North Wales man tells of post traumatic stress from warzone

North Wales man tells of post traumatic stress from warzone
Sep 21 2009 by Eryl Crump, Daily Post


THE horrors of war are a recurring nightmare for Thomas Rowlands

The 37-year-old from Anglesey saw active service in Northern Ireland and Bosnia during his seven-year spell with the First battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Medically discharged from the Army he says he is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and has had no help at all to cope with the condition. But now he is one of the first to receive support he needs from a new Gwynedd-based organisation called Pathways.

He told the Daily Post: “It was Bosnia which ended my Army days. I saw children blown up while I looked on helpless to do anything.

“Youngsters of three and four years old begging me and my mates for food from our ration packs.

“Then we return from the war zone and the Army says there is nothing wrong with me.”

He says since returning to Wales he has had difficulty coping with normal, everyday life.

“I can’t sleep and can’t hold a job down. I’ve had more than 25 jobs in all.
read more here
North Wales man tells of post traumatic stress from warzone

Marine charged with faking war wounds and combat medals

Sgt. David W. Budwah is not just a jerk deciding to play dress-up hero, telling tall tales to impress strangers. He isn't your average veteran faking wounds to collect funds he didn't earn. He is worse because he is still in the Marines! This is a betrayal against every real wounded veteran, every real combat medal wearing hero and every man serving today in the military.

Marine charged with faking war wounds for gain
By DAVID DISHNEAU (AP) – 3 hours ago

SABILLASVILLE, Md. — On a sultry day in July 2008, Marine Sgt. David W. Budwah strode in his battle fatigues to the front of a picnic pavilion to tell three dozen young boys what he did during the war.

With his clear gaze, rigid posture and muscled, tattooed arms, Budwah looked every inch the hero he claimed to be. He said he was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when a homemade grenade exploded, wounding his face and arm when he dove to shield a buddy from the blast.

He urged the boys, ages 9-12, to take pride in themselves, their country and its warriors.

"We're here to make sure of the freedom you have every day," Budwah told his audience at Camp West Mar, a wooded American Legion compound about 60 miles northwest of Washington.

Spencer Shoemaker, then 10, was so impressed he had his picture taken with Budwah and kept a treasured newspaper clipping about the visit.

"What he said made me feel like I wanted to join the Marines," Spencer said.

But the Marines say Budwah is a liar, a fraud and a thief. They are court-martialing the 34-year-old Springhill, La., native, alleging he was never in Afghanistan, wasn't wounded and didn't earn the combat medals he wore — or the many privileges he enjoyed.

Budwah joined the Marines in October 1999 and spent nearly all of the next six years with a radio communications unit in Okinawa, Japan, according to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., where Budwah has been stationed since February 2006.
read more here
Marine charged with faking war wounds for gain

500 Mile March for PTSD Will Happen in Spring

500 Mile March for PTSD Will Happen in Spring
Tim King Salem-News.com
The March from Oregon to California will take place after winter thaws.


U.S. soldiers on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan
Salem-News.com photo by Tim King

(SALEM, Ore.) - The date for our planned 500-Mile March for PTSD has been moved to Spring. We had originally intended to conduct the march in September, but the extension will allow us to be fully prepared and not operating in haste.

The march will raise funds for our hour-ling television documentary on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly known as PTSD. We completed a production trip just weeks ago in Oregon, California and Arizona, gaining significant material for the program.

Our next immediate plan is to travel to Washington state to record interviews and footage of an art display dedicated to helping sufferers of PTSD, and then back to Sacramento to interview several key people who we were not able to connect with on the last trip.

The documentary will feature interviews with soldiers and Marines with their boots on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, who talk about PTSD and what they are doing to avoid having it as an aspect of their lives.

The point of it is to educate people who have PTSD and family members of combat veterans afflicted with this disorder, to give them ideas that they can put to use. There are many approaches and many degrees of PTSD, and there is no single answer to offer as a remedy. Instead we are showing the programs and therapies that can actually make a difference.

We also are aware of the fact that combat is only one reason why people suffer from PTSD. This documentary will be a useful tool for all Americans who have Post Traumatic Stress.
read more here
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/september202009/ptsd_march_9-20-09.php

Woman dies after catching fire during surgery

Woman dies after catching fire during surgery

By JIM SUHR Associated Press Writer ST. LOUIS (AP) - A southern Illinois woman died after being severely burned in a flash fire while undergoing surgery, a rare but vexing dilemma in operating rooms.

