Disabled veteran left with nasty note for parking in handicap spot

DISABLED VETERANS PARK IN HANDICAP SPOT, RETURN TO FIND RACIST NOTE CRITICIZING THEM FOR USING THE SPACE

Newsweek
BY DONICA PHIFER
7/11/19

"You may not physically see their disability. But everyone wears their scars differently. You just have to simply go back to the Golden Rule: treating people how you want to be treated," Marqueena said.

Two veterans are speaking out after they discovered a racist note left on their car following a trip to the grocery store.

Kenneth and Marquenna Moore, both former military veterans who were injured in service, returned to their car to find a note telling them not to park in a handicap space, despite their car having a license plate that says they are disabled military veterans. KHOU

The incident occurred in Cypress, Texas when Kenneth and Marquenna Moore parking in a handicap space during their trip to H-E-B. The couple, who have been married for 15 years, returned to their car afterward to reportedly find a note that read, "just because you are black and have a nice car does not make you handicapped ;)," KHOU reports.

"(I was) Shocked. Then actually angry, because I'm like, the plates are right there! How do you not see?," Marquenna told KHOU.

The couple's car does not have a hangtag to designate their car as one for disabled persons, but the license plates — required by Texas law to be placed on the front and back of all vehicles — indicates that the car is registered to a disabled veteran. According to KHOU, the designation is noticeable by the "Disabled Veteran U.S. Armed Forces" text printed along the bottom of the plate.

Both Kenneth and Marqueena were injured while serving in the U.S. Military, they told the tv station. Both were stationed with the U.S. Navy and met while serving in Japan, Kenneth served for 12 years and Marqueena for eight.

Kenneth told KHOU that his time serving was "amazing" but added that "it does take a toll on your body mentally and physically."

Kenneth's injuries include a traumatic brain injury which created a stutter. Both say they suffer from PTSD.
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Disabled veteran, who was not D.B. Cooper, passed away

He died claiming to be a disabled veteran. But many believe he was hijacker D.B. Cooper.

The Washington Post
By Morgan Krakow
July 11, 2019

Rackstraw, a former Army helicopter pilot who had been awarded a Silver Star for valor, didn’t surface as a suspect until the late 1970s, according to news reports. He’d been arrested on charges of murdering his stepfather, but was acquitted in a trial in 1978.

A man who some believed to be the elusive D.B. Cooper died Tuesday in Southern California.

Robert Rackstraw, who was featured in a 2016 History Channel documentary about the notorious criminal, was pronounced dead at home in the early hours of July 9, according to the San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office. He died of a “long-standing heart condition,” according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Cooper, known for the hijacking of a flight bound for Seattle from Portland, Ore., is thought to have leaped from the plane with $200,000 in cash. Authorities tracked down hundreds of potential suspects but were never able to find Cooper or his body.

The hijacking, the longest unsolved crime of its kind in FBI history, has baffled official and unofficial investigators for decades. Though the FBI closed the case in 2016, theories about the identity of Cooper have continued to swirl.
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Disabled veteran attacked by man with knife

FLORIDA OFFICER SHOOTS DEAD MAN HOLDING KNIFE ON VETERAN IN WHEELCHAIR WHO ENDS UP WITH MINOR NOSE INJURY

By FOX 13 News staff
Posted Jul 11 2019

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FOX 30/FOX 13) - Jacksonville police shot and killed a man holding a disabled Army veteran in a wheelchair at knifepoint, they said.

The officer-involved shooting occurred on State Street near the Ritz Theatre around 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, reports FOX 30. Police initially responded out to an “armed aggravated assault” report.

When law enforcement officers arrived, they found a man holding a knife to the victim’s neck. Officers said he refused to drop the knife even after they gave a verbal command, according to FOX 30.

The officer feared for the victim’s life and fatally shot the suspect, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They said the officer was wearing a body camera.

