MLS Preview from The Sports Network (ET)

By Sports Network

Chicago (1-0-1) at Colorado (2-1-0), 7 p.m. The Colorado Rapids will be hoping to get back to winning ways against the Chicago Fire at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Sunday.

Colorado opened the campaign with back-to-back wins before crashing back to reality in a 4-1 defeat against Red Bull New York last time out.
The Rapids yielded two goals in the first six minutes and never really got back into the match, leaving head coach Oscar Pareja to take a hard look at what went wrong.
"There are a lot of areas we have to work on after a game like this," said Pareja. "As a coach we have to look at what we did wrong and how we can improve on these areas. Without a doubt our maturity on defense has to be better than it was today, we have to pay more attention to detail, the team looked somewhat distraught at kickoff; not only because of the early goal. This team is a work in progress and we have to keep on working. It's easy when you win, we were coming off two consecutive wins but my message to the team is to keep on working, especially after tough losses."
Colorado wasn't helped by the fact that the team was playing without a pair of influential midfielders in Pablo Mastroeni and Jeff Larentowicz.
Mastroeni missed the game with the Red Bulls because of a head injury he sustained against the Philadelphia Union the week before and he is not expected to take part in Sunday's matchup, while Larentowicz had a streak of 73 consecutive MLS matches come to an end due to suspension.
Chicago hasn't tasted defeat in its first two games this season, with forward Dominic Oduro picking up where he left off last term by scoring goals in each of the first two matches.
Oduro led the club with 12 goals last year, but it was Chicago's improved play in defense in a 1-0 win over Philadelphia last weekend that was largely responsible for the club picking up three points.
"Jalil [Anibaba] and I are a year-and-a-half into this thing, and our communication on switching men was spectacular," defender Cory Gibbs said. "[Outside backs] Gonzalo [Segares] and [Dan] Gargan kept the back line tight, unlike other games when we can get stretched out. Nothing got behind us."
If Chicago wants to keep its good run going the club will have to reverse a trend of futility for away teams in this all-time series that has seen just one road side win in the last 14 contests between the two teams.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/30/2723479/mls-preview-from-the-sports-network.html#storylink=cpy

Dillsburg man suffers head injury in road rage assault

Police are investigating the incident, which took place in Franklintown.

By EMILY OPILO
Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated:   03/30/2012 11:16:32 PM EDT

York, PA - Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a road rage incident in Franklintown that resulted in an assault. Around 1:45 a.m. Thursday, a Dillsburg man was driving near the intersection of Cabin Hollow Road and South Street when he was cut off by a silver sports car that ran a stop sign, police said. The man flashed his lights at the sports car, which was described as possibly a Honda with a loud aftermarket exhaust system.
The driver of the sports car stopped and got out of his vehicle, leading the victim to get out of his car as well, police said. An argument ensued. Three other people got out of the sports car and assaulted the victim causing a head injury, lacerations and possible internal injury, police said.
Anyone with more information about the incident including a better description of the sports car or its occupants should call state police in York at 428-1011.

Infant Murder Puts  in SpotligChild Abuseht in Russia

Nine-month-old Anna Shkaptsova
© RIA Novosti

19:53 30/03/2012

Marc Bennetts, RIA Novosti

Tags: Anna Shkaptsova, Bryansk, Russia

Related News

• Child Abuse Teacher Under Investigation in Siberia
• U.S. woman gets suspended sentence for abusing adopted Russian son
• Russian pension official arrested over child sex abuse
• U.S. says notified Russia of suspected orphan abuse

