Topeka, Kan., police captain Ron Brown earned a Purple Heart after he lost a portion of his hearing in both ears when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded next to the Marine reservists head outside Fallujah in 2004. So he made sure he was there when former Sgt. Tim Debusk was arrested and charged with forging a Purple Heart citation on May 25.
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I just told him that I thought what he did was despicable, and that I hoped he thought about the guys he disrespected who died for this country over Memorial Day, Brown said.
Debusks trial is set to begin Sept. 7 with a preliminary hearing in Shawnee County District Court, where he is charged with dealing in false identification documents and making a false writing. If convicted, he could face up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine under the Stolen Valor Act that penalizes those who claim military awards they didnt earn.
Marine Corps records show Debusk did not earn a Purple Heart, according to Marine Corps headquarters spokesman Maj. Jay Delarosa. Multiple calls were made to Debusk and his attorney, but neither could be reached by press time. The U.S. Attorneys office handling the case also did not return calls regarding the case.
Records show Debusk entered the Corps in 1998 as a supply administration and operations clerk and separated from active duty in 2002. He was recalled at the end of 2004.
Debusks last duty station was Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., where he served until transferring back to the Individual Ready Reserve in October 2005, according to records.
He did earn an Iraq Campaign Medal, although it was unclear from the records when he deployed. Debusk was discharged from the Corps on Jan. 7, 2007, under honorable conditions, according to records.
Retired 1st Sgt. Earl McIntosh, a member of the Topeka Marine Corps League, first reported the forged citation to the Marine Corps Reserve Center in Topeka and local police officials after he received a tip from a source he wants to keep anonymous.
McIntosh said the source handed over the allegedly forged citation to him after it was used to apply for a Purple Heart license plate.
McIntosh sent the Purple Heart citation to Maj. J.D. Lerom, who handles awards for Marine Corps Forces-Central Commands adjutant. Lerom returned a memorandum to McIntosh stating they had no record of Debusk earning a Purple Heart, according to the document dated March 1 and obtained by Marine Corps Times.
Debusk was also arrested and charged in May 2006 for impersonating a police officer after he pulled over a vehicle and identified himself as a federal officer after flashing a Marine Corps Military Police Badge, Topeka police officials said. Marine Corps records do not show Debusk ever serving as a Marine Corps military police officer.
Debusk avoided jail time for impersonating a police officer and was issued a warning, according to Topeka city court documents.
Two Swiss students on holiday played frisbee with an object they found on a beach unaware it was a live land mine.
Lukas Aider, 20, and Christoph Kurz, 19, took a plunge in the Danube river in Budapest when they found the mine and began their potentially lethal game.
A lifeguard watching stopped them and immediately called the police.
A bomb squad then arrived to make safe what turned out to be an old Soviet 6 kilogrammes(13 lbs) anti-tank mine.
#1
Lukas and Christoph need to send thank-you notes to their guardian angels, and to the EOD crew.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/21/2007 10:44 Comments ||
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These guys must have been pretty strong in order to play frisbee with a mine that weighs 6 kg. A standard discus only weighs 2 kg.
Of course, if the antitank mine had gone off, it would have taken out everybody in the immediate neighborhood.
A robber who held up a bookmaker's shop in Leicester with his girlfriend's vibrator has been jailed. Nicki Jex, 27, of Braunstone, Leicester, hid the sex toy in a carrier bag pretending it was a gun, Leicester Crown Court heard.
The manager at Ladbrokes in Narborough Road handed over more than £600 in cash when he pointed it at her on 27 December 2006, the court heard.
On Monday, Jex, who pleaded guilty to robbery, was jailed for five years. Sentencing him, Judge Philip Head said: "It's right to record that you did not have a firearm but you pretended you had and intended that those you confronted believed that you did, and it must have been truly terrifying for them at the time."
The robbery was captured by CCTV inside the shop. Pic at link.
