Category Archives: Veterans Benefits

Veterans Benefits

Military Chaplains Are Often Wounded Healers

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I am a Chaplain and have had to address the demons of War on many a dark night of the soul.  As a member of the International Council of War Ministers and a recent attendee at one of their annual Retreats, I can testify to the need to have the validation and support we provide for each other. No one is immune from war.
Returning Military Chaplains Face Special Challenges
Emotional Wounds May Run Deeper, Minister Warns


Among the thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan coming home by the end of the year, about 450 are military chaplains, most serving in the U.S. Army. Their experience in the field is unique among soldiers, so when they return they may face unique emotional burdens.

Armed with only their faith and a calling to help others, they serve alongside troops in the battlefield, notes Tony Scott Macauley, an ordained minister, former U.S. Army Ranger and author of A Dream Before Dying (www.adreambeforedying.com <http://www.adreambeforedying.com> ).

“They’re subject to the same emotional and physical injuries as the soldiers they’re there to serve,” says Macauley, whose novel follows a young U.S. Army chaplain to Vietnam in 1967. “Sometimes the stress can be even greater because they have to balance their very deep-rooted sense of duty with a need to guard their own safety.”

The intensity of a faith that prompts a person to put him- or herself in harm’s way in order to comfort others can lead to profound feelings of guilt, even self-doubt, in the aftermath.

Frequently, chaplains face Iraqi and Afghan civilians approaching them in apparent distress, crying and pleading for help. Do they follow their instincts to aid the person or do they hold back, knowing he or she may be an explosives-laden enemy decoy? Depending on the outcome, it’s a decision that might haunt any moral person but can be especially traumatic for one committed to serve in a faith capacity.

Army chaplains do not carry weapons, Macauley points out. They’re accompanied by an armed, unordained chaplain assistant whose job it is to protect them.

However, chaplains do get wounded. In Afghanistan, U.S. Army Chaplain Capt. Dale Goetz died in action in 2010 after the convoy he was traveling in was struck by an improvised explosive device. In 2009, a chaplain died five years after suffering massive injuries caused by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Maj. Henry Vakoc suffered a fatal fall at the nursing home where he lived because of the extent of his war injuries.

“The danger is as real for chaplains as it is for the soldiers they serve. They’re wherever the soldiers are, including on the battlefield,” Macauley says. “But they carry no weapon and, in fact, they can be subject to censure if they grab a weapon and try to defend themselves.”

A new moral difficulty for some chaplains occurred in September when the Army repealed its “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexuals.

“For those whose faith says homosexuality is a sin, it poses a huge problem,” Macauley says. “Are they now required to deny a tenet of their faith? Part of their role in the military is to teach – to provide a source of faith for soldiers. What happens if they teach that homosexuality is a sin? What happens when a gay couple seeks counseling?”

As chaplains return from wartime service, Macauley says, many will need the sort of support and understanding they have provided others for so long. Surprisingly, it may be especially difficult for this particular group to ask for that.

“When you’re the one people turn to for help and guidance, it can be very hard to seek it for yourself,” he says.

About Tony Scott Macauley


Tony Scott Macauley is a non-denominational ordained Christian minister. He’s a former U.S. Army Ranger who served with 1/75 and 3/75 Ranger Battalions and worked as an instructor and trainer at the Department of the Army Ranger School. He resigned from the military in 1990. His novel, A Dream Before Dying, combines his love of the Bible and his passion for the military in a time-travel fantasy.

If you would like to run the above article, please feel free to do so. I am able to provide images if you would like some to accompany it. If you’re interested in interviewing Tony Scott Macauley for a feature/Q&A or having him write an exclusive article for you, let me know and I’ll gladly work out details. Lastly, please let me know if you’d be interested in receiving a copy of his book, A Dream Before Dying, for possible review.