Multimedia

• Most important children’s rights

When nine-month-old Anna Shkaptsova was reported missing in the western Russian city of Bryansk on March 11, police and volunteers spent almost the next three weeks in a desperate search for her. But on Friday, investigators alleged that she had become just one more of the many children murdered every year by adults in Russia – in this case, by her father.
“During an argument, the child’s father, Alexander Kulagin, first hit his girlfriend and then their small daughter, throwing her from her stroller,” Russia’s Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told journalists. “For at least the next 24 hours he refused to allow the mother to approach the child or call an ambulance. The girl died the next day.”
Markin also said that the girl’s 19-year-old mother, Svetlana Shkaptsova, had helped Kulagin, 31, attempt to cover up the crime. Police say she left the child’s empty stroller on the street while she went into a shop, after which Kulagin – dressed in women’s clothes, a wig and glasses to disguise his identity – took it and dumped it in the entranceway of a nearby building. Shkaptsova then called police to report the “disappearance” of her daughter, triggering a search involving some one thousand police officers and scores of volunteers. Police initially said they suspected internal migrants or gypsies.
But Shkaptsova confessed to the cover-up after four hours of questioning on Thursday, a regional prosecutor source told RIA Novosti. She also revealed that Kulagin had burnt the girl’s body and then buried in a different part of the city.
Unconfirmed media reports suggested the remains of the girl’s body were recovered on Friday and that Kulagin was not the girl’s biological father.
Soul-Searching?
Although the case was just one of many in Russia – police on Friday said they were searching for a missing seven-year-old boy in the Urals city of Perm – the reported disappearance of Anna Shkaptsova made news headlines all across the country and state-run Channel One led with investigation footage of her mother’s tearful confession on Friday afternoon.
And the death also seemed set to usher in an unusual period of national soul-searching in a country where, as Russia’s ombudsman for children's rights, Pavel Astakhov, said on Friday, “over 1,000 children” are murdered every year – with the child’s parents guilty in a third of the killings.
“We have to pay attention to why some parents are so aggressive and heartless toward their own children,” head of the Public Chamber committee on citizen safety, Anatoly Kucherena, told RIA Novosti. “This is a question for the society in which we live…we need to dampen aggression, which has increased a lot of late.”
And Astakhov also said on Friday the government “urgently” needed to take steps to help vulnerable children and families.
“Thousands of families are in a dangerous position,” he wrote on his Twitter micro-blog.
He also criticized social services after it was revealed that Kulagin had been stripped of his parental rights in a previous relationship.
“In recent years we have seen a lot of cases where people have killed children simply because they cried or disturbed their sleep or drinking,” psychiatrist Sergei Enikolopov of the Moscow City Psychological and Pedagogical University said in an interview with Channel One.
Leading Church official Vsevolod Chaplin blamed the media for Anna Shkaptsova’s death.
“The media has been reporting recently on terrible crimes as if they are something ordinary,” he said at a downtown Moscow news conference. “And this played a not insignificant role in what happened in Bryansk – people start to think of such horrible things as somehow normal and everyday.”
Provincial desperation
Like most Russian provincial cities, living standards in Bryansk lag behind those in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And like almost everywhere in Russia, substance abuse is a real problem, with dozens of online advertisements offering to cure alcoholism and drug addiction.
“The socially vulnerable section of society has psychological problems,” veteran Russian criminal psychiatrist Mikhail Vinogradov told RIA Novosti. “In this case, we had a criminal father and a belligerent mother.”
And the head of UNICEF in Russia, Bertrand Bainvel, told RIA Novosti that social ills were a major factor in Russia’s depressing statistics on child abuse.
“The family is in crisis,” Bainvel said. “For a number of different reasons - from alcoholism and problems in the relationships between the parents, as well as stress and poverty.”
“But very often the system is not able to pick up and detect situations where there is a higher risk for children in families,” he said. “Right now it’s a very retroactive system.”
He welcomed however government campaigns to discourage child abuse. “The government is aware of the problem,” he said.
In Bryansk, Svetlana Shkaptsova looked set to be charged as an accomplice in her daughter’s murder.
“This was a silent acquiescence to a crime against her child,” leading Moscow lawyer Oksana Mikhalkina told RIA, adding that the tragedy would “reveal deep tendencies in our society, in particular unmotivated violence towards those who are weaker – children and the elderly.”

Utah war veterans share sobering perspectives of PTSD

News

Monday, March 26, 2012 | Last Updated: 03:13 pm

Salt Lake City  78°  Partly Cloudy and Windy   |  Traffic

• News
• Sports
• Blogs
• Opinion
• Money
• Lifestyle
• Entertainment
• Obituaries
• Jobs
• Homes
• Cars
• Classifieds
• Shopping
• Subscribe

UtahNation + WorldNeighborhoodPoliticsJusticePolygamyLDS ChurchEducationWeatherUtahsRight.comMcEnteeRollyOnline Today

Salt Lake Tribune Weekly Ad Specials

(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Iraq War veteran Gordon Ewell, left, of Eagle Mountain, shakes hands with Col. Gregory D. Gadson, who is with the U.S. Army Wounded Warrior Program, as they talk during the Utah Veterans and Families Summit at the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Friday.

Utah war veterans share sobering perspectives of PTSD

Summit » Counselors, social workers learn about veterans’ challenges.

By kristen moulton

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Mar 30 2012 06:46 pm • Last Updated Mar 30 2012 10:36 pm

Justin Watt, an Iraq war veteran, felt he had landed on another planet when he came back to America.

"You go from playing high-stakes poker and doing stuff that matters," to dealing with clueless civilians, said Watt, who was on a Friday panel telling social workers and therapists what it’s like to return from war.

Photos

	Join the Discussion
	Post a Comment

The discussion was one of more than 30 sessions at the Utah Veterans and Families Summit, which itself was part of the three-day Generations conference put on by the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute. A job fair for veterans was also part of the summit at the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City.

The disconnect that warriors feel was the focus of the panel, led by psychologists at the Veterans Affairs George E. Wahlen Medical Center who work with vets who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moral injury.

That’s the name used to describe the suffering many vets have over what they did or did not do in war.

In Iraq, Watt said, "I needed to keep my guys alive and myself alive and hunt down the Number 2 targeted guy in al-Qaida." Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. military airstrike in 2006. Watt was in the 101st Airborne, which was part of the mission to get al-Zarqawi.

Back home, Watt’s job at a buddy’s Salt Lake City computer company put him in the cross hairs of angry customers.

"I come home and guys are screaming at me because their computer has been out of their hands for eight hours," said Watt. "You just want to choke them."

Vets with PTSD often are angry, but it’s complicated by the fact they are trained, as warriors, to use anger, said Tanya Miller, a VA psychologist.

"They are trained to turn fear into anger and anger into action," she said.

story continues below

story continues below

• Local NAACP to host Trayvon Martin forum
  Published Mar 31, 2012 12:18:02PM
• Photos of the day, March 30, 2012.
  Published Mar 30, 2012 10:19:30PM
• Salt Lake residents remain homeless after apartment fire
  Published Mar 30, 2012 06:33:02PM
• Free film on endangered Great Salt Lake
  Published Mar 30, 2012 04:57:01PM

Warriors also are trained to suppress compassion, horror, tenderness and grief, she said.

And that, said Marine John Angell, has an effect.

"You turn into a cold-hearted son of a bitch," said Angell, who was in the infantry for four years, and in intelligence for two.

"You can’t show weakness, you can’t show emotions. You would talk about ‘I did this person, I shot this person, how sweet was that?’ It wasn’t until later you thought, ‘I just killed a kid, I just killed a woman.’

"The more and more you do it, you become calloused," Angell said. "It’s like putting on your shoes."