The man in the wheelchair, who did not want to be identified, told FOX 30 he is an Army veteran who calls Jacksonville his home. He explained that he met the suspect this week and the man appeared to be nice and quiet. However, on Wednesday, the victim said the suspect was acting belligerent while holding the knife and threatening to harm people.
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Driver backed up to get around body of veteran he hit before driving off

77-year-old Army veteran in motorized scooter hit, killed by minivan in hit-and-run crash

WFTS News
By: Michael Paluska
Jul 09, 2019

"The driver was going way too fast, and the driver knew that he hit him never got out of his vehicle backed up a little bit to basically get around the body or around the wheelchair or the scooter and proceeded westbound down Moog Road," Zimmerman said.

HOLIDAY, Fla. — The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a deadly hit-and-run crash in Pasco County.

Troopers tell us they located a 90-year-old man who is a person of interest along with the minivan they believe was involved in the fatal hit and run. The person of interest lives five blocks away from where 77-year-old Larry Small was hit and killed.

The Florida Highway Patrol responded to a call of a crash involving a pedestrian on a motorized wheelchair and a Dodge minivan just before 12:30 p.m. on Monday.

The incident happened on Moog Road at Pinehurst Drive.

Troopers say Small, of Holiday, was hit by a 1991 Dodge minivan as he entered the intersection. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the minivan drove away after striking Small.

That vehicle has since been seized as evidence.
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21 Flags meant to honor veterans burnt at funeral home

A funeral home says 21 US flags honoring veterans on July 4th were set on fire

CNN
By Paul P. Murphy
July 10, 2019

(CNN)Twenty-one American flags were found burned at a cemetery in Anderson, South Carolina, according to the funeral home that runs it.

Owner Jess McDougald says his family has never seen anything like it in McDougald Funeral Home's 85 years of operation.

The funeral home has been run by the same family for three generations, since McDougald's grandfather started it, and he says they put out American flags during patriotic holidays.

The remains of the flags were found in a pile, the funeral home says.

"We've put flags out for as long as I can remember," McDougald said. "We've never had a problem." The flags lined the road to the veterans section of the cemetery on the evening of July 3: about 30 of them, 4 feet by 6 feet in size, fixed to 8-foot poles.

But when cemetery staff arrived for work July 5, they found poles in a pile with the burnt remains of 21 flags.
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Amazon sold fake books?

Amazon Sold $240K of ‘Liturgy of the Ordinary’ Fakes, Publisher Says

Christianity Today
KATE SHELLNUTT
JULY 08, 2019

Christian values can seem increasingly countercultural in a society drawn to the instant gratification offered by the world’s biggest online retailer.

A Christian bestseller (and CT Book of the Year) was targeted by a major counterfeiting scheme. It took Tish Harrison Warren nearly three years to publish her first book. It was more than 18 months of arranging childcare and carving out time to write before she had a manuscript—11 chapters chronicling details from her day-to-day life paired with the rhythms of church ritual.

By the time Liturgy of the Ordinary debuted in December 2016, she and her publishing team had gone through the process of selecting a cover (an open-faced peanut butter and jelly sandwich against a bright green backdrop) and editing the page proofs to check every dot and detail.

But over the past year, thousands of readers ended up with copies that didn’t quite look like the book she and InterVarsity Press (IVP) had finalized three years ago. The cover was not as sharp. The pages were a bit off-center.

These were not IVP’s books at all. They were counterfeits.

Just as The New York Times put out a report in late June on a surge of counterfeit books available on Amazon, the 70-year-old Christian publisher discovered that one of its own had also “been victim of a highly organized and sophisticated counterfeiting scheme.”

The Times covered complaints that the country’s top bookseller “has been reactive rather than proactive in dealing with the issue” and found examples of Amazon’s third-party sellers pushing fakes across genres: medical handbooks, popular novels, and classic literature. With Warren’s case, add Christian books to the list.

IVP estimates that at least 15,000 counterfeit copies of Liturgy of the Ordinary were sold on the site over the past nine months, their retail value totaling $240,000. That nearly cuts sales of Warren’s book in half; IVP reported 23,000 legitimate copies were sold over the past year. IVP also found evidence of counterfeiting on a smaller scale for one other title, Michael Reeves’s Delighting in the Trinity, which came out in 2002.

Publishers Weekly reported how AAP specifically called out Amazon for facilitating sales of fraudulent books: “The organization claimed that Amazon, on its retail site, allows ‘widespread counterfeiting, defective products, and fake reviews that both degrade the consumer experience and diminish the incentives of authors and publishers to create new works and bring them to the marketplace.’” read it here

*******

I guess this explains why Amazon would not tell me how many of my books were sold when it happened to me.

