‘Just sad’: Sister details local veteran’s struggle for care after returning from war
Q13FOX
BY BRANDI KRUSE
SEPTEMBER 10, 2015
TACOMA -- Nearly a year after Army private Justin Norton took his life under a bridge in rural Washington state, the Veteran’s Health Administration sent him a letter.
“Dear Veteran,” it began.
The letter went on to ask Norton to rate the level of care he received from the VA.
“Nine months after he died,” said Norton’s sister, Misty, who opened the letter when it came in the mail. “That’s … that’s just comical.”
Misty Norton had informed the VA of her brother’s passing almost immediately after he died. The Department of Veteran Affairs even helped to coordinate his funeral at Tahoma National Cemetery.
The letter was just the latest chapter in a series of personal disappointments involving Norton and the VA, many of which he detailed in a journal he kept in the days leading up to his suicide on Sept. 11, 2013.
Since that time, the VA has been thrust in nationwide ridicule and scandal — much if it surrounding long wait times for care.
In a way, Norton exposed problems with the VA long before they were front-page news.
Justin Norton joined the Army at the age of 18, shortly after 9/11. His sister and mother had reservations, but Norton wasn’t at all scared about the prospect of going to war.
In a suicide note pinned to his Army-issued backpack, left atop the bridge were he hanged himself, Norton left a message for the person who would find his body.
“Thank you for getting the police,” he wrote. ”I’m sure my family appreciates it. If you need counseling for this traumatic event, don’t go to the VA … they are booked solid.” read more here
Air Force pilot beaten by masked ‘anarchists’ after displaying Confederate flag
The Washington Post
By Dan Lamothe
Published: September 9, 2015
An Air Force pilot was assaulted with a bat in Washington state Saturday by masked “anarchists” after they noticed he was displaying two Confederate flags on his motorcycle, police said.
The incident occurred in Olympia, Wash., a few miles west of where the man is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The pilot was stopped because protesters were marching in the street. Then they surrounded him as they attempted to knock his motorcycle over, according to a police report.
“They sprayed the victim in the face with mace, and struck him in the back with a baseball bat and a glass bottle filled with red paint,” the report said. “The victim suffered severe eye irritation and a bruised shoulder and back. One of the witnesses attempting to assist the victim was also sprayed in the face with mace.”
The attack comes following a summer in which the use of the Confederate flag was hotly contested, following the June 17 attack on a historic black church in South Carolina that killed nine people. The suspect in that case, Dylann Roof, 21, faces the death penalty, and was photographed displaying the Confederate flag before the attack. read more here
Linked from Stars and Stripes
Army Sends 200 Soldiers to Battle Wildfires in Pacific Northwest
Military.com
Kris Osborn
August 20, 2015
Firefighters and Washington National Guard soldiers work to extinguish hot spots on a hillside as they fight the First Creek Fire, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015, near Chelan, Wash (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
The Army is mobilizing 200 active-duty troops to help firefighters battle deadly wildfires in the Pacific Northwest at the request of the Idaho-based National Interagency Fire Center, service officials said.
The move comes a day after three firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service died when they were overcome by the blaze in a rural part of Washington state.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter approved the request and is sending the 17th Field Artillery Brigade from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington to provide military support to the ongoing fire suppression efforts, officials said.
"It is an honor and a privilege to serve our nation," said Lt. Col. James Dunwoody, commander of the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
The soldiers will be organized into ten crews of 20 persons each. They will head to the so-called Tower fire in the Coleville National Forest north of Spokane. read more here
Lost, now found: Zeus the dog reunited with soldier and family
The Olympian
BY SEAN ROBINSON
Staff writer
August 14, 2015
Perhaps it was coincidence that Zeus the dog came home on a morning marked by peals of thunder. Or perhaps the dog gods were laughing.
Either way, Melody Harworth was crying.
“Hi, puppy,” she kept saying and sobbing Friday, as Zeus emerged from a car and greeted his long-lost family. “Hi, puppy, hi, puppy.”
