Haunted Michigan home investigated by the Ghost Brothers in Travel Channel debut
MLive
By Edward Pevos
August 13, 2019
VASSAR, MI - A Michigan disabled veteran and his family have been living in fear inside their own home. That's where the famous Ghost Brothers come in.
The paranormal investigators came to the haunted home in Vassar after the family's plea for help.
Photo courtesy of the Travel Channel via Brian Eley
You can see what happened in the debut of "Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguest" premiering on Friday, Aug. 16 on the Travel Channel.
Maybe you've seen this historic home built in 1879. It's known as the "Wedding Cake" house. Disabled Marine Corps veteran Conrad Dowe lives in the home with his wife and young son.
It's beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, that's a different story.
"On the inside, you're dealing with some heavy energy which may be demonic," said Ghost Brother Juwan Mass.
"The family is very sweet, but they were dealing with a spirit tormenting the wife and little boy. The husband felt helpless from being able to protect his own family. He fought for his country and he doesn't know how to fight the spirits attacking his family."
read it here
Suspect in custody after 6 officers hurt in hours-long Philadelphia standoff
All of the officers who were shot had been released from the hospital by late Wednesday night. The city’s mayor said that one of those officers, who is the father of two boys, suffered a graze wound to his head and could have been killed.
read it here
Six Philadelphia officers shot in active standoff with gunman holed up in house
NBC News
By Doha Madani and Tom Winter
Aug. 14, 2019
At least six Philadelphia police officers were shot Wednesday afternoon in an active standoff with a gunman holed up in a North Philly house.
A large police presence responded to a shooting incident at about 4:30 p.m. local time in a residential area of the Nicetown section of the city. One male shooter was still inside a residence in what police described as an active situation.
A police spokesperson told NBC News that the incident began when an officer attempted to serve a warrant at the address.
read it here
This story is BS!
While it is true that the number of veterans committing suicide is under reported, it is not true that it is "22 a day" along with a lot of other BS that has been spawned from veterans left to suffer and families left not knowing why it happened.
Veteran Suicide Higher than Reported – Help is Available
Communal News
Dana Matthews
August 12, 2019
Every day, 22 veterans take their own lives. That's a suicide every 65 minutes.
If a veteran intentionally crashes a car or dies of a drug overdose and leaves no note, that death may not be counted as suicide.
A survey by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America showed that 30% of service members have considered taking their own life.
The suicide rate among service members is an epidemic. Leon Panetta, the former Secretary of Defense agreed six years ago. Unfortunately, data regarding the veteran suicide rate is incomplete. For example, veterans who commit “suicide by cop” are not included in the tally. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made an appeal for more uniform reporting of suicide data.
read it here
Just starting with the "22 a day" a few years behind the latest study by the VA made me feel like I was in the Twilight Zone. Apparently the "author" decided that the rest of the reasons the numbers are wrong do not matter...or did not bother to research enough to discover what was missed.
Then when you factor in that all the awareness being raised about a lie obscures the fact that none of it is giving veterans hope back...oh well, the list goes on and so do the body counts.
YEP BS post of the day!
Resuming federal executions unlikely to affect military death row
STARS AND STRIPES
By NANCY MONTGOMERY
Published: August 12, 2019
The Trump administration’s plan to begin executing federal death row inmates for the first time in 16 years will have little effect on the four soldiers sentenced to death, military lawyers and the Army said.
Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis and his wife, Angela Hennis, walk to the Fort Bragg, N.C., courthouse for his murder trial Thursday, April 8, 2010. Hennis was found guilty of the May 9, 1985, murder of Kathryn Eastburn and her two children. STEPHANIE BRUCE, THE FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVE/AP
They include Ronald Gray, a former cook who was convicted three decades ago of multiple rapes and four murders near Fort Bragg, N.C., and was scheduled to be executed in 2008. The case remains ongoing in Kansas federal district court, with no clear end in sight.
Also on death row is former Sgt. Hasan Akbar, convicted in 2005 of killing two officers and wounding 14 other soldiers two years earlier in Kuwait; Timothy Hennis, a master sergeant convicted in 2010 of the 1985 rape and murder of a woman and murder of her two children; and Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist convicted in 2013 of killing 13 people and wounding numerous others on Ft. Hood in 2009.
All “are in various stages of legal action,” Army spokesman William Sharp said in an email. When and how those actions might conclude is unknown.