While I thought I had something to be happy about back in April when Amazon finally got my highjacked book taken down...that feeling did not last long. They would not tell me how many of the stolen books they sold.

Stolen? Yes, when an author does not get paid for their work, it is stolen. What made it worse was that it had gone on for 16 years! Xlibris was the publisher and refused to take down the book...or even bother to find out why it was still for sale, and yes, being bought by people. Those "people" included me at full price so that I could prove what was happening.

The problem was, no matter what I proved, no one would do anything to help me. I got the Better Business Bureau involved. I got a lawyer. I wrote and wrote and wrote emails to the "publisher" and tormentor. I called other lawyers but they would not help unless I knew how many were sold.

Warren is a "best selling author" and apparently, her publisher cared about what was happening.

I just have a very well established online connection...over 15 million.

But that news hit me a few years ago. The number was from Google before they had to switch to a Google+ account. Now, who knows? My site less than 5 million views, so that means all those people on my profile came from someplace else.

I couldn't even get anyone to care when I wrote about all this back in April...April Fools Publishing With Xlibris.

You can hear the story about this here. Just goes to show that it is not always what you know...but who you know when you are seeking justice or help to get it.

Anonymous angel delivered life changing gift to disabled veteran

Disabled Veteran Gets Incredibly Thoughtful, Anonymous Gift

The Epoch Times
BY JACK PHILLIPS
July 8, 2019

An Oregon woman shared about a touching act of kindness that has gone viral.

Brittany Lynn Garrett wrote on the Love What Matters Facebook page detailing the act of kindness.

“As I was getting ready for my day, my husband appeared at the door with tears in his eyes holding our son,” Garrett said on Facebook. “My heart sank and I thought someone we love took a trip to Heaven… He quickly assured me that no one had died, but someone had just given him a very expensive riding lawn mower!”

She said she had no clue who sent him the generous gift.

“I don’t know who they are, but they have been watching my 100% combat disabled husband push mow our entire yard once or twice a week, and thought this would help make more time for the important things in life!!” she wrote.
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Active duty member of military found dead

Frederick police: Man found outside garage ruled a suicide

Frederick News Post
By Jeremy Arias
Jun 24, 2019

Detectives later used video surveillance to determine that the man fell from the third floor of the garage and his death was ruled a suicide, Alcorn said. The man was described only as 37 years old and an active-duty member of the U.S. military.

A man who died Monday after police found him injured on Sunday outside a garage in downtown Frederick was eventually ruled a suicide, according a police supervisor.

The man was discovered by a passer-by shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday just outside the Carroll Creek parking deck, according to Sgt. Andrew Alcorn, supervisor of the Frederick Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division. The man was still alive and was taken to a hospital, where he was stabilized long enough for his family members to arrive from out of state, Alcorn said.
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Murder-suicide investigation involved Philadelphia Police Officer

Philadelphia Cop Apparently Kills Wife, Himself Inside Juniata Park Home, Police Say

By CBS3 Staff
July 8, 2019

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide involving an 11-year veteran of the department and his wife in the Juniata Park section of the city. 

The couple was found inside the home on the 4600 block of Weymouth Street around 9:30 a.m. on Monday. They have been identified as 39-year-old Jose Rodriguez and 36-year-old Evelyse Rodriguez.

According to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, the couple’s 17-year-old daughter called police to check on her parents’ well-being. Ross says the daughter didn’t hear from her father or mother for some time and tried to reach out to them around 2:30 a.m.
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Eight year old girl knew who Bessie Coleman was. Do you?

8-year-old applauded for asking to report on aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman instead of Amelia Earhart

ABC News
By MARQUIS HUGHES
Jul 10, 2019

For all of Noa’s hard work and willingness to report on Coleman, the National Aviation Hall of Fame Museum decided to fly Noa and her family to the museum in Dayton, Ohio. There she got the privilege to meet a relative of her hero.

Bessie Coleman’s great-niece, Gigi Coleman, greeted her when she arrived and awarded Noa a medallion for her outstanding project.

