Resuming federal executions unlikely to affect military death row
STARS AND STRIPES
By NANCY MONTGOMERY
Published: August 12, 2019
The Trump administration’s plan to begin executing federal death row inmates for the first time in 16 years will have little effect on the four soldiers sentenced to death, military lawyers and the Army said.
Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis and his wife, Angela Hennis, walk to the Fort Bragg, N.C., courthouse for his murder trial Thursday, April 8, 2010. Hennis was found guilty of the May 9, 1985, murder of Kathryn Eastburn and her two children. STEPHANIE BRUCE, THE FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVE/AP
They include Ronald Gray, a former cook who was convicted three decades ago of multiple rapes and four murders near Fort Bragg, N.C., and was scheduled to be executed in 2008. The case remains ongoing in Kansas federal district court, with no clear end in sight.
Also on death row is former Sgt. Hasan Akbar, convicted in 2005 of killing two officers and wounding 14 other soldiers two years earlier in Kuwait; Timothy Hennis, a master sergeant convicted in 2010 of the 1985 rape and murder of a woman and murder of her two children; and Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist convicted in 2013 of killing 13 people and wounding numerous others on Ft. Hood in 2009.
All “are in various stages of legal action,” Army spokesman William Sharp said in an email. When and how those actions might conclude is unknown.
Presidents must approve the execution of those sentenced to death at court-martial, after receiving a recommendation from the secretary of the associated service branch. The Navy has not executed any of its members since 1849.
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Police, first responders urged to ‘Call for Backup’ before suicide creeps into their thoughts
News Herald
By Jackie Harrison-Martin
Aug 12, 2019
According to the program, people who choose suicide often keep up a “normal” appearance because they’ve hidden a lot of things away inside their own “hurt locker,” a personal “locker” where stress is stored and hidden.”
Far too many times, three words have been exceptionally difficult for police officers, firefighters and other first responders to say — “I need help.”
It has come at a high cost, and that is that is changing.
David Edwards is the founder and president of Call for Backup, a program focusing on the mental health for emergency and rescue personnel with the end goal being to reduce incidents of suicides.
He coordinates a two-day training class that gives first responders the tools needed to help recognize when they or one of their own is overwhelmed, detect when stress is building and make reaching out for help an easier stop.
It was Edwards, a Taylor resident, who came up with the name for the program that was launched three years ago and is now being taught in numerous states.
He said the name is one first responders can relate to because they recognize what it means out in the field.
When officers need help mentally, he hopes it will be viewed with the same understanding and ease that calling for backup brings on the job.
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For second day in row, NYPD mourning officer who died by suicide
NBC New York, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the officer who died Wednesday was 56 years and found in his Queens home after police were called around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.
On Tuesday, another police officer died by suicide in Yonkers.
Since the beginning of June, seven NYPD officers have died by suicide, and nine since the beginning of the year.
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FDNY captain found dead of apparent suicide in his Staten Island home: sources
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
By ROCCO PARASCANDOLA and JOHN ANNESE
AUG 06, 2019
An FDNY captain was found dead of an apparent suicide in his Staten Island home Tuesday morning, police sources said. The 53-year-old captain was found hanging in a closet of his Tottenville home at about 11:15 a.m., sources said.
His name has not yet been publicly released. An autopsy is pending, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office said.
FDNY spokesman Myles Miller provided no details about the captain’s death Tuesday, though he said the department shared suicide prevention tips to its members after the suicides of seven NYPD officers this year — four of them over a three-week stretch.
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NYPD suicides push officials to work to overcome stigma of asking for help
BY CNN WIRE
AUGUST 11, 2019
The study found that first responders failed to seek help because of the stigma of seeking mental health treatment in a profession that prioritizes bravery and toughness. It also found of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, “approximately 3-5% have suicide prevention training programs.”
The first sign something was wrong: The police sergeant didn’t show up for morning roll call.
New York Police Department officials went to his home, where they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was July 27, and the 30-year-old with eight years on the force was the NYPD’s seventh suicide this year, according to officials.
It’s news that rattled Police Commissioner James O’Neill, who says his biggest fear is another one of his officers is about to take his or her own life.
“Am I scared? I’ve got to be honest with you. Yeah, I am,” O’Neill told CNN during a recent interview at his office at One Police Plaza in Manhattan. “Maybe there’s somebody out there right now that’s in crisis or approaching crisis and just unable or unwilling to come forward.”