Her husband Ben Harworth’s eyes were red-rimmed; until last month he believed his dog was long dead. Friday, he accepted slobbery kisses and woofed at the old friend he hadn’t seen in three years.
Zeus, unable to fly because of a medical condition, had been ferried crosscountry from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, his old home. The ride came courtesy of Rachel Overby, who works with Banfield Pet Hospital, a partner with PetSmart stores.
Harworth, a chief warrant officer, had been stationed at Fort Bragg until 2011, when he transferred to South Korea.
CW2 Benjamin Harworth, stationed at JBLM, gets loving kisses from his long lost dog, Zeus, with his wife, Melody looking happy at Petsmart in Lacey on Friday. Harworth was deployed to Afghanistan, let his friend watch his dog Zeus. Harworth receives a call in Afghanistan from his friend saying that his dog has died. Harworth receives a call recently from Banfield Clinic near Fort Bragg saying that they have his dog. He tells them this is impossible because his dog died four years ago. Last month, Banfield explains that they scanned the dog's microchip and it is Zues. Banfield arranged to have Zeus transported across the country to be reunited with Harworth at the Lacey Petsmart. Lui Kit Wong
read more here
City Cleared in Fatal Police Shooting
Courthouse News
By NICK MCCANN
August 6, 2015
TACOMA, Wash. (CN) - Vancouver, Wash., cannot be sued for its police officers shooting to death an Iraq war veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, a federal judge ruled.
Vancouver police shot Nikkolas Lookabill to death on Sept. 7, 2010 after he refused to drop a handgun. The 22-year old veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom was acting incoherently when police responded to a 3:30 a.m. call from people who were disturbed by his behavior, U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan wrote in his Aug. 3 dismissal on summary judgment.
After receiving the call saying that Lookabill was "not really coherent," officers said they found him as he was "screaming obscenities, was very agitated, and not compliant."
Lookabill told the officers to take the gun from him after ordered him to lie on the ground, Bryan wrote in his summary.
"I'm going to countdown from 30 and then if you don't come take the gun from me, I'm going to start smashing my head into the sidewalk," Lookabill told police, according to witness testimony.
The officers and witnesses said Lookabill repeatedly reached toward his waistband, and the officers shot him 13 times. He died at the scene.
Lookabill's stepfather Frank Wescom Jr. and half-brother Gage Wescom sued the city and the police officers, and filed an amended complaint in August 2013.
The city and police claimed the Wescoms did not have standing to sue because, among other things, there is no authorized personal representative to pursue their claims. They claimed that a former step-parent and half-sibling do not have due process liberty interest in their relationship with an adult child or half-sibling.
Bryan dismissed most of the claims in October 2013, but preserved a claim against Vancouver under the Americans with Disabilities Act. read more here
Original post
22 year old National Guard Soldier, back from Iraq, killed by Vancouver police
It never gets easier to post stories like this. An Iraq veteran is dead at the age of 22. He survived Iraq but couldn't survive back home. Just doesn't make much sense. I'm sure the police officers are having a hard time with his too.
Man killed by Vancouver police was Iraq vet
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Sep 9, 2010 5:41:45 EDT
VANCOUVER, Wash. — A 22-year-old man fatally shot by Vancouver police was an Oregon Army National Guard soldier who served 12 months in Iraq, a National Guard spokesman confirms.
Spc. Nikkolas W. Lookabill deployed in May 2009 as a member of the 41st Infantry Brigade after joining the guard in 2008, Guard spokesman Capt. Stephen Bomar said. Lookabill returned in May.
Guard officials confirmed Lookabill's military status Wednesday after the man was identified by Vancouver police.
Police said three officers fired at the Vancouver man early Tuesday morning after they responded to a report of a man walking in a neighborhood, armed with a handgun. Police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said the man was "engaging in threatening activity" and refusing police commands to drop the gun when he was shot.
