European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 28 2007 s t a r s and stripes Page 11 returning vets land in Legal trouble by Dana Hull san Jose Calif Mercury news san Jose Calif one night last july Iraq War Veteran Nicho Las Rusanoff followed his neigh Bor Peter Losher into the Park ing garage of their apartment Complex Rusanoff was breathing heavily his eyes were wide open and his hands were clasped behind his Back he demanded the keys to flashers Volkswagen Jetta and Losher quickly complied As i was getting out of the vehicle he looked at me and said youre not iraqi youre not iraqi Losher later testified at a court hearing i said no i am not Losher said he could hear Rusanoff screaming in pain As he drove away Rusanoff 25 is one of a grow ing number of soldiers who have returned from the War in Iraq Only to become entangled in the criminal Justice system at Home some have committed minor of lenses others Are facing serious charges of Domestic violence and even homicide Many Are Strug gling with psychological issues As they try to adjust to civilian life no one tallies the number of sol Diers and veterans in the criminal Justice system so its impossible to know How Many criminal cases involving Iraq War veterans Are pending nationwide but As the War entered its fifth year this month the conflict is coming Home in yet another painful Way its a Brazen indicator As Iraq War veterans enter the criminal Justice system that there Are untended psychic wounds said Jim Jyh Troffle incidents involving recent vets Wardell Nelson Joi Fler 25 was convicted of murder after breaking Lance Cpl see Ocessa mess Neif s neck and leading her to drown a Bathtub in her California apartment the tidally involved while deployed of Olra Joiner a f i a j atm 122005 murder of carved to h tented Are w and killed his elderly father then killed himself in Santa Bart Jara county head been in counselling for  Post traumatic stress disorder Jared Terrasas 24 a former Camp Pendleton Marine laces charges that he abused his 7montfroid severely that he died Terrasas served two Tours of duty in lra3 before he was Dis Cli arged following the baby death if october 2005 tee spams or 24 a former Marine wild served in Iraq kidnapped a clerk at a Texas Wai Martin january 20p5megan Leann Holden 3eath in a ditch will iams pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced source pts9 to reline by Barker of san Jose Calif a Viet Nam Veteran who worked As a psychiatric clinician at the veterans administration Hospital in Palo Alto until retiring in 2005 the coordination of care needs to be sharpened up military officials and veterans advocates emphasize that the overwhelming majority of return ing soldiers Are la abiding Citi Zens who have not run afoul of the Law and psychiatric clinicians such As Barker Point out that most people with mental health is sues do not commit crimes in recent weeks however con Cern about the care returning sol Diers Are receiving has intensified articles in the Washington Post about conditions at Walter Reed army medical Center Trig gered congressional hearings three top army officials have re signed and the White House has ordered a review of military and veterans hospitals some Iraq War veterans who have landed in jail have already been diagnosed with Post Trau Matic stress disorder or pts others May have mental health is sues that predated their deploy ment despite stepped up out reach efforts clinicians acknowledge that thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans struggle in isolation and Are reluctant to seek treatment often self medical ing with alcohol and drugs advocates for veterans say the criminal cases Are evidence that returning soldiers Are not receiving the mental health care they need this new generation of Veter ans has experienced combat very recently and its very raw said Dick Talbott who oversees 31 Community based vet centers in California Oregon Hawaii and Guam the department of defense however says it is aggressively reaching out to troubled soldiers from placing mental health units in the Field in Iraq to conducting mental health screenings three to six months after soldiers return Home but those who work closely with Iraq War veterans say that while outreach has improved much More is needed some clinicians talk about a phenomenon known As Pancak ing when a veterans life col lapses the downward spiral often includes alcohol or drug abuse a fractured family jobless Ness and homelessness while most of the draftees in Vietnam were Young and single a lot of the Guys who have gone to Iraq Are older married and have kids said Barker an army intelligence specialist in the Viet Nam War now you have a family in crisis not just an individual in crisis scientists divided Over dangers of new Madrid fault in the us University of Robert Smalley in foreground with Light Cap a University of Memphis Neophy skirt leads a group of graduate students on a Field trip to Central Arkansas in May 2004 the ditch was dug in Hopes of uncovering geological evidence of ancient earthquakes by Woody Baird the associated press Memphis term scientists have struggled for years to figure out when the next big earthquake might strike the Central United states now a geologist from Northwestern univer sity believes he has evidence that the new Madrid fault at the Center of the country most Active seismic zone East of the Rockies is cold and dying other scientists disagree and those differences show just How hard it is to understand what causes quakes in the Central us and when another big one May erupt its easy to say of things must be Cooling Down and because we dont understand it it must be dying but we really dont know any thing said Chuck Langston a seismology pro Fessor with the University of Memphis the new Madrid fault a network of deep cracks in the earths surface from Southern Illinois to northeastern Arkansas produces hundreds of Small quakes a year most too weak to be noticed without scientific equipment but in 1811 and 1812 when the area was sparsely populated it produced a series of big earthquakes estimated at magnitude 70 or greater such a quake today would cause wide Courtesy forever stamp unveiled the associated press Washington an image of the Liberty Bell an icon of Ameri can Freedom and Independence will adorn the postal services new forever stamp the design of the stamp was unveiled monday at the National postal forum a gathering of companies in the mailing Industry the forever stamp goes on Sale april 12 at 41 cents the rate for firs class postage rises to 41 cents May 14 the stamp which will carry the word forever instead of a Price will remain valid for Send ing a letter no matter How much rates go up in the future that will eliminate the annoy Ance of buying on and two cent Stamps to make up the new rate when prices Rise and folks who want to hedge against inflation could Lay in a Supply of the Stamps for Lon term use Exchange rates spread damage and scientists give a 10 per cent probability one will strike Over the next 50 years geological evidence indicates big quakes hit the Region around the years 900 and 1450 and the most recent Large quake estimated at magnitude65 struck in 1895 near Charles ton to but Seth Stein the Northwestern professor believes the new Madrid could be running out of steam and the Small recent quakes Are lingering aftershocks of the great 18111812 temblor if the fault started storing up Energy Tomor Row it would take a thousand years to be ready for a goo size earthquake he said in an interview from his office in Illinois Eugene Schweig of the us geological sur vey said steins assumptions rely on incomplete data and Are just another piece of an on going debate Over the cause of new Madrid quakes the earthquakes Are happening regard less of what the explanation is Schweig said we know they occur with some regularity and that were going to have them again that what we should be focusing on unlike much better understood faults like the san Andreas in California the new Madrid is not at the juncture of shifting tectonic plates so Why it produces earthquakes is still a mystery military rates japanese yen March South korean won March euro costs March Dollar buys March British Pound March commercial rates Bahrain British Canada China Denmark Egypt Hong Kong Hungary Israel 194 Japan yen 11805 Kuwait Norway Philippines Poland saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea won 93721 Switzerland Thailand baht 3208 Turkey new military Exchange rates Are those available to customers at military Bank ing facilities in the country of issuance for Japan South Korea Germany the Netherlands and the United kingdom for no local currency Exchange rates in purchasing British pounds in Germa Check with your local military Bank ing facility commercial rates Are inter Bank rates provided for reference when buying currency All figures Are foreign currencies to one Dollar except for 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