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News and Experts
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Veterans Benefits

Transcript of Agent Orange Teleconference

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This data and transcript has been provided my a retired Air Force Major by the name of Wes Carter. I encourage the readers feedback and corrections if so deemed.  The truth of Agent Orange took 30 years to surface. The probability of more transparency is  high.

VA Teleconference re: C-123 & Agent Orange

Conference with iVA Officials Held 1100 Hrs 27 Oct

We had our conference with the VA’s Environmental Health and Benefits Administration folks today, and boy, I got handed my head on a plate.

But most graciously! Thanks to Brooks Tucker, Sen. Burr’s staffer and Mr. Carter Moore from the VA’s Congressional Liaison Office, Dr. Michael Peterson, Chief of the VA’s Environmental Health and Mr. Jim Sampsel of the Veterans Benefits Office, supported by many of their very knowledgeable professionals, discussed with the wide range of C-123 Agent Orange issues. Bottom line: they feel we have no basis for argument.

For over an hour these folks explained the finer details of dioxin exposure and answered, with grace and patience, my layman’s questions. It was great to learn that Dr. Peterson is a retired AF 06, Brooks and Carter are combat veterans, and Dr. Wendy Dick of Peterson’s staff is herself a “tanker doc”…former AF flight surgeon.

Dr. Peterson noted that I’d developed the same type cancer as my father and that familial history plays a role, meaning medical issues. I interjected that indeed it does…my family has a familial history of beingwarriors and that I am more proud of that than worried about familial medical trends.


Are these nice folks against us? No, they are not. Not a single suggestion was made about how we can get help, other than to go back to the Air Force.

Are they going to help us? No. Not unless convinced of new scientific evidence, or in response to new laws, or in response to the Air Force stating that our aircraft were contaminated with dioxin when we flew and that we were contaminated thereby.

As followers of our blog know, we point to the 1994 AF study of Patcheswhich reports 100 of the swipe samples positive for dioxin, and describes Patches as “heavily contaminated.” Dr. Dick dismisses that with an explanation that samples were taken using solvents, and the hazmat precautions recommended were because restoration personnel were likely to be grinding metal and doing other dust-creating activities. She said she’d fly The Dumpster.

They were not receptive to our response that solvents were used to gather swipe samples because that was the testing protocol selected by the investigators back in 1994, not receptive to the argument that even our skin has solvents on it to which which dioxin would love to attach, or that dioxin-laden dust would be ingested from the dust constantly created in working the aircraft, in its vibration aloft, hard landings and other workaday causes.

Dr. Peterson explained, along with Mr. Sampsel, that the VA has to look at PROBABILITY. In big, capital letters. Unlike “boots on the ground” Vietnam veterans and Blue Water Navy vets, both of which groups have their presumptive exposure established by law, we must prove the probability that, not only were the aircraft contaminated, but that we were actually exposed thereby. That there was somehow physical introduction of dioxin into our bodies. A vector.

And that they maintain is a case yet to be made. The VA dismisses the 1994 Weisman-Porter study of Patches, saying it has no specific relevance to our 1972-1982 duty days (tests from the other years were not discussed).

I kept asking whether or not a veteran is obliged to prove only two points…dioxin contamination and Agent Orange presumptive illness, and I believe their negative answer is built around the big obstacle…probability. Not possibility.

My points offered: multiple AF tests stressing the aircraft being “heavily contaminated, extremely hazardous, extremely dangerous, extremely contaminated” and “a threat to public health”. Two authors of four reports the VA provided us stated, yesterday by telephone, that no inference could be drawn one way or the other regarding aircrew exposure 1972-1982, leaving most of the cards on the table being the Air Force’s own tests.

It seems to boil down to the Air Force. We’d hoped to have two very knowledgeable experts join the teleconference to explain what they earlier told me was their continuing belief that their tests had relevance to our aircrew exposure years earlier. The two gentlemen did not call in to participate. We were offered the skillful and generous support of Dr. Fred Berman, head of the Toxicology Department of Oregon Health Sciences University.

