Showing posts with label Bradenton FL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bradenton FL. Show all posts

Friday, December 7, 2018

Florida veterans showing up for others

Florida Veterans in the News


David Smith riding new wave of veteran-advocates in the Florida Legislature


Orlando Rising
Scott Powers
12/05/2018

Republican state Rep. David Smith will be heading to Tallahassee with a broad platform of ambitions covering education, the economy and the environment, but the retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel gets particularly excited about prospects he sees to improve the lot for Florida’s military veterans.

Smith was elected Nov. 6 to succeed Jason Brodeur in representing House District 28 in east Seminole County. Riding in with him in this class are state Reps. Anthony Sabatini of Howie-in-the-Hills, Elizabeth Fetterhoff of Deland, Tommy Gregory of Sarasota, and Spencer Roach of North Fort Myers, all military veterans, joining returning lawmakers such as Paul Renner of Palm Coast.

They have restarted a veterans’ caucus in the Florida House, Smith said.

“I think there is going to be new excitement to address issues for veterans,” Smith said. “The one thing I’m committed to is systemic solutions. I don’t want band-aid solutions or give-away programs. They don’t work and they’re insulting to veterans.”

Specifically, Smith is looking at creating a state contracting set-aside preference for veteran-owned businesses, much as currently exists for women- and minority-owned businesses. There are plenty of models out there, including a federal program, state programs in Texas, California, and North Carolina, and a patchwork of local programs.

Smith said that the University of Central Florida’s contracts for construction of its downtown campus features a 10 percent set-aside for veterans’ businesses. Smith’s willing to start much smaller at the state, perhaps 1 percent, and work toward 3 percent.

He has filed no bills yet, saying he’s taking his time. Like other state representatives, he’s also waiting for his committee assignments.

“That’s one of the things I campaigned on,” Smith. “One of the differences I have even with Gov. [Rick] Scott is I think Florida is not as veteran-friendly as it could be as relates to veterans’ businesses. I want to be an advocate for those veterans in the Legislature.”
read more here


Meet the Palmetto resident who was inducted into Florida Veterans Hall of Fame


Bradenton Herald
BY JAMES A. JONES JR.
December 7, 2018

MANATEE
Carl Hunsinger of Palmetto, chairman of the Manatee County Veterans Council, was among 20 vets inducted into the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame this week in Tallahassee.
Carl Hunsinger has been inducted into the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame. He is shown above with Lee Washington, Manatee County veterans service officer, Gov. Rick Scott, and the Florida Cabinet. Hunsinger is retired from 30 years service in the U.S. Air Force, and is a tireless advocate for the Manatee County veterans community, provided photo

Hunsinger, 63, a retired U.S. Air Force chief master sergeant and veteran of 26 months of combat service in Iraq and Kuwait, was the only Manatee County resident among the 20 inductees honored by Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet.

“I was surprised when I got the call that I had been selected about 9 a.m. one morning around Thanksgiving,” Hunsinger said. “I said, ‘What?’ ”

In 2004, he led a team of 160 enlisted airmen providing gun truck security in Mosul, Iraq.

Hunsinger was in Mosul when one of the American dining facilities was bombed, killing 24 and wounding 70 others.
read more here

Monday, September 5, 2016

Bradenton Missing Veteran Has Been Found

UPDATE
10 News Tampa Bay 


Missing Bradenton veteran located Ian Oswald has been located, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

MISSING military veteran in Manatee County
By WFLA Web Staff
Published: September 4, 2016

MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – A military veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder was reported missing in Manatee County Saturday.

Ian Oswald, 36, is a 16-year veteran who was medically retired due to PTSD. He left his residence on 53rd Avenue West in Bradenton Saturday night threatening to harm himself. His wife Lori reported him missing.
read more here

Monday, December 28, 2015

Thieves Take Fallen Marine's Mementos From Bradenton Family

Florida thieves steal trailer with belongings of Marine killed in Iraq
FOX News
December 27, 2015
“His boots, his uniforms, his battle fatigues…It means nothing to nobody but it means something to me and my daughter.” Keith Dougherty

Thieves stole a trailer containing belongings of Scott Dougherty who died fighting in Iraq. (Fox 13)

Heartless thieves in Florida last week stole a storage trailer that contained the belongings of a Marine who died fighting Iraq.

