in any deeper with the military. Or they don't want mental-health issues to be on their records. Or they were dishonorably discharged and aren't eligible for benefits.

Then there's the National Guard: "They're not coming back to a military base," Pearce said. "They're in Baghdad one day, and then they get off the plane and they're home in Bellevue and their wives want them to clean the gutters.

"They are not going to come back and be who they were."
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/2004357391_brodeur18m.html

Chaplain fired from hospital for being in National Guard?

Military chaplain sues hospital over firing

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Mar 8, 2008 14:31:32 EST

SEATTLE — A Kirkland, Wash., woman is suing Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, accusing the hospital of firing her because she was about to be deployed to Iraq as a military chaplain.

Court documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle say Kelly Hansen was fired by the hospital after spending a long weekend with the National Guard in January. She has a master’s degree in divinity from Princeton University and was working as a chaplain at the hospital.

She says her supervisor told her, when she returned to work, that they felt the hospital wasn’t a good fit for her. They said she would be happier in the National Guard or at the veteran’s hospital.

Children’s Hospital told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Friday that its dismissal of Hansen had nothing to do with her obligations to the Guard.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_chaplainlawsuit_030808/

Trinity United Methodist Church Seattle blessing for homeless

Homeless arrive here on Friday


By Dean Wong

Monday, February 25, 2008

Twenty new residents will be moving into Ballard on Feb. 29 and they won't be owners of the numerous condominiums overwhelming the area.

Trinity United Methodist Church will be a permanent host for a SHARE/WHEEL (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort/Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League) shelter. The group's Veteran's Hall facility is closing and moving its operation to Trinity.

"We are getting a SHARE shelter that is up and running. We are getting an intact group (of residents)," said Trinity United Methodist Church pastor Rich Lang.

The residents will be a mix of men and women. Some are couples. They will sleep in the church gymnasium on mats.

Lang said the church's vision is to eventually provide storage units for their belongings. A shower room is now being remodeled.

Trinity may provide a breakfast at some point in the future. Currently the church only has a Saturday lunch program for the homeless. Lang said neighbors around the church have seen the soup kitchen in operation for a year without incident.


Lang has met with the residents who will be coming to Ballard. "Many have jobs or are looking for work. They are highly functional people," said Lang.

He said the people he has met are working hard to get off the streets and are a stable group. Residents will have access to the church gymnasium from 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
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http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/articles/2008/02/25/news/local_news/news04.txt

Looks like this church is taking the message of Christ as a moral value. Bravo!

Seattle giving a lesson in real love

Last week, it was Valentine's Day. While most people view "love" as something involving a family member or sexual partner, there is another kind of love. This kind of love is pure, asks for nothing in return as unselfishness calls them to work for the greater good. This kind of love does not stand in judgment. Does not seek blame. Does not seek anything but helping someone in need. This is a lesson in real love. The kind of love Christ spoke of.

At last, a place of her own
By Marsha King

Seattle Times staff reporter

For the first time in years, Mary Millett, 67, has a permanent roof over her head, a bathroom of her own and a door she can lock.

But after a decade spent in homeless shelters, she is finding her first weeks in a studio apartment both exhilarating and unsettling.

Millett's new digs are in a recently opened apartment building in downtown Seattle for those 55 and older who've been living in shelters, cars or on the streets.

What she's finding is that leaving a long-familiar way of life — even if it's homelessness — can be disorienting, as if something's suddenly missing.

"It's a new experience," Millett explains. "Getting your emotions in tow is the problem."

The $26 million apartment project reflects heightened concerns about the aging of the area's homeless population. Shelter and medical-clinic staffs say they are seeing more older adults with no place to go and with complex health needs that are difficult to meet.

It has 92 units, with about 20 set aside for homeless veterans. Residents pay 30 percent of their income toward rent. For most, monthly income ranges between $300 and $600. The project has a nurse, as well as case managers with expertise in geriatrics, mental health, chemical-dependence recovery and veterans issues.

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004189012_homeless19m.html

I take no joy in posting about people suffering. As a matter of fact, it breaks my heart. These kind of stories, I rejoice in, celebrating the human spirit and the capacity so many in this country have in taking care of "the least among us" when it would be all to easy to just walk by them, act as if they didn't exist or worse, as if they deserved to be in the state they are in.

All across the nation, people are thinking of others and acting as if they do in fact represent Christ with compassion. These stories need to be told as much as the stories of people suffering. They show what people can do when they know there are so many others hurting. This is the best side of what the citizens of this nation can do.

Shock Wave: Troops who served in Iraq may have undiagnosed brain injuries

Shock Wave: Troops who served in Iraq may have undiagnosed brain injuries
Like many, Lacey man returns from war -- but not to himself
By CAROL SMITH
P-I REPORTER

LACEY -- The only outward sign of something amiss at Garry Naipo's household in this community of well-tended homes south of Fort Lewis is the ragged, yellowing lawn.


"It used to be like Safeco Field out there," Paoakalani "Paoa" Naipo said of the lawn his father no longer trims every three days. Before, Garry Naipo would forgo watching football on the weekend until the grass was cut. Once he started so early on a Saturday morning, his wife, Alii, rushed out, as she put it, "to save him from the neighbors."

Then Garry Naipo, a grandfather of three, went to Iraq -- boomeranging from cul-de-sac to combat and back in 15 months, a journey that would change his life -- and that of his family -- in subtle, corrosive ways.


Naipo, 51, is one of thousands of National Guard citizen soldiers who have left established jobs and families to answer a call and come back altered men and women. On the outside, they look fine, the same even. They blend in at work, in the grocery line, at their children's soccer games. People tell them they're lucky. They're not dead.
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/345712_guardsmanmain02.html