When 8-year-old Noa Lewis was assigned a school project on Amelia Earhart, she flipped the script and asked instead to report on Bessie Coleman, who was the first female African American and Native American pilot.

Noa Lewis giving her best of Bessie Coleman.

Noa and her second-grade class were given the assignment to create and be a part of a “wax museum,” with each student embodying their assigned historical figure. Noa had originally been assigned Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

“Noa knew about Amelia Earhart but she told her teacher she wanted another figure but couldn’t remember the name,” Moniqua Lewis, Noa’s mother, told “Good Morning America.”

Lewis was picking up her daughter from school when Noa told her mom about the project and about how she wanted to report on a person who was once featured in her favorite Disney show, “Doc McStuffins.” Lewis was naming names, trying to help her daughter remember who it was.

It turns out it was Bessie Coleman, or “Queen Bessie,” as Noa refers to her. Coleman was the first female African American and Native American to hold a pilot’s license.

Lewis saw how passionate Noa was about Bessie Coleman, so as Noa’s teacher was exiting the school, she asked her if her daughter could instead report on Coleman.
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Ace Combat 7 battle between Dad and Son

Air Force 1st Lieutenant Beats 4-Star Dad in Livestreamed Dogfight Game

Military.com
By Oriana Pawlyk
8 Jul 2019

At one point during the game, the two swapped aircraft and flew each others' fighters.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Mike Holmes, the commander of Air Combat Command, and 1st Lt. Wade Holmes, his son, battle each other in a combat flight action video game June 29, 2019, at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. (U.S. Air Force/Emerald Ralston)

Score a win for the Viper pilot in the battle over which Air Force fourth-generation aircraft brings the heat.

1st Lt. Wade Holmes, an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot, recently beat his dad, Air Combat Commander Gen. Mike Holmes, an F-15 Eagle pilot, in the game Ace Combat 7, according to a service release.

The two pilots flew their respective aircraft during the hour-long game June 29. The event was live-streamed on Twitch so viewers could watch and call in, asking the pilots questions about flight training.

Ace Combat 7 takes place in a fictional world in which pilots attempt to secure the skies during an air campaign between two sparring rivals. Holmes and Holmes played on an Xbox One system.
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Officer Kevin Valencia gets help from PitBull

Free Pitbull concert raises $1M for officer shot in line of duty

Click Orlando
By Adrienne Cutway - Web Editor
July 08, 2019

ORLANDO, Fla. - A free Pitbull concert held last month raised more than $1 million for the family of officer Kevin Valencia, who has been receiving treatment since he was shot in the head a year ago while responding to a hostage situation.

The office of attorney Dan Newlin, which organized the community event, said Monday that the money raised has been presented to the Fraternal Order of Police so that it can be distributed to the Valencia family.

Newlin wrote in a letter to the organization that he and Meghan Valencia came up with the idea because she wanted to bring her husband home but she didn't have the financial resources to make the necessary renovations to her house.

They also hoped the event would highlight Kevin Valencia's ongoing struggle because they both feared that members of the community had forgotten that he's still receiving treatment.
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Put Vets First shut down after putting veterans last on the to do list

Veterans' Charities, PAC Shut Doors Amid Fundraising Scrutiny

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
July 8, 2019

The PAC, for example, raised $4.8 million, with the telemarketers netting $4.4 million and Hampton receiving $183,500 in salary, according to the report.

Homeless veteran. Getty Images

A Virginia-based political action committee purportedly established to support veterans' issues was disbanded Saturday amid questions over its fundraising and expense practices.

The Put Vets First! PAC filed termination paperwork Saturday with the Federal Election Commission, according to a report Monday by the Center for Public Integrity. The PAC appears to have followed the same fundraising and expense patterns as two affiliated nonprofits, all established by a retired Army Reserve major. The organizations raised millions but donated little to veterans causes or candidates.

Founded by Brian Arthur Hampton, the organizations began pulling in cash around 2013, when Hampton hired telemarketing firms to conduct fundraising. Yet according to Internal Revenue Service tax filings, the groups gave little of those earnings to veterans' causes, instead paying most of the money back to the telemarketing firms and covering administrative costs, including salaries.
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What are veterans really worth to the candidates?