The items were all Keith Dougherty had left to remember his hero son. Twenty-year-old Scott Dougherty was killed 11 years ago.

“It feels like he died all over again,” Dougherty, 61, told FoxNews.com Sunday.

Dougherty got a call Wednesday morning telling him the trailer he had parked behind Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Roman Catholic Church in Bradenton had been stolen.

Dougherty, a maintenance supervisor at the church, kept his son’s belongings in the trailer, along with other items, like medical records, tax returns and Christmas decorations.

“His boots, his uniforms, his battle fatigues…It means nothing to nobody but it means something to me and my daughter,” Dougherty told Fox 13.
read more here

Friday, January 23, 2015

Criminals Made Vietnam Veteran Homeless, Community Made Him Feel Loved

Bradenton Vietnam veteran gets break after criminals left him homeless
Bradenton.com
BY JAMES A. JONES JR.
January 23, 2015
'I didn't realize there are so many good people out there'


Margi Dawson with Turning Points hugs Dennis Moylan after he was presented with a mobile home Thursday at Pioneer Mobile Home Park in Bradenton. At right is John Smith with Turning Points. Moylan was left homeless in December after a suspect fleeing deputies crashed a stolen Cadillac Escalade into his mobile home destroying it.
GRANT JEFFERIES/Bradenton Herald
MANATEE -- A stolen Cadillac Escalade crashed into Dennis Moylan's trailer the day after Christmas and left him homeless.

Moylan, a 63-year-old Marine Corps veteran of fighting around Phu Bai and Quang Tri, Vietnam, had lived in the trailer for 14 years, making just enough as a groundskeeper at New College of Florida to pay his bills.

Somehow, even though his home was destroyed, Moylan wasn't injured.

"I think St. Joseph was in the back bedroom," he said.

Moylan didn't have any savings and didn't know what he would do. "I couldn't fathom something like this happening," he said.

On Thursday, Moylan choked up, overcome by emotion when he received a $3,000 donation from Bingoland through the nonprofit Turning Points. That money allowed him to become a homeowner again just a few doors down from his original home.
read more here

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Donald "Donnie" Wendt First Responder's Life Remembered

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 30, 2014

Donald Wendt was a firefigher in Bradenton Florida. Yesterday his life was memorialized by an overflow of family, friends and firefighters.

Bradenton Herald Obituary
Donald "Donnie" Wendt
Has left this world to move on to a better world. He is survived by his father, Robert Wendt and his wife, Carol; mother, Mary Maloney and her husband, Dennis; daughter, Ashley Wendt Steele, her husband, Robbie, their daughter, Abbie and baby Steele tbd; sisters, Deborah Wendt, Carolyn Sherry and her husband, Ken. A; nephew, Eric Wendt and his wife, Allison. His second family, the Bradenton Fire Department and a multitude of friends. He will be remembered for his sense of humor, his passion for his job, his example to others, his love for his daughter, his bravery, his willingness to risk his life for others and his loyalty to others. He was a wonderful son, father, brother, "Happy" and friend. This world will never be the same but Heaven has gained a Valiant Angel. We love him. A Celebration of his Life will be 2:00PM, Saturday, November 29, 2014 at Brown and Sons Funeral Homes and Crematory 43rd Street Chapel, 604 43rd Street West, Bradenton, FL 34209. Memorial donations to Paws for Vets.

This was the headline of his life coming to an end
Officer fatally shoots firefighter brandishing guns

It is how most people will remember when they hear his name.
MANATEE COUNTY - A Bradenton firefighter who had been honored for his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom was shot and killed by a city police officer Sunday night after the firefighter reportedly approached officers brandishing two handguns.

At 9:30 p.m. Sunday, neighbors called police to report that Donald Wendt, 50, was outside his home in the 3300 block of Oxford Drive waving a weapon and threatening to kill himself and his sister.

A SWAT team and hostage negotiators were summoned. Wendt was inside when police arrived, so officers set up a perimeter and evacuated people from nearby homes.

Team members were trying to contact Wendt by phone when he re-emerged from the home and pointed a gun at police.

Bradenton Police SWAT Officer Jason Nuttall — a 15-year veteran — fired one shot at Wendt, a firefighter/engineer for the Bradenton Fire Department. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.

Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski said Wendt served two tours of military duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom and may have been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“It's a terribly tragic situation,” Radzilowski said. “Police officers are upset, firefighters are upset. It's just something you never want to see happen.”

But as with everything else, there was so much more to the story that was not reflected in the headline.
Wendt joined the Bradenton Fire Department in December 2003 after volunteering with Cedar Hammock-Southern Manatee while working at Ten-8 Fire Equipment.

A year later, he spent 13 months in Iraq with the United States Army Reserve. Wendt received a Bronze Star Medal for his efforts.

On May 13, 2005, as a recovery section sergeant with HHC Platoon, 1st Battalion, 103rd Armor and Task Force Liberty, Wendt “went to the aid of a fellow soldier who was injured and trapped under a burning vehicle during a Vehicle Born Improvised Explosives Device attack,” according to the U.S. War Office. He used tow chains to move the burning vehicle away from the injured soldier.

Don's life meant so much more to those who knew him. I listened to family members and another firefighter along with a Chaplain talk about the man behind the headline.

They said he was always there when they needed him. He always wanted people to be happy and did whatever he could to make them laugh. He was also there to listen. The problem was he didn't want to talk much about himself. They saw him troubled but as he would start to open up, he would soon change the subject.

Don was rare. He risked his life as a firefighter as well as a soldier because that was what he was put on this earth do to. Yet it was that very quality within him that caused the pain and made him feel as if he didn't want to burden anyone with his own troubles.
Bradenton resident Jeremy Hillengas, who said he's known Wendt for about eight years, reconnected with him Sunday at a local bar, and last saw him around 7 p.m.

“He didn't talk crazy or seem to have any issues,” Hillengas said. “It was a total shock. I was with him literally hours before it happened, and I've been thinking 'Did I miss something,' but there were no signs.”

There were signs but no one knew what those signs meant. While PTSD has made national news long enough for people to know the term, few know what it means.

Wendt joined the Bradenton Fire Department in December 2003 after volunteering with Cedar Hammock-Southern Manatee while working at Ten-8 Fire Equipment.

A year later, he spent 13 months in Iraq with the United States Army Reserve. Wendt received a Bronze Star Medal for his efforts.

On May 13, 2005, as a recovery section sergeant with HHC Platoon, 1st Battalion, 103rd Armor and Task Force Liberty, Wendt “went to the aid of a fellow soldier who was injured and trapped under a burning vehicle during a Vehicle Born Improvised Explosives Device attack,” according to the U.S. War Office. He used tow chains to move the burning vehicle away from the injured soldier.

Wendt volunteers with the Bradenton Fire Fighters Association at the annual Community Haven holiday event, received the BFFA Above and Beyond Award in 2005 and was awarded the BFD Distinguished Service Medal in 2008.

Bradenton city councilman Gene Gallo summed it up in the interview with the Herald Tribune.
Gallo said he knew Wendt, who volunteered for a second tour overseas. Gallo has not had a chance to talk to Wendt's family or his fellow firefighters.

“It seems like every day you read about this, but when it hits home, it's different,” Gallo said.

It is different because you know the person far beyond what the headline says about them.

Family members are devastated and so are firefighters. We can only imagine what the SWAT Team is going through. When I got the news from his Mom Mary in an email, my heart grieved. I knew Mary from Facebook but we hadn't met until yesterday. I only knew about Don through what she was willing to share, or should I say, what she was able to share.

It is hard to grasp the complexity of symptoms to distinguish the difference between what life does and what PTSD does. We may interact with someone wondering when they turned into a jerk because we don't know how to wonder what happened to them that turned them into one.

With PTSD, if they don't tell you they are in turmoil, there is no way for you to know why they act the way they do.

When they don't have the professional help they need, they usually find they have no outlet to open up, so they shut down. These folks are not like the rest of us. They are the people who get things done, show up ready to sacrifice their lives if need be and they are actually first responders in every part of their lives.

When you read about them, remember Don's story and then know we have to try harder to help them understand that asking for help is the right thing to do so they can stay here and help more of us afterwards.

The military makes it harder for them to seek help especially when a General came out and said,
Some of it is just personal make-up. Intestinal fortitude. Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations.

And then went on to say it had to do with not having a supportive family. I saw his supportive family yesterday and they included about 100 firefighters. I heard how much intestinal fortitude he had and he showed it in Bradenton as well as Iraq.

