WWW . THESKANNER . COM
F EBRUARY 8, 2012
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 6
25
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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