Janice McCall, 65, of Energy, Ill., died Sept. 8 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., six days after being burned on the operating table at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Ill., her family's attorney said.

Attorney Robert Howerton said he had requested medical records from the Marion hospital and that he had few details about what happened. He declined to say why McCall was having surgery.

The Tennessee state medical examiner's office said McCall died from complications of thermal burns and classified her death as accidental.
read more here
http://www.komonews.com/news/national/59731387.html

Phillip Paul captured came three days after he escaped

Washington state killer captured after field-trip escape
Story Highlights
Legally insane killer escaped Thursday during hospital field trip to fair

Escape in Spokane County, Washington, prompted manhunt

Phillip Paul killed community activist in 1987, believing she was a witch

(CNN) -- A legally insane killer who escaped in Washington state during a field trip was recaptured Sunday, the Yakima County Sheriff's Department told CNN.


Authorities combed Washington state for Phillip Paul, a killer who escaped Thursday during a field trip.

Phillip Paul's capture came three days after he escaped in Spokane County, Washington. After escaping, he was the subject of a massive manhunt.

Details of the capture weren't immediately available.

Though Paul had been confined in a mental institution because of a murder confession, he was allowed to be part of Thursday's trip to a county fair.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/20/washington.escaped.killer/index.html

Flag flies in memory of POWs, MIAs

Raising awareness
Flag flies in memory of POWs, MIAs
By Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer


The black and white flag for America’s missing in action joined the red, white and blue on one of Auburn’s most prominent flagpoles Friday.

And as the flag snapped in a stiff breeze above Veterans Memorial Park and below Old Glory, heads turned proudly upward, a school choir sang the National Anthem and veterans’ thoughts drifted to those left behind in the fields of Normandy or in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

Vietnam veteran R.C. Bynog had made it a goal to have the flag fly this year on national POW-MIA Remembrance Day. The Auburn ironworker sold commemorative hats to raise funds for the flag and helped convince county authorities that the flag deserved a place on a pole it had never graced before.

Friday’s ceremony took Bynog back to a time when he was barely 20 and driving convoy vehicles east of Saigon. He turns 60 later this year.

“It’s important,” Bynog said. “So we don’t forget the people who paid the ultimate sacrifice.”
read more here
Raising awareness

Vietnam Veteran Appreciation Gathering

Vietnam veterans gather to talk about their experiences
Vietnam veterans gathered Saturday to talk about their experiences and to help one another heal. The fourth annual Vietnam Veteran Appreciation Gathering in Altoona and brings us the story.Posted: 10:40 PM Sep 19, 2009
Reporter: Chris Baylor Email Address: mailto:chris.baylor@weau.com%20?subject=Vietnam
Vietnam veterans gather to talk about their experiences
Vietnam veterans gathered Saturday to talk about their experiences and to help one another heal. The fourth annual Vietnam Veteran Appreciation Gathering in Altoona and brings us the story.

"My responsibilities as a young 19 year old was to be a patch man,” says David Backstrom.

"I was a teenage medic in what they call navel support activity," says Backstrom.

David Backstrom says up until recently Vietnam Veterans didn't get a lot of credit for serving during a dangerous time.

"I think what happened is they understand with another war going on they're thinking wow what the heck, well stronger language, but what an awful thing to have happen to solders," says Backstrom.

Backstrom was one of the vets who took to the open mic Saturday to talk about his experiences in Vietnam.

Thuy Smith and her group, The Thuy Smith International Outreach, put on the fourth annual gathering.

The group helps children in Vietnam and works with veterans here in the states.

"These guys are now seeing that it's a positive thing to come together like this. Vietnam was a long time ago but it will always be a part of them but we can come together and make it a positive thing today," says Thuy Smith.
read more here
http://www.weau.com/news/headlines/59904657.html

Great Dane escapes death to help heal Vietnam Vet

Great Dane escapes death, rescuer, runs to an open heart
By SUE NOWICKI
The Modesto Bee
MODESTO -- Henry was on death row, days from getting the needle, when he was saved and taken to a safe house. But three days later, he jumped the 6-foot-high fence in the back yard and went on the lam.

