OMAHA, Neb. -- A local soldier who helped defend freedom in Iraq needs a little help himself. James Lathan Jr., 27, was paralyzed from the neck down when shrapnel from a mortar hit him in the back of the neck. Wednesday, his family and friends are holding a fund-raiser dinner to help build a ramp to his home. Lathan is in a VA hospital in Boston. His wife, Amy Lathan, said that considering what he's been through, her husband is doing very well. "He's always joking and laughing. He's able to get up in a wheelchair now," she said. "He...