Sanford firefighter killed in boat crash escorted home

Firefighters escort body of comrade killed in boat crash
News4Jax
By Vic Micolucci - Reporter, anchor
June 05, 2018

Salber was a lieutenant paramedic for the Sanford Fire Department. Salber's girlfriend said he had four children: three sons and a daughter, ages 17, 18, 20 and 22.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The body of a veteran Central Florida firefighter who died Saturday afternoon in the collision of two racing boats on the St. Johns River was escorted home Tuesday by fellow firefighters from Sanford.

It was a somber and silent procession as fellow first responders moved of body of Lt. Mike Salber from the medical examiner's office in Jacksonville to Central Florida.

The caravan of colleagues and friends from Sanford did so with dignity and respect.

Firefighters and police officers from Sanford, along with Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department's honor guard and a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office motorcycle team, were at the Medical Examiner's Office as Salber's flag-draped coffin was loaded into a hearse for his final trip home.

A sheriff's deputy accompanied Salber's girlfriend, Melanie Jeanine, to and from Jacksonville. She said she had dated Salber for the past year and a half.
read more here

Suicidal veteran shot by police...charged?

Bradenton Beach cop cleared in shooting suicidal veteran. But now the veteran is facing charges
Bradenton News
Jessica DeLeon
June 4, 2018

The veteran served 26 years as a U.S. Marine and completed five tours, McIntosh explained. 

"It's sinful that we aren't doing a better way as a country to take care of these people who come back and are dealing with this," McIntosh said. "To add injury to insult to this Marine, he gets released after he finally gets stabilized physically and mentally, and they come arrest him. I don't get that."

A Bradenton Beach police officer was cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting of a man who was suicidal and charged at the officer with a knife and a hatchet in December — a tactic commonly called suicide by cop.

The Palmetto man is now charged with aggravated assault against that officer.

On the night of Dec. 30, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office received a call from Douglas Schofield's sister reporting that he appeared to be suicidal. The sheriff's office was able to trace the location of his cellphone to Anna Maria Island. Deputies and police officers from Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach saturated the island until they found Schofield's gray Honda Civic.

The Honda Civic, with Schofield sitting inside, was found at the intersection of Gulf Drive and Pine Avenue by Bradenton Beach police officer Eric Hill, Holmes Beach Chief of Police William Tokajer, officer Christine LeBranche and sheriff's deputy Amy Leach.

"But for the life of me, I cannot understand why we haven't come up with better techniques for handling a situation where someone tells us that they are trying to commit suicide," McIntosh said.

Schofield nearly died and spent weeks recovering at a hospital, according to his attorney. He was then transferred to the VA Hospital, where he was able to seek mental heath assistance he needed.
read more here

Members of Congress Should Be Ashamed

UPDATE: POTUS does not understand what he just signed!

"What a beautiful word that is — choice — and freedom to our amazing veterans," Trump said at the signing ceremony. "All during the campaign I'd go out and say, 'why can't they just go see a doctor instead of standing in line for weeks and weeks and weeks?' Now they can go see a doctor."

REMINDER: THEY SHOULD NOT BE TREATED LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, AND OH, BY THE WAY...THEY ARE WAITING IN LINE BECAUSE OF CONGRESS!!!!

If the person you elected had voted against Affordable Care Act Vote list then turned around to support sending veterans into the same situation, they need to be publicly humiliated! 

Why? Because apparently they thought this healthcare coverage was so bad for us THEY DECIDED TO PUT VETERANS INTO THE SAME MESS and this is the result!

The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ auditing arm, found veterans often had to wait between 51 and 64 days for appointments with private doctors under the Veterans Choice program. It cited a lengthy scheduling process that took as long as 70 days.

When they decided to treat disabled veterans just like everyone else, they hoped we'd be too stupid to notice what billions paid to private companies could have do to fix the VA for all veterans.

Then again, we were too stupid to notice that Congress has had jurisdiction over how we show veterans what we think of them GOING BACK TO 1946~

If this is not enough for you to actually hold them accountable, watch this video from a couple of years ago. Veterans should never have to take this betrayal! They did their jobs! Make members of Congress do their jobs!


And yes, they are helping each other out of the dumpster!

Gold Star kids helping each other grieve

Gold Star children help others through the grief of losing a loved one
CBS News
June 4, 2018

There are more than 5,000 Gold Star kids around the country, grieving the death of a parent, sibling or close relative. They come together each year at the Good Grief Camp, run by the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Brynnly and Aynsley Thomson come to their father's grave often. Army Col. Todd Thomson served two tours in Iraq, before he died in 2012.