That's when Ron Dorville of Modesto happened along and took the Great Dane home with him. The sight of his 4-foot-10-inch wife, Sue, walking the big dog made a neighbor grin and call The Modesto Bee. The call brought the caper to light.

The Dorvilles took Henry -- Ron named him after King Henry VIII of England because the dog "has a regal air" -- to a veterinarian.

Henry has been good medicine for Ron, a retired Army colonel who served in Vietnam, has post-traumatic stress disorder and is recovering from prostate cancer surgery earlier this summer.

read more here

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/163/story/1066055.html

Naples family of six found dead

Update
Man sought whose wife, 5 children killed
Florida authorities were searching Sunday for a 33-year-old man after his wife and five children were found dead in their Naples, Florida, home. "I can tell you that in no uncertain terms this is the most horrific and violent event this community has ever experienced," Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said. full story

Naples family of six found dead
Posted: Sep 20, 2009 12:55 AM EDT
Updated: Sep 20, 2009 9:25 AM EDT

Mesac Damas
A neighbor provided this photo of one of Damas' children, which was posted on his Facebook page.
The crime happened in the Stratford Place community
A man wanted for questioning in the slaying of his wife and five children in North Naples has fled to Haiti, according to his father.

In an interview with the Naples Daily News, the man's father said Mesac Damas called his brother from Haiti, though he did not say when.

Detectives found the bodies of Mesac Damas' family at 864 Hampton Circle around 6:30 p.m. while conducting a welfare check.

Jim Williams, chief investigator with the Collier County Sheriff's Office, talked to the Naples Daily News at the scene.

He told them Damas' sister-in-law contacted authorities after she hadn't heard from her sister.

"When the officer walked in the house to do a check, he found a deceased person," Williams told the Naples Daily News. "As he walked through the house to see if anyone else was inside, he found other persons deceased."

The bodies were still in the home as of early Sunday morning.

Williams also told the Naples Daily News that reports that the family members were shot were erroneous, but he wouldn't elaborate on a cause of death.

Investigators continue to walk in and out of the home in white scrubs or "clean suits." They removed several brown bags of evidence around 4:15 a.m.
read more here
http://www.abc-7.com/global/story.asp?s=11163098
linked from CNN

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans live good life?

Sally Satel has never been a friend of the troops, veterans or the truth. The problem is, she's not the only one. While the following is true, and few paid attention to the reports coming out over the last 8 years, even fewer are thinking about the veterans it was done to. That's the problem with false claims being allowed to just be out there. They don't go away and people actually believe the lies. When it came to our veterans, it cost them their lives.

Army Gives Bad Discharges to Thousands of PTSD Vets
Gordon Duff Salem-News.com
Benefit denial scams raise suicide rates.


(CINNCINATTI, Ohio) - It all began as a Bush era program, promoted by Dr. Sally Satel, the famed "PTSD denialist" putting thousands of soldiers at risk and pushing hundreds to suicide.

Thousands of veterans lost all benefits, GI Bill, medical care and more through Army discharge scam, part of Neo-con "cost saving program"

How did it work? Simple. A very large percentage of combat vets with PTSD are problem drinkers, self medicating in the only way they can and, in the process, getting worse and worse. Redeployments of soldiers needing treatment only adds to the problem.

When vets with severe PTSD demonstrate severe symptoms, including alcohol abuse, they are put in short and unproven "quit" programs with an extremely high failure rate. This is all part of a game, one invented to trap soldiers and cut costs.

Step 2 in the game, the Army "orders" the soldier not to drink, knowing the order itself is absurd. Real treatment for PTSD is denied. When the soldier drinks, and they always do, the soldier is arrested, jailed and charged, now get this, with disobeying a direct order, Article 34 and disrespect to an officer or non-com.

Sometimes even more charges are piled on. In the end, the deal is the same. Leave the army with nothing but years of honorable service now labeled as "dishonorable" or "bad conduct" and face civilian life crushed and abandoned by the country you risked your life to serve.

The Army learned the game from the VA. The VA denied PTSD diagnoses to Vietnam veterans used alcohol, claiming they couldn't be diagnosed. Problem is, almost all PTSD vets use alcohol or drugs as self medication. End result, tens of thousands of Vietnam vets were denied diagnosis, treatment and compensation for decades with thousand dying as a result.