That’s where moral injury comes in. It’s not yet a diagnosis, but it’s a disabling effect of war, and it’s increasingly the subject of research, said Ashley Greenwell, a VA psychologist. The Marines reject the label, preferring "inner turmoil" or "inner conflict," she added.

"Sometimes the main reason [vets] come in to talk to us is feelings of guilt," she said. "It’s the inner turmoil of having to make difficult moral decisions."

 

Salt Lake Tribune Weekly Ad Specials

Utah war veterans share sobering perspectives of PTSD

Summit » Counselors, social workers learn about veterans’ challenges.

Army vet Bruce Sperry said his first inkling of moral injury came early in his 30-year career, when he saw the battered remains of a human that had repeatedly been run over by military trucks. He wondered why no one cared enough to move the remains. "We all relieved ourselves and got on the truck and drove away," Sperry said. "I left him there. I also didn’t care enough to pull the remains off the road. The moral injury begins as subtly as that

Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Living with PTSD

by 2nd Lt. Marie Denson
50th Space Wing Public Affairs

3/30/2012 - SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo.  -- "I started to get really depressed and lacked the desire to do anything but sit around and play on-line to 'escape' the real world. I was having dreams of planes crashing, the smell of burnt flesh and rotting bodies. I still tried to push through this even as my sleep started to dwindle down to a couple hours a night as I would wake up in cold sweats screaming. I decided something was wrong."

These were some of the symptoms Staff Sgt. Collin Moore, a former air transportation craftsman, was experiencing shortly after he made a permanent change of station to Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

"I decided something was wrong when I would watch a commercial and start crying then laugh then get [upset] and then become enraged," said Moore. "I went to the mental health clinic on base to get some advice. After a couple sessions my counselor introduced the notion that I may be suffering from PTSD."

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. It can be triggered by exposure to a traumatic experience such as an interpersonal event like physical or sexual assault, exposure to disaster or accidents, combat or witnessing a traumatic incident.

The diagnosis did not sit well with Moore. He felt he had no reason to be experiencing symptoms of PTSD. Although he had deployed seven times in eight years he still thought that only military who had been on the "front lines" or "sweeping the streets of Iraq or Afghanistan" would experience stress and trauma. For him this didn't make sense.

"I had never considered myself a weak-minded person. I accomplished everything I put my mind to, and to me, something like this could not be possible. Boy was I ever wrong. I started to go to mental health two times a week to try and work it out and started a healthy dose of medication, however this did not work for me."

There are many treatments for PTSD, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, but at this time there are two types of treatments that appear to be the most effective, medicines and cognitive-behavioral therapy counseling. Often times different treatment options are tried to see what will work most effectively for the individual.

Shortly after Moore's diagnosis he rapidly got worse and his weight ballooned to 260 pounds. His desire to doing anything began to dwindle. His marriage began to fall apart. The breaking point came one night when he and his wife were arguing and he wondered what the point of living was.

"After a few venomous words were spit out by both parties I went to the closet and grabbed a friend's 45 caliber handgun, loaded one in the chamber and had my finger on a hair trigger ready to be done with all the pain. I stood there shaking while my wife was crying and at that point I realized this could not be me," said Moore.

Moore was sent to University Behavioral Health in Texas for 30 days, but it took time before he realized the cause of his PTSD and how to cope with it.

"The problem was that I still did not understand why I was counting windows in buildings, freaking out in the car as a passenger and still scared to death as the driver. I hated doors behind me and large crowds. I would go from what to me seemed calm to total rage in the blink of an eye," he said.

While Moore was undergoing care he went to group sessions and counseling where he learned that having PTSD is not a weakness but instead a natural defense mechanism that everyone has. Unfortunately, those who suffer from PTSD cannot turn off that defense mechanism.

"Simply put, PTSD is a state of hyper-vigilance and anxiety all mixed into one. There is no easy button for it, no magic pill to cure it or, honestly, any way to get rid of it," said Moore.

Treatment can help an individual who has PTSD feel more in control of emotions and result in fewer symptoms, according to the VA National Center for PTSD. But, even with treatment some symptoms may still be prevalent.

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms are generally grouped into three types: intrusive memories, avoidance and numbing and increased anxiety or emotional arousal, according to the Mayo Clinic website. Intrusive memories may include flashbacks or upsetting dreams. Symptoms of avoidance and emotional numbing can include feeling emotionally numb, avoiding enjoyable activities, memory problems, trouble concentrating and difficulty maintaining close relationships. Some of the symptoms of anxiety and increased emotional arousal include irritability or anger, guilt, shame, trouble sleeping or self-destructive behavior.

Moore says that his mind still feels like it's in a hostile environment which creates a problem. Although there is no real danger, anyone who causes an uneasy feeling or added stress becomes the enemy.

"The way I see it is I have been given a toolbox and in it are different ways to cope with different situations," said Moore. "While I am a disabled veteran, I know I will never be the person I once was, but I also feel that I could not have become the person I am now. I am down to 170 pounds and I am working on my vocational rehabilitation to become an environmental engineer."

Across the nation, the Veterans' Administration found that nearly 400,000 veterans in all branches of military were affected by PTSD in 2009 alone, ranking the disorder as the fourth most frequent disability connected with military service.

Psychological intervention is available in multiple venues, including medical options through primary care and mental health clinics. All VA Medical Centers provide PTSD care, as well as many VA clinics. There are non-medical options as well, such as Military OneSource, chaplain's office and military and family life consultants.

Early diagnosis, prompt treatment and strong social support can all increase the chance of a good outcome for those who have PTSD.