CBS News' Jeff Glor recently met the Thomson girls at Arlington National Cemetery's section 60, the final resting place for the men and women who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Tell me what it's like visiting here," Glor asked.

"Well, when you come here, you think back to the funeral, and when the last time you said goodbye [was]," Aynsley said.
read more here

“If I Take My Life,“

‘If I Take My Life’: Veteran's suicide over weekend revives calls for 'epidemic' to be addressed
JESSICA LEEDER ATLANTIC REPORTER
HALIFAX
PUBLISHED 21 HOURS AGO

There is no public list of military members or veterans who have taken their own lives. Telling stories of suicide is a long-held taboo in society and journalism. But social media has begun to shift the conversation and increasingly, mainstream media are reporting newsworthy deaths.

George Curtis is seen in 2013. Mr. Curtis was plagued with the nightmares, anxiety, hypervigilance and suicidal ideations that were symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder. FACEBOOK/GEORGE CURTIS

George Curtis was a man born to help.

The Prince Edward Island veteran regularly went out of his way to visit ill friends in need of a boost, would quietly pick up a stranger’s restaurant tab as a kindness and to the exasperation of his former wife, was known to re-home spiders found inside rather than squish them.

Privately, though, Mr. Curtis was under a mental siege, plagued with the nightmares, anxiety, hypervigilance and suicidal ideations that were symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder. Over the weekend, it was discovered that the 47-year-old father ended his fight – and what he told friends was a too-long wait for residential treatment – when he died by suicide.

Just one day after discovering Mr. Curtis, who died at his remote camp on PEI, his family and closest friends are speaking out about his suicide and what they argue is a need to help other veterans struggling with PTSD and suicidal thoughts by publicly acknowledging when a soldier takes his or her own life.

“This shouldn’t be a hidden issue,” said Dennis MacKenzie, a veteran with PTSD in PEI who counted Mr. Curtis as one of his closest friends. Last month, through the non-profit group Brave and Broken, Mr. MacKenzie launched a social media campaign titled “If I Take My Life,“ which is aimed at creating awareness of the suicide “epidemic plaguing our veterans.”
read more here

The unethical practice of reporters raising awareness

Morally Wrong Awareness
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 4, 2018

What is so hard about "raising awareness" of anything? Getting publicity without doing much else. It is almost as if Americans in masses woke up one morning and decided they were chosen to talk about veterans committing suicide. Did it ever dawn on reporters it was unethical to just publicize these groups?

Definition of unethical

: not conforming to a high moral standard : morally wrong : not ethical illegal and unethical business practices immoral and unethical behavior

These groups got the idea it was a good thing to do, as well as an easy one, from reporters. After all, it was reporters grabbing the headline from the VA Suicide report, that started the frenzy. It did not matter that the VA stated clearly, it was limited data from just 21 states.

Not much mattered as long as they had their headline of "22 a day" referring to the number of veterans they thought were not worth much more than that.

They may have had good intensions but had really bad information. Did they bother to read the reports? 

Americans lined up to get their tax exempt numbers and then called reporters to make sure they were noticed. Yet again, reporters did not seem to care about anything beyond whatever they were told. No questions asked.

It was so easy that soon there were over 400,000 charities focused on veterans. Yes, you read that right.

Donors who want to make contributions towards charitable programs that serve the military and veterans face an almost overwhelming volume of choices with, by some accounts, the existence of over 40,000 nonprofit organizations dedicated to serving the military and veterans and an estimated 400,000 service organizations that in some way touch veterans or service members. Even the 2013/2014 Directory of Veterans and Military Service Organizations published by the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs as an informational service for veterans seeking support lists over 140 national nonprofit organizations. Additionally, the number of new veterans charities has increased relatively rapidly over the past five years or so, growing by 41% since 2008 compared with 19% for charities in general, according to The Urban Institute as reported in a December 2013 The NonProfit Times article. 

You would think that with all of them working to "help veterans" there would be no veteran left waiting for anything. Then again, you have to think that reporters were actually doing their jobs.

Over and over again, they go out and cover a group claiming to be "raising awareness" and over and over again, you read how many more veterans are being failed right in that same town. 

More and more states reported a raise in veterans committing suicide at the same time there are about 5 million less veterans in the US than there were back in 1999 when the VA knew about 20 veterans committing suicide a day. Yes, again, you read that right.

