Friday, September 25, 2009

Update on Neighbors Welcome Home GI Brothers from Iraq

http://christineolley.blogspot.com/2009/09/neighbors-welcome-gi-brothers-home-from.html

A rep from Tony Luke's emailed me and asked for the brother's contact information because they are going to send the soldiers a care package of Tony Luke's goodies! Because that's what Brian Thomas missed most while he was overseas serving his country.

400 march here for health reform

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
Eric Aycox wasn't feeling well on Nov. 18, 2006, but he didn't have health insurance so he went to an emergency room, where he was sent home with a prescription for codeine and an antibiotic.
But he didn't have money to fill the prescriptions, and he later died of a bacterial infection that morphed into menigitis. He was only 44.
Yesterday, his mother, Joan Kos-loff, and his father, Frank Aycox, gathered with members of Healthcare for America Now, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the Service Employees International Union, and the United Food and Commerical Workers, Local 1776, to protest and demand that Cigna Insurance Co. stop blocking health-care reform.
Yesterday's local protest was one of about 95 nationwide gatherings for a national day of action dubbed "Big Insurance: Sick of It."
About 400 supporters of health-care reform gathered yesterday at City Hall, some with signs reading, "Healthcare for all is a basic human right" and "Insure people, not profits," for a rally before marching to Cigna's Center City headquarters at 16th and Chestnut streets.
"I had put all this behind me," Kosloff said. "But I just decided, I'm going to come out because he" - Kosloff's son - "was a victim to not having health care."
"This is what not having national health care is. When you're not working and you're down and out and you can't afford health care and you get sick, you could die," Kosloff said.
Others shared Kosloff's viewpoint.
Stacie Ritter, a mother of twin girls who were diagnosed with childhood cancer, said she supports health-insurance reform because she doesn't want her girls to grow up being told they aren't worthy of obtaining health insurance. "I have to live in fear of denials of care for my children," Ritter said.
"Ive been living in fear . . . fear that they would lose their battle to the disease, fear of relapse, and fear of more denials from my insurance companies," Ritter told the crowd.
"The kind of health-care system we have in America today is inhumane and insane," said Carol Stein, a teacher at Community College of Philadelphia.
"Only part of our population is covered. It's a tragic situation."

5-week-old baby hospitalized with broken ribs, femur

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
A 5-week-old baby was hospitalized yesterday morning with numerous injuries, leaving police with a host of unanswered questions and neighbors hoping for the infant's recovery.
The baby was listed in critical condition at St. Christopher's Hospital with cracked ribs, facial bruises and a broken right femur, police said.
The baby was breathing with the help of a respirator, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.
The drama unfolded in Wissinoming shortly before noon, when paramedics were called to a home on Ditman Street near Devereaux Avenue.
Neighbors said that when medics carried the baby out of the house, they thought the worst.
"I thought the baby was dead," said a neighbor last night, who asked not to be identified.
"I felt like it was one of mine," said another, Ruth Duprey.
Neighbors said that the infant's name is Jaden and that he has a 2-year-old sister named Madison, but they knew little about the parents, who moved to the neighborhood about two months ago.
"It's just kind of shocking," said Duprey's son Cristian Chacon, 24. "I mean, I personally don't know what's the truth and what's not. I'm just hoping that the baby pulls through."
"It just ruined my whole day," neighbor Jean Kee said, with a pained expression on her face.
Her daughter Brittany Kee, a new mother, agreed.
"How could anyone hurt an infant? It's just cruel."
Special Victims Unit detectives questioned the baby's parents last night, but Vanore said they didn't expect to charge anyone until an investigation was complete.
A DHS spokeswoman confirmed that social workers were dispatched to the hospital and the home last night and were investigating

