| A new beginning
SAN ANTONIO -- Some limped gingerly, some rode in wheelchairs as they made their way into the tent. They had missing arms and legs, faces with no ears or with rebuilt noses, bones rebuilt with steel, shrapnel still visible in places. They are the faces of war and its cruel costs, the "wounded warriors" as they were called Monday, and they were the guests of honor at the dedication of a $40 million rehabilitation center built just for them. One of those soldiers is Spc. Lucas Schmitz, a 22-year-old college student from rural Minnesota, whose right leg was blown off by a bomb in Iraq last July. "The center will give me the opportunity to adapt," said Schmitz, a member of the Minnesota National Guard. "I'm never going to be the same, and I won't be able to do things exactly like I used to.
Fine for Handicapped Parking Violations in Madison Cut in Half
Don't believe everything you read. A $100 fine might make you think twice about parking illegally in a handicapped spot, but would $50? Madison city attorney Mike May tells us his office found a discrepancy in the state traffic code that causing Madison to cut its penalty for handicapped parking violators in half. May said a state conference of judges set the fine for illegally parking in these spaces at $50, no matter what Wisconsin city you're in. "There are certain provisions in it where the state says you have to strictly follow what we do," he said. "There are other provisions where we're given some leeway. And this falls in the one where we're limited." "How do we stop the abuse if we lowering the fine," asked Jeff Erlanger, who sits on Madison's parking council for people with disabilities.
Galloway Township will dismantle playground built with treated wood
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP — A local playground constructed of materials treated with a chemical preservative will be replaced, according to one township official. The Imagination Station, located behind the township Municipal Building on East Jimmie Leeds Road, will be dismantled and a new playground built. The new equipment will be fully accessible by those with physical disabilities, Township Manager Jill Gougher said. Imagination Station, which was built in 1995, contains lumber treated with chromated copper arsenate, or CCA. CCA is used to protect wood from being destroyed by microbes, termites and other wood-boring insects, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The federal Environmental Protection Agency placed a ban on CCA-treated wood in 2003 but never advised that existing structures built with the wood be dismantled.
Paralyzed man finds another obstacle in path
Town of Poughkeepsie Detective Charlie Godfrey says he doesnt know why bad things happen to good people, but he says what happened to Marvet Brown shouldnt happen to anyone.
Its truly one of the saddest cases Ive ever dealt with, Godfrey said.
Paralyzed from the waist down by an infection following knee surgery five years ago, Brown had learned a hard lesson about being disabled in Dutchess County: You cant really get on with your life without a reliable mode of transportation.
Because of his weight nearly 300 pounds Brown discovered he didnt fit in most vehicles designed for handicapped drivers. But he persevered, and in 2005 he found a company in California that built customized vans for people like him. He ordered a van and began the task of raising a sufficient down payment so his disability checks could cover the monthly payments.
Classic Anathan House gets a makeover
The stately, red brick, four-story Anathan House in Squirrel Hill was never a private residence, but it was a kind of home to many young girls over the years. Built in 1917 as a private girls' school, the Anathan House was donated to the National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh section in 1963 by Bessie Anathan, a member of the council and a community leader. The Anathan House has been the home for the Council of Jewish Women and other nonprofit tenants since then. But the structure, over the years, began to deteriorate. In 2001, the council began a capital campaign to renovate the building, which is near the corner of Forbes and Murray avenues, at a cost of more than $1 million. Lynne Jacobson, 63, past president of the council, says the first phase of the renovation, the second and third floors, cost $445,000.
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