August 26, 2009
Number of homeless students in Volusia climbs
By LINDA TRIMBLE
Education writer
DELAND -- The number of homeless children attending Volusia County public schools has increased more than five-fold since 2003, with most of them enrolled in elementary schools, the School Board heard Tuesday night.
"Our numbers are high for Florida and high for a county this size," Pam Woods, the school district's homeless education liaison, told the School Board.
Volusia schools enrolled 1,990 homeless students last school year, compared to 350 in 2003, Woods reported. Volusia Schools has about 62,000 total students this year.
Under federal law, children are considered homeless when they lack "fixed, regular and adequate night-time residence."
read more here
Number of homeless students in Volusia climbs
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Local Clinical Trial May Cure The Cancer That Killed Sen. Kennedy
Local Clinical Trial May Cure The Cancer That Killed Sen. Kennedy
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 7:15:15 PM
ORLANDO -- Doctors at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have launched a new clinical trial to fight the type of brain cancer that killed Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
He had undergone surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy since he was diagnosed with cancer in May of last year.
It really is a huge medical breakthrough.
M.D. Anderson is only the second site in the world to launch this trial.
read more here
Local Clinical Trial May Cure The Cancer
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 7:15:15 PM
ORLANDO -- Doctors at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have launched a new clinical trial to fight the type of brain cancer that killed Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
He had undergone surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy since he was diagnosed with cancer in May of last year.
It really is a huge medical breakthrough.
M.D. Anderson is only the second site in the world to launch this trial.
read more here
Local Clinical Trial May Cure The Cancer
NH Guard to honor men lost in Vietnam
NH Guard to honor men lost in Vietnam
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 26, 2009 6:25:22 EDT
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire National Guardsmen who served in Vietnam are paying tribute to their fallen comrades.
A ceremony scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at guard headquarters in Concord is honoring seven citizen-solders who died while serving with the 3rd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery, in Vietnam. Five of the soldiers, who were from Manchester, died together when the truck they were riding in struck a land mine Aug. 26, 1969 — 40 years ago on Wednesday.
In all, 506 New Hampshire guardsmen deployed with the battalion, serving in South Vietnam from Sept. 16, 1968, to Sept. 4, 1969. They came from five batteries located in five different New Hampshire Guard armories including Portsmouth, Somersworth, Manchester, Nashua and Franklin/Laconia.
NH Guard to honor men lost in Vietnam
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 26, 2009 6:25:22 EDT
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire National Guardsmen who served in Vietnam are paying tribute to their fallen comrades.
A ceremony scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at guard headquarters in Concord is honoring seven citizen-solders who died while serving with the 3rd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery, in Vietnam. Five of the soldiers, who were from Manchester, died together when the truck they were riding in struck a land mine Aug. 26, 1969 — 40 years ago on Wednesday.
In all, 506 New Hampshire guardsmen deployed with the battalion, serving in South Vietnam from Sept. 16, 1968, to Sept. 4, 1969. They came from five batteries located in five different New Hampshire Guard armories including Portsmouth, Somersworth, Manchester, Nashua and Franklin/Laconia.
NH Guard to honor men lost in Vietnam
Off-Duty Marion Deputy Pulls Woman From Burning Car
Off-Duty Marion Deputy Pulls Woman From Burning Car
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 4:43:03 PM
Reported By Heather Sorentrue
BELLEVIEW -- Quick thinking and selflessness likely saved a woman's life Tuesday night.
An off-duty Marion County Sheriff's deputy was driving down county Road 467 when he saw across a car on its side, on fire and managed to free the driver who was trapped inside.
The driver, Kathleen Powell of Ocala, was taken to the hospital after the crash, but she was treated and released.
Around 10:50 p.m. Tuesday, off-duty Deputy Jonah Music spotted a vehicle turned on its side against a fence with flames coming from underneath.
read more here
Off Duty Marion Deputy Pulls Woman From Burning Car
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 4:43:03 PM
Reported By Heather Sorentrue
BELLEVIEW -- Quick thinking and selflessness likely saved a woman's life Tuesday night.
An off-duty Marion County Sheriff's deputy was driving down county Road 467 when he saw across a car on its side, on fire and managed to free the driver who was trapped inside.
The driver, Kathleen Powell of Ocala, was taken to the hospital after the crash, but she was treated and released.