Should pretty much prove that when it comes to reporters, they really don't know much at all. Next time you read about a group raising awareness in your area, contact the report and start asking them questions. You know, the same question they should have asked before they publicized the group.

Missing Veteran Alert: PTSD Veteran in New Jersey

Missing military vet suffering from PTSD missing for 3 days 
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com 
By Anthony G. Attrino 
June 4, 2018 

The family of a missing military veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been desperately searching for him in North Jersey since late last week. 

Thomas Podschelne 

Thomas Podschelne, 59, left his Waldwick home on Friday and failed to show up to his job the next day at the Stop and Shop on Broad Street in Clifton. 

"It's been three full days now so we're still anticipating him being around here," his daughter, Chelsea, said Monday morning. "We're still searching. Any info on his whereabouts would be a huge help." read more here

First Responder suicide shows when press leaves, the event does not

Death by suicide of paramedic who rushed to Quebec City mosque attack shines light on trauma risks for first-responders
The Star
By ALLAN WOODS Quebec Bureau
June 1, 2018

“They try to push through it. They go back to work and they push through it and they push through it and they push through it, until they can’t push through it anymore. That can be months or years down the line.” Dr. Jonathan Douglas

MONTREAL—In Lucie Roy’s retelling, the chain of events that led to her daughter’s suicide began with the burst of gunshots that killed six men and injured five others in a Quebec City mosque in January 2017.

Andréanne Leblanc, 31, was a paramedic who responded to the deadly Quebec City mosque shooting in January 2017. Her mother said the experience contributed to her suicide in March 2018. (FACEBOOK)

Andréanne Leblanc was on shift that Sunday night. She was one of the first paramedics to arrive at the bloody scene that greatly traumatized Canadians.

She and her work partner transported one of the victims to hospital. In the fear and confusion of that frigid winter night, as police hunted the armed and fleeing killer, they were told to prepare in case there were other victims.

Leblanc, 31, didn’t talk to her family about what she had experienced.

That seems to have been part of her nature.

Her grieving mother wants to draw attention to the mental health problems faced by her daughter and other emergency workers who work in difficult or potentially distressing conditions.
read more here

Vietnam veteran killed protecting kids from deadly driver

Sanford woman charged after deadly hit-and-run at baseball game
by WGME
June 3rd 2018

Sharrow's car hit a closed gate and she drove back toward the main gate, where she struck Douglas Parkhurst, 68, of West Newfield before speeding away from the scene.

SANFORD (WGME) -- A Sanford woman faces a manslaughter charge after police say she struck and killed a West Newfield man after driving on to the field of a baseball game Friday night.

Carol Sharrow, 51, was arrested after police said she drove a car on to the field at Goodall Park shortly after 7 p.m. Friday.
read more here

Brooklyn veterans fighting to keep VA clinic open?

What kind of a message does this send? Increase funds for private care but close down VA Clinics that treat disabled veterans? 

Veterans and supporters mobilize in opposition to closure of ENT clinic at Brooklyn VA Hospital
Brooklyn Reporter
By Jaime DeJesus
June 1, 2018

Fearing that the Brooklyn VA Hospital could ultimately be in jeopardy, supporters of the facility — which treats veterans from across the borough as well as Staten Island — are staking their position in support of the hospital, which recently decided to shutter its ENT clinic.

ebrooklyn media/Photos by Jaime DeJesus 

Danny Friedman addressing the group.

On Friday, June 1, veterans, Congressmember Dan Donovan and the New York City Veterans Alliance joined together at a conference at the Knights of Columbus, 1305 86th Street, to protest the closure and express their concern that the hospital so many former members of the military rely upon will eventually downsize to an outpatient only clinic or transform into condos.

“It’s already hard for some of our local veterans to get to the Brooklyn facility and now many will have to travel to the Manhattan facility or one in the Bronx,” said Donovan. “This could be particularly devastating to those who are elderly or disabled, who may forgo visits instead of facing long and difficult commutes to get to their appointments. The decision needs to be reversed.”

“We’ve been seeing a gradual decline in services,” said Danny Friedman, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 72. One of the worries is that the facility will be the victim of a gradual diminution of services, effectively death by a thousand cuts. In 2015, the U.S. Veterans Administration decided to close a 25-bed inpatient medical surgery unit at the hospital, another move that was vocally protested by veterans and their supporters.
read more here