Winston-Salem man charged with murder in beating death

Posted on: 2:01 pm, March 30, 2012, by Joe Borlik, updated on: 03:48pm, March 30, 2012

Joseph Andrew Misenheimer (Forsyth Co. Sheriff's Office)

FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. — A Winston-Salem man has been charged with murder after deputies said a man found beaten with a baseball bat earlier this week died from head injuries.
Joseph Andrew Misenheimer, 24, of Evans Road, is allegedly responsible for the death of Jackson Dean Sizemore, 28, of Pinnacle.
A preliminary autopsy determined that Sizemore died from blunt force trauma to the head and upper body.  Deputies said he was beaten with a baseball bat.
Sizemore was taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center after being found with head injuries at 2354 Echo Bluff Drive shortly before 11:15 p.m. Monday, deputies said.  He died at the hospital on Wednesday.
Misenheimer was arrested at his home just before midnight Thursday, deputies said.  He has been charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon.
The suspect was placed in the Forsyth County Detention Center without bond and has a preliminary hearing April 27.
Deputies did not release any other information.

30% of Teen Drivers in Crashes Suffer Head Injuries: Study

March 30, 2012

Thirty percent of teens involved in serious car crashes suffer head injuries, including concussion, skull fractures and traumatic brain injuries (TBI), new research from medical and insurance experts says.
While the report by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm highlights a decline in teen driver-related fatalities over the past six years, researchers said crashes remain the leading cause of death for teens and kill nearly five times as many 15- to 19-year-olds as cancer or poisoning.
The study looked at crashes among more than 55,000 teen drivers and their passengers who were seriously injured each year in 2009 and 2010.
“Since full recovery from serious head injuries is often not achievable, there can be a significant life-long impact from these injuries on teens and their families,” said Dennis R Durbin, MD, MSCE, lead author of the report and co-scientific director for the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP. “The brain is the organ that is least able to heal, so prevention is the best medicine.”
Durbin said that programs focused on Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) and increasing seat belt use are proven effective strategies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of TBI-related death among 15- to 19-year-olds. However, there has been progress between 2005 and 2010 in efforts to reduce the number and impact of teen driver crashes and related fatalities. During this time, the number of teen drivers that died in crashes declined 46 percent – from 2,399 to 1,305 deaths. Deaths among their passengers also declined 41 percent, from 1,777 to 1,022. In 2010, 1,849 fewer teen drivers and their passengers perished in crashes as compared to 2005.
The researchers said this is a substantial public health achievement for those in traffic safety.
They also noted significant variation in fatality rates among states–ranging from a low of 3.9 deaths per 100,000 teens in Massachusetts to a high of 29.1 per 100,000 teens in Montana in 2009-2010. The average annual fatality rate for all 50 states was 9.5 deaths per 100,000 teens.
The variation is due, at least in part, to the strength of a state’s GDL law, according to the report. Twelve states implemented comprehensive GDL policy and other programs to reduce their teen fatality rate by more than 50 percent in just six years. Five states — Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island – have maintained rates of less than 10 crash-related deaths per 100,000 teens since 2005-2006. All five states have comprehensive GDL laws.
“The differences in fatality rates from state to state show that much more can be done to improve policies to more consistently prevent deaths among teen drivers and their passengers,” said Chris Mullen, director of Technology Research, Strategic Resources at State Farm Insurance. “States with comprehensive GDL laws have lower fatality rates than those with weaker laws. Primary seat belt laws and teen-focused initiatives to increase seat belt use will also help further reduce deaths and injuries, even if a crash occurs.”
A comprehensive GDL law includes at least 50 hours of adult-supervised practice under varied conditions; limits teen passengers for the first year of independent driving; restricts unsupervised nighttime driving; requires seat belt use for the driver and all passengers; and prohibits cell phone use.
“We should use the success stories in states with the greatest reductions to fuel progress in states still burdened with high numbers of teens dying in crashes and suffering serious brain injuries,” said Durbin. “Those success stories typically involved comprehensive GDL and primary enforcement belt laws.”
The authors recommend that many of the states with teen crash fatality rates above the national average (9.5 per 100,000) close gaps in their GDL policy to reduce fatality rates. They also suggest utilizing evidence-based programs aimed at increasing belt use, reducing distractions, and teaching key driving skills, such as speed control and hazard detection, in keeping teens safe on the road.

Severe head trauma caused baby girl’s death, manslaughter trial told

Emilia Matwiy died as a result of severe cranial trauma that caused bleeding in her skull and significant swelling of the brain, the forensic pathologist who performed her autopsy testified on Friday. Dr. Sam Andrews, former assistant medical examiner for Alberta and now working in Albuquerque, N.M., said essentially the four-month-old girl died of head injuries nearly five years ago.

Fiance told police he shook baby 'enough to really hurt her, I guess'

Daniel Berge told a city police officer he panicked when he shook his fiancee's four-month-old daughter in an attempt to revive her after he went to the infant's bedroom and found her not breathing.

Comments (0)

Baby shaken in panicked bid to revive her, stepfather told police

Daniel Berge told a city police officer he panicked when he shook his fiancee’s four-month-old daughter in an attempt to revive her after he returned to the infant’s bedroom and found her not breathing.