Presidents must approve the execution of those sentenced to death at court-martial, after receiving a recommendation from the secretary of the associated service branch. The Navy has not executed any of its members since 1849.
read it here
Police, first responders urged to ‘Call for Backup’ before suicide creeps into their thoughts
News Herald
By Jackie Harrison-Martin
Aug 12, 2019
According to the program, people who choose suicide often keep up a “normal” appearance because they’ve hidden a lot of things away inside their own “hurt locker,” a personal “locker” where stress is stored and hidden.”
Far too many times, three words have been exceptionally difficult for police officers, firefighters and other first responders to say — “I need help.”
It has come at a high cost, and that is that is changing.
David Edwards is the founder and president of Call for Backup, a program focusing on the mental health for emergency and rescue personnel with the end goal being to reduce incidents of suicides.
He coordinates a two-day training class that gives first responders the tools needed to help recognize when they or one of their own is overwhelmed, detect when stress is building and make reaching out for help an easier stop.
It was Edwards, a Taylor resident, who came up with the name for the program that was launched three years ago and is now being taught in numerous states.
He said the name is one first responders can relate to because they recognize what it means out in the field.
When officers need help mentally, he hopes it will be viewed with the same understanding and ease that calling for backup brings on the job.
read it here
For second day in row, NYPD mourning officer who died by suicide
NBC New York, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the officer who died Wednesday was 56 years and found in his Queens home after police were called around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.
On Tuesday, another police officer died by suicide in Yonkers.
Since the beginning of June, seven NYPD officers have died by suicide, and nine since the beginning of the year.
read it here
FDNY captain found dead of apparent suicide in his Staten Island home: sources
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
By ROCCO PARASCANDOLA and JOHN ANNESE
AUG 06, 2019
An FDNY captain was found dead of an apparent suicide in his Staten Island home Tuesday morning, police sources said. The 53-year-old captain was found hanging in a closet of his Tottenville home at about 11:15 a.m., sources said.
His name has not yet been publicly released. An autopsy is pending, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office said.
FDNY spokesman Myles Miller provided no details about the captain’s death Tuesday, though he said the department shared suicide prevention tips to its members after the suicides of seven NYPD officers this year — four of them over a three-week stretch.
read it here
NYPD suicides push officials to work to overcome stigma of asking for help
BY CNN WIRE
AUGUST 11, 2019
The study found that first responders failed to seek help because of the stigma of seeking mental health treatment in a profession that prioritizes bravery and toughness. It also found of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, “approximately 3-5% have suicide prevention training programs.”
The first sign something was wrong: The police sergeant didn’t show up for morning roll call.
New York Police Department officials went to his home, where they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was July 27, and the 30-year-old with eight years on the force was the NYPD’s seventh suicide this year, according to officials.
It’s news that rattled Police Commissioner James O’Neill, who says his biggest fear is another one of his officers is about to take his or her own life.
“Am I scared? I’ve got to be honest with you. Yeah, I am,” O’Neill told CNN during a recent interview at his office at One Police Plaza in Manhattan. “Maybe there’s somebody out there right now that’s in crisis or approaching crisis and just unable or unwilling to come forward.”
Over a two-month period, O’Neill has had often-painful conversations about a member of the department who killed himself. The number of NYPD suicides so far this year stands at seven — with five of those occurring since June.
read it here
FOX43 Focal Point: Heroes in Harm’s Way — First responders and mental health
BY GRACE GRIFFATON
AUGUST 11, 2019
"What they are seeing on a regular basis is not normal. We're responding to situations that would absolutely terrify another member of the public or completely devastate them if they've seen some of the carnage we've seen." Chief Jarrad Berkihiser
LANCASTER, Pa. -- For the third straight year, police officer suicides exceeded line of duty deaths in the United States. Local first responders are now sharing their battles with mental health issues. FOX43's Grace Griffaton takes a closer look at the toll the uniform can take. Lancaster Bureau Of Police lost a patrol officer last year after he took his own life. The loss hit the department hard, and it really changed how it looks at mental health. The flashing lights, the sirens, the tape, it's what civilians see. What first responders see, smell, and hear may never go away.
"Just watching what they do at an autopsy to four children - one being the same age as my daughter. It was kind of a gut bunch," said Chief Jarrad Berkihiser, Lancaster Bureau of Police. Flash back to August 22, 2003: Officers, including Berkihiser, respond to an arson on East Chestnut Street in Lancaster. Four children perished that day. "It was a homicide so I ended up spending 3 full days in the crime scene," explained Berkihiser. It wasn't Berkihiser's first time seeing trauma either; he spent his first 10 years processing violent crime scenes. "I was in a dark place in 2003, and it wasn't just one incident. What I found out? It was a culmination of multiple incidents over several years," he added.
read it here
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife
