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Accused Teacher-Predator, Stephanie Ragusa; Nick Bollea with Hulk Dad

From Bald Truth Staff, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

We were delighted to hear reports that Hulk Hogan’s son, 17-year-old Nick Bollea, was keeping his spirits up with a little Oprah-style inspirational lit (the Bible, joke books, etc.), while serving eight months in a Florida county jail after pleading no contest to reckless driving — crashing a car that killed a U.S. Marine pal home from Iraq.

Now we learn he’s got more uplifting words to cheer him on — fan mail from another infamous inmate behind bars just down the street: vixen-teacher Stephanie Ragusa, accused of seducing three of her teenage students in Hillsborough County, Florida. We’ve got a link to her letter on the next page.
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Anti-Drug Crusaders Linell and Robert Shapiro 

By Art Harris, ©, www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

LOS ANGELES, Ca.–Any other night, the boulevards of Beverly Hills near the A list, celebrity fundraiser might be almost as dangerous as the streets of Baghdad. No snipers or IEDs, just the next star DUI waiting to be caught, Hollywood’s young and restless with a buzz on, feeling bullet-proof behind Maseratis, Vipers, Mercedes, Bentleys, or some pricey exotica aimed down mountain curves off Mullholland Drive.

But the streets were safer on a recent Saturday night in LA, designated Sober Night, 2008, by Los Angeles attorney Robert Shapiro, and his wife, Linell, who three years ago cranked up a drug awareness foundation in memory of their son, Brent, dead at 24 from an accidental overdose…among some 250,000 victims a year taken out by the ruthless sniper of pop culture, addiction.

Now, with American troops remembered on Memorial Day, many overtaxed emotionally after two and three tours in Iraq, how many will join the casualties back home? While the VA is rallying its troops, there are civilians on patrol, too, parents like the Shapiros, who mourn losses on the homefront, and channel their grief in an attempt to save others. Read the rest of this entry »

Stephen Phillps’ Soundtrack to War

By Art Harris, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

Here’s what happened when the U.S. soldier, Stephen Phillips, phoned home like a good son, oops, in the middle of a Taliban firefight half a world away.

Thank automatic redial for the glitch that sent Mom, Sandi Petee, into a panic back home in Otis, Oregon when she played back the message and heard the soundtrack to war in Afghanistan: a three minute stacatto of machine gun fire, laced with panicked MPs yelling for more ammo…then a shout: “Incoming, RPG!” And the phone cuts off. Read the rest of this entry »

ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition Builds Disabled Marine House Fit for a Hero

By Art Harris, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

Like so many Marines, Staff Sgt. Daniel Gilyeat re-upped after a first Iraq tour ended in 2004. Caught in an emotional crossfire, he was fighting to save a crumbling marriage, but also felt he could “make a difference” fighting alongside his Marines.

It’s a tug-of-war that makes it tough for many warriors to leave the battlefield for home, even if they have to be carried off, like Gilyeat, who now ranks among almost 30,000 soldiers injured in a five-year war that has claimed the lives of almost 4,000 U.S. soldiers.

Disabled War Vets Will Learn to Ski at A March 30 Clinic in Snowmass, Colo.
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