Next President needs to prove what veterans are worth

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 9, 2019

Veterans, if your Mom told you that you were special...Mom knows best. You actually are! Surprised? You shouldn't be. The budget of the federal government prove it.

The two of the biggest departments this nation has are the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

The DOD budget was $1.3 Trillion.  The VA budget request for 2020 is $220.2 billion. Yet when it comes to size of both departments, you get the idea that you are even more special. Current military members are less than 1% of the population. Less than 10% of our citizens are veterans, and less than half of you use the VA.

Right now there are 2 Republicans and 24 Democrats who want to become the next President. It seems that everyone is talking about what is either strong or wrong, but no one is talking about what matters to your lives. We are just hearing the same old crap on what they will do for you, but no apologies on what they already did to you.

Let's get honest and shove politics out of the way because as we already know, it is both parties messing up. Congress has had since 1946 to get it right for your sake...and they all failed.

For the 26 some odd...and changing, they want to become the next Commander-in-Chief but all of them should be "chef" considering the strange brew they have been cooking up for veterans while calling it good medicine.

Members of Congress have been telling the American people how bad our healthcare system is...and it is bad. These same folks are telling veterans sending them into this mess is "good for them" and they should be grateful. As to "what" they should be grateful for...no one has an answer.

This is easy, or it should be. Disabled veterans became disabled serving this county. They were promised that their wounds would be treated and they would not have to worry about surviving after they pre-paid for their healthcare with their service.

Now, you'd think that would come with a square deal and it would be delivered. You'd also have to imagine that the folks leading this country are grateful enough to make sure our veterans and current military members were actually honored. Then again, if you do, then you haven't been paying attention to the facts.

The percentage of veterans living in this country is lower than in 1999 when the VA said that 20 veterans a day were committing suicide. They released the the first report in 2012. Back then, the general public had no idea but veterans knew all about it. (In 2000, my husband's nephew was one of them.)

Seven years after the first report, everyone is talking about veterans killing themselves but no one is talking about how it has gotten worse for them to stay alive.

Sure we have the usual problems that have been going on for as long as I've been alive (a very long time) but it got worse with the wrong people advising Trump. 

Fact, he wanted to cut the "unemployable" percentage from senior veterans disability checks because they were too old to work anyway. While the largest percentage of veterans in this country are over the age of 50...they are also the majority of the known veterans committing suicide. Did anyone think about what hearing this did to them?

I can tell you there was a major freak out when veterans thought the one thing they could depend on was that "permanent and total" actually meant that.

Then we have what is going on with the military. Their suicides have gone up too. According to the DOD, suicides hit the largest number in ten years! The other fact is that it has averaged about 500 a year since 2012.

Military families are subjected to not only living on contaminated bases, 126 at last count by the DOD. Military housing has also been harming them because someone thought it was a good thing for them to be handed over to for profit businesses.

Yes, even more horror for those who had been prepared to face the enemy...but did not think they would have to face all this.

When you hear all the people running for the office make them actually answer questions without running away from what they've already done to you! Stop letting them get away with treating you as if you are just like everyone else they can just make a speech to and then get your vote.

MAKE THEM EARN IT!

When do we “Protect Those Who Served"

ABUSING THOSE WHO SERVED

The Intercept
Jasper Craven
July 8 2019

Veterans Affairs Police Are Supposed to “Protect Those Who Served.” They Have a Shocking Record of Brutality and Impunity.

For years, veterans advocates and policymakers have worked to open the VA to the half-million so-called bad paper veterans like Hathaway. Last year, Congress directed the VA to offer more mental health care benefits to this neglected population. For Hathaway, however, it was too little and too late.

DERRICK HATHAWAY SERVED multiple tours in Kosovo, contributing to a NATO peacekeeping mission aimed at preventing ethnic cleansing. While Hathaway envisioned his Marine mission as a humanitarian one, he soon became ashamed of his work. In the course of mapping safe routes for NATO forces, Hathaway’s platoon would perform no-knock home raids to search for weapons or contraband, leading to tense confrontations with frightened families.

“It was martial law,” Hathaway said. “That left a nasty taste in my mouth. All we were doing was feeding a new form of hate.”

