News From the Cause
Protecting veterans: Officials explore treatment court: (LACROSSE TRIBUNE)
May 20, 2009
The court would screen veterans facing criminal charges, guide them to treatment services for issues stemming from combat, such as PTSD and substance abuse, and require ongoing meetings with a judge, said La Crosse County Circuit Judge Todd Bjerke, who also has been a U.S. Army Reserve judge advocate since 1989 and a staff judge advocate for the 88th Regional Sustainment Command at Fort McCoy. “The bottom line is that veterans who get into trouble should be given an extra assistance for what they’ve done for us,” Bjerke said. “If you send them off to war and they come back damaged mentally or unable to keep sobriety, you shouldn’t hold the fact that you sent them off to war against them.” [click here to view] (http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2009/05/04/news/01vets.txt)
