Post by Woody Williams on Aug 20, 2007 11:05:38 GMT -5
Tennesseans come to aid of disabled vet in Buffalo,NY
By Bob Hodge (Contact)
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The story about how a bow hunter from Buffalo, N.Y., is getting to hunt a hog in Texas — thanks to folks from Tennessee — gets its start in Iraq.
It was Nov. 8, 2004, and Cpl. Mark O’Brien, 65 days into his second tour of duty in the war zone, was one of four Marines in a firefight with insurgents in the town of Ramadi. The Marines were under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades were coming close but not hitting the Humvee O’Brien was in.
Three RPGs did little but exploded and caused no damage. The fourth found its way inside the Humvee. A metal piercing round, the grenade came through the Humvee’s door and literally landed on the then 21-year-old Marine.
O’Brien’s life changed forever the second it exploded.
His wounds were so bad that the corpsman who kept him alive during the fight was awarded a Bronze Star with a V for valor.
The corpsman saved O’Brien’s life, but military surgeons could not save his right arm and right leg.
Fast forward a couple of years and O’Brien is at home going through rehabilitation after getting prosthetic limbs at Walter Reed Hospital. One of his goals is to get back into archery hunting with his dad, and since he is unable to use a compound bow, he wants to take advantage of a New York law that allows disabled hunters to use a crossbow.
The problem is he’s not disabled enough.
Forty-nine of the fifty states have either legalized crossbows outright or have provisions for their use by hunters with disabilities. But in New York the rules are so rigid that if you can pull a trigger you can’t hunt with a crossbow.
O’Brien approached the state legislature to get the law changed, his fight making the newspapers and eventually becoming a topic of conversation on the popular hunting website Tndeer.com.
“That’s how we learned about Mark,” said Todd Smelser, founder of the Knoxville-based Disabled Sportsmen of America. “New York State has told him no repeatedly, so we contacted him and told him we have a hog hunt in Texas we would like to take him on if he was willing.”
On Sept. 8 DSA and Eagle’s Wings Archery in Lenoir City are hosting a benefit archery tournament to raise the final $3,000 needed to get O’Brien and his dad to Tyler, Texas. Since March DSA has raised $7,000 at auctions, cookouts and other events, and is hoping the tournament puts them over the top and O’Brien in Texas.
“As Volunteers living in Tennessee we thought this was a way to step up and help a young man because of what he sacrificed for our country,” Smelser said.
The benefit tournament will begin at 9 a.m. and the entry fee is $20 for ages 11 and older. More than $1,000 in door prizes are going to be given away, not including a distance shot that will have a prize of a Whisper Creek Archery Innovator Bow.
“The hunt in Texas is going to be all expenses paid,” Smelser said. “That’s airfare, food, lodging, the whole nine yards.”
O’Brien, who’s in college majoring in history, isn’t done with Tennesseans once he’s done hunting hogs in Texas.
Smelser said the plan is for him to come to Tennessee in December and hunt deer with his dad. DSA has a lease in Stewart County, but hunters across the state have offered land to Smelser’s organization for not only O’Brien but other disabled hunters looking for a place to hunt.
When the Marine comes to Tennessee he can use a crossbow given to him by Ohio’s Horton Manufacturing. Not only did Horton, a DSA sponsor, set him up with new gear, employees at the company passed the hat and the money collected will help cover the costs of him getting to Texas.
Because of his rehabilitation schedule O’Brien won’t be in Lenoir City the day of the fundraiser. His fight to use a crossbow in New York is ongoing and a state senator has proposed legislation that would change the law and create a crossbow season in 2009.
Resistance to the change is coming from a surprising place.
“The people pushing against the law are traditional bow-hunting groups,” Smelser said.
Those people need to jump on the Internet and read the stories written about the day that changed Mark O’Brien’s life.
Do that and you can’t help but hope the story ends with New York changing its law.