Dr. Berman has spent months studying the Air Force reports and written the Secretary of the Air Force that aircrew dioxin exposure aboard the C-123 was “most likely.” Not just possible or theoretical, but MOST LIKELY. Columbia University School of Public Health and others concur.

This hour-long conference concluded with an understanding that the next move belongs to the Air Force. Without DOD stating that the crews were aboard dioxin-contaminated aircraft, VA won’t budge towards service-connection. Without the Air Force stating that their tests “most likely” indicate the probability of aircrew exposure, the VA sticks with its view that no exposure happened.

So remember, dear readers, that the Air Force (Secretary of the Air Force as well as Surgeon General of the Air Force) has directed us to turn to the VA to get help on our C-123 aircrew dioxin exposure. The VA has told us to turn to the Air Force to get help on our C-123 aircrew dioxin exposure. Catch 22.

That’s right…there’s only one catch: Catch 22. The VA would consider allowing us Agent Orange medical care if the AF says we’ve been exposed. The AF says “Go talk to the VA!”

Yossarian – frustrated C-123 flyer!

When Brooks Tucker asked if the VA and AF were talking, there seemed to have been such conversations. When I asked if the VA would directly solicit an Air Force response, that wasn’t of interest.

If only we’d had the authors of the Patches study on the phone with us. Hopefully, we can ask for their input, then ask the AF to stand behind all the reports that Brooks and the School of Aerospace Medicine have done over the years.

The folks from the VA are extremely experienced at dealing with Agent Orange issues. One gets the feeling they are expert enough to construct a truthful argument one way or the other if they wanted to. They have decades of background, not only in their professions, but in explaining to Congress and veterans the whys and wherefores of dioxin exposure. They can always toss bigger missiles against us.

So we turn back to AFRC/CC General Stenner and the AF Chief of Staff and ask that they not leave our flyers alone in this struggle. Air Force, get behind us, ask the report authors to explain the relevance of their studies to aircrew exposure, and simply get VA to designate “boots on the airplane” as adequate presumptive eligibility for our crews!

—
Wes Carter

Department of Defense, Disabled American Veterans, Military Chaplains, OIF/OEF, Pentagon, Veteran Legislative Update, Veteran Pals, Veteran Statistics, Veterans Benefits, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Veterans' Spouses, Partners & Families, Vietnam Veterans of America

IRS And Insurance Companies Not So Friendly To Disabled Veterans

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Here is the scenario.  A soldier serves in war time.  They were once game-fully employed. They return injured and often become un-employable.  Many are relegated to the 100% Disabled Permanent and Total status.  While they await that rating, which could be several years in the coming, they may work to the best of their ability.  By the time the rating is granted they may well owe taxes. However the compensation they now receive from the Veterans Administration is exempt from any levy by way of the CFR Title 38.

That soldier may well have attempted to make an Offer-In- Compromise to the IRS.  That agency has never been staffed well enough to answer the requests in a timely fashion, and will often change the rules midstream.  Life is dynamic. Income is not a static state.  The one time earning ability of that soldier is now compromised for life, making the offer in compromise invalid once the disability claim is processed. That soldier will frequently have no assets to speak of that will accrue to his or her benefit.

So the question is this…why in the world does the IRS place liens on our nations disabled veterans who have permanent 100% ratings for the balance of their mortal life?  They are no longer permitted to earn any monies outside the compensation that is granted them.

So they have just been punished and sent to debtors prison for having served their country and placed themselves in harms way to defend the very system from which the IRS derives its existence. They are awarded a scarlett  “L” for Lien for the balance of their life. It will follow their children to the grave.

Cruel? Inhumane? You choose the adjective you like, but I say it should be known from shore to shore and be the source of some pretty hefty moral outrage.