As Jex left with more than £613 in till contents and other money, he was followed outside by the shop's last remaining customer Wayne Vakani the court heard.
"The defendant pointed the vibrator in the bag at Mr Vakani and warned him to back off," said Tim Palmer, prosecuting. "Mr Vakani then kept a discreet distance but kept an eye on the defendant and watched where he went."
The court heard that it was thanks to this customer that the defendant's hat, worn during the robbery and containing his DNA, was discovered nearby.
Initially Jex denied any involvement but later changed his plea. He was a drug addict with a string of previous convictions dating back to February 2002, the court heard. In mitigation, Phil Gibbs, defending, said Jex, a qualified chef and engineer, had a "fragile" state of mind. He told the court: "One can be thankful that the item he had wasn't a firearm. On the other hand, think of the damage and pain it could have caused.
"Frankly, he didn't care less what happened to him at that time. He was falling into the abyss and that's the Root Cause of drugs."
Mr Vakani was awarded £500 by Judge Head for his "very considerable courage".
Posted by: Mike ||
08/21/2007 6:15 Comments ||
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Ummm... Judge Head vs. the Vibrator Robber?
And while I approve of the good Mr. Vakani receiving an award for his actions, I think it should have been more to mitigate the pain and suffering this man will get from his mates for facing down Mr. Good-Times.
#6
Speaking of the the label/term "Queen", RENSE/GLOBAL RESEARCH/WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL MEDIAS/INFOWARS > NAU - WILL CANADA'S QUEEN BECOME QUEEN OF THE UNITED STATES, + WORLD POLICE STATE; + NORTH AMERICAN UNION AND THE MILITARIZATION OF THE ARCTIC, and similar. *CANADA.com > THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING; + FREEREPUBLIC > US Officio > NORTH WEST PASSAGE BELONGS TO CANADA, or title to that effect. OTHER > US STATE DEPARTMENT [unknowingly?]allowing many 00's of Islamists into the USA.
SO, is BRITAIN taking over the USA, or vice versa??? More evidencia/indicia of the post-Cold War, post-USSR, OWG-NWO BATTLE FOR GERMANY???
ELMWOOD PLACE, Ohio -- A train struck and injured a pedestrian who was sending a text message on his cell phone while crossing railroad tracks, a collision that hurled him about 50 feet, authorities and witnesses said Monday.
Zachariah Smith, 18, waited for a southbound train to pass Monday morning. He then walked around a gate and onto the tracks, apparently unaware that another train was coming from the other direction, said witness Mike Billups.
"The horn was blowing like mad and the kid was text messaging," said Mayor Richard Ellison, who went to the scene and talked to several witnesses after hearing of the accident. "The kid apparently was just daydreaming." Can you hear me now
Smith was knocked out by the collision, Billups said. Gee, Ya think maybe it was, like, you know, a round house punch?
After regaining consciousness, Smith was taken by paramedics to nearby University Hospital in Cincinnati with undisclosed injuries. He was listed in serious condition Monday night.
It was not clear how fast the train was moving. Any bets before the vulture attornys begin circling?
Gates and lights at the crossing were in working order, said Elmwood Place police Col. William Peskin.
#1
Does not qualify for Darwin Awards because he can still reproduce (hide your daughters). However, if he keeps trying . . .
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/21/2007 17:46 Comments ||
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Assuming he survives, the best he would get would be an honorable mention. You have to die or be rendered unable to reproduce to win a Darwin Award. (Ideally before you reproduce.)
This time, Nyles Reed didn't have to pay for his Purple Heart medal.
Monday, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn awarded him the medal, saying it is "embarrassing" Reed was ever told he'd have to pay $42 to get his own.
The 75-year-old retired salesman got a standing ovation at a packed luncheon of the Pearland and Alvin Chambers of Commerce.
Navy officials notified him a couple of weeks ago that he had qualified for the medal 55 years ago as a Marine sergeant in Korea.