SPC Nikkolas Wren Kenneth Lookabill of Vancouver WA, was killed on September 7, 2010 at the young age of 22 years. He was a native of Vancouver, born on February 29, 1988. He was a good man, caring and devoted to every life he touched. Nikkolas was a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend and American soldier. He is survived by his mother, Denise R. Wescom; his dad and step-mom: Frank(Butch) L. Wescom Jr. and Wendi L. Wescom; his brothers: Gage, Dyllon, and Eli; and his sisters Talia and Lacey, all of Vancouver WA. He is also survived by loving grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and comrades. His family and friends meant the world to him, and it showed in so many ways.
He loved life, he loved to smile and put smiles on all of the faces around him. He was a novice writer, and his work was fabulous.
Nikk enlisted into the Oregon Army National Guard on October 25,2007. He was a soldier in B Troop, 1st Squadron 82nd Cavalry Regiment, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He served in the National Guard until he was called to active duty for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He deployed on July 8, 2009 to Baghdad, Iraq. He served our country valiantly as a Cavalry Scout. He was recognized for exemplary service, was awarded for excellence, and received the Army Commendation Medal for exceptionally meritorious service to the United States of America. He was dedicated and performed his duties until April 15, 2010, when he was honorably discharged from active duty.
He was a good man, a young man, who's life ended tragically. He will be missed immensely. The family will be holding a private gathering, and express heartfelt gratitude to all of their friends for their support. There has been a donation account set up to help the family at this difficult time. Donations can be made at any US Bank into the Nikkolas W. Lookabill Donation account.
Soldier denied service at 7-Eleven
KIROTV.com
By Gary Horcher
July 29, 2015
“From moment one, the only thing I was hoping to do by coming forward with this is to get the issue addressed with the employee,” He said. “If you don't know something is wrong, you can't fix it."
REDMOND, Wash. — A local soldier, whose story sparked a firestorm of nationwide anger on social media, says a Redmond convenience store clerk denied him service, after he showed his military ID.
“She said, 'You're in the military?' I said, 'Yes,'” Brown said. “She said, 'I can't serve you.'" Honestly, I was in shock. I asked, 'Are you serious?' “She looked at me like she was offended," he said.
Brown says he asked the clerk why there was a problem as he pulled out his driver's license to back up his military ID. read more here
Marine fatally shot at gun range ID'd
JD News
Daily News Staff
July 20, 2015
The weekend death of a Camp Lejeune Marine at an Onslow County gun range has been ruled a suicide, investigators said.
Onslow County Sheriff Hans Miller said Monday that the investigation found that the Marine died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Camp Lejeune officials identified the victim as Lance Cpl. Joshua D. Gilliam, 20, of Everett, Washington.
Gilliam was flown by helicopter Saturday at approximately 4 p.m. from Flatwoods Outfitters gun range in Hubert to New Hanover Regional Medical Center to be treated for a gunshot wound. He died later at the hospital from the injury, according to information from Capt. Ryan Elizabeth Alvis of the II Marine Expeditionary Force Public Affairs Office. read more here
Woman Orders a Beer for a Fallen Soldier at Buffalo Wild Wings, Restaurant’s Response Is Perfect The Blaze
Kaitlyn Schallhorn
Jul. 14, 2015
A Buffalo Wild Wings in Washington state has become the focus of a viral Internet post — all because of single beer.
Image source: KIRO-TV
Brian Avey, a server at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Tacoma, Washington, said a “military woman” came into the restaurant around lunchtime and attempted to order one Blue Moon and one Corona at the same time. But there was a problem: You can’t do that.
“After she left, I didn’t have the heart to dump the beer out and throw it away, so I put it on top of the cooler next the American Flag,” Avey wrote. “When I showed my boss his response was Amazing… He said ‘That’s Fine, just do me a favor, put a fresh Lime in it Every Morning.’” read more here
Olympia vets want their ailing comrades to switch from pharmaceuticals to pot
The Olympian
BY ANDY HOBBS
Staff writer
July 10, 2015
The Department of Veterans Affairs reports that “PTSD has been found to be a risk factor” for suicidal thoughts, which are often triggered by combat-related guilt that “can often overpower the emotional coping capacities of veterans.”