The basis of the Army policy is the Dr. Sally Satel "theory" that PTSD does not exist and all vets are fakers. Her beliefs, fringe "neo-con medicine" comes from a theory that soldiers and veterans are part of a non-productive social class that taxes a nations economic health as soon as they leave a combat zone. The end analysis supports the supposition that a disabled veteran and an illegal alien on welfare contribute exactly the same to the overall welfare of society.
read more hereBad Discharges to Thousands of PTSD Vets

But people like Satel were believed for far too long. This was also in the email pile this morning.

Seeking Stressed Soldiers
September 19, 2009: PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is becoming a big issue. The problem is, in most cases it's unclear who has it. But as the war goes on, more troops are coming back who might have it. For example, since September 11, 2001, nearly 5,000 troops have been evacuated (as medical cases) from Iraq and Afghanistan for mental disorders. Only 16 percent of those were confirmed PTSD cases, the rest were for more familiar things like severe depression. Moreover, most of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are not involved in combat. Yes, they are living in a combat zone, but aside from an occasional mortar shell or rocket (which usually causes no injuries), most troops tend to have air conditioned sleeping quarters, gyms, Internet access, video games, good food and excellent medical care. It's unclear how many troops actually have PTSD, although many who are in combat, definitely are stressed out and in need of help.

read more of this here

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20090919.aspx

Notice how this article said "rocket attack" and "mortar shell" but did not mention IED or roadside bomb or sniper? Mortar shells were used by military in Vietnam and so were rockets but hardly ever used in Iraq or Afghanistan. For those two campaigns, the hidden bombs, do a lot more damage to life and mind, including traumatic brain injury and PTSD. This article also seems to dismiss the suicide bombers blowing themselves up in crowds. Air conditioning? Are they serious with this? The problem is, articles like this are believed instead of slammed.

These are from ICasualties.org
Afghanistan

09/20/09 nydailynews: Soldiers'' brain injuries from blasts in Afghanistan take a toll
It''s estimated that 20% of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI, caused by the impact of improvised explosive devices.

09/19/09 AP: Suicide car bomb kills 7, wounds nearly 100 in Kabu
A suicide car bomber struck near the front gate of NATO headquarters today in Kabul, killing seven people and wounding nearly 100 in a brazen daylight attack less than a week before Afghanistan''s landmark presidential election.

09/19/09 : DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Pfc. Jeremiah J. Monroe, 31, of Niskayuna, N.Y., died Sept. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

Operation Enduring Freedom

Iraq

09/20/09 MNF: Service member killed in downed aircraft incident, 12 wounded
One U.S. service member was killed and 12 others were injured when a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter went down inside of Joint Base Balad at approximately 8 p.m. Saturday. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.

But with most of the troops now pulled back, the bombs still blow up in cars, on roads and on bodies. The difference is, most people didn't pay attention when the lives of the 4,345 US troops were put into their coffins.

Considering how many lives were lost during Vietnam, it requires a fool to just assume Iraq and Afghanistan are nothing much. The difference is, the amount of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan vs Vietnam. We also don't seem to consider that there were not many contractors in Vietnam but in Iraq and Afghanistan, they actually outnumbered the troops. Keeping track of their lives and their wounds is not being done, so it is easy to hide the true cost of war.

The problem with articles like the above is that they get enough exposure to do a lot of harm, when they could have been doing some good all along. The agenda is not to help or honor the men and women serving this country. The agenda is to attack them because they just cost too much money. They dared to come home wounded instead of dying where they were sent. That is the real attitude here. This attitude comes from the minority but is dangerous because it is allowed to go unchallenged.

Ignoring these reports allows them to continue. It's how we ended up with the image of the "crazy Nam vet" instead of wounded combat veteran into our brains. We know a lot better now but some people just don't care.

Note to Adm. Mullen, tap into what we know to stop playing taps for suicides

Adm. Mullen, I really believe you care but it's time you started to talk to people who have been taking care of these veterans all along and stop making the same mistakes. Studies have been done to death. Mistakes repeated because the only people who learned from them are not being heard. If you really want to know what to do, talk to the people who have done it and got it right. Vietnam veterans and their families are ready and willing to help you save the lives of the troops but no one has been interested in what we have to say.