Comments (0)

Afghan Suspect Attorney: US Gov 'Hiding Evidence'

By CHRIS GRYGIEL and MIKE BAKER Associated Press

SEATTLE March 30, 2012 (AP)

The attorney for the U.S. soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians says the government is "hiding evidence" and not giving his defense team the cooperation they were promised.
The Army says officials have been following procedures and communicating with Staff Sgt. Robert Bales' defense team.
The disagreement over access to the evidence and help in getting interviews with witnesses in Afghanistan highlights the differences between military and civilian proceedings.
For one, military legal procedures don't require prosecutors to turn over certain information to the defense until several weeks before a preliminary hearing. And at this point, Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, said there is no judge to complain to, as he would in a civilian trial.
"It's outrageous. What they are basically doing is hiding evidence," said Browne, adding that he now questions the strength of the military evidence since prosecutors are not sharing it.
"We'll see if they can prove their case," he said.
Dan Conway, a military attorney who represented one of four Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers convicted in the deliberate killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010, said the government doesn't appear to be doing anything wrong at this point.
Conway said prosecutors have little obligation to turn over evidence or help coordinate interviews.

AP

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2011 file Defense... View Full Caption

"This is just going to be an uphill battle," he said.
Maj. Chris Ophardt, an Army spokesman, said in a statement that the prosecution will provide Bales' defense with evidence in accordance with court martial and military rules of evidence. Within these guidelines, Ophardt said, "the prosecution is and has been communicating with the defense."
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, after speaking to hundreds of Marines and sailors aboard the USS Peleliu off the San Diego coast, told reporters that he has made it clear that Bales should get "whatever information he would be entitled to under the military code of justice."
Bales is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. The military says he left his base in southern Afghanistan and went on a nighttime shooting rampage through two villages on March 11. Nine of the dead were children.
Browne said military prosecutors have gone back on their word. "Normally, we have cooperation with prosecutors and we get information. And in this case, they actually promised us if we sent people to Afghanistan ... that they would cooperate," he said.
The defense team said in a statement that its members attempted to interview injured civilians being treated at a hospital in Kandahar, but were denied access and told to coordinate with prosecutors.
The prosecution team interviewed the civilians, but the defense team said they were unable to after the people were released and no contact information was provided for them. The defense team said prosecutors are withholding information "while potential witnesses scatter."
Browne's team also said they have been denied access to the civilians' medical records, as well as video allegedly taken from a surveillance blimp showing Bales on the night of the killings.
Browne said being given access to information later won't work, especially with Afghan witnesses.
The defense will have a right to interview witnesses that could be called at trial, so the Army could then take the defense team into the villages with security or coordinate to have them come onto the military base.
But Conway said the challenges of interviewing witnesses now means the defense team may not be able to track down people to bolster their case — such as witnesses unable to identify Bales or those who believe there were two shooters.
"If they want to talk to those witnesses, they're going to have to get an investigator and probably go to the village and talk to civilians themselves," Conway said.
Browne also said the military is planning to within the next two months conduct a comprehensive mental health evaluation of Bales at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he is being held.
He said the mental health evaluation would delay the preliminary legal hearing. He said at this point his team hasn't decided the defense strategy, such as mental issues or post-traumatic stress.
"Until we're convinced that the government has a case, we're not going to speculate what our defense would be," he said.
———
Baker reported from Olympia, Wash. Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.

US Military's Handling of Brain Injuries, Mental Health in Spotlight

Luis Ramirez | Pentagon

 

The case of Robert Bales, the U.S. Army staff sergeant accused of murdering 17 Afghan villagers, is drawing attention about how the U.S. military handles brain injuries and mental health issues. Bales suffered a brain injury while serving in Iraq. The case of one veteran and his experience in getting treatment provides a view into the process.

For Will Cook, coming home has been almost as challenging as going to war in Iraq.

Doctors believe the 22-year-old former U.S. army specialist is suffering from traumatic brain injury following an explosion.

He lost part of his leg and now uses a prosthetic one.

His brain is still in the process of healing.

“My memory has not been anywhere near what it used to be. Retaining information is difficult. When I try to speak, I draw a blank on words,” said Cook.

He complained of anxiety and crippling headaches.

Military doctors said it was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD].

Cook knew something different was wrong - something physical that doctors did not seem to catch.

“They didn’t give me all of my options. I don’t’ think they wanted to try because they thought they’d figured it out. They decided it was PTSD because their one scan didn’t show TBI [traumatic brain injury]."

Dr. Stephen Xenakis - a psychiatrist and retired army brigadier general now in private practice - carefully examined Will’s case in a way he said military doctors sometimes do not have the time to do.

“You’ve got the culture of the military that is - rightly so - so focused on the mission that they’ve got as many people into combat, on the playing field, as they can,” said Xenakis.

The case of Staff Sergeant Bales has drawn attention to this military hospital on his home base in the state of Washington. The facility is under investigation after hundreds of service members had their PTSD diagnoses reversed - decisions that critics say were motivated by concerns over the high cost of treating mental health issues.

The army says the problem is not systematic.

Xenakis said money can be a factor in military doctors’ treatment decisions - as can other issues such as experience, time spent with the patient, and sheer luck.

“Does that mean there needs to be more sensitivity, that perhaps it’s best to err on the side of over-diagnosing? That’s a question that needs to be considered here,” said Xenakis.

For Cook, more than 30 hyperbaric oxygen treatments have made a difference.

“I haven’t had any headaches anymore. The ringing in my ears has stopped. My memory started getting better. I’m retaining information better. Recall of words is better. My anxiety has gone down a lot to a more manageable level."

Cook has no plans to return to the military, but he is going on with his life. Just a few months ago, he could not remember simple things like phone numbers.

Now, he is getting ready to start college.

