Does a felon deserve pardon from Governor Walker?

Before you make up your mind,

Two days after his return, on Sept. 18, 2004, Pizer, then 23, was out on the town in Boscobel. After some bar-hopping, he stepped into the middle of a scuffle in an alley between his friend and a jealous husband, trying to break it up.

“(They were) poking me in the chest, chest-bumping me, getting in my face ... When (the husband) came at me from my peripheral vision, my side, he said he was going to kill me "

“And I just instinctively reacted ‘cause I couldn’t see his hands. It was a very dark night behind a garage in an alleyway. I couldn’t see if he had something in his hands to stab me with, shoot me with, bash me with. So I just instinctively gave him a right jab.”

This happened only two days after he returned from this.

“In fact, in order to go on a second tour of duty, Eric had to extend his enlistment by two months. No one asked him to do it. He did it for one reason: Eric had four new Marines under his command who had never been in combat or to the Middle East before ... he knew that staying with his team gave them the best chance for their safe return home.”

Read more of Combat veteran seeks relief from felony conviction; Scott Walker is not issuing pardons

After standoff with police, veteran being sent for help

New information on Michael Vaughan
FOX19 Investigates
Mary Kate Gaffney
Posted: Dec 23, 2013

Covington Police Chief Spike Jones says it's likely Vaughan was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After being treated for his injuries during the standoff, he will be evaluated with the help of veterans affairs.

FOX19's Sara Celi reported live in Ft. Thomas at the Veteran Affairs Center where Vaughan was treated for PTSD.

Celi tells FOX19 that military authorities say Vaughan was removed from the military this summer for conduct unbecoming of an officer. Vaughan was also under investigation in Washington for cyber stalking and identity theft in 2009.

Documents show that Vaughan has a troubled history of domestic violence, restraining orders, criminal cases, lawsuits against the Kentucky Army National Guard and more.

Rebecca Williams, a neighbor at the scene of the standoff, tells FOX19, "He told all of us how he and his wife got into a big argument last year because he caught her cheating. I guess that's why they split up, and then he had a different girlfriend, that's the one that was involved yesterday."
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Standoff between military vet, police comes to an end in Kentucky

In Colorado
Standoff closes Canon City streets

After son's suicide, Mom sends ashes from Massachusetts to Japan

Mom uses social media to scatter military son's ashes
By Associated Press
Published: Dec 22, 2013

This Dec. 17, 2013, photo shows an urn containing the ashes of C.J. Twomey on a shelf at his parent's home in Auburn, Maine. C.J.'s mother, Hallie Twomey, is asking people to help scatter his ashes throughout the world so he can become part of the world he never got to see.
(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

AUBURN, Maine (AP) - For 3 ½ years, a black stone urn of C.J. Twomey's ashes has sat on a shelf in his parents' Maine home, not far from the door he walked out of one beautiful April day shortly before shooting himself.

Now, his mother is using social media to enlist the help of strangers to scatter his ashes from Massachusetts to Japan in the hope that her adventure-loving son can become part of the world he left behind.

"I don't want him to have to sit in an urn for my benefit for whatever rest of time that we have," Hallie Twomey said. "I wanted to give him something. I'm trying to give him a journey."

It started with a simple request on Facebook to help C.J. - who was only 20 when he died - "see the mountains that he never got to climb, see the vast oceans that he would have loved, see tropical beaches and lands far and away."

The post was shared by nearly 100 of her friends, and soon even strangers started offering to scatter C.J.'s ashes in their hometowns, on family vacations or just somewhere beautiful. She started a separate Facebook page called "Scattering C.J.," which now has more than 1,000 likes.

The pictures and videos on Facebook tell the story of where C.J. has been. A man scatters C.J's ashes on a beach in Massachusetts. One sprinkles them in the forest in Jamaica, and another off a rocky cliff in Hawaii.
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150 US Marines ready to enter South Sudan

U.S. Marines poised to enter South Sudan
CNN
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian. Barbara Starr and Antonia Mortensen
December 23, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: U.S. special envoy to South Sudan says Kiir ready to begin talks with rival
About 150 Marines are headed to South Sudan to help with evacuations, security
Rebels seize Bentiu, capital of the oil-producing Unity state in South Sudan
U.S. citizens flown out of flashpoint town of Bor on Sunday

(CNN) -- About 150 U.S. Marines are poised to enter turbulent South Sudan to help evacuate Americans and provide security for the U.S. Embassy, two U.S. military officials said Monday.