The medals were out of stock, officials told him in a letter. He got a nice certificate, but was told that if he wanted a medal to go with it, he'd have to either buy his own or reapply in 90 days.
Cornyn, R-Texas, said no combat veteran should have to pay for his own medals, and his staff made sure Reed got a medal provided by the federal government.
The medal Reed received Monday does create a problem. Reed already has a Purple Heart he bought at a Houston military goods store.
Reed said he took his certificate to the store to prove he was entitled to the award, but was amazed to find out all he needed was the $42.
"I've heard of people having medals they aren't entitled to. Maybe they'll take it back and refund my money," Reed said with a grin.
Back on June 22, 1952, Reed was heading for an artillery observation post near Panmunjom when a Chinese artillery shell blew his Jeep over, causing a deep gash in his cheek.
Reed went to a nearby aid station and got about 10 stitches in his wound. He still has the scar beneath his left eye.
"All I knew was that the Chinese were attacking, and they needed me at that observation post," he said.
His Jeep turned out to be as tough as he was. After it was put back up on its wheels, it took Reed to the observation post.
Because he didn't stick around at the aid station long enough to give anybody his name, there were no official records of his wound.
After seeing other veterans getting medals decades after they were in combat, Reed decided about three years ago to try to get his Purple Heart. "I had a couple of buddies who are still around who knew what happened, and they helped me," Reed said.
The heart-shaped medal was established in 1932 to honor members of the military wounded or killed during enemy action.
Reed said he wrote members of Congress, the secretary of defense and even the president.
"The most help I got was from Cornyn's office," he said.
He said he was deluged with letters of support after a story in the Houston Chronicle last week about Reed being told he would have to buy his own medal. "Some people even sent me checks to pay for the medal," he said.
"I'm especially proud of having this for my family," Reed said. He and his wife, Frances, have three children, eight grandchildren and eight great-granchildren.
He said he often wears a cap proclaiming he's a veteran.
"You know, they often call that the forgotten war," Reed said. "As long as I'm around it won't be forgotten."
A wounded bear attacked an unlucky hunter in Finland on the first day of the hunting season Monday, but the man survived suffering only a big fright and a few stitches, officials said.
Together with two hunting buddies, the man was tracking a brown bear he had just wounded with a bullet in a thick forest in Kiite, in eastern Finland near the Russian border, when the bear released its anger on the shooter.
The animal escaped another round of heavy-calibre fire and the jaws of the man's hunting dog before turning on the hunter.
The bear bit the man in the arm and clawed his neck, head and back before the two other men succeeded in scaring off the animal and shooting it dead.
Yes, folks, it was a bear-knuckle fight to the Finnish.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/21/2007 08:00 ||
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Meddle ye not in the affairs of Bears as ye be crunchy and taste good with Ketchup.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/21/2007 9:22 Comments ||
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I'll bet the farm this guy pooped in his pants somewhere around the second shot.
Just imagine how many more will be found when Global Warming Climate Change really takes off! From the SF Chronicle. Fairly short article, so I post it in full.
(08-20) 19:10 PDT -- The frozen remains of a missing World War II airman have been discovered on a remote glacier in Kings Canyon National Park, not far from the spot where the body of his apparent crewmate was discovered in 2005, it was announced on Monday.
A hiker discovered the remains on Wednesday at an elevation of 12,300 feet near Mount Darwin inside the park. The remains, which were accompanied by a World War II era uniform and parachute, were being taken on Monday to the the Fresno County coroner's office. Life imitates the Onion...finding this guy 65 years later on Mt. Darwin? Whatta the odds of that?
Because of the cold temperature at the recovery site on the Mendel Glacier, the remains included skin, hair and soft tissue, according to Army Major Brian DeSantis of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii. The command will work to identify the body once the coroner releases it to the military.
"This body was found 100 feet from where the last one was found," DeSantis said. "We're hopeful it's from the same incident." Why, oh why, did they not search around a little bit in 2005?