Patrick Seifert of Rainier Xpress in Olympia has created a vapor pen
specifically for veteran medical marijuana users. COURTESY PHOTO
Andrew Collins no longer has a cocktail of 17 prescriptions coursing through his body.
The Army combat veteran stared death in the face while serving two tours of Iraq in the 2000s. He now battles post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his wartime experiences.
The Olympia veteran has tried medications, meditation and hypnosis while adapting to the stresses of life in the civilian world. But more than any other treatment, Collins says marijuana has helped him cope with the psychological trauma he carries around — trauma that at times has filled his head with aggression and suicidal thoughts.
“I smoke a joint and the thoughts are gone,” said Collins, 30.
He said medical marijuana has replaced most of those government-approved prescriptions he had been taking. “I was overmedicated.”
Collins has launched a support group called Twenty22Many (pronounced “twenty-two too many”), which is focused on reducing suicide rates among military veterans with help from medical marijuana. read more here
On the back of a horse at a farm in Yelm, Mike Buccieri began letting go of the psychological wounds he carried after an Afghan insurgent’s bullet tore into his back and ripped him from the Army life he loved.
He found the equine-based therapy that worked for him when the Army sent him to a Warrior Transition Battalion, a medical unit he had once disparaged as a purgatory for “broken soldiers” on their way to being “kicked out” of the military.
Yet as Congress claims to be investigating the facts discovered by The Dallas News and NBC joint effort to bring the suffering of the wounded to our attention, it has been going on right under their nose and they just didn't care enough to do the right thing before they were forced to even take a look at it.
Remember the scandal at Walter Reed Hospital?
Embarrassed by allegations of mistreated wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007, the Army spent more than $1.2 billion building facilities for its severely injured troops at large posts around the world.
So Congress did "something" about it.
Col. Chris Toner, chief of the Army Warrior Transition Command, told the House Armed Services Committee last month that 4,196 soldiers are enrolled in the program – down from a peak of 12,451 seven years ago.
Despite the falling numbers, Army leaders insist they want to maintain the warrior transition model rather than reuse the costly facilities for a different purpose.
“We’ve come a long way since the days of medical holding companies and long wait times for injured soldiers,” Toner told lawmakers. “We will not return to that setting.”
Yet, when reporters were not watching, this is what happened over and over again across the country to wounded servicemen and women.
Recently, The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV documented examples of mistreated patients and verbal abuse at warrior units at Army hospitals in Texas. Their investigation prompted the Army to issue new training guidelines for the soldiers who volunteer to work in warrior transition battalion.
A 2013 Defense Department Inspector General audit of JBLM’s Warrior Transition Battalion documented similar concerns from soldiers and staff members. It spelled out the systemic flaws that have dogged warrior transition battalions since the program launched, such as:
• Inconsistent training for staff members.
• High turnover among the active-duty and Reserve soldiers who oversee patients.
• Frustration among patients who felt stuck in a program of indeterminate length. Some could be enrolled in a battalion for two years or more.
• Barriers to connecting patients with job-training programs in the civilian sector that could prepare them for opportunities after they leave the military.
The report, based on site visits in the summer of 2011, included several revealing comments from anonymous patients and staff members about the pressures they felt inside the battalion.
The Warrior Transition Battalion “steals your soul and puts you in a deeper depression,” one National Guard soldier told the auditors. “They tell me to plan for the future, but they cannot tell me when I can leave.”
So now they'll have empty buildings but it isn't as if they overplanned for the wounded. It is more that the wounded soldiers are no longer in the military.
So what happens to them now? It isn't as if their wounds have vanished. The DOD doesn't have to count them anymore. They don't have to count the number of veterans committing suicide or needing care for PTSD any more than they have to account for the physical needs.
The VA has had trouble for decades as reported by veterans going back to the 70's. Congress has not had to answer for what they failed to do on that end either.
Their latest answer is, "Hey we'll just privatize it" hand out cards so veterans could go see a doctor charging a lot more money for the same work the VA is supposed to be providing. Sure, no wait times in a private office or at hospitals. At least that is what Congress wants us to envision. Guess they never had to rely on what the rest of experience on a daily basis.