Over a two-month period, O’Neill has had often-painful conversations about a member of the department who killed himself. The number of NYPD suicides so far this year stands at seven — with five of those occurring since June.
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FOX43 Focal Point: Heroes in Harm’s Way — First responders and mental health
BY GRACE GRIFFATON
AUGUST 11, 2019
"What they are seeing on a regular basis is not normal. We're responding to situations that would absolutely terrify another member of the public or completely devastate them if they've seen some of the carnage we've seen." Chief Jarrad Berkihiser
LANCASTER, Pa. -- For the third straight year, police officer suicides exceeded line of duty deaths in the United States. Local first responders are now sharing their battles with mental health issues. FOX43's Grace Griffaton takes a closer look at the toll the uniform can take. Lancaster Bureau Of Police lost a patrol officer last year after he took his own life. The loss hit the department hard, and it really changed how it looks at mental health. The flashing lights, the sirens, the tape, it's what civilians see. What first responders see, smell, and hear may never go away.
"Just watching what they do at an autopsy to four children - one being the same age as my daughter. It was kind of a gut bunch," said Chief Jarrad Berkihiser, Lancaster Bureau of Police. Flash back to August 22, 2003: Officers, including Berkihiser, respond to an arson on East Chestnut Street in Lancaster. Four children perished that day. "It was a homicide so I ended up spending 3 full days in the crime scene," explained Berkihiser. It wasn't Berkihiser's first time seeing trauma either; he spent his first 10 years processing violent crime scenes. "I was in a dark place in 2003, and it wasn't just one incident. What I found out? It was a culmination of multiple incidents over several years," he added.
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#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife
Army veteran fighting government for regulating part of his farm to protect spiders
WZTV
by ADRIAN MOJICA
WZTV Staff
August 9th 2019
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (WZTV) – An Army veteran who served his country in the Vietnam War is suing the federal government for regulating part of his family farm over spiders.
John Yearwood runs a small business and lives on the family farm which has been in the family since 1871, nearly 150 years. Spanning 865 acres in Williamson County, Texas, Yearwood is faced with being unable to use part of his land because of a tiny spider he's never seen.
In a lawsuit filed by the non-profit American Stewards of Liberty on behalf of Yearwood, the suit claims the U.S. Department of the Interior is using the Interstate Commerce Clause to keep him from using part of the land due to an obscure cave spider species.
According to the lawsuit, the government is using the clause to protect the Bone Cave Harvestman, a tiny spider which only exists in underground caves in two central Texas counties. It is believed this species of spider lives on Yearwood's family land. The spider is considered endangered, thus protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Due to the endangered designation, Yearwood would be committing a federal crime if he did anything to harm or disturb the habitat of the Bone Cave Havestman spiders. The situation has put Yearwood's family in a tight position according to the American Stewards of Liberty. The organization states Yearwood has used the land for community benefit, allowing church groups, youth groups, and 4-H clubs to use the property for camping. However, the best part of their land for camping is also home to where the spiders are believed to live underground.
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Veterans Urge Changes Before Expansion Of VA Caregivers Program
KSTX
By QUIL LAWRENCE
AUG 8, 2019
"I got a letter saying that I was out of the program because the veteran hasn't shown any progress since 2011," said Alicia. "I asked them, 'What do you mean by progress?' "
Matt shakes hands with members of the Warrior Games community after his race. "I got a letter saying that I was out of the [caregivers] program because the veteran hasn't shown any progress since 2011," Alicia said. "I asked them, 'What do you mean by progress?' "
EVE EDELHEIT FOR NPR
There are times when retired Staff Sgt. Matt Lammers doesn't look like he needs anyone's help — like when he was competing, and winning, races at the Department of Defense Warrior Games in Tampa, Fla., this summer.
"We don't like to say the word 'can't' in our family," says Matt, who lost both his legs above the knee and his left arm to an explosion during his second deployment to Iraq in 2007.
Matt won medals at the games in Tampa for sitting volleyball, swimming and indoor rowing. At the end of the games, the U.S. Army gave him the "heart of the team" award. But he and his wife almost didn't attend, because they were short on cash to make the trip after Alicia was cut from the Department of Veterans Affairs' caregiver program last December because Matt had not "consistently engaged in treatment," according to a letter from the VA. Alicia had been Matt's official caregiver for most of eight years.
"It felt like a stab in the back, like what I do is not worth it in their opinion, like I'm not part of their team like I thought I was," she says.
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