PTSD cited in vet’s murder acquittal
Kim Murphy Los Angeles Times
JOHN DAY, Ore. – When Jessie Bratcher’s fiancee told him the baby might not be his, that she had been raped two months earlier, he went quiet.
The former Oregon National Guardsman hung his head for the longest time. Then he went into the next room, put the barrel of an AK-47 in his mouth and took it out again.
He told Celena Davis not to expect to get any sleep that night. He walked up to her with a pair of scissors and slowly cut off her hair.
Two mornings later, they drove to the hardware store. While Davis waited in the truck, Bratcher went in and bought a gun. He came out, loaded it and asked: Do we go to the police? Or go find the guy? “Police,” Davis said.
Except that it was a Saturday, and the main door to the station was locked. Bratcher and Davis didn’t know there was an emergency door on the side of the building.
So they headed for Jose Ceja Medina’s trailer. At first Medina, standing on his porch in running shorts, denied knowing Davis. Then he said they’d had sex, but that he hadn’t raped her, and he offered to take care of the baby.
read more here
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/nov/29/ptsd-cited-in-vets-murder-acquittal/
Sunday, November 29, 2009
4 police officers killed in coffee shop ambush
4 police shot dead in coffee shop
November 29, 2009 2:21 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Police are looking for one man and possibly a second person in the attack
$10,000 reward offered for information leading to arrest, police spokesman says
Police were in coffee shop before the start of their shifts
Law enforcement official describes fatal shootings as an ambush
Lakewood, Washington (CNN) -- Four police officers were fatally shot Sunday in what police said was an ambush in a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington.
The officers were sitting in the coffee shop in Lakewood, Washington, before the start of their shifts, reading on their computers, when the shooting occurred, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer. He told reporters that authorities believe the officers were meeting and going over cases or doing paperwork.
"This was a targeted, selected ambush," Troyer told reporters. He said a gunman came inside, opened fire and shot all four officers. Two baristas and other customers inside the shop were unharmed -- "just the law enforcement officers were targeted."
Authorities know the identity of the four fallen officers, and were in the process of notifying family members and their departments, he said. He would not say what agencies the officers were from, but said, "they're all from this area."
read more here
4 police shot dead in coffee shop
November 29, 2009 2:21 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Police are looking for one man and possibly a second person in the attack
$10,000 reward offered for information leading to arrest, police spokesman says
Police were in coffee shop before the start of their shifts
Law enforcement official describes fatal shootings as an ambush
Lakewood, Washington (CNN) -- Four police officers were fatally shot Sunday in what police said was an ambush in a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington.
The officers were sitting in the coffee shop in Lakewood, Washington, before the start of their shifts, reading on their computers, when the shooting occurred, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer. He told reporters that authorities believe the officers were meeting and going over cases or doing paperwork.
"This was a targeted, selected ambush," Troyer told reporters. He said a gunman came inside, opened fire and shot all four officers. Two baristas and other customers inside the shop were unharmed -- "just the law enforcement officers were targeted."
Authorities know the identity of the four fallen officers, and were in the process of notifying family members and their departments, he said. He would not say what agencies the officers were from, but said, "they're all from this area."
read more here
4 police shot dead in coffee shop
HLN Clark Howard offers advice to the troops
Operation Clark Smart
Clark Howard has served for eight years as a member of his state guard. And now, he wants to serve his fellow military personnel!
Join Clark and HLN's Robin Meade at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Georgia, as they field the money questions from soldiers of nearby Fort Benning.
Troops have unique financial challenges, and Clark has the solutions -- from help for homeowners who've been ordered to relocate, to paying for moving expenses, and what kind of assistance is available for families of soldiers who've been deployed overseas.
You'll get money-saving tips you can use whether you're in the military or not. Clark talks retirement savings, paying off student loans, and buying cars.
Plus, Robin's stories from her own "Salute To Troops" on HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade."
And, Clark teaches soldiers how to get through a year-long deployment on just two razors! Tune in for "Operation Clark Smart" -- this weekend at 6 a.m., 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET.
Wisconsin State Veterans Affairs Secretary fired
Performance, politics or something more?
State Veterans Affairs Secretary fired
By MARY SPICUZZA and JASON STEIN
Wisconsin State Journal
Sunday, November 29, 2009 7:06 AM CST
State Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos was fired Tuesday — just two months after returning from a tour in Iraq — and replaced with an agency official he had recently demoted.
Scocos, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2003 and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, returned to work in late September after a year in Iraq, his second tour there.
The Veterans Affairs board has been signaling disapproval of the agency’s leadership for months, seeking a wide-ranging legislative audit of its workings and criticizing Scocos for failing to update them on the findings of an inquiry into alleged improper spending at a state veterans home.
After a one-and-a-half hour meeting during which board members sharply criticized Scocos’ communication and financial management, the board met briefly in private then voted 5-0 to fire Scocos and replace him with Ken Black, administrator of the agency’s Division of Veterans Benefits. Board chairman Marv Freedman was absent, and one unconfirmed board member, David Boetcher, was ineligible to vote.
read more here
http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2009/11/29/news/doc4b1057c08f841499945914.txt
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