This is really simple. Congress has had since 1946 to get it right for our veterans and even longer to get it right for the wounded yet what veterans got were more problems than solutions.
Guess who is to blame? Us. We vote for folks to do a job (both sides) yet never bother to make sure they're doing it. It takes reporters to tell the stories they live with on a daily bases, so God love them for that, however, they forget that we need to be reminded about what happened before that made it this bad. It is for sure that Congress won't blame themselves but veterans do.
Any idea what members of Congress are up to knowing that more and more disabled veterans are heading home from combat? They show no indication of learning from the past about anything so just expect more of the same excuses and a longer line of veterans suffering.
They plan, as in the past, to have communities step up and take care of them. Sounds good until you ask about where all the billions a year spent to "care for them" went. Also sounds good until you wonder what happened to all the money folks donated to huge charities using professional fundraisers to gain millions a year while Congress refuses to hold them accountable.
When it comes to veterans, it seems they can't really count on anyone for very long.
Jury Finds County Discriminated Against Iraq Vet
Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, Wash.
by Andrew Binion
Mar 18, 2015
TACOMA -- Kitsap County deliberately discriminated against an Army National Guard veteran returning to work in the Fire Marshal's Office and retaliated against him after he filed a complaint by demoting him and passing over him for a promotion, a federal jury decided Monday.
The county's attorney said she disagreed with the verdict in the case of former Deputy Fire Marshal Craig D. Hanson, saying the county's hiring process that Hanson disputed had picked the most qualified candidate for the promotion.
The first trial in August in U.S. District Court in Tacoma ended in a hung jury. In the most recent two-week trial, jurors sided with Hanson in three of nine claims, awarding him about $65,000.
Hanson's attorney, Matt Crotty of Spokane, said the jury's finding that the discrimination and retaliation was "willful" was uncommon and could allow for the doubling of the award.
Hanson, now retired from military service, was a master sergeant in the Washington National Guard and also had served in the Army and Marines.
He started with the Fire Marshal's Office in March 2007 and left in November 2009 when he was called to active duty. One of his deployments during that time was for a year in Iraq.
He returned to work in the office in December 2012 but claimed in court documents the work environment had turned hostile and resulted in him being demoted. Fire Marshal David Lynam did not return a call for comment left at his office Monday afternoon. read more here
Allen St. standoff: Man sticks loaded gun in friend's face
TDN News
Marissa Luck
January 31, 2015
Renford said Kennedy, a security worker the Weyerhaeuser Co. mill site, is a good person who has struggled with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. They served in the army together, including a stint in Iraq in 2004. Kennedy was having a hard time accessing treatment at Vancouver Veteran’s Affairs, Renford said, and was self-medicating with alcohol.
Rex Renford never expected his best friend to point a gun at his face.
Standing at the end of loaded pistol, Renford said he feared for his life. But instinct and years of military training kicked in, helping him to disarm his friend Ronald Kennedy.
“I had to get the gun away from him,” Renford, 47, of Longview said Friday, the day after police arrested Kennedy after a two-hour standoff at his Kelso trailer home off Allen Street near Taco Bell and Burger King. “There was no thinking about it. It was do this or die.”
Kennedy, 47, was hanging out with Renford and another friend, Lynne Galloway, Thursday night when Kennedy’s ex-girlfriend Margaret Sullivan showed up to pick up belongings. Sullivan told police she and Kennedy had broken up last weekend.
The couple got into a heated argument.
When Sullivan left, Kennedy wandered into his bedroom, drunk and upset, Renford said.
Renford said he went to check on Kennedy and found him with pistol pointed at his head. He threatened to kill himself.
read more here
Woman slashes her children's throats to quiet them, police say
CNN
By Emma Lacey-Bordeaux
January 28, 2015
Thomas Booth has not been charged, and KOMO reports that police do not suspect he played any kind of role in the violence.
KOMO reports he's an active-duty soldier who was recently deployed overseas.
