Thought this might be of interest.  Old Middletown person living in Dallas.  I enjoy this Middletown site.

A wounded, retired military veteran and his family are still settling in at their brand-new house in Texas, thanks to the incredible kindness of various organizations, the city of Irving and the group Operation Finally Home.

On Monday,Operation Finally Home, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to building homes for wounded, ill or injured veterans and their families, helped welcome retired U.S. Army Maj. Eric King, his mother and his four children to the neighborhood and their new house.

The endeavor was a true community effort with even the city of Irving donating the land to build the home.

King, 39, said the act of kindness had inspired his children, daughter Jaidus, 19, and sons Eric, 18; Kendall, 9; and Emory, 1.

"It lets them know that what their dad may have done for our country is being recognized by all you great Americans, by gifting us as a family with a home," he said. "It is an inspiration to them to want to go out and do great things because when you do great things, you are rewarded."

King, a native of Marianna, Arkansas, served with the Arkansas Army National Guard and the Golden Lion Battalion Army ROTC at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice in May 2003. He was deployed overseas four times including Iraq, Afghanistan and West Africa.

Three of those deployments included three combat tours. According to Operation Finally Home, King suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury as well as a seizure disorder. He suffered from a spinal injury during combat that did nerve damage to his legs, Operation Finally Home said.

After 16 years of service, King was honorably and medically retired in 2016. He's working on staying healthy and motivating other military veterans who suffer from PTSD to reclaim their lives.

(ABC News)  U.S. Army Maj. Eric King, a wounded military veteran, said he was thankful to Operation Finally Home and the community that helped build his house.

The groundbreaking dedication for the Kings' new home occurred in July 2018. As the home was built, workers from the companies that participated in helping build the home wrote notes of love and support on the home's beams. It is the seventh mortgage-free home built by Operation Finally Home in that area.

I'm a homeowner and it's big thanks to Operation Finally Home and everybody else who had a hand in it.

After King and his family toured their new home Monday, he said the feeling was "just mind-blowing."

"I am grateful. I mean, this is my first, brand-new home," he said. "I think people went over and beyond. ... I never would have expected anyone to do this for me. ... To see all the great things that people have donated, the sponsors, the donors, the contributors, all that, to me it speaks volumes."

"Whenever I may feel like, cause I do from time to time, feel like that I am going back to a place that I don't want to go back to, this right here (will) let me know that there is still life for me to live," he said. "I have something to live for. ... It's priceless. ... This here is gonna help us to move forward again."

Operation Finally Home said that Dallas Builders Association and Winston Homes, along with NEC, City of Irving, Copart and several other supporters are honored to provide King and his family with a custom-built, mortgage-free home in Irving, Texas.

"This is part of the American dream: being a homeowner. I'm a homeowner and its big thanks to Operation Finally Home and everybody else who had a hand in it," King said.

Haveyou been watching PBS’s program “Vietnam War”? It’sextremely hard to watch. For those who are from that era it may betoo painful to watch at all.

But if,in your own mind, you can filter the parts that are so emotionallyunbearable; I think you will see an underlying problem that existstoday. The film maker, Ken Burns, has made it quite plain to me thatthis war was started, conducted and finally even ended for mainlypersonal political reasons.

Thetapes of White House meetings were most damning for all theadministrations involved. In short, I think they reveal that most(not all) of our politicians (right to the very top) considerthemselves, their personal image, personal gain, and power, moreimportant than anything else. Obviously the consequences forthe nation were dire. (The current international situation isscaring the h… out of me. Will we, can we survive more of this?)

Our political climate has not changed! If our federal government fosters such cancerous corruption, no wonder every little local politician and bureaucrat who is so inclined thinks they can do it too! And they are! See any parallels?

Today,9/22/2017, on the Dr. Oz Show a segment of the show addressed theopioid epidemic. In view of how deeply affected we are inMiddletown, this seemed worth consideration. The segment can beviewed on his website: http://www.doctoroz.com/

“IsMarijuana a Secret Weapon Against Heroin Addiction?”

“Canmedical marijuana help fight the national opioid crisis? Go behindthe scenes at a licensed cannabis cultivation facility with Dr. Ozand TV personality Montel Williams.”

Onthe show, MontelWilliams discusses his own addiction to prescription drugs (forchronic pain) andthe effective use of marijuana to beat the addiction. Forhim and a woman who gave a similar testimonial, the pain ofwithdrawal is quite bearable with the use of marijuana. Both of themhave chronic conditions, requiring pain management. Neither of themanylonger useaddictivepain killers. Instead they use a doctor prescribed, medicalmarijuana. Both of them said that without the marijuana they wouldstill be addicted or dead.

Dr.Oz said:

Asa doctor, one of my primary responsibilities is to alleviate pain,and I’m always on the lookout for new and more effectivetreatments. For years, we’ve used opiates to treat pain and todaywe are in the throes of an addiction epidemic. Each day the opioidcrisis sends over 1000 people to the emergency room and takes 91lives. Doctors need new pain medications that don't have the abilityto kill like opioids do.

Thispetition will be delivered to:

• National Institutes of Health

• President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis

• The petition is on his website.

• Ohio has legalized marijuana. Hypothetically, Middletown could cut in half, the cost of Narcan by treating addicts who enter the system as detainees with marijuana ...if (big if)they get clean and remain clean. Given the choice of going “cold turkey” and using marijuana for the pain of withdrawal looks like a no brainer to me.

• Hypothetically, Middletown could lower that cost even more if we had our own source/grower of medical marijuana.

• I’m expecting a lot of commentary on this. I hope so! Here’s where we could become a leader in finding solutions instead of being the problem. And the negative side of this is … who do we have in the city government to organize and implement such a thing? That’s a tough nut to crack, knowing how many screwed up current frivolous bureaucracies we have. I have my doubts already that no one will want to be involved or even have an interest.

Anotherthought … the first part of the program stressed citizenship … the importance of student involvement in their community, and alsoapplying what they learn in class to real life experiences.

IfMiddletown’s adult population had that sort of citizenship ethic,the city might be in much better social and financial shape.

Citizenscan expect to get a return on their efforts. But the majority ofMiddletown citizens are not paying attention to their own city’sdemise and are making no effort to stop it.

Nothingin. Nothing out.