Bob Hodge covers outdoors. He may be reached at 865-342-6314.
www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/aug/19/tennesseans-come-to-aid-of-disabled-vet-in/
By Bob Hodge (Contact)
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The story about how a bow hunter from Buffalo, N.Y., is getting to hunt a hog in Texas — thanks to folks from Tennessee — gets its start in Iraq.
It was Nov. 8, 2004, and Cpl. Mark O’Brien, 65 days into his second tour of duty in the war zone, was one of four Marines in a firefight with insurgents in the town of Ramadi. The Marines were under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades were coming close but not hitting the Humvee O’Brien was in.
Three RPGs did little but exploded and caused no damage. The fourth found its way inside the Humvee. A metal piercing round, the grenade came through the Humvee’s door and literally landed on the then 21-year-old Marine.
O’Brien’s life changed forever the second it exploded.
His wounds were so bad that the corpsman who kept him alive during the fight was awarded a Bronze Star with a V for valor.
The corpsman saved O’Brien’s life, but military surgeons could not save his right arm and right leg.
Fast forward a couple of years and O’Brien is at home going through rehabilitation after getting prosthetic limbs at Walter Reed Hospital. One of his goals is to get back into archery hunting with his dad, and since he is unable to use a compound bow, he wants to take advantage of a New York law that allows disabled hunters to use a crossbow.
The problem is he’s not disabled enough.
Forty-nine of the fifty states have either legalized crossbows outright or have provisions for their use by hunters with disabilities. But in New York the rules are so rigid that if you can pull a trigger you can’t hunt with a crossbow.
O’Brien approached the state legislature to get the law changed, his fight making the newspapers and eventually becoming a topic of conversation on the popular hunting website Tndeer.com.
“That’s how we learned about Mark,” said Todd Smelser, founder of the Knoxville-based Disabled Sportsmen of America. “New York State has told him no repeatedly, so we contacted him and told him we have a hog hunt in Texas we would like to take him on if he was willing.”
On Sept. 8 DSA and Eagle’s Wings Archery in Lenoir City are hosting a benefit archery tournament to raise the final $3,000 needed to get O’Brien and his dad to Tyler, Texas. Since March DSA has raised $7,000 at auctions, cookouts and other events, and is hoping the tournament puts them over the top and O’Brien in Texas.
“As Volunteers living in Tennessee we thought this was a way to step up and help a young man because of what he sacrificed for our country,” Smelser said.
The benefit tournament will begin at 9 a.m. and the entry fee is $20 for ages 11 and older. More than $1,000 in door prizes are going to be given away, not including a distance shot that will have a prize of a Whisper Creek Archery Innovator Bow.
“The hunt in Texas is going to be all expenses paid,” Smelser said. “That’s airfare, food, lodging, the whole nine yards.”
O’Brien, who’s in college majoring in history, isn’t done with Tennesseans once he’s done hunting hogs in Texas.
Smelser said the plan is for him to come to Tennessee in December and hunt deer with his dad. DSA has a lease in Stewart County, but hunters across the state have offered land to Smelser’s organization for not only O’Brien but other disabled hunters looking for a place to hunt.
When the Marine comes to Tennessee he can use a crossbow given to him by Ohio’s Horton Manufacturing. Not only did Horton, a DSA sponsor, set him up with new gear, employees at the company passed the hat and the money collected will help cover the costs of him getting to Texas.
Because of his rehabilitation schedule O’Brien won’t be in Lenoir City the day of the fundraiser. His fight to use a crossbow in New York is ongoing and a state senator has proposed legislation that would change the law and create a crossbow season in 2009.
Resistance to the change is coming from a surprising place.
“The people pushing against the law are traditional bow-hunting groups,” Smelser said.
Those people need to jump on the Internet and read the stories written about the day that changed Mark O’Brien’s life.
Do that and you can’t help but hope the story ends with New York changing its law.
Bob Hodge covers outdoors. He may be reached at 865-342-6314.
www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/aug/19/tennesseans-come-to-aid-of-disabled-vet-in/
