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Part II of our look back at a few of the people whose stories graced this column in 2007.

Unfriendly fire: In October, disabled Army veteran James Morris was struggling with massive infections and a dangerous blood clot, which he says were the result of poor treatment at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Albuquerque.

His right knee, blown apart while he was on active duty, ballooned with pus because of the apparently shoddy work done screwing the knee back together.

That led to five emergency visits, perilously high fevers, punctured veins, the aforementioned blood clot, plenty of pain and frustration and a festering washer from one of the screws inadvertently left in the knee - all documented in a two-inch-thick stack of medical records.

The VA had refused to pay for Morris to go elsewhere to fix the problem, and Morris wasn't about to let them have another go at him.

But now to the good news.

Finally, the VA agreed to send Morris to another military hospital in Phoenix, and on Dec. 6 the infected washer was removed, along with bone that had grown over the offending metal.

He still takes antibiotics to ward off bone infections, and he might be at risk from that even years from now, he said. The clot is being treated with a blood thinner.

While he might not yet be able to play sports, Morris can write about them. He started a new job as a weekly fantasy sports columnist for the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz basketball teams on Rotorob.com.

"Nothing like having an Albuquerquean stepping up and making it to the pros," he said.

He's still hoping, though, to make it back to good health.

"I can barely walk and both my knees are still shot," he said. "But if I can get to where I don't need the crutches just to walk to my mailbox and back, I will be happy."

Advocate for the forsaken: Christy Armell thought she was doing the noble thing by standing up against the death penalty and for those on Death Row.

Even those accused of murder, she said, are humans, too, and deserve humane treatment.

But when she aligned herself with Michael Paul Astorga - a man accused of killing a Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy, and who is at the center of a New Mexico battle over the death penalty and is arguably one of the most despised men in the state - Armell started finding herself on the inhumane treatment side of things.

She and her 14-year-old daughter attended Astorga's hearings this month and sat with his family as a show of protest against the death penalty, not necessarily in support of Astorga.

But she, Astorga's family members and others that day in state District Judge Neil Candelaria's courtroom say they were treated like criminals - not allowed to whisper; to move; to stay to await Astorga's attorney, Gary Mitchell, once the proceedings were over.

Armell said she had to leave the courtroom for a drink of water to quell a coughing jag and was not allowed back in, nor was she allowed to retrieve her daughter and her belongings.

She's been warned by other inmate rights activists that she is putting herself at risk for aligning herself with Astorga. Essentially, she can support the rights of the accused bad guys, just not that bad guy.

"I feel like I'm trying to do something good, and I get no support for it," she said. "When did it become a crime to stand up for what I believe in, to be nice to another human or to offer assistance to someone in need?"

Welcome to New Mexico.

Joy out of sorrow: It's been a tough year for the Shirm family. First, the former meth-dealer accused of killing youngest sister Jennifer Lynn Shirm in 1985 was sentenced not for her death but for unrelated drug charges.

Murder charges had been dropped earlier because of insufficient evidence. Shirm's case remains unsolved 27 years later.

Then in October, oldest sister Judy Webb was attacked in a shoplifting incident at the John Brooks grocery store she manages. Few expected her to survive the severe brain injury she sustained.

Brothers Anthony and Leonard Lopez are awaiting trial in her assault.

Now comes word that Webb, 66, is not only surviving but talking and walking with assistance in a rehab center out of state. She has a long way to go, but things are looking brighter for a family who has endured much and received so little justice in return.