The troops are moving from Spain to Africa, probably to the nation of Djibouti, the officials told CNN's Barbara Starr on Monday.

An estimated 100 U.S. citizens are believed to be in South Sudan, where steady violence is stoking fears of an all-out civil war in the world's newest country.

"By positioning these forces forward, we are able to more quickly respond to crisis in the region, if required," read a statement from U.S. Africa Command.

It cited the example of Benghazi, where an attack last year killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

"One of the lessons learned from the tragic events in Benghazi was that we needed to be better postured, in order to respond to developing or crisis situations, if needed. These precautionary movements will allow us to do just that," the statement read.
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Korean War Medal of Honor recipient Rudy Hernandez passed away at 82

Korean War Medal of Honor recipient Rudy Hernandez dies
by Drew Brooks
The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.
Published: December 23, 2013

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Cpl. Rudy Hernandez cheated death on the battlefields of Korea 62 years ago. But the Medal of Honor recipient and Fayetteville resident couldn't live forever. The 82-year-old Hernandez died early Saturday at Womack Army Medical Center, according to friends.

Cpl. Hernandez was honored last month as grand marshal of Fayetteville's Veterans Day Parade.

He rode the parade route in a Korean War-era jeep, waving alongside Gov. Pat McCrory.

But shortly thereafter, Cpl. Hernandez was diagnosed with cancer and several other ailments, said friend Steve Sosa, a retired Army major who serves as president of the Rudy Hernandez Chapter of the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association.

Mr. Sosa said he last saw Cpl. Hernandez in the intensive care unit of Womack on Friday.
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Soldier blown apart by war stages stirring comeback

Soldier blown apart by war stages stirring comeback
USA Today
Gregg Zoroya
December 22, 2013

(Photo: Doug Kapustin for USA TODAY)

The best gifts for Army Sgt. Joseph Grabianowski this Christmas aren't tied up with ribbons and bows.

Independence in a new home he's made for himself this holiday season can't be gift-wrapped. Transcendence over wounds that turned his body into a medical battlefield doesn't fit under a tree.

Much of Joe has been cut away.

This quiet, contemplative soldier carries the distinction of being one of the worst surviving U.S. combat casualties since 9/11. His stirring comeback, in the mind of his family and medical team, is little short of miraculous.

"Joe, for me, was the most challenging case I had in a decade of war," says Navy Cmdr. Jonathan Forsberg, a surgeon at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

As Joe acclimates to a new apartment and life outside the hospital, his family counts their Christmas blessings.

Dennis Grabianowski says he panicked briefly over the idea of his son living alone.

"But then," the dad says, "I thought, you know what? Because it is the holiday season, the Christmas season and what that is all about for me, it seemed like it was a very positive sign."
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Marine veteran teaches fellow homeless survival skills

Marine veteran teaches fellow homeless survival skills
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
December 21, 2013

Homeless Marine veteran Michael Coughlin heads for his living quarters at a homeless encampment near Lake Mead Boulevard and North Simmons Street in Las Vegas Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. Coughlin, who's a fill-in deacon at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, says it's his mission to help the homeless. Part of that outreach includes teaching them what he calls urban camping skills.
(Bill Hughes/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

“Anybody home?” hollers Marine veteran Michael Coughlin as he strides across the chalky soil making his daily rounds through a homeless camp.

For two years, with help from the Westminster Presbyterian Church’s food pantry, he has been playing the role of guardian angel for fellow homeless people living in hidden hooches on the shrub-dotted desert next to the North Las Vegas Airport.

“It’s been the hardest two years of my life and the best two years of my life,” Coughlin, 53, said on a mid-December tour of the camp he calls “No Man’s Land.”

A survival expert who was raised on his family’s homestead land in Alaska, Coughlin routinely checks on his throng of homeless friends and teaches them outdoor skills for enduring harsh, chilly winters and sweltering summers.

He draws on his 10-year experience as an infantry Marine serving in such places as Nicaragua, Panama and Somalia. He was honorably discharged in 1987.

