Enewetak Atoll cleanup vets, facing cancer, hope long-shot 'atomic veteran' bill becomes law
Bangor Daily News, Maine
By Abigail Curtis
Published: April 3, 2016
Laird and Dean were among approximately 6,000 American soldiers tasked with rehabilitating the atoll between 1977 and 1980 before it was returned to the people of the Marshall Islands.
BANGOR, Maine (Tribune News Service) — Congress is considering a bill that would create a special “atomic veteran” designation for the men and women who worked to clean up nuclear waste from a South Pacific atoll nearly 40 years ago, a move that Maine veteran Paul Laird says was a long time coming.
But Laird, a 59-year-old from Otisfield who served with the U.S. Army’s 84th Engineer Battalion on Enewetak Atoll and who is a three-time cancer survivor, said that the bill has only a slim chance of becoming law — and that is not acceptable to him. As of now, only 30 co-sponsors have officially signed on to the bill, which is a number the Mainer said does not seem like enough.
“We are not seeing people jump up and down to get onboard,” he said earlier this month. “We’re a little disappointed. We’re trying however we can to get the word out, but people just don’t seem to think it’s very important.”
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Woman indicted, accused of stealing the identity of Afghanistan war veteran
Tampa Bay Times
By Sara DiNatale, Times Staff Writer
Friday, April 1, 2016
Prince is also accused of filing false tax returns using the identities of four other victims, totaling more than $33,000, according to court records.
TAMPA — The day Army 1st Lt. Ryan Timoney arrived at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center, he was still recovering from a suicide bomber's blast in Afghanistan.
That same day in June 2012, Timoney's name, birth date and Social Security number were traded for crack cocaine.
David Lewis, the VA worker who gave up the personal information to feed his drug habit, has already been sentenced to six years in prison. Now, 31-year-old Nejah Prince is facing an indictment in federal court alleging aggravated identity theft and filing false tax returns, according to records filed Thursday.
Timoney, who had part of his leg amputated, first noticed something was amiss when he was mailed a receipt for a TV bought in his name.
According to the court filings, Prince used a Montgomery Ward credit card to buy a plasma screen television and cookware set for nearly $1,400 in February 2013. The credit card, the documents said, were in the name of someone with the initials "R.T."
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Exclusive details: Scottsdale soldier shoots girlfriend then turns the gun on himself
NBC 12 News Arizona
Trisha Hendricks, KPNX
March 31, 2016
SCOTTSDALE - A soldier in the Arizona National Guard allegedly shot his girlfriend to death and then turned the gun on himself Wednesday night.
Family of the victim, Katie Marie Johnson, gave 12 News their blessing to release her name. Now, Scottsdale police released the name of the shooter -- 35-year-old Jose Gualberto Rios.
The Arizona Army National Guard confirmed that he was listed as an active staff sergeant.
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War veteran brought to tears by massive ovation at Jets game
BarDown Staff
Mar. 31, 2016
Len Kropioski has been a fixture at most Winnipeg Jets home games ever since the team moved back to Manitoba. The 97-year-old war veteran has a seat right along the glass and is shown on the video board during the Canadian national anthem with regularity. He is even featured on a pin that is sold at the True North Shop.
Unfortunately, after being hospitalized in February, he hasn’t been able to make it out to any games for quite some time. On Wednesday night however, he made his return, and it was glorious.
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Man who attacked disabled Vietnam veteran gets 10 years
KDVR News
By Kent Erdahl
MARCH 31, 2016
“Xakon once fought for his country and now there are many days I see him fighting for his life,” said Paul Solari, a friend of Xakon’s who spoke during the sentencing.
BOULDER, Colo. -- He was singled out and brutally beaten for no other reason than his disability. Now, a Vietnam veteran from Boulder has the justice he has been waiting for.
Though Xakon Con Passion had hoped his case would send a message by leading to the state’s first disability-motivated hate crime conviction, prosecutors said a plea agreement ensures his attacker will spend more time behind bars.
On Thursday, with the hate crime charge no longer on the table, Xakon argued for the stiffest sentence possible: 10 years in prison for 62-year-old Jerry Dawson, who attacked him, unprovoked, in July.
“I have very little left, physically, of the man I worked so hard to be,” Xakon told the judge.
The disabled Vietnam veteran, who uses an electric wheelchair after suffering nerve damage from his service in Vietnam, was outside a Boulder bank when Dawson began punching him in the head and fractured his skull.
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