FederalDaily - March 6, 2007

Army Secretary Resigns Amid Scramble at Walter Reed

In a series of fast-developing events last week, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced March 2 that he accepted the resignation of Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey. On the same day, the Army named a new permanent commander for the Walter Reed Army Medical Center—Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, who is currently the commanding general of the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Md. And, President Bush, during his weekly radio address, announced his intention to create a bipartisan presidential commission to conduct a comprehensive review of healthcare provided to wounded servicemembers. “I was deeply troubled by recent reports of substandard conditions at Walter Reed,” Bush said. “This is unacceptable to me, it is unacceptable to our country, and it’s not going to continue.” This week, lawmakers plan a series of hearings to investigate conditions at Walter Reed and examine how injured combat veterans are treated in the military healthcare system. Complaints about the system’s failings first surfaced in a recent series of stories in The Washington Post, which described how injured servicemembers had to endure substandard living conditions, bureaucratic delays and inadequate benefits to cover serious injuries. To see more, go to: www.army.mil/-newsreleases/2007/03/02/2089-army-names-new-walter-reed-commanding-general

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Former Union Leader Sentenced

The former president of a St. Louis, Mo., American Federation of Governmental Employees (AFGE), local was sentenced March 2 to 18 months in prison for her part in the theft of $69,000 from the union. Mary Love, ex-president of AFGE Local 96, was convicted of two felony counts of falsifying government forms and three felony counts of theft. Love—along with Danna France, the Local 96 treasurer—wrote checks to themselves using Local 96 funds, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said. The checks were for such items as unauthorized advances on their salaries and unauthorized per diem payments, Hanaway said. During a 2005 Labor Department audit of the Local 96 accounts, auditors found discrepancies in the union books. Local 96 represents government employees at the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center Jefferson Barracks and John Cochran Divisions in St. Louis. Love was president from October 1998 to December 2005; France was treasurer from January 2001 to December 2005. France pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years probation. Both women have been ordered to make restitution. To see more, go to: www.usdoj.gov/usao/moe/press%20releases/archived%20press%20releases/2007_press_releases/march/love_mary.html  

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Border Patrol Sends Search/Rescue Teams to Georgia

In the wake of a massive tornado that tore through southern Georgia, killing nine people, the Border Patrol last week dispatched teams of agents to provide search and rescue assistance for the storm-ravaged communities. Border Patrol agents from the El Paso, Texas, sector traveled March 2 to disaster areas near Americus, Ga., as part of a national effort to assist in recovery and clean-up. The Border Patrol sent a total of 12 Border Patrol Emergency Medical Team (EMT) members, which includes nine Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue (BORSTAR) Team EMTs. The BORSTAR team was created in 1998 as an emergency medical response team highly trained in incidents involving medical trauma, and desert and mountain rescue. To see more, go to: www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/03022007_4.xml

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