March 4, 2005: Headlines: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: KSBW: Sam Farr has suggested a compromise by burying Justin at Arlington National Cemetery
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March 3, 2005: Headlines: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: Iraq: Army: Santa Cruz Sentinel: Congressman Sam Farr, D-Carmel, is urging Army officials to reconsider their decision to hand over the body of Watsonville native Jason Hendrix, who died in Iraq last month, to his father in Oklahoma instead of to his mother Renee Amick of Freedom :
March 4, 2005: Headlines: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: KSBW: Sam Farr has suggested a compromise by burying Justin at Arlington National Cemetery
Sam Farr has suggested a compromise by burying Justin at Arlington National Cemetery
Sam Farr has suggested a compromise by burying Justin at Arlington National Cemetery
Battle Continues Over Where To Bury Fallen Soldier
Congressman Suggests Compromise
POSTED: 10:07 am PST March 4, 2005
UPDATED: 10:45 am PST March 4, 2005
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. -- Army Staff Sgt. Jason Hendrix, of Freedom, was killed almost two weeks ago during a firefight in Ramadi, Iraq. But the fight to decide where he will be buried continues between his mother and father.
Hendrix's body was flown to the Watsonville area, where his mother and stepfather live. But now, Hendrix's biological father, Russ Hendrix, is fighting to have his son buried in Oklahoma, where he lives and his son went to school for two years.
"A nightmare, I guess you could say is the best way of putting it," Russ Hendrix said. He said he thought losing his son couldn't get any harder, but he never imagined he and Jason's mother, Renee Amick, would find themselves in a battle over where Jason would be laid to rest.
"This is home. This what he considered home," Russ Hendrix said.
Jason's mother disagrees, saying California is where Jason spent the first part of his life, and that is where he should be buried.
"It's difficult to find words to say just how inappropriate this feels," said Amick family spokesperson A.C. Smith.
Russ Hendrix says he feels the same pain, but he won't give up fighting for what he believes his son would have wanted.
The U.S. military has been unable to locate a will for Jason. So, his body will remain in California until a decision is made. Russ Hendrix says he encourages servicemen and women to make out a will and make their wishes known to their families so they never have to go through the same experience.
"Don't allow this to happen. This could have been prevented," Russ Hendrix said.
Lawmakers in Oklahoma and California are involved in the case. In a statement released Wednesday by Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, he said: "The Army would rather stand by mute in the face of this family's grief and force the family to wait 20 days for a court hearing. Making a family that only wants to lay their loved one to rest fight in court for his remains is an abomination, and the Army should be ashamed."
Farr has suggested a compromise by burying Justin at Arlington National Cemetery.
Copyright 2005 by TheKSBWChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state. |
| RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter. |
| March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went. |
| Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory. |
| Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week. |
| Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments. |
| WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service. |
| Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress. |
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Story Source: KSBW
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