Military Update:
Community effort needed to heal war wounds
By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, September 19, 2009
The profound strain of eight years of war on the volunteer force permeated a day-long conference of military leaders, policymakers, health experts and family advocates as they shared ideas to address the "unseen injuries" of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

A theme struck by many participants, including Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was that government must seek greater involvement from communities across the country to support wounded warriors, traumatized veterans and damaged military families.

Mullen expressed concern over rising numbers of homeless veterans, slow expansion of a pilot program to streamline the disability evaluation system and a lack of solutions from medical research for timely diagnosis and treatment of PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

Just a week ago, she said, Kevin signaled that he wanted to take his own life by hanging. She called the VA hospital for help.

"Days went by and nobody called me." Finally, she confronted VA doctor at a social event "and said, ‘Look, you guys have to help us … I’m not trained. I’m not a nurse. I’m not a neurosurgeon. I’m not a psychologist. I’m not a therapist. I’m just a mom. And I don’t have any help with this.’"

Leslie told the forum, "It’s a very sad thing that this country — your Army or your VA or whatever — has let us down so incredibly. And I am asking you to step up to the plate and take care of somebody who went over there and did what you asked him to do."

Forum attendees gave her a standing ovation in support for what she and her son have sacrificed and endured. Asked later to list any part of the system that has worked well, Leslie praised the help she has received through her advocate in VA’s Federal Recovery Coordinator Program.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64857

Iraq vet kills himself in Washington, D.C.

Iraq vet kills himself in Washington, D.C.
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, September 19, 2009
WASHINGTON — A 19-year-old man who committed suicide on the Washington, D.C., subway system on Sunday was an Iraq war veteran recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Army officials confirmed.

Pfc. Joshua Fueston, a native of Washington state, was killed when he threw himself in front of an oncoming train at a downtown station. Metro officials ruled his death a suicide based on witness reports and video of the incident.

read more here

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64872

6 Year old son saves Dad's life

Son Helps Save Father's Life
Saturday, September 19, 2009 9:26:01 PM
Reported By Emily Lampa

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS -- With hugs and kisses, Dammion Williams thanks his son Brenden for making the call that saved his life.

"He did save my life and I'm thankful for it," Williams said.

The soft-spoken youngster had little to say to the camera, but he showed us how he called the emergency number after finding his father in bed, not moving.

"He was brave enough to get on the phone and explain what happened," his dad said.
read more here
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/9/19/son_helps_save_father39s_life.html

Report says Philly VA home endangered vets

Report says Philly VA home endangered vets

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 19, 2009 16:32:25 EDT

PITTSBURGH — An inspection at a Veterans Affairs nursing home in Philadelphia last year found conditions endangering the welfare of residents, a Pittsburgh newspaper reported Saturday.

Inspectors found dried blood and feeding tubes on the floors, and one patient's leg had to be amputated after maggots were seen falling from his foot, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said, citing a report obtained through a federal Freedom of Information Act request.

The report said no action was taken on one unnamed veteran, even though his toes had turned black, until maggots were observed "falling out of the resident's foot," at which point an amputation was ordered. One inspector reported seeing a nurse use the wrong medication despite a week-old order from a physician changing the prescription, the report said.

An internal investigation was triggered three months before the report was issued when David Allen, 56, a mute and disabled Vietnam veteran, choked to death on solid food although he was supposed to be on a soft-food diet.

read more here

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/ap_philly_Va_home_091909/

Bracelet lost in World War II returns home

Bracelet lost in World War II returns home
U.S. pilot wore the silver token on his final mission over Germany

Sept . 19, 2009
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Jack Harold Glenn was a World War II fighter pilot who was killed during a firefight as he flew a mission over Germany in 1944, his body coming to rest in a field in a rural village.

The silver bracelet Glenn was wearing was given to a 16-year-old boy who helped retrieve his body. He held onto the bracelet ever since, a remembrance of the fallen American airman.

Sixty-five years later, the bracelet is returning to Glenn's sister in Alaska thanks to an enterprising World War II veteran who uncovered the relic on a recent trip to the German village.
read more here
Bracelet lost in World War II returns home

Starved girl: Dad came 'to believe I was Satan'

Starved girl: Dad came 'to believe I was Satan'
The tiny, teenage girl stepped to the front of the courtroom Friday, holding a letter she wanted to read to the judge about her father, who was about to be sentenced for failing to stop the girl's stepmother from systematically starving her.
By Steve Miletich

The tiny, teenage girl stepped to the front of the courtroom Friday, holding a letter she wanted to read to the judge about her father, who was about to be sentenced for failing to stop the girl's stepmother from systematically starving her.