When you have hundreds of convoluted,conniving and outright dishonest tax schemes and strategies implemented by the uber wealthy, then this relegation of our combat veterans looks pretty damn bad. With all the paid in advance for bitching about taxes, this year will be one of the best since the 1930’s for this set of elite tax dodging Americans.  The effective tax rate for these titans of commerce will be about 17%. For the next 1.4 million people who make up the top 1% of taxpayers, the rate will be about 23%. The lowest in nearly  60 years!

The kicker! Many have made their fortunes off two wars that are now longer than the Vietnam war. The profiteering is staggering.  Yet a 100% Disabled veterans cannot by granted tax amnesty.  That is reserved for the likes of  Donald Trump, Philip Anschutz and thousands of Fortune 50o executives who have the loot to play the game of Trust Freezes and Option Options and Friendly Partner tax schemes.  Parker Brothers should patent these strategies as games, so we can teach our children how to cheat with clandestine tactics to never pay a dime in taxes.  And the vet has to worry about renting an apartment or  his or her employer seeing a lien on their credit report.

Anyone peeved yet? Well please ask your Congress person to address this before the 2o12 election.  There are 22 million of us, I think we can make a difference.

 

Now that we got that off our chest, here is the next one.

Did you know that a veteran of war who acquires the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,(PTSD), cannot get a Life Insurance policy? And I do not mean a rapacious term policy that is only a capital call for the insurance industry. I mean a straight up whole life policy like the VA grants to its disabled veterans, but only for a maximum of $20,000.00.

The industry has this notion that the life span of PTSD veterans is shortened. Do they not watch those 93 year old  World War ll veterans on the History Channel?  I have asked 5 major insurers to provide me with the epidemiological studies  that corroborate this finding of their actuaries. None have responded.  Knights of Columbus declined to answer why, and a John Hancock agent just commiserated with me  and agreed that is was sad.  USAA, who do a stellar job with veterans  does have a product, but not very attractive pricing.

One thing that is missing in their decision tree, is consideration of the cohort groups that have sought and completed treatment programs that are now considered to be quite successful in ameliorating symptoms of war if caught early enough.

I had one financial maven tell me to just advise the veteran to lie. “Do not release your VA medical records,” he said.  If asked if you have an insurance policy, say no…the VA is not a policy!  I do not advise this, but it shows the gravity and injustice of a system that gives lip service to veterans but does not walk the walk.

The number of veterans with head injuries that are permanent has increased by 240% over the past 9 years.  These combatants will not be in the conventional work force ever again.  One Marine suggested, “head injuries are the weapon of mass destruction sent home.” Wow, tears.

But, do you think they may owe some taxes? I say clean the slate for them, implement some realistic patriotism, and go get the loot from Exon and General Electric.

So how is this for the “Support The Troops” movement?

This blog is titled Veteran Veritas, meaning, Truth. Sometimes it is not so comfortable.

Veterans Benefits

Why You Should Be Proud To Be A Vietnam Veteran

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You served your country in tumultuous and chaotic times when it was not popular to serve our nation.  68% of you enlisted.

You were the best educated fighting force our nation had ever sent to combat. Seventy-two percent of you had a high school diploma or better.  Virtually no College athletic teams have that ratio.

You grunts served more time in combat than any soldier of any war. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 24o days of combat engagement during a twelve or thirteen month tour of duty. The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War ll saw approximately 44 days of combat in four years.

Your service in Vietnam developed the air mobile concept–the extensive use of helicopters for transport, logistical support, medvac, reconnaissance and fire support.  Your service in Vietnam also assisted in the development of new tactics, weapons and means of communication, and new and improved procedures in emergency medicine that saved lives. Less than 1% of Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. As a result a modern day soldier can be triaged faster that most local hospitals.

Your service in Vietnam defeated the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army major offensives during Tet of 68 and 69. You won.

Your service prevented Communism from taking over all of Southeast Asia. Ho Chi Minh was a Nationalist more than a communist. Some say he was ingenious enough to use them. They are now business partners and the source of precious resources including one of the best kept secrets in the world….oil off the South China sea shores. The Phillipines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore (our creditor) and Thailand stayed free of Communism. You WON the war to save most all of South East Asia.