Around 10:50 p.m. Tuesday, off-duty Deputy Jonah Music spotted a vehicle turned on its side against a fence with flames coming from underneath.
read more here
Off Duty Marion Deputy Pulls Woman From Burning Car
Texas may have executed innocent man Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas may have executed innocent man
By Daniel Tencer
Published: August 26, 2009
A 1991 house fire in Corsicana, Texas, that sent three infant girls to their deaths and their father to the execution chamber was incorrectly ruled an arson, and may have in fact been accidental, says a report from a top fire scientist.
The report from renowned fire expert Craig Beyler, requested by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, casts doubt on death penalty supporters’ insistence that there are sufficient safeguards to prevent the innocent from being put to death. It will also likely raise new calls for the abolition of the death penalty.
The state of Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham by lethal injection on February 17, 2004, for the deaths of his daughters Amber, 2, and twins Karmon and Kameron, aged one. Willingham protested his innocence to the end.
If the Texas Forensic Science Commission accepts Beyler’s findings, “it could lead to the first-ever declaration by an official state body that an inmate was wrongly executed,” reports the Chicago Tribune.
read more here
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/26/texas-executed-innocent/
By Daniel Tencer
Published: August 26, 2009
A 1991 house fire in Corsicana, Texas, that sent three infant girls to their deaths and their father to the execution chamber was incorrectly ruled an arson, and may have in fact been accidental, says a report from a top fire scientist.
The report from renowned fire expert Craig Beyler, requested by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, casts doubt on death penalty supporters’ insistence that there are sufficient safeguards to prevent the innocent from being put to death. It will also likely raise new calls for the abolition of the death penalty.
The state of Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham by lethal injection on February 17, 2004, for the deaths of his daughters Amber, 2, and twins Karmon and Kameron, aged one. Willingham protested his innocence to the end.
If the Texas Forensic Science Commission accepts Beyler’s findings, “it could lead to the first-ever declaration by an official state body that an inmate was wrongly executed,” reports the Chicago Tribune.
read more here
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/26/texas-executed-innocent/
Vietnam doctors want veteran status
Vietnam doctors want veteran status
Posted Wed Aug 26, 2009 4:39pm AEST
A group of former doctors and nurses are fighting the Federal Government to be classified as war veterans.
In the 1960s and '70s more than 450 Australian medical staff volunteered to go to Vietnam to treat civilian casualties of war.
They have been fighting ever since for veterans' entitlements.
Former nurse Dot Angell says the civilian surgical team members suffered the same post-war problems as soldiers, but have faced Government discrimination.
"The amount of cancer that is rife amongst the team members, which is not being recognised at all is equal to the cancers in the military personnel which is recognised," she said.
"It just seems this anomaly is a Government disgrace, really."
read more here
Vietnam doctors want veteran status
Posted Wed Aug 26, 2009 4:39pm AEST
A group of former doctors and nurses are fighting the Federal Government to be classified as war veterans.
In the 1960s and '70s more than 450 Australian medical staff volunteered to go to Vietnam to treat civilian casualties of war.
They have been fighting ever since for veterans' entitlements.
Former nurse Dot Angell says the civilian surgical team members suffered the same post-war problems as soldiers, but have faced Government discrimination.
"The amount of cancer that is rife amongst the team members, which is not being recognised at all is equal to the cancers in the military personnel which is recognised," she said.
"It just seems this anomaly is a Government disgrace, really."
read more here
Vietnam doctors want veteran status
UK:Special Air Service and PTSD
SAS 'suffering from post traumatic stress'
Updated on 26 August 2009
By Carl Dinnen
A former SAS trooper breaks the regiment's vow of silence to reveal the effect that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are having on the mental health of soldiers.
Ex-Corporal Bob Paxman says servicemen and women are being over-worked, with little time to recover between overseas missions, leading to a rise in cases of post traumatic stress disorder.
He says members of the Special Air Service are suffering particularly badly - and estimates that half of the SAS personnel he knows have serious behavioural problems.
go here for video report
SAS suffering from post traumatic stress
Updated on 26 August 2009
By Carl Dinnen
A former SAS trooper breaks the regiment's vow of silence to reveal the effect that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are having on the mental health of soldiers.
Ex-Corporal Bob Paxman says servicemen and women are being over-worked, with little time to recover between overseas missions, leading to a rise in cases of post traumatic stress disorder.