Woman Charged With Assisting Suicide Of WWII Vet

"It appears throughout our investigation that he wanted to die and she assisted him," Amormino told ABC News, adding that the motive for Barrett to help Koency is unknown.
Barrett's attorney is saying that his client was merely trying to help an elderly friend take his prescribed medication and was unaware that he wanted to die, the Register reported.
"There is a significant difference between helping a friend take his medication and helping someone commit suicide," Barrett's attorney David Borsari told the Register. "We are very adamant that the decedent never indicated in any way that he wanted to die."
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Father Arrested for Harming 6 week old Baby Girl

By WSIL Manager

Story Created: Mar 30, 2012 at 3:29 PM CDT

Story Updated: Mar 30, 2012 at 6:07 PM CDT

BENTON -- A Franklin County man has been arrested for harming his infant daughter.

Jonathan Knepp, 28, of rural Benton, is charged with aggravated battery of a child, a class X felony. Knepp was arrested Thursday after an investigation by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Benton Police Department, and the Illinois Child Death Task Force.

In court documents, authorities allege Knepp shook the 6-week-old in a "violent manner."

Sheriff Don Jones says the infant was taken by ambulance to Franklin Hospital on March 15 and later transferred to a St. Louis hospital where it was discovered she had suffered a brain injury. Jones says the infant has since been released from the hospital and is in the care of family members.

Knepp is being held in the Franklin County Jail on $300,000 bond. He is expected to make his first court appearance Monday.

Benton, IL Man Charged in Brain Injury of 6 week old Baby Girl

BENTON, IL (KFVS) - A rural Benton man is charged with aggravated battery of a child after the Franklin County Sheriff says he injured a 6-week-old baby.
Jonathan R. Knepp, 28, of rural Benton is charged with the class X felony of aggravated battery of a child.
Franklin County Sheriff Don Jones says deputies were called to a home on March 15 to help an ambulance crew.
The 6-week-old girl was taken to a St. Louis hospital where doctors found she has brain injury from suspect trauma.
Knepp was arrested on March 29.
The Benton, Police Illinois Child Death Task Force, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services assisted the sheriff's department.
Copyright 2012 KFVS. All rights reserved

Updated: Mar 31, 2012 12:39 AM AST A rural Benton man is charged with aggravated battery of a child after the Franklin County Sheriff says he injured a 6-week-old baby.

Late Breaking

Vietnam vets to be officially welcomed home Saturday

Posted: Mar 31, 2012 2:44 AM AST Updated: Mar 31, 2012 2:48 AM AST

By Steve Crump, Reporter

Vietnam veterans to be officially welcomed home Saturday 3:21

 

HARRISBURG, NC (WBTV) - Thousands of eyes will be focused on the big infield stage at Charlotte Motor Speedway, for this weekend's Vietnam Veteran's Homecoming  Celebration.
However, expect moving moments to be delivered by etched words in small print.
On hand will be a replica of the Vietnam War Memorial that's found in our nation's capitol.
It has the names of more than 58 thousand veterans who lost their lives in that conflict, but these days there's a different kind of pain.
Vietnam era veteran Keith Arbuckle is part of the Patriot Guard Riders that travels with the exhibit, and is grateful for the overdue greetings of gratitude.
"Knowing so many Vietnam veterans to see what they go through, and they have a lot of pain, "he said. "So much anger that's been bottled up. They've had to go through this for 30 something years. "It's never too late."
The 20^th century is filled with examples of celebrated of military home comings, but so many have agreed that our country fell short in honoring Vietnam veterans.
Dick Steeves is a former fighter pilot who fought in the Vietnam war who now works with the U-S-O which is one of the sponsors of the big festivities.
He's hoping this weekend's welcome will inspire a sense of healing.
He said, " For some of the guys that there on in years now who were 17, 18, 19 years old. They never got any recognition. Other than the kind they didn't want. 
Back at the wall, we found those who took time to reflect upon the sacrifices.
Todd Mitchell did not fight in Vietnam but served in Germany during the 1980's.
He knows behind every name on the memorial there's a father, a brother, or son that's left a loved one behind.
" These names means a lot to me, because they fight our freedom."
More than 65,00 visitors are expected at Saturday's event.
Copyright 2012 WBTV. All rights reserved.

Teen cyclist suffers head injury

By Mike Beitz, Stratford Beacon Herald
Friday, March 30, 2012 12:15:49 EDT PM

A cyclist was taken to hospital after a collision that occurred near the intersection of Downie and Waterloo streets around 5 p.m. Thursday.

A 17-year-old Stratford cyclist suffered head injuries and abrasions after being hit by a pickup truck near the Stratford-Perth YMCA Thursday afternoon.
Police said the cyclist was leaving the Y's Downie St. parking lot on his bicycle around 4:45 p.m. when he crossed into the path of a pickup truck travelling southbound on Downie. The collision sent him crashing onto the hood and into the windshield of the truck before he rolled off onto the road.
Police, fire and paramedics responded, and the young man was taken to hospital by ambulance and kept in overnight for observation. An update on his condition was not available Friday.
The teen was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
Downie St. was closed to traffic around the YMCA for several hours while officers investigated the incident.
Police are reminding all cyclists to protect themselves by wearing a helmet when riding a bicycle.
The Downie collision happened within minutes of another one at the intersection of Romeo and Norfolk Sts. involving two vehicles Thursday. No one was injured in that crash.

Afghan massacre: Sgt Bales case echoes loudly for ex-soldiers on hotline for vets

Combat veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts share their experiences with PTSD, and their reaction to reports that Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly gunned down 17 Afghan civilians. Msnbc.com's Kari Huus reports.
Warning: This report contains strong language.

By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

LOS ANGELES – The young men who answer the phones at the National Veterans Foundation's hotline for troubled veterans speak with an authority that comes from having faced down the same demons that plague their callers.
All are combat veterans, having served up to four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all have struggled with either PTSD or traumatic brain injury – the signature wounds of these conflicts – or both.

