112-year-old Austin resident, our oldest living veteran, robbed of savings, identity
Dallas Morning News
Brendan Meyer
June 30, 2018
Thankfully, the bank account was not connected to Overton's GoFundMe page, which finances his 24/7 in-home care. Since its inception in December 2016, the page has raised more than $320,000, though a large portion of that money has already been spent.
Someone is impersonating the oldest man in America.
Family members of Richard Overton, the 112-year-old World War II veteran who lives in Austin, learned that his personal bank account had been drained on Friday.
"Someone set up a bogus account, got his Social Security number and accessed his personal checking account," said Volma Overton, who is Overton's third cousin.
read more here
Carlton: A father killed, two boys hurt. Is Florida’s stingy mental health spending partly to blame?
Tampa Bay Times
Sue Carlton
June 28, 2018
On a Sunday morning, a father and his two young sons went for a bike ride in the New Tampa suburbs. The boys, 3 and 8, wore bike helmets to keep them safe.
The man driving the Dodge was just five days out of a mental health facility. This time he had been involuntarily committed after he walked into a police station, said some bizarre things and warned a cop he might hurt someone. Sometime that Sunday, he posted wild-eyed, ominous ravings on Instagram. His parents would later say they tried for years to get him the right help.
What happened next is the definition of madness.
Twelve days before he was accused of killing a man and injuring two children, Mikese Morse visited a Tampa police substation and predicted he would hurt someone if he wasn't detained, records show. He was taken into protective custody under Florida's Baker Act. But he was set free a week later. [Tampa Police Department, Times file]
Police say 30-year-old Mikese Morse — once a college athlete and an Olympic hopeful — made a U-turn, crossed a lane of oncoming traffic, drove over the grass onto the bike path, stepped on the gas and hit the family. Pedro Aguerreberry, 42, died and his sons were injured. They will recover, but without their father.
Tampa police Chief Brian Dugan told reporters Morse did this deliberately, purposely, intentionally. The chief also said there was no evidence Morse knew the people he hit — no simmering conflict, no hint of the usual motives of money, anger, jealousy, hate, revenge. "Random," was the word the chief used. "For no apparent reason whatsoever," he said.
A question, then: Did a man die at least in part because of a lack of adequate mental health care for someone who clearly needed it, not only for himself but also to keep the world safe from him?
Did our state — ranked in recent years next to last in spending on mental health — play a part?
read more here
What does Gov. Rick Scott have to say about all this? What do members of our state legislature have to say?
Contemplating suicide, this Marine turned to yoga to save his life
CNN
By Mayra Cuevas
June 29, 2018
"If we had firefights or anything went on that was a high-stress day, I was teaching yoga," he says. "We were in the dirt just doing the practice, and the students were coming. Even these big Special Forces dudes were coming and like, 'Hey, what are you doing over there?' 'I'm doing yoga and meditation.' "
(CNN) Marine Justin Blazejewski rolls out his yoga mat over a dock floating along the banks of the Potomac River. It's a sunny weekday morning inside the DC beltway, where he lives and works as a military contractor.
"I stumbled upon yoga to save my life, basically, and I knew that I found something special," he said. "And it's taking me on a totally different path than I originally planned."
After a quick warmup, Blazejewski folds over himself, the top of his head resting on the creaky boards beneath him. The soles of his feet rise into a bright blue, cloudless sky. He lifts both arms, vertical against his torso, until he's in a full unsupported headstand or niralamba sirsasana, as the pose is called in yoga-speak.
read more here
Former officer to surrender license, plead guilty in assault at Indianapolis VA hospital
The Indy Channel
Jordan Fischer
Jun 29, 2018
In a plea agreement filed in federal court Wednesday, Kaim acknowledges that the victim was already walking out the door of the hospital after being told to leave when Kaim shoved him out of the door and pushed him against an exterior wall of the building. Kaim then caused the victim to fall face-first on the sidewalk, before striking him in the head six-to-seven times.
INDIANAPOLIS -- A former officer with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Police Department has agreed to surrender his law enforcement license as part of a plea agreement over an assault at the Indianapolis VA hospital in April 2017.
Officer Michael Kaim was indicted in January on a civil rights violation and obstruction of justice for allegedly writing a false report about an arrest at the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Memorial Center.
read more here
Fake Marine gave serial killer suspect a home. Now he's accused of bilking man of RV park
Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Jerry Mitchell
Published June 29, 2018
CANYON LAKE, Texas — A fake Marine who gave Mississippi native and convicted killer Felix Vail a home is now accused of using a Christian charity to bilk a man of an RV park.
David Thomason was so close with convicted murderer Felix Vail that he gave him property in Canyon Lake, Texas. And there is one thing he has in common with Vail: each had a wife reported to have drowned in an accident.
(Photo: File photo)
David Thomason portrays himself as a heroic Marine and a generous pastor who aids veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder with his Tree of Light Ministries.
In reality, he is a mail-order minister with no record of serving in the Marines.
A local man here, Bryan Todd Sympson, is now suing Thomason and his wife, saying they tricked him over the past three years into giving their Tree of Light Ministries at least $336,590 in donations, plus an RV park.