He says members of the Special Air Service are suffering particularly badly - and estimates that half of the SAS personnel he knows have serious behavioural problems.
go here for video report
SAS suffering from post traumatic stress
VA Pledge to Women Veterans on Women's Equality Day
Recent VA News Releases
http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel
VA Pledge to Women Veterans on Women's Equality Day
WASHINGTON (Aug. 26, 2009) - Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki pledged today on Women's Equality Day that the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) will work to ensure the nation upholds its
obligation to meet the needs of our Veterans - including women Veterans.
"Our Veterans deserve the very best care. Anything less is
unacceptable," Secretary Shinseki said. "If we are to transform VA into
a 21st century organization, we need to continually improve our services
to women Veterans."
Although VA has long provided equal benefits to women Veterans, the
Department has embarked on new initiatives to meet their unique needs.
These initiatives include:
* Comprehensive primary care and specialized medical
care at every VA medical center;
* Enhanced mental health care specifically for women
Veterans;
* Staffing every VA medical center with a women
Veterans program manager;
* Creating a mini-residency on women's health for
primary care physicians;
* Supporting a multifaceted research program on
women's health;
* Improving communication and outreach to women
Veterans; and
* Continuing the operation of organizations such as
VA's Center for Women Veterans and the Women Veterans Health Strategic
Healthcare Group.
"During this observance we should remember the special contributions and
sacrifices of the 200,000 women currently serving in the armed forces
and 1.8 million who are Veterans," Assistant Secretary L. Tammy
Duckworth said.
Women Veterans are one of the fastest growing segments of the Veteran
population. They comprise 7.5 percent of the total Veteran population
and nearly 5.5 percent of all Veterans who use VA health care services.
VA estimates women Veterans will constitute 10 percent of the Veteran
population by 2020 and 9.5 percent of VA patients.
http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel
VA Pledge to Women Veterans on Women's Equality Day
WASHINGTON (Aug. 26, 2009) - Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki pledged today on Women's Equality Day that the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) will work to ensure the nation upholds its
obligation to meet the needs of our Veterans - including women Veterans.
"Our Veterans deserve the very best care. Anything less is
unacceptable," Secretary Shinseki said. "If we are to transform VA into
a 21st century organization, we need to continually improve our services
to women Veterans."
Although VA has long provided equal benefits to women Veterans, the
Department has embarked on new initiatives to meet their unique needs.
These initiatives include:
* Comprehensive primary care and specialized medical
care at every VA medical center;
* Enhanced mental health care specifically for women
Veterans;
* Staffing every VA medical center with a women
Veterans program manager;
* Creating a mini-residency on women's health for
primary care physicians;
* Supporting a multifaceted research program on
women's health;
* Improving communication and outreach to women
Veterans; and
* Continuing the operation of organizations such as
VA's Center for Women Veterans and the Women Veterans Health Strategic
Healthcare Group.
"During this observance we should remember the special contributions and
sacrifices of the 200,000 women currently serving in the armed forces
and 1.8 million who are Veterans," Assistant Secretary L. Tammy
Duckworth said.
Women Veterans are one of the fastest growing segments of the Veteran
population. They comprise 7.5 percent of the total Veteran population
and nearly 5.5 percent of all Veterans who use VA health care services.
VA estimates women Veterans will constitute 10 percent of the Veteran
population by 2020 and 9.5 percent of VA patients.
VA to apologize for mistaken Lou Gehrig's disease notices
VA to apologize for mistaken Lou Gehrig's disease notices
Story Highlights
Letters sent last week informed 1,864 veterans and survivors of ALS diagnosis
VA confirms some recipients did not have ALS, and is reviewing claims files
VA: "Employees are personally contacting" those who don't have disease
Agency is reviewing notification process to ensure no such error is repeated
By Ashley Hayes
CNN
(CNN) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday it will apologize to veterans who were mistakenly told they'd been diagnosed with a fatal neurological condition.
Letters were sent last week to 1,864 veterans and survivors, the VA said in a written statement. They were supposed to be sent to veterans with ALS -- also known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- to keep them apprised of expanding benefits eligibility.
"According to the records of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), you have a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)," said the letter, according to the National Gulf War Resource Center. "This letter tells you about VA disability compensation benefits that may be available to you."
But some who received the letters, like Brent Casey, do not have ALS. Casey, a disabled Army veteran from the first Gulf War, told CNN that when he received the letter, he was "just completely beside myself. Just floored. Went into a complete and total meltdown. I couldn't speak, couldn't -- I guess I was, truthfully, speechless."