---

Follow @msnbc_us

For them, the story of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of murdering 17 Afghan civilians during his fourth combat deployment, triggers mixed emotions – horror over the senseless rampage but also empathy for a soldier who, in their view, apparently was pushed beyond the breaking point. But their more immediate concern is the impact it may have on the troubled voices on the other end of the phone lines they answer each day.
"One of the biggest issues we have … is the vets don’t get the jobs," said Apolonio Munoz III, 28, an Army veteran deployed during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 who works for the hotline while pursuing a social work degree. "[Employers] think they are whack-jobs and they’re all going to be cold-blooded killers, they’re going to come in and shoot up the place, which is not the situation."

Woman pleads guilty to stealing more than 60k from war vet

Posted: Mar 30, 2012 4:04 AM AST Updated: Mar 30, 2012 4:37 AM AST

By Patrice Clark

 

Melissa Elaine Webster (Photo source: MS Attorney General's Office)

Most Popular Stories

Six-year-old left on school bus

Husband, father of murder victims dies in Ocean Springs

Alabama man accused of targeting Biloxi girls online

Waterspout spotted in Pass Christian

Water spout spins over Biloxi

Woman pleads guilty to stealing more than 60k from war vet

Gulfport School District will switch to new grading system

Luck accused of forging magazine subscriptions in victim's name

'Roll Tide' plates stamped with 'CAM'

Pass Christian suspect jailed after using friend's debit card without permission

JACKSON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - An administrator of an Ocean Springs personal care home will serve eight years in prison for taking more than $60,000 from a elderly war veteran.
During Thursday's sentencing, several fellow veterans came out to show support for the family of 82-year-old Donald Dahl, who has since passed away.
Assistant Attorney General Sue Perry said Melissa Elaine Webster, 41, was arrested and charged with eight counts of felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult in 2010. She ended up pleading guilty to three counts. Perry said Webster will also have to pay Dahl's family the money she stole from their loved one.
"What happened to our father can happen to anybody if there is a person who is unethical and not honest when involved in the care of the elderly. So we are very happy," said Dahl's daughter, Cathy McSteen said.
The assistant attorney general said once Webster serves her eight years in prison, it will be followed by two more years of post-release supervision.
Copyright 2012 WLOX. All rights reserved.

08:00 AM ET

Human Factor: TBI and the healing power of art

Editor's note: In the Human Factor, we profile survivors who have overcome the odds. Confronting a life obstacle – injury, illness or other hardship – they tapped their inner strength and found resilience they didn't know they possessed. This week, we introduce you to a journalist and artist, who shares her story of how creating art helped  her overcome the trauma following a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

“WHACK’ed … then everything was different” was me - eight years before it became the title of my exhibit. I was whacked while bicycling back from work by a red speeding car. Life has been different ever since and art became an integral part of my recovery and my identity.
I started painting portraits of traumatic brain injury survivors to raise awareness about TBI. I selected people from various walks of life: Trisha Meili, “the Central Park Jogger”; Troy Aikman and Pat Lafontaine; Keith Richards and George Clooney; TV news reporter Bob Woodruff, to illustrate the diversity of people affected by TBI.  More importantly, I wanted to show examples of brain injury survivors who moved on to have full, productive lives. I hope the portraits offer inspiration to those recently injured: kinship and identity with such icons is a powerful emotion, encompassing pride, pleasure and self-compassion, all of which are in short supply during the rehabilitation process.
For the first couple of years after my accident I was so overwhelmed, fragile and frightened that I could not comprehend what had happened to me, much less what TBI was all about. I gradually relearned to walk, graduating from a walker, to crutches, to a cane and to my own two legs. Yet it was only after I understood what I faced that I became an active partner in my recovery and truly began to heal. I believe information and knowledge was empowering.
Questions about ongoing symptoms are routinely answered by: “It’s to be expected, you have a TBI.” While it might be necessary and comforting early on, at some point I needed to truly understand what had happened to me. My husband and I researched everything we could on TBI and asked questions of everyone. The truth was often painful to reckon with. But the more I asked, the more I knew, and the more I knew, the more amazed I was about how the brain functions or, in my case, did not function! With knowledge, I became more active in my cognitive rehabilitation.
It was a long and excruciating process: I suffered debilitating headaches, having to wrap my head with ice packs for hours. I crashed hard from cognitive fatigue and swore every day that I couldn’t do it any more. But I did. With the kindness, care and guidance of my neuropsychologist, it gradually became an incredible adventure! Together we retrained my brain to process numbers, to retrieve verbal information, to recall items from short-term and long-term memory, to track and commit sequences to memory, to hold and articulate thoughts
When I was halfway through the portrait series, I developed a sense of urgency as news that U.S. military service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan revealed high incidences of TBI among them, now estimated at 40%. I felt strongly that their rehabilitation and re-integration was going to be a challenge for which, as a nation, we needed to be prepared. I became focused on the need for education about TBI symptoms and treatments, for individuals with TBI as well as their families and communities. From that point, the portraits had the mission to travel the country to initiate discussions, forums and debates about TBI and to clearly tell people, that healing and recovery does happen.
As for my own healing, I had to work through the existential terror, anguish and despair of not knowing who I was anymore, of having to contend with a person I did not know, could not count on and did not like - the new me in all her pale splendor! There were many compensatory techniques to learn and practice. I still use them every day and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. Like hidden scaffolding they became part of who I am, imperceptible to the world, yet I could not function without them. And, yes, I still crash when I ask my brain for a sustained and prolonged effort and will undoubtedly crash when finished writing this blog.
Art played a tremendous role in my recovery. To my great surprise art ended up redefining who I was. When I painted I did not feel pain and did not have a traumatic brain injury: thoughts, decisions and actions flowed seamlessly from one to another, just like my brain had functioned pre-injury. It quickly became addictive. Now, it is my life.
TBI is an invisible and life long illness that disrupts the metabolic, social and psychological equilibrium of an individual. The key to regaining control is education about the illness, and long-term rehabilitation of the injured brain. It is not easy as my personal account show. But with patience and determination and the right person to guide you, it is achievable - as the people portrayed in this series demonstrate.
As a footnote, I want to point out the power of using positive words:
I did not suffer a TBI, I sustained a TBI.
I am not a victim, I am a survivor.
I am not afflicted by TBI, I am affected by TBI.
I do not accept my disability. I acknowledge it and consider every aspects of it to learn from it, conquer and move on
The following resources provide more information about TBI:
www.biausa.org/tbi-portrait-project
http://msktc.washington.edu/tbi www.brainline.org
www.braininterrupted.org