Still, Hathaway followed orders and earned a number of awards for his military service, including the Good Conduct Medal, which is given to recognize “good behavior and faithful service.” But after half a decade in uniform, Hathaway was given a bad conduct discharge in February 2005. He got the boot after failing a Department of Defense drug test administered shortly after a rowdy weekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Among other things, this denied him access to mental health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

For years, veterans advocates and policymakers have worked to open the VA to the half-million so-called bad paper veterans like Hathaway. Last year, Congress directed the VA to offer more mental health care benefits to this neglected population. For Hathaway, however, it was too little and too late.
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Hampton Inn told veteran PTSD is not a disability because of service dogs

Veteran says he was kicked out of hotel for having a service dog: 'PTSD isn’t a disability'

Yahoo Lifestyle
Paulina Cachero
July 1, 2019

“The night manager said PTSD isn’t a disability and we don’t allow emotional support animals because we’re not pet friendly,” Nic recalls. “We educated her on ADA regulations and showed her that PTSD is an ADA certified condition.”

After serving 13 years in the Marine Corps, including four deployments overseas, Nicholas “Nic” Day is “proud to have served my country and I would do it all again in a heat beat” — no matter the costs to himself. However, as a veteran now afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his time in the armed forces, Nic never expected that the civil rights he fought so hard to protect would be “abused” after he was kicked out of a hotel for his PTSD service dog.

“I feel like I was discriminated against because I have PTSD,” Nic tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “A lot of people don’t understand that there’s a difference between an emotional support dog and a service dog.” Nic was first diagnosed with PTSD — a mental health condition considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — around 2008, while he was still on active duty.

Nic’s condition makes it difficult for him to be in large crowds and unfamiliar places, as they often trigger anxiety attacks. After trying the full range of treatments for his PTSD with little to no success, Nic finally decided to try getting a service dog. “I had from medication to meditation and nothing was working. I figured let’s try a service dogs and let’s see how that works,” says Nic.

A loyal, four-legged companion turned out to be exactly what the former marine needed to help mitigate his PTSD symptoms. He trained his current service dog, Atlas, to paw at him or jump and give him a hug if he “gets too worked up,” and to trail right behind him to make sure no one creeps up on him from behind. “As a marine, we’ve always had someone there to watch our backs and are always working with other marines. Having Atlas at my side all the time gives me the same sense of security,” Nic says of the 1-year-old Akita.

“Failing to accept new information or correct information and blowing it off in my opinion is just ignorant,” Nic says. “My goal is to educate not only the hotel but other businesses about the differences between an emotional support animal and service dogs.”

Nic tells Yahoo Lifestyle that he and his wife, Tina, were taking a long over-due vacation and planned to stop by Medford, Ore., to attend his nephew’s high school graduation. The couple made reservations at the local Hampton Inn, and allegedly informed the hotel that they would be bringing their service dogs, Ares and Atlas.read it here

NYPD and Chicago lost two more officers to suicide

Hero cop sixth NYPD officer to take life in 2019

The Riverdale Press
By JOSEPH KONIG 
Posted July 7, 2019

Five months later, however, Preiss was dead, reportedly taking his own life outside his Nassau County home June 26. He was the fourth New York Police Department officer to commit suicide in June, the sixth this year.

He was 53.

It was early in the morning on Jan. 27 when Liam Amir Rodriguez decided it was time to be born.

Officer Kevin Preiss, right, smiles with officer Roland Benson and the baby they helped deliver in January. Preiss reportedly died by suicide last month.

Liam’s parents, Naida and Jerry, began to make their way to the emergency room, except there was one problem: The elevator in their North Riverdale building was out of service. The contractions were starting, and on top of that, Naida needed to use the bathroom, so she returned to the apartment.

“Developments being what they were, my daughter could not leave the apartment,” Liam’s grandmother, Rebecca Maitin later explained in a letter. Maitin called 911, and within moments, two 50th Precinct officers were at the door.

Officers Kevin Preiss and Roland Benson helped deliver a perfectly healthy baby boy at 2:20 a.m., in a narrow hallway. Two weeks later, Preiss and Benson returned with a gift bag of baby clothes.

