FederalDaily - January 4, 2007
Nearly 4,000 Troops Support Ford Funeral, Farewell
About 4,000 active-duty servicemembers were part of the support team that helped in the funeral and
national farewell for former President Gerald R. Ford that spanned three states and the nation's capital.
An afternoon service for Ford, the nation’s 38th president, was planned for Jan. 3 at Grace Episcopal
Church in East Grand Rapids, Mich., and then his body was to be interred during a private burial on
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum grounds nearby. It will be the final step in nearly a week of official
mourning. “This is DoD’s way of showing respect and honor to a former commander in chief
and president, so it’s very important to us,” said Army Col. Jim Yonts, public affairs
officer for the Military District of Washington. Throughout the funeral events, every branch of the
armed forces and the U.S. Coast Guard provided personnel, Yonts said. To see more, go to: www.army.mil/-news/2006/12/29/1161-nearly-4000-troops-to-participate-in-ford-funeral-activities
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Former Joint Chiefs Chair Says Services Should Reconsider ‘Don’t
Ask’
In an op-ed in The New York Times, retired Gen. John Shalikashvili, former chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he now believes that “if gay men and lesbians served openly in the
United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces.” Shalikashvili
said conversations last year with gay soldiers and marines, some of them veterans of the Iraq war, “showed
me just how much the military has changed and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers.” While
he said the military should consider lifting the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy
on gays in the armed services, he said the timing of any change should be “carefully considered.” Citing
strains on U.S. military capacity, Shalikashvili said “we must welcome the service of any American
who is willing and able to do the job.”
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Husband, Wife Sentenced in Stolen GPO Cartridge Sceme
A Lanham, Md., husband-and-wife team—both former Government Printing Office (GPO) employees—were
sentenced for their part in a scheme to steal and resell more than $100,000 worth of GPO ink printer
cartridges over a four-year period. Between October 2002 and July 2006, Michael Potts improperly used
different GPO account codes to steal a total of 4,430 printer ink cartridges, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office said. Potts then, along with his wife, Karren Potts, resold the majority of these cartridges
to a pawnshop in Bladensburg, Md. After GPO’s Human Capital Department found discrepancies during
a recent budget review, it alerted GPO’s Office of Inspector General. Potts told GPO agents he
felt justified in taking the cartridges because that cost “paled in comparison to the billions
of dollars President Bush was spending in Iraq,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Potts
was sentenced to five months in jail, followed by six months of home confinement and three years of
supervised release. Mrs. Potts was sentenced to two years probation. In addition, Michael Potts was
ordered to pay $111,025 in restitution; Mrs. Potts was ordered to pay $6,197 in restitution. To see
more, go to: www.usdoj.gov/usao/dc/Press_Releases/2006_Archives/Dec_2006/06455.html
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