Friday, September 18, 2009

Neighbors welcome GI brothers home from Iraq

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
Joanne Thomas was expecting her two sons home from Iraq about 6:30 last night, but when she came back to her South Philadelphia home about 3, her neighbors grabbed her shopping bags and said, "Go hug your sons."
"I was shocked, I just cried," Thomas said.
Thomas' sons Daniel, 35, and Brian, 31, were stationed with the Army's 56th Stryker Brigade in Iraq for nine months.
"I was just glad they came home with ten fingers and ten toes," said the Thomases' father, Daniel Thomas Sr. "They came home whole and I'm glad they're home safe.
Daniel and Brian were welcomed back in style to their parents' home on Durfor Street near 4th in South Philadelphia with music, food and lots of hugs from family and friends.
"Iraq was hot and dry, it just sucked. It was like being in prison," Brian Thomas said.
"It feels great to be home," Daniel Thomas Jr. said, standing under a "Welcome Home" banner with the sons' names.
"The neighbors planned the whole thing," Joanne said with a smile.
"We didn't even know about it until they put a letter in our mailbox," she added.
Joanne said support from her neighbors was one of the many things that helped her get through the stress of having two sons stationed overseas.
When Daniel called home asking for more movies - because they had watched SpongeBob SquarePants and the Simpsons movie so many times they knew every word - the neighbors rallied with Joanne to collect DVDs to send to her sons and their comrades.
"We ended up sending about 150 DVDs over and not one of them was the same," Joanne said. "The neighbors are great."
Both Daniel Jr. and Brian are taking some time off to catch up with family and plan their next career moves.
Daniel Jr. is heading to Kosovo in March with the National Guard and Brian plans to stay with the Army but is still deciding in what capacity, he said.
For now, both brothers are soaking up the comforts of home they missed while they were away.
"Tony Luke's and Wawa," Brian said.
"The Philly cheesesteak and the women," Daniel Jr. said with a smile. "Definitely the women."

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Drawn by Obama's proximity, activists spar on health care, abortion & other issues

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
EACH CORNER of the intersection of 12th and Arch streets seemed to represent a different issue yesterday as President Obama arrived in Philadelphia for a closed-door fundraiser in the Pennsylvania Convention Center to benefit Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter.
There were the anti-abortion activists, those who were for or against a public-health-care option, those calling attention to increased rights for disabled persons, and those who just watched it all unfold.
Carrying signs bearing such messages as "Healthcare for All? Hell yes," "Dump Benedict Arlen" and "Stop the Spending," dozens of passionate citizens hit the streets of Philadelphia to voice their views on a wide spectrum of topics.
"There shouldn't be so much emphasis on materialism, when the basics aren't even being taken care of," said Shawn Reid, 36, of Chinatown, regarding health care, a major issue among those gathered for the president's arrival.
"Everybody should be able to go to the hospital and get taken care of, period," Reid said.
"I'm here to show support for the president and for what he's trying to do," added Wayne Waters, 58, of Mount Airy.
"We should have a public option for health insurance and we should have competition to bring the costs down, because anybody can lose their job and lose their health insurance," Waters said.
Betty Schieber, 71, of Bucks County, was there to protest Arlen Specter's recent switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party.
Holding the "Dump Benedict Arlen" sign, Schieber said, "I think he's a traitor. A lot of people worked hard and spent a lot of money to get him elected to the Republican Party and when he couldn't win the primary, he thought the other party would be dumb enough to put up with him.
"But I think he's in a for a real surprise because the Democrats aren't that dumb."
Said Craig Cody, 48, of Exton, "I'm against this drastic shift towards socialism.
"Everything from the government controlling banks to health care, it's an unbelievable attempt to destroy the country," Cody said.
The group near Cody shouted at those across the street who were for a public-health-care option, "You lie!" and "Congressman Joe Wilson for president!"
Christine Major, 19, an anti-abortion activist, joined citizens outside the Convention Center to weigh in on Obama's pro-choice values.
"I pray he repents for allowing the murder of those who God loves the most," Major said.
The crowds dispersed shortly after Obama left, about 6:20 p.m., and police reported no incidents or arrests.