After hearing from veterans who received the letter but do not have ALS, the VA immediately began reviewing individual claims files for all the recipients to determine who received the letter by mistake, agency spokeswoman Katie Roberts said in the statement. "VA employees are personally contacting these individuals to ensure they understand the letter should not be confused with a medical diagnosis of ALS, explain why they mistakenly received the letter and express VA's sincere apologies for the distress caused by this unfortunate and regrettable error."
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/26/veterans.letters.disease/index.html
Story Highlights
Letters sent last week informed 1,864 veterans and survivors of ALS diagnosis
VA confirms some recipients did not have ALS, and is reviewing claims files
VA: "Employees are personally contacting" those who don't have disease
Agency is reviewing notification process to ensure no such error is repeated
By Ashley Hayes
CNN
(CNN) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday it will apologize to veterans who were mistakenly told they'd been diagnosed with a fatal neurological condition.
Letters were sent last week to 1,864 veterans and survivors, the VA said in a written statement. They were supposed to be sent to veterans with ALS -- also known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- to keep them apprised of expanding benefits eligibility.
"According to the records of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), you have a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)," said the letter, according to the National Gulf War Resource Center. "This letter tells you about VA disability compensation benefits that may be available to you."
But some who received the letters, like Brent Casey, do not have ALS. Casey, a disabled Army veteran from the first Gulf War, told CNN that when he received the letter, he was "just completely beside myself. Just floored. Went into a complete and total meltdown. I couldn't speak, couldn't -- I guess I was, truthfully, speechless."
After hearing from veterans who received the letter but do not have ALS, the VA immediately began reviewing individual claims files for all the recipients to determine who received the letter by mistake, agency spokeswoman Katie Roberts said in the statement. "VA employees are personally contacting these individuals to ensure they understand the letter should not be confused with a medical diagnosis of ALS, explain why they mistakenly received the letter and express VA's sincere apologies for the distress caused by this unfortunate and regrettable error."
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/26/veterans.letters.disease/index.html
Polls show atheists on the rise in America
I think the biggest reason is that too many people have been turned away or pushed away from churches for far too long. Not just here in America but around the world.
Here in Central Florida, I went to over 20 churches looking for help for our veterans with PTSD. One responded, he was a Chaplain and a minister. The others, well they just couldn't be bothered. I kept trying. I would talk to this one and that one at a church highly recommended by a parishioner. Offered a polite conversation and a promise I would be contacted by the person I needed to talk to, but never heard back from them. There is too much talking about being Christian and too little actions to go with it.
People have basic needs and each searching for what they need to be "happy" in this life. Food, shelter, clothing and someone to share their life with, but they also look for what they feel is missing inside of them. If they looked for it in churches before and didn't find it, do you really expect them to believe there is a God up there loving them when they couldn't find anyone acting like Him down here?
If people are turning away from the churches, we have only ourselves to blame.
Here in Central Florida, I went to over 20 churches looking for help for our veterans with PTSD. One responded, he was a Chaplain and a minister. The others, well they just couldn't be bothered. I kept trying. I would talk to this one and that one at a church highly recommended by a parishioner. Offered a polite conversation and a promise I would be contacted by the person I needed to talk to, but never heard back from them. There is too much talking about being Christian and too little actions to go with it.
People have basic needs and each searching for what they need to be "happy" in this life. Food, shelter, clothing and someone to share their life with, but they also look for what they feel is missing inside of them. If they looked for it in churches before and didn't find it, do you really expect them to believe there is a God up there loving them when they couldn't find anyone acting like Him down here?
If people are turning away from the churches, we have only ourselves to blame.
Polls show atheists on the rise in America
By Agence France-Presse
Published: August 26, 2009
DAVIE, Florida — When South Florida atheists held their first meeting, they were just five friends, having a beer at a bar.
Four years later, they’ve moved to a bigger place — still a bar — to hold their weekly meet-and-greets. Membership is up to almost 500, Darwin Day is in the planning stages and bumper stickers are on sale.
“There is no God, but ice-cream is great,” reads one. “What schools need is a moment of science,” reads another.
Atheist groups are growing all over the United States, challenging stereotypes and confronting what they consider a big backslide in the separation of church and state.