It gets stranger...read more here
A community comes together to help Pennsylvania trucker, Army veteran find dog lost at Lake Station truck stop
NWI Times
Dylan Wallace
Jun 29, 2018 Updated 4 hrs ago
It wasn't until a few days ago when they questioned workers at the truck stop that one revealed they saw another truck driver scoop up a dog and take it with him. The employee's description of the dog matched Jade's, so Morris and DiBenedetto are certain it was her.
Gilson is from Pennsylvania and is a U.S. Army veteran who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The distance between his home and Lake Station hasn't stopped him from trying to find his dog. Co-workers give him routes that allow him to pass through Indiana, so he can stop by.
Truck driver Doug Gilson stopped by the TA truck stop in Lake Station on Thursday morning and stared at the empty seat next to him.
"It's tough looking over at that seat, and she's not there," Gilson said.
Just three weeks prior, on June 8, Gilson was driving to Iowa when he made a pit stop at that same truck stop around 1 a.m.
Accompanying him was his service dog, Jade — a female Australian shepherd and companion of Gilson's for 12 years.
read more here
If this surprises you, you have not been paying attention.
Here are some things to consider from All Things Considered KUNC by Michael De Yoanna that came out today.
Each day about 20 veterans and active-duty service members take their own lives. It's a stubborn number that hasn't changed much since 2005. If the trend continues, 100,000 veterans and troops will have been lost to suicide by the end of this year.
(Actually the VA had to retract that part with the current military in the number)
They should have added the word "known" to that because we have tracked the ones who apparently, did not count.
The 20-a-day rate has been relatively consistent since 2008. By that estimate, more than 58,000 veterans and troops have taken their own lives since 2008.
Add roughly 20,000 more suicides for the three years prior to that, when the daily suicide rate was 19 a day (in 2007) and about 18 (in 2005 and 2006). Numbers for 2016, 2017 and 2018 are yet to be tallied. If they hold to 20 a day, by the end of this year the total number of suicides among veterans and troops will be more than 100,000 since 2005.
In one snapshot of the of the issue, Congress’ investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office, found that 57,000 Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines troops discharged between 2011 and 2015 for misconduct had post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries and other conditions, like adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders. Of these troops, more than 20 percent, or about 13,000 of them, received “other than honorable” discharges, which made them potentially ineligible for veterans benefits, including access to health care for their conditions.
Actually that total is a lot higher too. Plus add in about 200,000 Vietnam veterans and you get the idea.
Only 22 states with the inclusion of California in 2017 track veteran suicides but when the first suicide report came out, the limited data came from just 21 states. No clue what the other states are doing with their veterans.
So what about all the others who did not count? The veterans who moved out of the country? Veterans who faced off with law enforcement and lost their lives. That happened on a weekly basis last year.
And now for what the headline was,
Some 78,000 Veterans And Troops Lost To Suicide Since 2005
Keep in mind that while the DOD puts out quarterly reports, about 90 days after the end of the quarter, the average is 500 a year, and has not gotten better either. That screams of the need to stop what does not work all the way through. But then again, as there seems to be more and more folks screaming about numbers, the number of living veterans continues to drop.
All that plus the calls into suicide prevention keep going up!
Still no answer from the DOD on what will be the one too many to change. No answer on how many veterans committing suicide is acceptable to them either!
He collected nearly $200K posing as a Vietnam vet with 2 Purple Hearts — but he never served
The News and Observer (Tribune News Service)
By AARON MOODY
Published: June 27, 2018
A Charleston, S.C. man collected nearly $200,000 in VA benefits over the past few years while listed as a Navy medic who received two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam.
Keith R. Hudson Charleston County Sheriff's Office
But Keith R. Hudson, 70, was never in the military, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina said Wednesday.
“This is a particularly awful type of white collar crime,” U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon said in a news release. “Veteran health benefits are for those who served our nation in the military. The VA has limited numbers of physicians and resources. There is not much to spare.”
Hudson pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding the VA of $197,237. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
read more here
Lancaster police officer's death ruled a suicide; first responders urged to get help
York Daily Record
Geoff Morrow
Published June 27, 2018
Lancaster City Police on Wednesday announced that the recent death of Patrol Officer Mark Gehron, 43, was a suicide.
Gehron, a 19-year veteran of the police bureau, died Saturday, June 23.
He was previously a volunteer firefighter and, as a police officer, received several awards and commendations.
Gehron was also the father to sons Chris and Carter, both of Lancaster.
In its release, the Lancaster Police Department said the law enforcement community experiences an average of 130 deaths a year related to officers in crisis.
read more here
UPDATE
CBSNews
5 dead and several wounded.
Report: Multiple people shot at Maryland newspaper office
Thomson Reuters
Jun 28th 2018
June 28 (Reuters) - Several people were fatally shot at a newspaper office in the Maryland capital of Annapolis on Thursday and a suspect was apprehended, the local sheriff told Fox News.
Anne Arundel Sheriff Ron Bateman told Fox News the incident took place outside the Capital Gazette office.
Phil Davis, a Gazette reporter, said that multiple people had been shot, according to a report from the Baltimore Sun, which owns the paper.
Agents from the Baltimore office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding to the incident, the bureau tweeted.
read more here