(CNN)A young mother in Washington state has been charged with attempted murder after authorities say she cut her children's throats in an attempt to keep them quiet.
Over the weekend, Christina Booth called 911 to report that her three children were crying nonstop and "needed medical attention," according to a recent probable cause filing.
The 28-year-old and her husband, Thomas Booth, have three children, a 2-year-old and 6-month-old twins.
When officers arrived at the Olympia, Washington, home Saturday night, they found a troubling scene.
As spelled out by a local prosecutor, police saw the twins on the couch crying "uncontrollably" and "bleeding from their necks."
One officer then went upstairs and found the couple's 2-year-old in bed, under the covers with "dry blood all over her."
All three were taken to a local hospital, where, CNN affiliate KOMO reports, they underwent surgery. They are now in stable condition and will be placed in protective custody.
In their probable cause filing, authorities paint a picture of a mother overwhelmed and suffering from postpartum depression.
A judge set bail for Booth at $3 million, KCPQ, another CNN affiliate, reported. read more here
In Remote Washington, Veterans Services Are Ferry Ride Away
NPR
Patricia Murphy
JANUARY 15, 2015
"But even vets who may want help, including some who struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, can't get VA counseling. A VA contract position for a counselor to serve the county has been unfilled for five years."
The ferry pulls in to Friday Harbor, the only incorporated city in San Juan County, Wash. Veterans will often travel the hourlong ferry ride to reach VA services here.
Patricia Murphy/KUOW
NPR — along with seven public radio stations around the country — is chronicling the lives of America's troops where they live. We're calling the project "Back at Base." This story is part of a three-part series about veteran benefits (Part 1 / Part 2).
For veterans in San Juan County, Wash., getting health care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs almost always begins with an hourlong ferry ride.
Even routine bloodwork requires a three-hour one-way trip.
Friday Harbor, Wash., is one of four island stops on this ferry ride, and the only incorporated city in San Juan County.
Travel to the west side of the island, and your cellphone pings you that you're in Canada, even though you're still in the U.S. Just a short walk from the ferry terminal is American Legion Post 163, where Peter DeLorenzi, a veterans service officer, helps area vets.
"Unless you get out," he says, "then you don't know what you have out here."
What you have are hard-to-reach vets missing out on their benefits. And until recently, the burden to sign up was mostly on them.
Then in November, for the first time, two VA employees drove a camper-sized mobile vet center 137 miles from another vet center in Tacoma, Wash., to Friday Harbor. The visit was part of a national effort to provide outreach to rural communities.
The VAB advertised and word got around. About 20 vets showed up, some were lined up when the doors opened. Most inquired about benefits, but none were willing to speak with the on-board counselor. Building that trust takes time. read more here
He claims PTSD and faced off with police while armed yet he survived.
Military service claim by man in standoff still unproven
Herald Washington
By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer
December 18, 2014
EVERETT — A Snohomish man could face jail time if he can't convince a Snohomish County judge that he has delved into the accuracy of his claimed military experiences as part of his court-ordered mental health treatment.
Superior Court Judge Michael Downes said Wednesday that he hasn't received sufficient records documenting that Tyler Gaffney is getting to the bottom of whether he has been truthful about his military service in the U.S. Army.
Downes in January sentenced Gaffney to six months in jail for a Sept. 29, 2013, incident that involved a standoff with Snohomish County sheriff's deputies. Gaffney assaulted his father and threatened to blow up and shoot police.
He confronted deputies, armed with a Airsoft gun that resembled a M-4, an assault rifle widely used by the U.S. military. Deputies used less-than-lethal ammunition to subdue him.
Gaffney later told detectives that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his combat experiences. He claimed that “he was a member of a super-secret Special Forces team,” who served in clandestine combat missions and had been awarded medals for his bravery.
The detectives, who both served in the military, reported that many of Gaffney's combat stories followed the plots of popular war movies. Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern raised concerns about “stolen valor.” read more here
Soldier accused of killing wife free on bond to remain on base
KIRO News
By Maria Guerrero
November 2, 2014
TACOMA, Wash. — A 20-year-old JBLM soldier accused of killing his young wife was allowed to walk out of jail, just hours after his bail was reduced.
