Healing Waters encourages vets to tie flies and start casting

By MIKE CAMPBELL
mcampbell@adn.com

Published: October 25th, 2010 10:38 PM
Last Modified: October 26th, 2010 05:44 AM

It began, oddly enough, fly fishing near Saddam Hussein's palace in Iraq.

That's where Staff Sgt. Michael Henrie of Elmendorf Air Force Base was stationed in late 2008. In stocked waters around the palace and in the Eurphrates River swam carp-like fish. Some troops managed to secure gear from donor stores in the U.S., and before long, Henrie was casting.

"We signed out some fishing poles and went fishing in the desert," he said. "Fishing while you're wearing a Kevlar vest and a helmet with Apache helicopters overhead is a unique and inspiring thing."

Not long afterward, Henrie heard about Project Healing Waters, founded in 2005 by Navy captain Ed Nicholson while he was recovering at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. The program encourages mentally or physically injured veterans to tie flies and cast in nearby lakes and streams.

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Healing Waters encourages vets to tie flies and start casting

Feds consider limiting potatoes offered to kids

Feds consider limiting potatoes offered to kids

GLEED, Wash. (AP) — Potato growers say the spud is being unfairly singled out by healthy food advocates.

After a recommendation by the Institute of Medicine, the federal Women, Infants and Children program approved an interim rule that bars participants from buying potatoes with their federal dollars. Potatoes are the only vegetable not allowed.

The institute, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, also has recommended that the U.S. Department of Agriculture-backed school lunch program limit use of potatoes.