It is not the fault of the family, or his firefighter family or those who served with him unable to attend the memorial because of weather. It is the fault of military leaders not understanding those who serve under their command.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Bradenton firefighter shot and killed by police was also a veteran

UPDATE
Wendt joined the Bradenton Fire Department in December 2003 after volunteering with Cedar Hammock-Southern Manatee while working at Ten-8 Fire Equipment.

A year later, he spent 13 months in Iraq with the United States Army Reserve. Wendt received a Bronze Star Medal for his efforts.

On May 13, 2005, as a recovery section sergeant with HHC Platoon, 1st Battalion, 103rd Armor and Task Force Liberty, Wendt “went to the aid of a fellow soldier who was injured and trapped under a burning vehicle during a Vehicle Born Improvised Explosives Device attack,” according to the U.S. War Office. He used tow chains to move the burning vehicle away from the injured soldier.
“It seems like every day you read about this, but when it hits home, it's different,” Gallo said.
I am posting this with an extremely heavy heart. This morning I woke up to news of this from his Mom. My prayers for my friend and his entire family as well as the firefighters and police officers involved with this tragedy.

He was a firefighter and volunteered to serve this country in combat.

When will we ever get to the point where being back home is less dangerous than combat for those we send?
Officer fatally shoots firefighter brandishing guns
Herald Tribune
STAFF REPORT
Published: Monday, November 24, 2014
Donald Wendt in a 2008 photo provided by the City of Bradenton
Wendt, 50, was shot and killed Nov. 23, 2014, by a Bradenton police officer.

MANATEE COUNTY - A Bradenton firefighter was shot and killed by a city police officer Sunday night after the firefighter reportedly approached officers brandishing two handguns.

Bradenton Police SWAT Officer Jason Nuttall — a 15-year veteran — shot Donald Wendt, 50, who was employed as a firefighter for the Bradenton Fire Department.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.

Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski said Wendt served two tours of military duty in Afghanistan and may have been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

At 9:30 p.m. Sunday, neighbors called police to report Wendt was outside of his home in the 3300 block of Oxford Drive waving a weapon and threatening to kill himself and his sister.

A SWAT team and hostage negotiators were summoned. Wendt was inside when police arrived, so officers set up a perimeter and evacuated people from nearby homes.

Team members were trying to contact Wendt by phone, when he re-emerged from the home and pointed a gun at police.

Nuttall fired a single shot at the firefighter, killing him.
read more here

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Army Specialist Mason Van Kuiken missing since March from Fort Carson

Where is this missing soldier from Bradenton?
WTSP News
Tammie Fields
May 21, 2013

BRADENTON, Florida - In Manatee County, there's a mystery over a 22-year-old missing soldier who seems to have vanished without a trace.

The parents of U.S. Army Specialist Mason Van Kuiken say they've made phone numerous phone calls to try to figure out what happened to their son. Dru Love and Mike Van Kuiken say so far this is the best timeline they've been able to develop:

Army specialist Mason Van Kuiken from Bradenton is stationed at Ft. Carson, Colorado. He left the base without permission on March 14 when he had three days off.

He drove to the Fort Hood, Texas area to visit his best friend, Will, who is also from Bradenton but is stationed there.

But as Mason was headed back to Colorado a deputy pulled him over in the small town of Goldthwaite, Texas on March 15.

A Mills County Sheriff's Office deputy told the family weapons were found inside Mason's vehicle that he didn't have proper permits for so he was arrested and his car impounded. Mason bonded out of jail the evening of March 17, and a bail bondsman employee took him to a motel in Early, Texas, where Mason's debit card was used to stay the night.
read more here


Recent missing reports

Iraq Veteran missing in Gainesville Larry Vantassel, Gainesville.

Marine Combat Vet Jonathan Pablik is missing in the Seattle

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Military faces challenge to malpractice shield Feres

Military faces challenge to malpractice shield
(AP)
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Veterans, military families and others who oppose a decades-old law that shields military medical personnel from malpractice lawsuits are rallying around a case they consider the best chance in a generation to change the widely unpopular protection.

The U.S. Supreme Court has asked for more information from attorneys and will decide next month whether to hear the case of a 25-year-old noncommissioned officer who died after a nurse put a tube down the wrong part of his throat.

