[Vision2020] Group Home for PTSD Troops Opposed

Mon Mar 24 21:37:36 PDT 2008

Absolutely unforgivable, this attitude of contempt for the people who sacrificed themselves for what they were told was our benefit.  The "gated community" mindset that's overtaking much of this nation is an affront to decency and a danger to anyone who, for whatever reason, finds themselves defined as "the other."  

I'll repeat this 'til I'm blue in the face -- if it's not good news for the poor, the lost, the suffering, and the outcast, it ain't good news for anyone.  And if it benefits the rich, the successful, the secure, and the comfortable, it bears a long, hard second look.  Christians believe that when a hand is extended to the hurting, that hand touches Christ.  God help those who don't choose to see and who pretend there's some sort of nobility in ignoring the poor and the sick under the guise of keeping things safe and tidy.

Thanks for passing this along, Tom.  These men will be in my prayers.

Keely

> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> From: thansen at moscow.com
> Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:41:19 +0000
> CC: vmfp-wa at mansker.org
> Subject: [Vision2020] Group Home for PTSD Troops Opposed
> 
> This article extends beyond "inhmane".  People talk about supporting the 
> troops.  But, when it comes to walking the walk, some people'e support 
> extends no further than the magnet on their car's bumper.
> 
> >From the Army Times -
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/2hb872
> Nadia McCaffrey, president of the Patrick McCaffrey Foundation, sits in 
> front of a proposed housing site for PTSD-scarred veterans in Guerneville, 
> Calif., on March 13. McCaffrey's dream is to house veterans scarred by 
> post-traumatic stress disorder there in order to ease their returns from 
> combat zones, but area residents have opposed the project.
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/2hrlrh
> Sonoma County, Calif., ordered work stopped on Nadia McCaffrey's housing 
> for veterans with PTSD, saying the project had several code violations. 
> McCaffrey says opposition to the project is largely due to residents with 
> limited knowledge of PTSD who think of veterans with the condition 
> as "deranged."
> 
> -----------------
> 
> Group home for PTSD troops opposed
> By Scott Lindlaw - The Associated Press
>    
> GUERNEVILLE, Calif. — Merry Lane, a cul-de-sac shaded by redwoods in 
> Sonoma County wine country, would seem a pleasant place to recover from 
> the psychic wounds of war. Nadia McCaffrey’s dream is to set up a group 
> home there for veterans plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder.
> 
> But she is running into stiff resistance from the neighbors. They not only 
> object to the brand-new structure itself, which looks like a four-story 
> apartment house wedged amid their cabins, they are also worried that 
> deranged veterans will move in.
> 
> At a community meeting in December, “one person was concerned that even 
> firecrackers would set these people off,” said Andrew Eckers, 54, who 
> lives across the street.
> 
> McCaffrey, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, said she has tried to 
> reassure the neighbors, but “they are afraid of it because they don’t want 
> to understand it.”
> 
> Projects similar to McCaffrey’s have cropped up in other communities 
> across the country, with some also raising concerns from neighbors, in 
> part because of the many news accounts of traumatized veterans committing 
> suicide or murder.
> 
> “We’re all, frankly, failing in properly educating society about what PTSD 
> is and what its effects are,” said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and 
> chairman of VoteVets.org, a veterans advocacy group.
> 
> McCaffrey wants to set up at least three group homes around the country 
> where vets with PTSD could live temporarily, and virtually for free, while 
> they study at a college or work at a farm. Donations are paying for the 
> projects, she said.
> 
> In Guerneville, a community of about 2,500 where the Russian River draws 
> tourists in the summer, the light green building nestled into a carved-out 
> hillside stands empty.
> 
> The county issued a stop-work order because the project exceeded the scope 
> of the plans that were filed, said Shems Peterson, Sonoma County 
> supervising building inspector. Among other things, the project had 
> unauthorized plumbing. Also, a wall meant to divert landslides was deemed 
> insufficient.
> 
> Neighbors have raised complaints about the cutting down of several 
> redwoods to make way for the home, the lack of parking and the size of the 
> building, which would house a half-dozen veterans.
> 
> “They are inappropriate buildings for the neighborhood. They’re not single-
> family residences,” said Mark Mondragon, 41. “This could have been 
> Grandmothers for Harmonious Peace, and it wouldn’t have made a difference.”
> 
> Jan De Wald, who lives a couple houses down Merry Lane, said too many 
> questions remain unanswered about the project, including who sits on the 
> board, who is the president and what is the staffing.
> 
> Most residents said worries about unhinged veterans are not driving the 
> opposition. Eckers emphasized that his primary concern is that the project 
> would open the door to more apartment buildings. But he also raised 
> questions about the screening and supervision of the veterans.
> 
> “Generally PTSD guys are normal people,” Eckers said. But he added: “Some 
> are shell-shocked, and they need to be in an institution.”
> 
> McCaffrey said screening would be done by veterans and a psychiatrist, and 
> supervision would come from volunteers from a nearby veterans clinic.
> 
> “We will not accept anyone who’s not completely functional,” she said.
> 
> Rogelio Martinez, 26, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army 
> Airborne Ranger, said he was diagnosed with PTSD and sought counseling at 
> the urging of his older brother, a military officer. But he said he would 
> have benefited from the type of group housing that McCaffrey is proposing.
> 
> “If it wasn’t for my brother, I might be one of those homeless vets on the 
> street,” Martinez said in a telephone interview from San Antonio. “A place 
> like that would be ideal for a person like me or a person in my shoes who 
> didn’t have someone to lean on, like an older brother, to get help.”
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Pro patria, 
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> "Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the 
> tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 
> 
> -- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr. 
> 
> 
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