On Oct. 16, 2005, an ice climber found the body of a man later identified as Leo Mustonen, 22, one of four fliers aboard an Army Air Corps AT-7 plane that took off from Mather Air Force Base on Nov. 18, 1942, on a routine training mission and was never heard from again. The plane was believed to have crashed in a blizzard. Can we assume that 2 more bodies will be found in the next few years?
After Mustonen's body was found, searchers scoured the area, looking for other remains, but were hampered by the thick snowpack. "If only Al Gore were here!" added the searchers.
This summer, however, the snowpack at the site was about one-third of normal, DeSantis said.
"Basically, the snow and ice receded enough for the remains to become exposed,'' he said.
DeSantis said a military forensic anthropologist is on his way to Fresno to assist authorities in identifying the remains. A serious question...were airmen (in times of training) required to wear dog tags too, or just Army grunts back then? I'd assume since all the other organic stuff is still around, his dogtag would be too.
Posted by: BA ||
08/21/2007 10:31 ||
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Something about high mountain snowpack & dead bodies means that finding remains is a tricky thing, remember the millenia it took to find Ötzi, decades for George Mallory, etc. The other crewmembers are probably under several feet of solid ice.
Zimbabwe's failing infrastructure, with burst sewer pipes and persistent water shortages, has triggered a diarrhoea outbreak in Harare, a senior city official said. Harare's director of health services, Prosper Chonzi, said some 900 diarrhoea cases were recorded every day in the capital's 60 clinics, where people received free treatment. Mr Chonzi said the outbreak coincided with the escalation of water supply problems in Harare. Tests confirmed that contaminated water was the main cause.
Last month, a diarrhoea outbreak killed 20 children who had drunk suspected contaminated water in Kadoma, 140 kilometres west of Harare. Several people from two Harare townships contracted cholera after drinking water from shallow wells.
Hundreds of thousands of students had their first day of school on Monday. Some of them had to learn to carry guns and be prepared to shoot -- polar bears.
Students on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard aren't allowed to leave their village without a shotgun and ammunition. That's because hungry polar bears can be behind every swing on the island.
Although no one wants to shoot a polar bear, and they're indeed protected by national law, the huge white animals can quickly outrun a human. And humans don't have a chance if confronted by an aggressive bear.
So everyone on Svalbard needs to be able defend him- or herself, and students undergo weapons training every year. "We feel more secure and look forward to learn a lot more," said Helga Therese Tilley Tajet of Moelv. She's studying meteorology at the University of Oslo and will concentrate on the Arctic marine climate for the next six months at the university on Svalbard, UNIS.
The students are also trained in Arctic survival techniques in addition to how to use a weapon. "It's absolutely necessary," said UNIS director Gunnar Sand. Much of the course work involved is carried out in the field, and the students also go trekking in their free time.
The school lends out weapons, ammunition, tents, sleeping bags, survival suits, snow scooters and other equipment that's essential in the Arctic landscape. "Polar bears are one thing," Sand noted. "Even more dangerous is the extreme cold, and the winds. There also are dangerous glaciers, steep cliffs, and it's a long way between settlements."
#1
Coincidentally, I'm sure, the crime rate on Svalbard is nil...
Posted by: sofia ||
08/21/2007 9:16 Comments ||
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Norway allows its people to defend themselves from bears and cold and winds but when threatened by another human the law says to bend over and grab yer ankles. Nordic political logic?
#4
. . . everyone on Svalbard needs to be able defend him- or herself, and students undergo weapons training every year. . . . The students are also trained in Arctic survival techniques in addition to how to use a weapon. . . .
Note to self: if you ever meet anyone from Svalbard, be sure to stay on their good side.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/21/2007 10:33 Comments ||
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#5
Kinda beats the old "When I was a kid I had to walk 5 miles thru the snow to get to school, uphill both ways" rap.
