Milwaukie businesses help keep vet's ride rolling

The explosion in Afghanistan that nearly killed U.S. Army MP Sgt. Edwin Claudio blew a crater 30 feet around and eight feet deep. It was a wonder that Claudio survived. Today, he's grateful to be alive and with his family this Christmas. Claudio was on his second tour of Afghanistan in February when he and another soldier were critically wounded in the explosion. Of the three soldiers in his truck, one of them did not survive. Claudio's injuries included two hairline fractures in his spine, which have since been fused with titanium rods, a shattered right knee cap, shattered left femur, puncture wound in one elbow, loss of peripheral vision, broken teeth and other injuries. After going through months of rehabilitation, Claudio, although wheelchair-bound, will regain the use of his right leg and will be able to drive. That's where Bernard's Garage in Milwaukie and seven other local vendors enter the picture. Before he was injured, Claudio was slowly restoring his ''dream car,'' a 1968 Barracuda. But after the explosion, he was airlifted to Madigan Hospital in Tacoma and he and his family were moved into disability housing at Ft. Lewis. Because they no longer had a place to keep the car, family friends Tony and Donna Ruland agreed to store the Barracuda in their Gladstone garage. Although the Claudios live on the Army base, his wife, Riki, grew up in Milwaukie, and graduated in 1996 from Rex Putnam High School. Her sister, Rika Conrey Warner, still lives in the area. Rika and the Rulands began to explore options to get the Barracuda repaired locally. A complete overhaul Warner eventually sent an email to Susan Lehr, president of the North Clackamas County Chamber of Commerce, who has business connections in the community, and finally word of the project came to John Sciarra, the operations manager at Bernard's Garage in Milwaukie, who jumped at the chance to take on the challenge. ''I gathered information from other shops in the area, gath