In December of 1972, the massive bombing of North Vietnam, ugly and necessary, compelled the North Vietnamese to sign the Paris Peace accords in January of 1973.  You WON the war then.

Saigon was overrun by the North Vietnamese Army on April 30th, 1975, two years after the U.S. Military left Vietnam. As the saying of Nam Vets goes..”we were winning when I left.”

You kept your wits about you when a nation shunned you and doled out some pretty shabby treatment. 

You are now the light at the end of tunnel and some of the most refined leaders America has ever known. You know things that can save us.

You are all Heroes of the highest order for you service in Vietnam. Welcome Home!

Happy Veterans Day.

 

statistics provided by Colonel Joe Abodeely U.S. Army Retired.

Veterans Benefits

Pima County Bond Money Home Loan Program FHA/VA Loans

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For a limited time only there is 2.99% interest on a 30 year fixed loan for first time home buyers or veterans. The income limits are attractive. For a family of two or less it is $71,520.00.

The maximum home loan purchase price is, $288,277.00

Eligible properties are new, existing, townhomes, affixed manufactured  homes located in Pima County and City of Tucson.

First time home buyers are defined as those who have not owned a home in the past three years.

Veterans are not required to be first time home-buyers.

The program is sponsored by the Industrial Development Authority of the City of Tucson and Pima County.

 

For help in locating homes that qualify contact Steve Sisson with Century 21 Heritage Real Estate.   520-241-0091  email;  “steve7978@msn.com”

Veterans Benefits

Rep. Darrell Issa Goes Postal Veterans Unite

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Some days it is painful to be registered as a non-partisan voter.  It began in my seminary bound days and stuck.  Even though Dante said, “the hottest places in hell are reserved for the neutral,” I have managed to keep some form of equanimity and objectivity by not caving in to crude, dumbed down, disassociated from reality party politics.

The food fights amongst the duopoly are  worse then ever, and they are not cleaning the kitchen afterward.

Sometimes you just got to call it the way you see it, and I see this Postal Service reform bill for what it is;  a clan of shills preparing the way for a private sector hostile take over, completely contrary to their free market economy mantra.  If  McCain and Issa do not have someone in the wings preparing  to be gifted the USPS, then call me paranoid. But wait two years before leveling your opinion.  The new Capitalism is gimmick capitalism.  Few are making money the old fashion way by earning it, ergo, Wall Street.

The United Postal Service has been one the most reliable employers of veterans for 50 years.  They currently have many reservists in their employ. What happens to these men and women when they return from war to a reformulated organization that now has an underemployed and part time staff? What happens to their families?  What happens to their health care? What level of enforcement is there for the Federal law that mandates that these veterans must be restored to their old positions and pay grade prior to be called to duty? The ripple effect will be so immense when added to the Occupy Wall Street movement, that it may well be the tipping point that leads to outright revolution.  Wrong time Issa.  And, now we know for sure that Senator McCain is  a veteran Uncle Tom.

What happens to the risk pool when you remove this number of employees from their current health care. It literally alters the entire economies of scale, making health care more expensive.  Oh crap, now I get it.. they can blame the increase in unemployment and rising health care costs on the President.   Nifty huh?

See what I mean by gimmick capitalism? Quite the paradox, getting rich off unemployment. Because if you loose your health care and have to start over, it costs more.

What happens to all the leases  and fee title real estate the USPS has obligations to for 30-50 years out? What happens to the already struggling landlords of these properties?

Years ago they sold a massive amount of their  obsolete equipment to China. Are we now looking at a postage stamp that will read, made in China?

Us Vietnam veterans are not real enamored  with this China thing. Remember, they supplied the North Vietnamese with the  weapons and supplies that put 58,000 men on the Wall. This duplicity has a bit more gravity than the actions of Jane Fonda. Grudge? No, just an accurate  memory.