“I call it urban camping,” he said. “I teach them how to hide and stay warm. The last two years have been absolute dedication to make sure they’re fed and clothed.

The hardest part is to get them to know they’re loved by Jesus Christ and fellow man.”

Coughlin, a divorced man whose parents are deceased, became homeless when he was laid off from his last job in the gaming industry after the recession hit bottom in 2009. He said he had worked in several downtown casinos, rising from dealer to pit boss.

“When my unemployment was running out, I knew I had to do something good with my life,” he said, recalling the promise he made at the time. “What have you done for anybody other than yourself? I’m not going to self-medicate myself. I’m going to do the right thing.”

And “the right thing” turned out to become a homeless person and help others by living with them in their own element. With that came pitfalls to overcome such as having his bicycle stolen three times in two years. He’s now riding his fourth bike to reach odd jobs such as lawn work and moving assistance to earn a few bucks.

“The church is the hub of the wheel I work out of,” he said.
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No Resolution After Service Dog Dispute Protest

No Resolution After Service Dog Dispute Protest
FOX 40
Heather Duggan
December 22, 2013

EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (WGGB) — Dozens of people turned out Sunday to support a local veteran who says he was kicked out of a bar, because he brought his service dog in with him.

Gary Houle Jr. and his supporters picketed outside Easthampton’s Pulaski Club, and met with club representatives from noon until 2:00PM.

On Thanksgiving night, Houle brought Princess, his service dog, ho helps him with hearing loss and post traumatic stress disorder, to the Pulaski Club.

He says he was told dogs weren’t allowed, and that the bartender wasn’t satisfied with the dog’s paperwork or I.D. patch.

“At that point he just told me, I am not serving you either. Both of you get out and told him I just got back from two wars and this is the thanks I get on thanksgiving? And I walked out of the place,” Houle explained.

Houle says Princess goes pretty much everywhere with him, and he’s never had another problem.

“It’s like if someone rolled in with a wheelchair there, and they told him to get out,” Houle said.

Houle’s father organized Sunday’s protest after he heard what happened to his son at the club.
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From Sarasota, to Afghanistan, to New York City TV studio

From Sarasota, to Afghanistan, to New York City TV studio
Herald Tribune
By Josh Salman
Published: Monday, December 23, 2013

John Wilcher, an agent with DWELL Real Estate in Sarasota, was flown to New York City to meet with the star of Bravo TV's "Million Dollar Listing," Fredrik Eklund.

SARASOTA - As John Wilcher laid sleepless in his Army bunk not far from areas of Afghanistan pockmarked by bombings, he could think only of a promise he had made his daughter two years earlier.

Wilcher didn't know if he would ever see his family again -- but he had vowed to his little girl he would return home safely.

Now a Realtor in Sarasota, his combat deployment stands in stark contrast to a recent crowning achievement.

Nearly penniless after the real estate market collapsed in 2007, Wilcher turned to the Armed Forces as a way to support his family.

But his story after his return also propelled him to the top of a global contest that sent him to New York City this month to meet the star of Bravo's reality TV series "Million Dollar Listing" -- Wilcher's hero in the business.

"I laid it on thick and just told my story," Wilcher said. "Hundreds and hundreds of people applied -- and I was one of about 20 to be selected."

Wilcher began his career in law enforcement, working as a police officer in Lexington, Ken. There, he was involved in the largest crack cocaine arrest in the city's history and spent time undercover for both the Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Marshall Service.

He moved to Florida with his girlfriend -- now his wife -- in 2001 to forge a life in Sarasota.
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Army wife's love inspires recovery of triple amputee

A wife's love inspires recovery of a soldier wounded in Afghanistan
BBC
Produced by Laura Trevelyan, Ted Metzger, and David Botti
23 December 2013

There was a time when US army captain Larkin O'Hern couldn't face a future in which he wasn't serving in the infantry.

In 2010 he was injured by an improvised explosive device while in Afghanistan, losing parts of both legs and one hand.

But Capt O'Hern's wife Rachel was by his side throughout recovery, insisting the future was still full of possibilities.

The wounded vet set himself a series of goals - the most important was to get out of his wheelchair and stand as his former platoon returned from their tour.

Now Capt O'Hern is highly independent and still serving in the US army. Soon he'll begin a Congressional fellowship on Capitol Hill.
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