US Attorney Reviewing Case of Homeless Veteran And Orlando Police Officer

U.S. ATTORNEY TO REVIEW ARREST OF HOMELESS VETERAN BY ORLANDO POLICE
WMFE
by Renata Sago
May 6, 2016

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is looking into excessive force allegations against an Orlando police officer. An Orlando Police Department internal review cleared officer James Wilson in an alleged assault last year against homeless veteran Terre Johnson in Parramore. But the Citizens’ Police Review Board, an independent entity, recommended that Wilson be charged.

U.S. Attorney spokesman William Daniels says the chairman of the independent review board, Henry Lim, referred the case.
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After Suicide South Jersey VA Clinics to be Overseen by VA?

Veteran's suicide prompts South Jersey VA changes
Press of Atlantic
NICHOLAS HUBA, Staff Writer
May 6, 2016

NORTHFIELD — South Jersey’s veterans clinics will no longer be overseen by the Wilmington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, as part of reforms designed to address long waiting times and staffing issues at area facilities.

Craig Matthews/Staff Photographer U.S. Senator Robert Menendez addressing recent concerns surrounding the level of care and compassion awarded to South Jersey veterans at a Friday press conference with VA officials May 6, 2016 (Craig Matthews/Staff Photographer

All South Jersey community-based outpatient clinics will now be overseen by the Department of Veterans Affairs under the direct supervision of the Veterans Integrated Service Network 4. There are three VA clinics in South Jersey: Cape May, Northfield and Vineland.

U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and representatives of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, along with Janet Murphy, Veterans Affairs deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management, announced the reforms Friday morning at the Stillwater Building on South Shore Road.
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Camp Pendleton's Rancho Santa Margarita Chapel St. John Stained Glass Window Restored

Stained glass window restored at 200-year-old chapel
San Diego Union Tribune
By Linda McIntosh
May 6, 2016

The chapel is part of the Santa Margarita Ranch House National Historic Site, also a California State Historical Landmark. The building is believed to have been used as a winery in the early 1800s, serving Mission San Luis Rey A 75-year-old stained glass window was restored at Camp Pendleton’s 2-century-old Ranch House Chapel, one of the oldest buildings on base and a national landmark.

St. John stained glass window at Camp Pendleton's Rancho Santa Margarita Chapel

The restoration effort was spearheaded by the Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores Docent group as the base approaches its 75th anniversary next year.

The 3-by-4-foot stained glass depicting St Joan of Arc, was originally installed in the chapel’s sacristy in the 1940s during the term of the base’s first commanding general, Maj. Gen. Joseph Fegan, said Faye Jonason, the base’s museum branch officer who coordinated the project with the docent group.

The historic piece was created in the style of Old World glass found in European cathedrals and was originally donated by the Flood family. It is one of eight such stained glass windows in the chapel, donated in memory of pioneer families, including the Forsters, O’Neills and Baumgartners,who lived in the nearby ranch house until it was acquired by the Marine Corps base in 1942.
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Marine Pilot in Stable Condition After Harrier Jet Crash

Marine Corps Harrier jet crashes off Wrightsville Beach
StarNews Staff
Published: Friday, May 6, 2016

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH -- A Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed into the Atlantic Ocean late Friday afternoon, prompting an ocean rescue of its pilot.

Town Manager Tim Owens confirmed the crash, saying the plane ended up in the water about a mile-and-a-half offshore.

A spokesman from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point said the pilot was from Marine Attack Squadron 542.

"We can confirm that a pilot with Marine Attack Squadron 542, Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing ejected from an AV-8B Harrier at approximately 5:05 p.m. off the coast of Wilmington, N.C.," said Marine Lt. Maida Zheng.

According to Zheng, the pilot was rescued by an H-60 Seahawk helicopter at about 5:28 p.m. The pilot, who has not been identified, is in stable condition at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune.
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First Time Ever PTSD Study Happened A Long Time Ago

This morning my email box is full of claims that "For first time, medical marijuana to be studied as treatment for vets' PTSD" and it seems like everyone is talking about this but no one is even bothering to figure out if that claim is true or not.

"For the first time, the Drug Enforcement Agency has given the green light to a controlled, clinical trial of medical marijuana for veterans suffering from PTSD."

"The proposal from the University of Arizona was long ago cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, but researchers had been unable to purchase marijuana from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The agency's Mississippi research farm is the only federally-sanctioned source of the drug."

As with everything else, too many people think PTSD was just invented and all the research is brand spanking new.  While it all may seem like news to them, it is far from new to veterans.  Ask any Vietnam veteran and you'll get a clue how long it has been used.

In a letter last week, HHS cleared the purchase of medical marijuana by the studies' chief financial backer, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which supports medical research and legalization of marijuana and other drugs.

When did that happen? 2014, so no, all the claims of "first time ever" are wrong because the research had already started long before now and even before 2014. By 2013 Washington and Colorado got the green light from the Department of Justice to use marijuana because research had already shown benefits of it. But it went back even further.

State Passed the Law, but Never Used It
New York Times
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: April 20, 2001

ALBANY, April 19— It seemed so revolutionary.

In 1996, California and Arizona legalized the medical use of marijuana. Six states and the District of Columbia followed. A new movement, it appeared, was sweeping the country.

Not so new, actually. New York beat them all by a mile.

In 1980, the Legislature and Gov. Hugh L. Carey, to little fanfare, enacted a medical marijuana law in New York, the first of its kind. But the mechanism needed to make the law effective was never put in place, and it was largely forgotten.

In fact, many of the people involved two decades ago had to have their memories jogged. ''I had forgotten all about this,'' said James R. Tallon, now the president of the United Hospital Fund, who was an assemblyman and chairman of the Health Committee when the panel approved the bill.
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