If the law is overturned, it could expose the federal government to billions of dollars in liability claims. That makes it highly unlikely a divided Congress desperate to cut expenses will act on its own to change what's called the Feres Doctrine, a 1950 Supreme Court ruling that effectively equates injuries from medical mistakes with battlefield wounds.

The court case involves the death of Air Force Staff Sgt. Dean Patrick Witt, who was hospitalized in 2003 for what should have been a routine appendectomy at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif. Following surgery, a nurse anesthetist inserted a breathing tube into his esophagus instead of his trachea or airway, depriving his brain of oxygen. Witt, of Oroville, Calif., died once his family removed him from life support three months later.

The nurse admitted her mistake and surrendered her state license. Federal courts denied the legal claim by Witt's widow, saying their hands were tied by the Feres Doctrine. Witt's family appealed, aiming to help other service members who get hurt in military hospitals.

"We labored on this for a long, long time, and we decided that the right thing to do here was to protect the rights of other people who go into the military and are signing away their rights to get good health care in the military system," said Witt's brother-in-law, Carlos Lopez, of Salt Lake City. "So we're hoping, we're praying, that his case could be the one that changes everything."

The Feres (pronounced FEHR-es) ruling grew out of the Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946, which allowed lawsuits against the government for negligent acts under certain circumstances. Initially the law was interpreted to forbid lawsuits by military personnel and their families only for combat-related injuries and deaths, but the decision in Feres vs. United States — involving a soldier who died in a barracks fire — widened that exclusion to bar any lawsuits over injuries "incident to military service."
read more here
Military faces challenge to malpractice shield

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Family of a Homeless Hate Crime Victim Speaks Out


The Family of a Homeless Hate Crime Victim Speaks Out
by Shannon Moriarty


Published September 14, 2009 @ 08:30AM PT
Tonight, thousands of people across the United States will sleep on the streets. The situations that led them there are varied and complicated; each person has their own unique story. At the same time, violent attacks against people living without a home in the U.S. are on the rise. Yet, few families of homeless hate crime victims have spoken out about the tragedy of losing a loved one twice; once to life on the streets, and again at the hands of extreme violence. Until today.

Holly Case's uncle, Daniel Case, was the victim of an attack by two teenagers in February in Bradenton, Florida (read the original story here). She writes on behalf of her family about how her uncle's life and needless death have affected her family.

By Holly Case

As I sit down to write this, it has been six months since my uncle, Daniel Case, was murdered. My uncle was homeless off-and-on for the last 10 years. The night he was murdered started just like any other night for him: taking shelter behind a local business instead of a homeless shelter. Unfortunately, this made him incredibly susceptible. Two teenagers (known gang members) violently assaulted him and he succumbed to those injuries. They left him behind the business, him screaming as they ran off.


I should start out by giving you a little background of my uncle: he was born in 1950, the second oldest of seven children. He played football in high school and served his country in the Army in Vietnam. Unfortunately, his time in Vietnam changed him as a person; after returning, he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and would have night terrors almost nightly. During these night terrors, he would suffer flashbacks and re-live the terror of the war: shouting, "Take cover!", and picking up furniture to hide behind. This ordeal was not only traumatic for him, but also quite scary for his family. He had three girls and a wife at home who dealt with this on a regular basis.
read more here
The Family of a Homeless Hate Crime Victim Speaks Out

Monday, September 1, 2008

Donations allow wounded vets to take a golf swing

Donations allow wounded vets to take a golf swing

By DANIELA FLORES
Associated Press Writer


TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Brian Coleman was never in the service and has no ties to the military. But when he began looking for a cause to support after his retirement, he decided helping wounded veterans was the way to go.

Now the 62-year-old, who splits his time between Madison and Bradenton, Fla., spends anywhere from 35 to 70 hours a week running Golf Supports Our Troops, a nonprofit that raises money to donate golf equipment to military hospitals and rehabilitation facilities.

"My intent was not to teach these guys to be golf pros," Coleman said. "It was to have some fun, maybe get golf into their recovery, but it was the health benefits of the equipment that I thought would be interesting."

Coleman retired from the graphic arts/printing field eight years ago, but after two years of boredom, decided to start a small golf company. Then, a year and a half ago, he decided he'd had enough. Left with a huge inventory, he thought he could do something good with it and Golf Supports Our Troops was born.
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