Tex. firm searches Schuylkill for missing woman

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
For 21 days now, Toni Lee Sharpless' family has been living in hell.
"We're beside ourselves," said Peter Knebel, Sharpless' stepfather.
She was last reported seen about 3 a.m. Aug. 23 driving her black Pontiac Grand Prix after a night out with a girlfriend at a club in King of Prussia, then at a party in Gladwyne, police said.
Yesterday, Lower Merion police and Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit search-and-recovery firm that Knebel contacted, used special equipment to search for Sharpless' car in the Schuylkill near Flat Rock Park in Gladwyne.
"There's a public dock down that way where a car could possibly be driven into the water," said G.W. Williams, a police corporal with West Brandywine Township, where Sharpless lives.
Williams said the organization brought a piece of equipment called a side-scan sonar that generates an image similar to a black-and-white photograph.
"They found several cars in the river, some of which have been identified as not being hers, and some of which are still being checked," Williams said.
Knebel said that "every day gets more and more agonizing and, realistically, we're convinced she's dead."

At rally, Cos speaks to the wonderfulness of education

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
BILL COSBY lent his voice and legend yesterday to the kickoff of a grassroots campaign in Olney called Mission: Education.
"We have to make sure that our children develop a love for education," Cosby said to a crowd that slowly gathered as he began speaking.
Mission: Education, organized by the Father's Day Rally Committee and the Philadelphia Education Fund, is an awareness campaign designed to unite the community in one common goal - the importance of educating every child.
"We're asking those of you responsible for the child to make sure that the child gets to the school, eats properly and does his or her homework," Cosby said at the rally, held at Broad and Chew Streets, in Olney.
"We raised the children so that they would go on and be higher and better," Cosby said. "That's what we're raising them for, we're not raising them to go out on the street corner and hang out with the Bloods and the Crips.
"We have to give our children love."
Information was available yesterday about vocational schooling, graduation action plans and college-access programs.
"A child needs to be educated," said Bilal Qayyum, the president of the Father's Day Rally Committee, an organization designed to promote positive interaction among individuals that leads to resolving problems confronting African-American communities.
The Philadelphia Education Fund is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of public education for underserved youth throughout the Philadelphia region, according to its Web site.
Qayyum said that raising the expectations for children's educational performance while increasing access to resources can help cut the dropout rate, reduce crime and give kids a chance to succeed.
Yesterday's rally was one of many planned before the end of the year, Qayyum said.
Plans have not been solidified for the next event, but Qayyum said that it would be in October, in West Philadelphia.
Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, also in attendance, said that education dictates how you're going to live.
"There's a whole group of jobs you can get when you get A's, there's a whole group of jobs you can get when you get B's, C's, and D's," she said.
"Then there's no jobs because you don't have any education.

Suspect arrested in slaying of PHA worker

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
When Rachel Barnes got the news that police had arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of her Uncle Rodney, she dropped to her knees and began to cry.
"It's been very hard, but we've just been taking it one day at a time," Barnes, 30, said.
Jamaal Simmons, 26, of Philadelphia, was arrested in Whitehall, N.Y., at about 2 a.m. yesterday and will be brought back to Philadelphia to face charges in the slaying of Rodney Barnes, 46, a carpenter for the Philadelphia Housing Authority, police said.
Barnes was shot in the head July 25 while working at the Raymond Rosen Manor housing project at 24th and Norris Streets, in North Philadelphia, and died Aug. 5.
Police suggested after the crime that the shooting may have been a case of mistaken identity.
On Sunday, police obtained an arrest warrant for Simmons after they came to believe that he was involved in the slaying, said Lt. Frank Vanore, a Philadelphia police spokesman.
Yesterday's arrest began to unfold when police in Whitehall stopped a 2003 blue Chrysler Town and Country minivan driven by Kaream Bundy, 32, of Philadelphia, who was pulled over for speeding, said patrolman Desmond Lyons.
Whitehall Officer Daniel Price asked Bundy for his license, and he said he didn't have it, Lyons said.
Price asked Simmons, who was in the passenger seat, for his license and he gave it to the officer, Lyons said."Standard procedure when that happens is to ask the passenger if they have a license so that they can take the car," Lyons said.
Price ran both names through the national crime database, which found warrants for both - Simmons in the July slaying and Bundy for a parole violation, Lyons said, adding that both were arrested without incident and charged with being fugitives from justice.
Simmons and Bundy are awaiting extradition to Philadelphia, Lyons said.
"The news today was great; it was just a huge sigh of relief," Rachel Barnes said.
"My uncle was like a father to all of us; anything you needed from him you would get it. We're just dealing with it and coping the best way we can."