“There is good and kindness within New York’s finest and New York’s first responders,” Maitin wrote. read it here

Officials: Sheriff’s officer shoots himself to death on Northwest Side

Chicago Tribune
Rosemary Sobol
JUL 06, 2019

At least seven Chicago police officers have committed suicide in the last year. And the New York Police Department just experienced four suicides in three weeks, spurring the department to seek “psychological autopsies” to analyze the officers’ actions.

A Cook County corrections officer has taken his own life in a forest preserve in the Forest Glen neighborhood. Graham Hyland, 40, died of a gunshot wound to the mouth, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Saturday determined Hyland’s death was a suicide. 

Hyland was found at approximately 9:45 p.m. Friday in the 5900 block of North Central Avenue, at the Ted Lechowicz Woods. Hyland was pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
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If you decided to risk your life for a living...saving others, isn't it time you included saving your own life? #BrakeTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

Police Officers honored...and wrongly judged

Instead of arresting a woman accused of shoplifting, these NYPD cops paid for her groceries

CBS News
BY DANIELLE GARRAND
JULY 5, 2019

"You know, I've been doing this for 22 years. This is not the first time I've paid for food. This is not the first time they've paid for someone's food," he said referring to the two other cops."We don't go out and do it all the time, but, you know, when you look at someone's face and you notice that they need you, and they're actually hungry. It's pretty difficult as a human being to walk away from something like that. We weren't raised like that. So, it's the right thing to do."

Three New York City police officers were working on the Fourth of July when they decided to stop by a Manhattan Whole Foods supermarket. Security guards told the cops a woman was shoplifting groceries -- and officers are now getting massive praise for their generous response.

The cops -- now identified as Lt. Louis Sojo and Officers Esnaidy Cuevas and Michael Rivera -- were on the way to grab a snack and cold drink in the store when security guards told them a woman was stealing food, Sojo said at a press conference Friday. The cops approached her to assess the situation.

"I asked her, 'What's going on?' She told me she was hungry," said Sojo."So, I looked in her bag. I decided -- we decided -- to say 'We'll pay for her food.'"
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But some people would rather take out their anger on officers...

Starbucks and Tempe Meet After Barista Asked Cops to Leave

Phoenix New Times
MEG O'CONNOR
JULY 8, 2019

Starbucks representatives met with Tempe Police Department officials Sunday and are continuing meetings today to try to smooth relations after a barista asked cops to either move away from a customer who was nervous about their presence or leave the shop.

Rob Ferraro, Tempe police union president, said that on July 4, a barista asked six Tempe police officers to either move out of the line of sight of a customer who said he felt unsafe, or leave the establishment.

The encounter drew national attention and prompted calls from Arizona lawmakers and conservative commentators to boycott Starbucks.

"Unacceptable. Respect our brave police officers! #BackTheBlue #DumpStarbucks," the Arizona Republican Party tweeted.

"So I'm wondering what the person who complained will do if they get robbed or assaulted? Who are you going to call then? Safe spaces aren't going to save you!" said Bret Roberts, a Republican state representative who previously worked for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
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Emotional support and trained service animals can provide wellness and healing

Canine Companions Offer Love and Support to Returning Vets

NBC 4 News
By Mario Solis
Published Jul 7, 2019

Emotional support and trained service animals can provide wellness and healing for veterans struggling with mental health or physical disabilities.

"Just seeing them have a sense of belonging with these dogs, and with the people who have helped them get to that point, it just creates a whole new type of community," said Natasha Smith, the executive director of Canine Companions LTD.

Canine Companion Daisy sits ready and waiting.

More than a quarter of men and women who have served in the armed forces find it difficult to return to civilian life, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. In these cases, emotional support and trained service animals can provide wellness and healing for veterans struggling with mental health or physical disabilities.

Canine Companions LTD. is a nonprofit organization that connects specialized dogs with veterans in need. The program operates out of the eighth floor of the Dream Center, a faith-based charitable organization in Silver Lake, to aid returning servicemen and women as they transition back into civilian life.

According to the organization's website, the program's mission is to provide veterans with a marketable skill so that they can train dogs to provide emotional, mental and physical support to future veteran owners.
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