Rep. Bob Filner is facing an assault and battery charge after an incident at Dulles Airport where he allegedly pushed an United Airlines bag claim employee as first reported by ABC7/Newschannel 8. Filner, a Democrat from California, allegedly attempted to enter an employees-only area on Sunday night.
Van Cleave spoke with several witnesses who said they heard Filner yell "You can't stop me," before pushing aside the employee and refusing to leave the office.
Filner disputed the account in a statement issued by his office.
"Lies! All lies!"
"Congressman Bob Filner is on his way to Iraq, visiting our troops,
"Murray! I punched out a baggage claim underling at the airport! Fix it for me!"
"Yes, Your Congresship! I'll set up a trip to Iraq and it'll all be cleaned up by the time you get back!"
"Iraq? What am I gonna do there?"
"Visit the troops, Your Enormity."
"What troops? I thought we pulled them out?"
"No, Your Imperiousness. You only voted for it."
and will have a full statement when he returns. Suffice it to say now, that the story that has appeared in the press is factually incorrect - and the charges are ridiculous," the statement said.
The encounter happened after Filner "experienced a delay in claiming his bag," according to a United Airlines statement. United said it regretted that delay and was cooperating in the investigation.
They lose my bags from time to time but I rather suspect that if I went through a door marked 'Employees Only' I'd be spending time talking with a federal prosecutor. Wonder if Nancy Pelosi comes to the rescue?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Since his party affiliation is not disclosed, I'm assuming he's a Dem.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/21/2007 6:18 Comments ||
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So Filner didn't dispute the charges, but his staff did. How convenient!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/21/2007 6:58 Comments ||
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"Do you know who I am little man?"
Is anyone else getting sick and tired of certain congressional elite acting like the American Nobility? And the media's protrayal of them as such (as long as a D follows their name)?
#1
I'm not too sure of this. I once heard that up until the middle of the 19th century, red was considered the "masculine" color because it was the color of blood, and only men went off to war to blead, and so on--the cultural shift to viewing warm colors as "feminine" only occurred about 100 or so years ago.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/21/2007 10:43 Comments ||
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#2
Explain it to that guy. I'm sure he'd like to have an excuse.
#6
Men tend to be judged by acts, and women by appearances fair or unfairly. The corolation to this is men wear colors that blend in and women wear colors to stand out. Pink stands out, I believe it's as simple as that. There are exceptions of course, Rockstars being the best example, that reverse this trend very successfully but the trend is there none-the-less.
A masked man took hostage 500 people attending an academic meeting in the Convention Hall of Tehran University here Tuesday morning.
Witnesses said that the man who carried a Kalashnikov rifle merely intended to inform the audience of his personal problems. Eye-witnesses also said that the man intended to show some CDs and documents to the hostages.
According to the reports the hostage-taker used to be a member of the Iranian police and was upset with the way he had been treated by his former department.
Following the attack, the anti-riot squads and snipers of the Law Enforcement police rushed to the scene, but before they started operations, the man surrendered himself to the officials.
The documents and CDs the man was carrying indicated that he had severe psychological problems.
Meantime, unofficial reports said that the same man took 23 students hostage at a Tehran school last year, but has apparently been released after it was proved that he had psychological problems.
#1
"the same man took 23 students hostage at a Tehran school last year, but has apparently been released after it was proved that he had psychological problems"
Damn! The DemoncRats Leftists run Iran too?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/21/2007 18:26 Comments ||
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Always said it and always will, Penn State Sub Shop needs to desperately improve their Veal hoagies. In related PYWAR-INTEL-NSA MIC news, the Gummint cannot confirm = cannot deny that Veal = Veal.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Two Swiss students on holiday played frisbee with an object they found on a beach unaware it was a live land mine.
A robber who held up a bookmaker's shop in Leicester with his girlfriend's vibrator has been jailed. Nicki Jex, 27, of Braunstone, Leicester, hid the sex toy in a carrier bag pretending it was a gun, Leicester Crown Court heard. 
(from the AP)