They are chatting online, picking up trash along “adopted” highways, and advertising on buses and billboards. In South Florida, they recently picketed a prayer meeting in a public safety building paid for with tax dollars.
read more here
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/26/polls-show-atheists/
linked from RawStory
Camp Lejeune residents blame rare cancer cluster on the water
Mike Partain shows an X-ray of the tumor found in his right breast. He knows of 19 fellow former Camp Lejeune residents who have had male breast cancer. (Colin Hackley / Florida Times-Union / December 31, 2008)
Camp Lejeune residents blame rare cancer cluster on the water
For three decades, dry-cleaning chemicals and industrial solvents laced the water used by local Marines and their families. Mike Partain and at least 19 others developed male breast cancer.
By David Zucchino
August 26, 2009
Reporting from Tallahassee, Fla. - One night in April 2007, as Mike Partain hugged his wife before going to bed, she felt a small lump above his right nipple. A mammogram -- a "man-o-gram," he called it -- led to a diagnosis of male breast cancer. Six days later, the 41-year-old insurance adjuster had a mastectomy.
Partain had no idea men could get breast cancer. But he thinks he knows what caused his: contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he was born.
Over the last two years, Partain has compiled a list of 19 others diagnosed with male breast cancer who once lived on the base.
For three decades -- from the 1950s to the mid-1980s -- the water supply used by hundreds of thousands of Marines and their families was laced with chemicals from an off-base dry-cleaning company and industrial solvents used to clean military equipment.
read more here
Camp Lejeune residents blame rare cancer cluster
linked from RawStory
Disabled veteran panhandling in Wilmington
Disabled veteran panhandling in Wilmington
Posted: Aug 25, 2009 4:51 PM EDT
Posted by Debra Worley
WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - A disabled Vietnam veteran who is upset with the healthcare system has taken to the streets to survive.
Alfred Overstreet has cancer and had brain surgery, but said he does not get enough funding from Medicaid to survive.
He lives in a rest home and said he doesn't have much money to live on after his rent and prescriptions are paid.
go here for more
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=10988852
Posted: Aug 25, 2009 4:51 PM EDT
Posted by Debra Worley
WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - A disabled Vietnam veteran who is upset with the healthcare system has taken to the streets to survive.
Alfred Overstreet has cancer and had brain surgery, but said he does not get enough funding from Medicaid to survive.
He lives in a rest home and said he doesn't have much money to live on after his rent and prescriptions are paid.
go here for more
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=10988852
Detectives honor homeless Vietnam veteran, Gary Dale Wilson
Detectives honor homeless Vietnam veteran who died alone in Riveria Beach woods
With no family to be found, they make sure Gary Dale Wilson's passing is noted.
By JASON SCHULTZ
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Gary Dale Wilson died alone in the woods in Riviera Beach sometime in May or June.
Nobody reported Wilson, a 61-year-old Vietnam veteran, missing for weeks. Even after police found his decomposed body in late July, they could not find any family members to claim him.
But on Tuesday two Riviera Beach police officers who helped find Wilson's body made sure that at the end, somebody was there to remember him.
"This guy served his country. Somebody should be there," said Detective Sgt. Patrick Galligan at the South Florida National Cemetery.
Wilson, who served as a private in the U.S. Army, was buried Tuesday at the military cemetery on State Road 7 just south of Lantana Road. Galligan and Detective Jeremy Summers were the only people who attended the ceremony, except for cemetery and funeral home employees, and a three-man Army honor guard.
Wilson, who was homeless, frequented the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Riviera Beach to pick up medicine for the throat cancer that eventually killed him. He also did odd jobs at St. George's Church and Community Center.
He was last seen alive in May after leaving the medical center.
Church officials reported him missing in July. Police found his decomposed remains on July 29 in what appeared to be his campsite in the woods south of Martin Luther King Boulevard, Summers said.
"He wouldn't take a handout. He worked around the church and accepted food, but he never accepted money, even for the work he put in," Summers said. "He just did it alone and didn't have many friends."
read more here
Detectives honor homeless Vietnam veteran
Australia fake Vietnam "Hero" has no excuse
"I never went to Vietnam and I thought, 'maybe I can say I am a vet because I'm associating with them all the time'. Charles Gibbons said after being caught as a fake Vietnam veteran with medals.
