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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2012)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM F EBRUARY 8, 2012 S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 6 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW AWARENESS Soldiers Suffer in Silence PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Army investigates cost-cutting on counseling services Isaac and Jaydon with the Human Harmony Choral Academy performed for about a hundred people at a National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Event at Mount Zion Baptist Church on Feb. 7. The event included free testing, dinner and entertainment. Who Knows the Coolest Books? Seattle Public Library keeps current through Teen Adviser Program By Breanna Lai Special To The Skanner News W hen Ingraham High School junior Aidan Farr goes to the library, the experience often packs a bit more punch than simply checking out a few books. In addition to being a vora- cious reader, Farr participates in the Seattle Public Library’s teen adviser program. He receives community service hours – required for high school gradua- tion – and in return he reviews books, contributes to the library’s teen blog and helps out with events. He also gets to dis- cuss books with other teen advisers from around Seattle. “It’s nice to have this forum,” said Farr. “It’s a space where we can debate things that wouldn’t necessarily come up with our friends, and we have discus- sions that wouldn’t necessarily come up at school.” The Central Library, Colum- bia branch and Northeast branch of the Seattle Public Library INDEX News ........................2,3 Calendar ....................2 Opinion ....................4,5 A&E ..........................6,7 Bids/Classifieds............7 offer ambassador positions open to all Seattle high school stu- dents, ages 14 to 19. “We started the teen advisers group about six years ago; we wanted to have a way for teens to put their input into the library,” said Hayden Bass, teen services librarian for Central Library. “We hope they not only will be giving their input to help change the library for the better, but that they will also be experts on what the library has to offer when they leave the program.” Bass said typically the cohort consists of between eight to 15 youths. At the Central Library the teens are required to attend a one-hour meeting every other Wednesday where they discuss books in the young adult genre. Farr, who attends these meet- ings, has been an adviser since his freshman year. He appreci- ates that his peers at the library listen to him more than his friends often do. “It is just a really fun program with a bunch of nice people. When you have a stupid idea, See LIBRARY on page 3 SEATTLE (AP) — The Army is investi- gating whether the cost of care and benefits is influencing the diagnosis of soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder at Madigan Army Medical Center, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The review by the Western Regional Medial Command and the Army Medical Command was prompted by a memo from an ombudsman who attended a lecture in September by a Madigan psychiatrist, The Seattle Times reported. The psychiatrist told colleagues a soldier who retires with PTSD could receive $1.5 million in government payments and such costs could cause the Department of Veter- ans Affairs to go broke. ``He (the psychiatrist) stated that we have to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ dol- lars, and we have to ensure that we are just not `rubber stamping’ a soldier with the diagnoses of PTSD,’’ the ombudsman’s memo said. Names of the psychiatrist and ombudsman were removed from the copy of the memo obtained by the Times. Last week, The Times reported that the leader of the forensic psychiatric team, Dr. William Keppler, and another Army doctor had been suspended from clinical duties while the Army investigation unfolds. In a statement Monday, the Western Regional Medical Command and the Army Medical Command said they are ``taking this issue very seriously, and have initiated investigations to look into the concerns out- lined in the Memorandum for Record.’’ ``We are very sensitive to the issues that have been raised and are working hard to address them. Soldiers expect and deserve the best possible care with compassion, and our priority is to make sure that all soldiers are getting a fair clinical assessment and diagnosis in the Disability Evaluation Sys- tem (DES) process,’’ the statement said. Sen. Patty Murray, who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, has been monitoring the investigation. Doctors See ARMY on page 3 Family-Killer Got Away with Murder State officials ask themselves if more could have been done By Gene Johnson The Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — State authorities can expect tough questions about whether more might have been done to protect a missing Utah woman’s two children, who died along with their father after authorities say he ignited his home in an inferno Sunday. Josh Powell was a person of interest in his wife’s disappearance. Why was he allowed to meet with his sons at all? Why weren’t more precautions taken, such as requiring that supervised visits be at a neutral site rather than at his home? The answers rest largely in that no con- crete evidence has emerged publicly linking him with Susan Powell’s disappearance, and Josh Powell was never arrested or charged in the case. Josh Powell had custody of the boys for nearly two years after his wife van- ished. And it was only because his father - with whom Josh Powell and the boys lived - was arrested in a voyeurism and child pornography case last fall that the children were taken out of the home and placed with Susan’s parents. Sherry Hill, a spokeswoman for the Chil- See MURDER on page 3
