Monday, June 13, 2011
** South Australia plans full service funeral for paramedic who died mysteriously during US vacation
** Search continues for US Army medic who disappeared in Utah
AUSTRALIA NEWS
** South Australia ambulance brass are planning a full service funeral for paramedic Russel Liston who died June 1 while on holiday in the United States. That is the word from the Sunday Mail (Emily Watkins/June 12) which said Liston passed away after falling from his Santa Monica, California hotel balcony. According to the newspaper, Liston, 34, was vacationing in the state before taking up work in Canada. Police said they were uncertain as to why he fell, but indicated he was alone in his room around 2 a.m. when the incident happened. A coroner’s report, meanwhile, has deemed the death an accident.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Volunteers in Utah continue to search for a US Army combat medic who disappeared May 8. The Associated Press (Lynn Debruin/June 11) said Spc. Joseph Bushling, who was working as an EMT at the Dugway Proving Ground, was apparently out of gas and shoeless when he last spoke with a fellow soldier via cell phone. According to the newspaper, the remote Dugway site, built in 1942, studies chemical and biological warfare. Bushling’s father said he is concerned his son may have become lost and died of exposure, or may have happened upon one of the gases or ordinance at the site. Set to travel to Colorado’s Fort Carson on the day he vanished, Bushling was on the verge of starting a new career as a Texas nurse. Along with private searches, attempts to find out what happened to him are being conducted by the military police, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, as well as a handful of federal and state organizations. Bushling’s younger brother took his own life last year.