Yes, he really said that. I associate with them all the time too, plus spent the last 25 years married to one of them. I can tell you that just being around them makes people admire them, respect them, value them enough that no one in their right mind would ever consider impersonating one of them. People who do such a despicable act can never come close to understanding them because these men and women, they thought about others when they risked their lives in Vietnam. Didn't matter if they found themselves in Vietnam by will to serve or draft number pulled, they all served side by side and risked their lives for each other.
Thirty years this man pulled off a huge lie, used the Vietnam veterans he "associated with" and managed to look them in the eyes when he was spinning his tall tales of glory and suffering. Now he's sorry? Did he admit it all by himself by a sudden awakening of his conscience? No. He was turned in and then he was sorry. Just like the rest of them they are always sorry when they are caught, offering all kinds of excuses for what they did, trying to be what they will never be and will never understand the kind of person it takes to really be a Vietnam veteran. How about all the veterans this man hurt? How about the real ones trapped because they didn't save their paperwork and frauds like this make is almost impossible to be believed? They just never cared enough about the men and women they pretended to be or they would have never, ever thought about trying to take what they did not earn from them, respect.
Service a lie: Charles Gibbons wore beret and medals he was not entitled to on Anzac Day
Man apologises for posing as war veteran for 30 years
Russell Robinson
August 27, 2009 12:00am
A "WANNABE" war hero apologised to Diggers for fraudulently passing himself off as a Vietnam veteran.
For years council parking inspector Charles Campbell Gibbons, 60, claimed he had completed two tours of duty as a military policeman in South Vietnam.
During that time, he claimed, he'd lost a lung.
He would proudly march on Anzac Day wearing the red beret and badge of the military police.
Pinned to his tunic would be seven medals, signifying Vietnam War service, and 15 years regular army service.
But it was all a lie.
"It was done very stupidly. I should never have done it, but I did it and I regret it," he told the Herald Sun.
"I know there are people out there who do this, and I did it.
"I have no excuse for what I did. If I could go back in time there's not a chance I would have done this.
"I am disgusted with myself."
His double life was exposed on the ANZMI military imposters website.
read more here
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25986890-2862,00.html
Texas mom's struggle for a better life ends abruptly in Tampa
A mom's struggle for a better life ends abruptly in Tampa at hot dog stand
By Alexandra Zayas, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
TAMPA — Carolina Allmon worked in a school cafeteria in Texas, but fantasized about running her own restaurant.
She was 42, supporting two daughters, struggling to pay the bills.
Two weeks ago, she took a chance. She moved with her girls from Texas to Tampa and partnered with her friend's husband, Vicente Hernande Quintero, to open a roadside hot dog stand. They settled in a gas station parking lot on busy Hillsborough Avenue. On Monday at 11 a.m., they opened for business.
As Quintero recovered at Tampa General Hospital from broken ribs and back injuries, he recalled what happened on that first day.
Allmon was securing a sign just before 4 p.m. when Quintero heard her scream.
Moments later, police found him under the metal tongue of a runaway trailer. Police say the trailer detached from a pickup truck and careened toward their stand, striking them.
Quintero later learned that Allmon had tried to flee, but was hit by a riding lawn mower as it tumbled off the trailer. She lay next to him, dead.
The 16-year-old pickup truck driver, Dennis Tintle, was cited for failing to secure his trailer.
read more here
A moms struggle for a better life ends abruptly in Tampa
By Alexandra Zayas, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
TAMPA — Carolina Allmon worked in a school cafeteria in Texas, but fantasized about running her own restaurant.
She was 42, supporting two daughters, struggling to pay the bills.
Two weeks ago, she took a chance. She moved with her girls from Texas to Tampa and partnered with her friend's husband, Vicente Hernande Quintero, to open a roadside hot dog stand. They settled in a gas station parking lot on busy Hillsborough Avenue. On Monday at 11 a.m., they opened for business.
As Quintero recovered at Tampa General Hospital from broken ribs and back injuries, he recalled what happened on that first day.
Allmon was securing a sign just before 4 p.m. when Quintero heard her scream.
Moments later, police found him under the metal tongue of a runaway trailer. Police say the trailer detached from a pickup truck and careened toward their stand, striking them.
Quintero later learned that Allmon had tried to flee, but was hit by a riding lawn mower as it tumbled off the trailer. She lay next to him, dead.
The 16-year-old pickup truck driver, Dennis Tintle, was cited for failing to secure his trailer.
read more here
A moms struggle for a better life ends abruptly in Tampa
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