Category: Kansas City Missouri

Project celebrates 71 years of helping veterans tell their stories through writing

Dr. Jon Kerstetter (Photo by Nicole Kerstetter)

Veterans Voices Writing Project, a national organization based in Kansas City, Mo., will observe its 54th annual Veterans Pen Celebration and Fundraiser from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at The National World War I Museum and Memorial at 2 Memorial Drive in Kansas City, Mo.

The event is open to the public, and there is no admission charge.

Keynote speaker, Dr. Jon Kerstetter, will discuss his recently published memoir, “Crossings: A Doctor-Soldier’s Story,” which details his experiences in war-torn Rwanda, Kosovo and Bosnia and his three tours in Iraq at the height of the fighting.

In his autobiography, Kerstetter also details the stroke he had at the peak of his career that ended his profession as a physician. Left with serious cognitive and physical disabilities compounded by post-traumatic stress disorder and excruciating pain, Kerstetter began his years-long recovery using writing about his experiences as a way to help him order his thinking, reform vital brain connections and ultimately heal.

Highlights of the annual celebration also will include:

• Greetings by Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sly James, who was a Marine military police officer for four years in California, the Philippines and Japan during the Vietnam War.

• Entertainment by members of Arts & AGEing KC, who will present stories and poems from the pages of Veterans’ Voices magazine.

• Recognition of VVWP supporters and Veterans’ Voices authors.

• A book table for guests who want to purchase Kerstetter’s “Crossings: A Doctor-Soldier’s Story,” books by Veterans’ Voices authors and other books by veterans, courtesy of Eve Brackenbury of Inklings Book and Coffee Shoppe in Blue Springs, Mo. Dr. Kerstetter, Clint Jarrett, Bruce McClain, K.W. Peery and Lou Eisenbrandt will be available to autograph their books.

Since 1946, VVWP, publishers of Veterans’ Voices magazine, has offered therapeutic writing to veterans in communities and in Veterans Administration health facilities across the United States with support from writing aides and writing groups. In 1952 the organization published the first issue of Veterans’ Voices magazine and continues to publish veterans’ stories and poems in three issues each year.

Kansas City, Mo., man indicted for robbing Overland Park bank

A Kansas City man was indicted Wednesday on federal charges of robbing a bank in Overland Park, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.

Ryan Michael Cothern, 41, Kansas City, Mo., is charged with an Oct. 3, 2107, robbery at U.S. Bank at 9900 W. 87th St. in Overland Park, Kan.

It is alleged Cothern handed a clerk his cell phone on which he had written a memo saying, “Put the 50s and the 100s in the bag. Do not put the dye pack in the bag. You follow these instructions and no one gets hurt and we can all go home.” Cothern was arrested shortly after the robbery when an Overland Park police officer stopped him in the 8300 block of Melrose Street.

If convicted, Cothern faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The Overland Park Police Department and the FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Catania is prosecuting.

Leavenworth business owner pleads guilty to bank fraud

A Leavenworth woman who owned businesses in the Kansas City area pleaded guilty Tuesday to bank fraud in U.S. District Court, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.

Brenda Wood, 49, Leavenworth, Kan., pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud. In her plea, she admitted she made false statements to Farmers Bank in Great Bend.

She told the bank that her company, Professional Cleaning and Innovative Building Services (PCI), had received a contract to provide cleaning services at an Internal Revenue Service building in Kansas City, Mo.

In fact, the company did not receive the contract and did not even make the final round of bids, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. As a result, the bank extended a $350,000 line of credit. Wood submitted draw requests to the bank, falsely stating that the funds were needed to fulfill the contract.

In another incident, Wood created a check kiting scheme to artificially inflate her bank account balances. She exchanged and cross-deposited more than 473 insufficient fund checks between her accounts at Capital Federal Savings, Intrust Bank and the Credit Union of Leavenworth County, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 17. Both parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of 78 months in federal prison and restitution of at least $4.6 million.

Beall commended the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, the Special Investigator General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration, the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble for their work on the case.