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Kaieteur News
Guyana-born US state trooper dies from 2011 rescue attempt injuries MIDDLETOWN, US (www.midhudsonnews.com) – A State Trooper assigned to Troop Fin headquartered in the Town of Wallkill died Wednesday of complications from an on-duty injury he sustained in 2011. Troop F Commander, Maj. Patrick Regan, said Trooper Winston Martindale, Jr., 40, assigned to the New Hampton barracks, died of complications from injuries he sustained when he fell on a piece of equipment at the scene of a crash involving
Dead: Winston Martindale two small airplanes in the Town of Wawayanda. Regan described the trooper as having performed “exemplary” service. He had been off the job since his injury, but expected to return to duty. “Through the past two years, everyone assumed
that he would eventually be back and he would recover. The finality of the fact that he did not, even though one might think it was expected, was shocking,” he said. Despite the serious injury, Martindale struggled with the heavy wreckage to assist the victims of the crash and stayed at the scene for six hours. Both pilots died. Martindale had undergone surgery for his continued medical condition and died Wednesday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He, who was born in Guyana and was raised in Brooklyn, was a seven-year veteran of the State Police and a member of the US Army Reserves, having served in Operation Enduring Freedom. He is survived by his wife, Michelle, 19-year-old son, Kyle, 15-year-old daughter, Moriah, his parents, a sister and brother. Funeral services are tentatively planned for next Tuesday.
Saturday July 27, 2013
Guyanese store owners, 21 others charged in US food stamp fraud New York (dailygazette) A State Street business owner and his son were accused Wednesday of running a food stamp fraud racket that bilked the programme out of an estimated $500,000 over three years. Vishnunarine Singh and his son, Elvin, were among 23 people arrested in a sweep that included 21 food stamp recipients, all connected to Cheese Bakery and Grocery at 1007 State St. Cheese Bakery and Grocery, is named for Vishnunarine Singh, and nicknamed Cheese. The elder Singh, of Ozone Park, Queens, faces felony counts of second-degree grand larceny, misuse of food stamps and first-degree falsifying business records. Elvin Singh, of Schenectady, faces three felony counts of first-degree falsifying business records and three misdemeanor counts of misuse of food stamps. Both men were to be held overnight and appear in City Court this morning. Schenectady County District Attorney, Robert Carney, on Wednesday described as staggering, the volume of fraudulent business being done by the small store. “We hope that we can make an example of them so that we can deter this conduct,” Carney said. “There are people who need food, need these benefits. When this kind of fraud occurs, it damages the entire programme. It hurts the ability to help the truly needy.” So many recipients were involved, prosecutors said, those arrests were limited to people with three or more fraudulent transactions of more than $100 each. The rest of the recipients implicated have been referred for programme sanctions that could include the loss of their food stamp privileges,
Vishnunarine Singh
Elvin Singh
officials said. More arrests are possible. Authorities said that the scam involved food stamp recipients presenting their Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, with the owner or his son debiting it for an amount, usually $100 or more, then giving the recipient half the amount in cash and the store keeping the other half. Little or no goods would actually be purchased in the transactions, authorities said. Despite the arrests, the business remained open late Wednesday afternoon. Employees declined comment, however, referring questions to the owner. The arrests were the result of a six-month investigation by the Schenectady Police Department, Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office, Schenectady County Department of Social Services and United States Department of Agriculture. The programme allegedly defrauded was the USDA’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Programme. City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen noted the purpose of the programme is to help the needy purchase food. “Instead,” Kilcullen said, “cash was obtained and potentially used for purposes
entirely contrary to the purpose of the programme. The cost of the abuse is staggering.” Assistant Schenectady County District Attorney Katie McCutcheon estimated that in recent months the store rang up between $50,000 and $75,000 each month in food stamp transactions. By comparison, other stores of similar size in the area usually do between $5,000 and $8,000 per month in such sales. Food stamp records, as well as information from community sources, helped alert investigators to the scam, McCutcheon said. “It was a high, high volume of transactions, well exceeding anything we would expect for the area,” McCutcheon said. Also assisting in the operation was the Schenectady County Probation Department and Child Protective Services and the state Division of Parole, Department of Taxation and Finance, Department of Financial Services and Office of Temporary Disability Assistance. Authorities specifically cited work done by social services investigator Keith Feldman and city police Detectives Jeffrey Pardi and Paul Steele.
From page 21 electrocardiograms (ECG) and the implanting of defibrillators. But even as CHI works in collaboration with the GPHC to offer cardiac care, Dr Carpen is adamant that any attempt to decentralise and
offer such services at a regional level, efforts must first be made to take into account the critical component of personnel. “I don’t think that we are adequately trained as yet and we don’t have the volume of people to decentralise
cardiology as yet.” In light of this state of affairs, Dr Carpen and his CHI team made the bold move to take cardiac care to Berbice, an area from which a great volume of the heart cases seen at CHI originate. Dr Carpen also hails from the Ancient County. Venued at the Anamayah Memorial Hospital, clinic is held at least once per month and according to Dr Carpen close to 25 patients are seen with a five-hour period. The first such clinic was held earlier this year and the Medical Director disclosed too that similar plans are being streamlined for Linden, Bartica and the Essequibo Coast.
CHI to offer quality care with “no...