Post by: Eliette Markhbein - Special to CNN Filed under: Brain • Human Factor

Capital gets garden store for medical pot growers

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM

A company dubbed the "Walmart of Weed" is putting down roots in America's capital city, sprouting further debate on marijuana.
Blocks from the White House and federal buildings, a company that sells hydroponic supplies to medical marijuana growers is opening its first outlet on the East Coast. The Friday opening of the Washington weGrow store comes as D.C. officials are announcing those eligible to apply for permits to grow marijuana and sell it to dispensaries under the district's medical marijuana law.
WeGrow doesn't sell pot or seeds. The company sees itself providing tools to pioneers of a "green rush," which some project could soon reach nearly $9 billion. But they're taking a gamble.
Sixteen states and the D.C. have legalized medical marijuana, but it's still illegal under federal law.

A Bump on the Head

ITHACA, NY — You don’t have to play in the NFL to get a concussion. During the course of a normal day, a person can slip on a sidewalk, fall in a bathtub, or bump a head on a playground or construction site. According to the U.S. Centers on Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1.7 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year — most of them children, adolescents and adults over 65.
The recent research that has refocused some of the ways athletic trainers and sports medicine physicians manage concussions also applies to nonathletes. For example, if you bring home a family member who has just been treated for a concussion in the emergency room and he or she wants to go to sleep, do you allow it?
“There was a time when it was considered life-threatening to let a person suffering from a concussion fall asleep,” said Chris Hummel, a certified athletic trainer and clinical associate professor in Ithaca College’s Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences. “But current research shows otherwise. Sleeping is actually the best thing for a concussed individual. Getting physical and mental rest helps someone recover from a concussion. But those individuals should not be left alone the first night and should be seen by a qualified medical person the next day.”
Concussion management, Hummel added, is very complicated and should be undertaken only by people with specialized concussion training. Still, it’s important for parents, friends, coworkers and loved ones to know the difference between fact and fiction when applied to concussion basics.
FICTIONS:

• A normal CT scan rules out a concussion.

“A concussion results from a neuro-metabolic event brought on by the trauma,” Hummel said. “Simply put, there is an imbalance of the needed chemicals or fuel that helps the brain function when someone is concussed. That’s not a structural injury, so a CT scan won’t pick it up. CT scans can only view structural damage.”

• An individual who has been knocked unconscious will suffer a worse concussion than someone who didn’t lose consciousness.

“A person doesn’t have to be knocked out to sustain a serious concussion,” Hummel said. “In some cases, people who are knocked out may suffer less severe trauma. In either case, the severity of the concussion might not be known for days or weeks.”

• A grade-one concussion is less serious than one that’s a grade-three.

“We used to grade concussions during the initial diagnosis, but we no longer do that because we now know it’s difficult to accurately assess the severity of a concussion right away,” Hummel said. “We have to wait and see how the symptoms resolve over time before we can determine how significant the concussion is or is not.”

• The harder someone is hit, the worse the concussion.

“It doesn’t always take a big impact to produce a concussion,” Hummel said. “Any contact to the head or body that causes rapid head movement can cause a concussion.”

• A person can soldier through a concussion.

“No,” Hummel said. “Typically, it takes one to two weeks for concussion symptoms to resolve and for the brain to begin operating back at full capacity. Just because someone states his or her head has cleared is no indication that he or she should resume normal activities. That would not be safe.”

• Helmets prevent concussions.

“Helmets for cyclists, snowboarders and construction workers are designed to prevent skull fractures, not concussions,” Hummel said. “If a helmet is fitted properly, it might reduce the risk or severity of concussions, but no one helmet is capable of preventing a concussion, yet!”
FACTS:

• An individual who has had one concussion is more likely to have another than a person who hasn’t been concussed.

“Once someone has experienced one concussion, the threshold for sustaining another concussion can be diminished. Also, if a person sustains another blow before he or she is fully recovered, the resultant symptoms can be worsened and result in a prolonged recovery. There is also a rare phenomenon called Second Impact Syndrome that can cause impaired brain blood flow or even death if an individual suffers another trauma before fully recovering.”

• Concussions should be treated and managed on an individual basis.

“The brain is an incredibly complex organ, and so are the neurochemical processes that govern it,” Hummel said. “No two concussions are exactly alike anymore than the brains of any two individuals are identical.”

• If you suspect someone of having a concussion, assume it’s a concussion.

“If a person describes having a headache or dizziness, shows signs of balance problems, or difficulty remembering, assume that individual is concussed and have him or her evaluated by qualified medical person,” Hummel said.
For more information, contact Keith Davis, assistant director of media relations, at (607) 274-1153 or kdavis@ithaca.edu.