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IT’S OFFICIAL: First Lutheran changes name PAGE 11A
1968 or 2016: Memories of war compel vet to reach out BY DEBRA NEUTKENS EDITOR
When hellish flashbacks from war creep into his mind, Vietnam veteran Jerry Miron finds solace in an orange grove. His infantry unit came across the grove in 1968 on their way to a mission. The trees were full of large, juicy oranges. Miron recalls the commanding officer telling the unit to rest in the grove before continuing. "Where we're going, it's going to be hot and at least 20 percent of you guys won't be coming back," the commander said. "When things get rough, I go into that orange grove," Miron said over a cup of Chai in downtown White Bear Lake. The township resident has learned to compartmentalize in his mind the bad memories of war. Decades later, he credits the loving support of his family and sheer will to overcome the emotional battle scars that still haunt him. It took Miron 45 years to start talking about Vietnam and his post traumatic SEE PTSD DOCUMENTARY, PAGE 8A
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Army Veteran Jerry Miron served as a scout dog handler in Vietnam in 1968-69. He and his dog Rebel walked point ahead of infantry soldiers searching for hidden dangers. Rebel was an “unbelievable dog,” Miron said, and saved the lives of many soldiers.
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Jerry Miron accepted the Best Documentary for Audience Award on behalf of producer Tim VandeSteeg for “Iron Will: Veterans’ Battle with PTSD.” He was one of 38 veterans interviewed in the film and the only one from Minnesota.
Wetterling offers hope to other parents BY SARA MARIE MOORE VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS EDITOR
BIRCHWOOD — Less than two months after the Wetterling family's worst imaginable scenario came true — that Jacob was in fact sexually assaulted and killed — Patty Wetterling is telling other parents not to be afraid. Wetterling's message is hope in the midst of tragedy. “It's fear that tears people apart,” she said at a meeting in Birchwood, a community divided over a sex offender issue over the last year. “I know fear. I know how destructive and harmful it can be. Hope and information are empowering.” Fear is what gripped Birchwood about a year ago when the community faced the prospect of a Level 3 sex offender moving into the village to live with family members. At the notification meeting last fall, fear reigned. “People were terrified, bona fide scared,” said a resident, who saw the community become divided over the issue. “We have to open our hearts and get to know each other.” “The biggest thing is to knock away the fear,” Wetterling said. Over the last 27 years since her son went missing, she has chosen to believe that there are “still good people.” “I refused to let the man who took Jacob take everything else from me,” Wetterling said.
Wetterling became an advocate for child safety and helped get the sex offender registry and notification system passed in Minnesota and nationally in the ’90s. “That law has been amended repeatedly,” Wetterling said. Now, Wetterling advocates for balance in that law that would give some sex offenders a better second chance — when cities pass too many zoning restrictions, offenders can become homeless. “That doesn't help anybody at all,” Wetterling said. The original intent of the law was to give communities information, Wetterling said, not keep all sex offenders segregated from the rest of the state. “The reality is there are sex offenders in every community,” Wetterling said. She used to think sex offenders would always be sex offenders, but since 1989, she has learned a lot. “Statistically, most sex offenders don't re-offend,” she said. “Sex offenders are, first of all, people. Any one of us to succeed has to have, first of all, a place to live.” In her own experience in her family's search for what happened to her son Jacob — who disappeared in 1989 — the sex offender registry wouldn't have prevented their loss. “The top eight suspects, in the end, were not on SEE MESSAGE OF HOPE, PAGE 9A
PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
On their way to state Mahtomedi football team members run onto the field for the second half of their 50 – 27 playoff victory over SMB Friday, Nov. 4. The Zephyrs will face Mankato West in the first round of the 2016 State Football Tournament Saturday, Nov. 12 at Farmington High School. See story on page 2B.
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