Update on corruption in Pahrump

COURTS HEAR REQUESTS TO DISQUALIFY BECKETT

Pahrump Valley Times
Mark Waite
July 16, 2010

Dozens of requests to disqualify the Nye County district attorney’s office and recuse judges from hearing cases in which Sheriff’s Dep. David Boruchowitz is involved have begun to hit the courts.

The requests, by public defenders working for the Gibson and Kuehn law firm, claim the DA’s office should have provided them with evidence under the rules of discovery to back up claims by DA Bob Beckett that Boruchowitz is a liar and perjurer.

Beckett and Boruchowitz became involved in a highly-publicized spat after Boruchowitz arrested Beckett May 5 for misusing funds in the Bad Check Program, after which Attorney Conrad Claus, a prosecutor appointed by Beckett, filed 25 counts against Boruchowitz on May 20 for a variety of charges including false arrest and oppression under color of office.

The first case in which the motion to disqualify the DA’s office was heard involved murder suspect Timothy Liapes, accused in the March 2009 death of Robert Humphrey. Attorney Harry Kuehn referred to Beckett’s published statement that “we have affidavits of perjury against Boruchowitz.”

Beckett went on to say in a Pahrump Valley Times interview that he had no faith in any criminal case in which Boruchowitz was involved, Kuehn’s motion said.

In response, Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo referred to the order issued by visiting Judge Robert Estes, in which Estes said documents he reviewed weren’t affidavits of perjury and were not relevant to the Liapes case.

Mere allegations of the untruthfulness of a police officer is not exculpatory evidence — evidence to clear Boruchowitz from fault, Estes noted.

Kuehn’s motion said Liapes couldn’t be prosecuted by a suspected liar. Liapes is scheduled for a status hearing July 26.

While both 5th District Judges Robert Lane and John Davis declined to grant the motion to withdraw the DA’s office from cases and didn’t recuse themselves, attorneys for Gibson and Kuehn note Joseph Patrick Lamoureux’s case has been continued until a calendar call Jan. 11, or after Beckett leaves office.

(click below for complete story:)
http://pvtimes.com/news/courts-hear-requests-to-disqualify-beckett/.

Army reports record number of suicides for June 2010

USA TODAY
By Gregg Zoroya

Soldiers killed themselves at the rate of one per day in June making
 it the worst month on record for Army suicides, the service said Thursday.

There were 32 confirmed or suspected suicides among soldiers in June, including 21 among active-duty troops and 11 among National Guard or Reserve forces, according to Army statistics.

Seven soldiers killed themselves while in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan in June, according to the statistics. Of the total suicides, 22 soldiers had been in combat, including 10 who had deployed two to four times.

"The hypothesis is the same that many have heard me say before: continued stress on the force, said Army Col. Christopher Philbrick, director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. He pointed out that the Army has been fighting for nine years in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last year was the Army's worst for suicides with 244 confirmed or suspected cases.

The increase was a setback for the service, which has been pushing troops to seek counseling. Through May of this year, the Army had seen a decline in suicides among active-duty soldiers this year compared with the same period in 2009.

Philbrick expressed frustration over the June deaths. "Because we believe that the programs, policies, procedures ... are having a positive impact across the entire force. The help is there."

A leading military suicide researcher says changing a culture that views psychological illness as a weakness takes time.

"I would expect it to be years," said David Rudd, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The mounting stress on an Army facing renewed deployments and combat in Afghanistan is also a factor, Rudd said. "That's not a challenge they (Army leaders) control. It's a challenge that the president and Congress controls," he said.

The Army also unveiled on Thursday a training video designed to combat suicides. It contains testimonials by soldiers who struggled with self-destructive impulses before seeking help. It is titled Shoulder to Shoulder: I Will Never Quit on Life.

Philbrick said this was an improved video that he hoped would reach troubled soldiers. The previous video did not resonate with average soldiers, he said. During a showing in Baghdad, soldiers laughed at it, Philbrick said. "In grunt language, it sucked," he said.

The Army's current suicide rate is about 22 deaths per 100,000, which is above a civilian rate that has been adjusted to match the demographics of the Army. That rate is 18-per-100,000. Only the Marine Corps has a higher suicide rate, at 24-per-100,000. Although Marine Corps suicides had been tracking similarly to last year's record pace, the service reported only one suicide in June.

Just among Guard and Reserve soldiers, suicides have occurred at a higher rate this year than last year, according to Army figures. There have been 65 confirmed or suspected cases this year, compared with 42 for the same period last year.

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A NOTE TO:  MR. KIRK VITTO, PAHRUMP, NYE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE -
PTSD is REAL  MR. VITTO.  This is not my assessment, Mr. Vitto - this is from the government.) 



VA Simplifies Access to Health Care and Benefits for Veterans with PTSD


July 12, 2010


WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced a critical step forward in providing an easier process for Veterans seeking health care and disability compensation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with the publication of a final regulation in the Federal Register.

“This nation has a solemn obligation to the men and women who have honorably served this country and suffer from the often devastating emotional wounds of war,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “This final regulation goes a long way to ensure that Veterans receive the benefits and services they need.”

By publishing a final regulation in the Federal Register to simplify the process for a Veteran to claim service connection for PTSD, VA reduces the evidence needed if the trauma claimed by a Veteran is related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity and is consistent with the places, types, and circumstances of the Veteran’s service.


This science-based regulation relies on evidence that concluded that a Veteran’s deployment to a war zone is linked to an increased risk of PTSD.

Under the new rule, VA would not require corroboration of a stressor related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity if a VA doctor confirms that the stressful experience recalled by a Veteran adequately supports a diagnosis of PTSD and the Veteran's symptoms are related to the claimed stressor.

Previously, claims adjudicators were required to corroborate that a non-combat Veteran actually experienced a stressor related to hostile military activity. This final rule simplifies the development that is required for these cases.

VA expects this rulemaking to decrease the time it takes VA to decide access to care and claims falling under the revised criteria. More than 400,000 Veterans currently receiving compensation benefits are service connected for PTSD. Combined with VA’s shorter claims form, VA’s new streamlined, science-based regulation allows for faster and more accurate decisions that also expedite access to medical care and other benefits for Veterans.

PTSD is a medically recognized anxiety disorder that can develop from seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury to which a person responds with intense fear, helplessness or horror, and is not uncommon among war Veterans.