Wearing a black skirt, layered sweaters and dark-rimmed glasses, the 15-year-old hesitated as she stood a few feet from her father, then broke into tears and walked from the podium. The judge, William Downing of King County Superior Court, assured her he had read the letter, which had been submitted to him in advance.
read more here
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009897327_starvation19m.html

Related
Carnation father gets prison for standing by as child was starved
Carnation man pleads guilty of mistreating daughter, who was deprived of food, water
Statement by Jon Pomeroy (PDF)
Archive Carnation couple plead not guilty in 14-year-old girl's starving
Archive CPS reviewing case of starved 14-year-old in Carnation
Archive Carnation girl, 14, found starved to 48 pounds

Fort Lewis solider acquitted

Fort Lewis solider acquitted
A former Fort Lewis soldier charged with robbing University of Washington students at gunpoint in January has been acquitted by a jury in King County Superior Court.

Raymond Burrows, 22, of Central Falls, R.I., had been charged with two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of rendering of criminal assistance.

Defense attorney Ramona Brandes said the case had difficulties from the start because witnesses described two of the robbers as being white and the third as black. Burrows is white, as were his two co-defendants Robert Lucas Jr. of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; and Chad Braden, of Etna, Ohio.
read more here
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009897405_fortlewissolideracquitted.html

Florida boys live to tell the tale of Mack's Fishing Camp

JEFF KLINKENBERG Times
Keith Jones is not afraid of a big alligator in the Everglades. Keith and his brother, Marshall, were raised by their grandparents and now run Mack’s Fishing Camp on the Miami Canal in the Everglades

In the Everglades, two Florida boys live to tell the tale of Mack's Fishing Camp
By Jeff Klinkenberg, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, September 20, 2009
Marshall Jones and his brother, Keith, who operate historic Mack's Fishing Camp in the Everglades, are barefoot boys in the tradition of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. The 30-year-old twins wear shoes only if necessary, perhaps because buying proper footwear is a challenge.

Marshall squeezes his ample paws into size 13s. Keith's feet measure a sawgrass-stomping 15EEE.

go here for more and for video
Macks fishing camp

Men cut man in wheelchair, stepson with machete in Daytona home invasion

Men cut man in wheelchair, stepson with machete in Daytona home invasion
Keith W. Kohn

Sentinel Staff Writer

1:35 p.m. EDT, September 19, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH - A man using a wheelchair and his teenage stepson were attacked and cut overnight by home invaders using a machete, Daytona Beach police said today.

The attack on Byron Street early Saturday morning sent the man to the hospital, a report from police spokesman Jimmie Flynt said.

According to the report, the victim had just arrived home and was in his wheelchair when four to six men ambushed him, asking, "Where's the stuff?" The victim told police he responded that he didn't have anything and he was told the men would go into his house and kill his wife.

Moments later, three of the men cut the homeowner with a machete as the other three used his keys to get into the house.
read more here
Men cut man in wheelchair stepson with machete

Former Army chaplain helps homeless veterans

KAINAZ AMARIA Times
The Rev. Morson Livingston, center, founder of St. Jude’s Homeless Veterans Resource Center, stops Thursday at the Salvation Army Center of Hope in Port Richey. Livingston, a former U.S. Army chaplain, left the military in 2001.

Former Army chaplain helps homeless veterans in Pasco
By Mindy Rubenstein, Times Correspondent
In Print: Saturday, September 19, 2009
NEW PORT RICHEY — The Rev. Morson Livingston was stopped at a red light at State Road 54 and Little Road last year when he saw a couple of homeless men standing on the side of the road, wearing parts of their military uniforms. Livingston, who served as a U.S. Army chaplain in Bosnia before leaving the priesthood a few years ago, stopped and asked where they had served.

Vietnam, the men responded.

"I just imagined them in their uniforms, how strong and macho they were, and how desperate they are now in contrast," Livingston recalled.

He felt the need to help.

read more here

Former Army chaplain helps homeless veterans