JBLM is now involved in Skylar Nemetz’ release.
KIRO 7 also obtained 911 calls on Oct. 16.
“I think someone's just been shot in my neighborhood,” said one neighbor.
That someone was 19-year-old Danielle Nemetz.
KIRO 7 listened to the 911 calls neighbors made the evening Danielle was shot in the back of the head with an AR-15 rifle inside the Lakewood apartment she shared with her husband, Skylar.
The 20-year-old is charged with her murder. read more here
Iraq war vet's rental truck stolen with family ashes inside
KING 5 News
Alex Rozier
September 16, 2014
James was injured in combat, he got full retirement from the Army, and the plan was for the family to start a new life in Puyallup.
TACOMA, Wash. – An injured Iraq War veteran had his rented truck and trailer stolen Monday and the family doesn't know if the thieves took off with the ashes of two family members.
James Dunahoe said he couldn't believe how his morning played out. At 7 a.m. Monday, his truck was there. A few hours later, it was not.
"I went to get my family something to drink and eat this morning and when I came back at 11, it was not there," Dunahoe said.
"I thought he was joking," Leahana Dunahoe said. "Everything's in there. Our clothes, our kitchen, our living room, dining room."
There were also some things you just can't replace.
"Our son just passed away and his ashes are in there," Dunahoe said. "My mom just passed away. Her ashes are in there." read more here
Thurston County man to serve time for setting wife on fire
The Olympian
BY AMELIA DICKSON
Staff writer
September 9, 2014
A Thurston County man was sentenced Tuesday to six years and seven months in prison after he pleaded guilty to pouring lighter fluid on his wife’s legs and igniting it in 2011.
In March of 2012, Duane M. Rader was found guilty of first-degree arson, felony harassment, unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault and sentenced to 10 years in prison, with the court acquitting him of first-degree attempted murder charges.
But the sentence was overturned by the Washington State Court of Appeals in January of this year because the court improperly calculated his offender score during the original trial.
At a court appearance Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to the same charges — first-degree arson, felony harassment, unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault — in addition to three charges of violating a no-contact order.
The main charges stem from a Feb. 13, 2011, assault that left Rader’s wife with second degree burns on her legs. She initially told Thurston County Sheriff’s deputies that she was trying to refill her lighter and accidentally lit her legs on fire, according to charging documents. The deputies didn’t arrest Rader at the time because they weren’t sure what had happened.
Rader served in the Army for 15 years and completed three overseas tours. The experience left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, and he “self-medicated” with alcohol, O’Connor said.
But Hirsch argued that post-traumatic stress disorder isn’t an excuse for committing violent crimes.
“Although that was an awful experience for you, I don’t believe that PTSD causes domestic violence,” Hirsch said. read more here
Veterans replace stolen coins at war hero’s grave
KOMO News
By Mark Miller
Published: Aug 31, 2014
GARDINER, Wash. – At a small cemetery in the town of Gardiner, a wrong has been made right.
“I feel very honored, very blessed, very loved at this point in time,” said Joan Shields, as she looked at the headstone of the man she lost to the Vietnam War.
On Sunday, veterans held a ceremony to replace the special military coins that were stolen from Marvin G. Shields’ graveside earlier this month.
The fallen Navy Seabee posthumously received the Medal of Honor for saving many lives during a battle in Don Zoai, South Vietnam in 1965.
Shields was 25 years old when he volunteered to take out a Viet Cong machine gun nest. He fought while wounded, rescued another wounded soldier, and kept fighting for hours. Shields later died of a gunshot wound.
He was the first member of the Navy to earn the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.
“I'm pretty sure he’s sitting up there, you know, just grinning. He's gotta be grinning,” said retired Seabee Bill Pletcher, who led the effort to replace the stolen coins, and hold a ceremony to honor Marvin Shields and his family.
Bill decided to do something after seeing a KOMO4News Problems Solvers report on the theft of three challenge coins from the headstone. read more here