What happens to our rural areas that are already on the edge? How will they and the small businesses, that the GOP proclaims are the backbone of America, be served?

Is this some sinister plot to get our citizens to move into metropolitan areas so as to be the perfect consumers?  China would like that.  If we no longer need rural America for food, textiles, forests and fuel, we can just start importing all of our essentials.  I see the envelopes and boxes for delivery coming from China.

In the literal sense a shill is a charade acting as an innocent bystander.  These Senators are shills squared, as they will never be at the effect of what they are causing. You just have to ask yourselves for whom they are doing the bidding?

Is this the sovereign America our men and women in uniform are defending?  Or is sovereignty now an antiquated concept?

All veterans who took an oath to uphold the Constitution, hopefully inherent of protecting our sovereign nation, should help block this legislation. It is part of the selling off of America that began in 2001.

 

 

Veterans Benefits

Retroactive Stop Loss Pay Deadline Nears

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Deadline to Apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay Nears
            The Oct. 21, 2011, deadline for eligible service members, veterans and their beneficiaries to apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay (RSLSP) is one month away.  The deadline was previously extended to allow those eligible more time to apply for the benefits they have earned under the program guidelines.
            “The nation has rallied behind this effort — the military services have been joined by the White House, Congress, the VA, veteran and military service organizations, and friends and family members around the world,” said Lernes Hebert, director of Officer and Enlisted Personnel Management.  “Despite these remarkable outreach efforts, some people may still not yet have applied.  If you think you are eligible, and have not yet applied, now is the time to do so.”
            Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay was established to compensate for the hardships military members encountered when their service was involuntarily extended under Stop Loss authority between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2009.  Eligible members or their beneficiaries may submit a claim to their respective military service in order to receive the benefit of $500 for each full or partial month served in a Stop Loss status.
            When RSLSP began on Oct. 21, 2009, the services estimated 145,000 service members, veterans and beneficiaries were eligible for this benefit.  Because the majority of those eligible had separated from the military, the services have engaged in extensive and persistent outreach efforts, to include multiple direct mailings, public service announcements, and continuous engagements with military and veteran service organizations, social networks and media outlets.
            To apply, or for more information on RSLSP, including submission requirements and service-specific links, go to http://www.defense.gov/stoploss .
God Bless
Jose M. Garcia PNC
National Service Officer
Catholic War Veterans,USA
josegarcia4@sbcglobal.net
Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
In God We Trust
Veterans Benefits

Caveat For Future Veteran Residents of Posada Del Sol

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With the population of aging baby boomer veterans, one of the largest in American history, it is well known by investors of all sorts that this is a future cash cow for Nursing Homes and Assisted Living facilities. It may be important to know who your Landlord will be.  This is no more than a press release and the reader will have to conduct their own further due diligence.  For the present, I will acquiesce to the work done by former Supervisor Ed Moore.  As always, our readers will have something to offer to either further or refute the veracity of this claim.

 

 

$1000 REWARD

 

At the August 15, 2011 meeting of the Pima County Board of
Supervisors, the following item was on the Agenda:

 

11. REAL PROPERTY – Unfinished Business (RM 8/2/11)

Award of Purchase Contract

Consent by the Board of Supervisors for Award of Purchase Contract for the sale of Posada del Sol Health Care Center located at 2250 N. Craycroft Road, Tax Parcel Nos. 121-05-0140, 0150, 016A, 017F and 017J, to Hunter Properties Investments, L.L.C, in the amount of $7,800,000.00.  The term of the sale is cash with a $500,000.00 deposit received as earnest money.

 

Information provided by staff to the Board of Supervisors included the memo dated August 2, 2011 from the County Administrator which stated:

 

“Recommendation:

I recommend accepting the bid of $7,800,000 from Hunter Property Investments, LLC.  They are the highest bidder to have satisfied the County’s minimum requirements and provide clearly demonstrated ability to promptly close on the transaction to purchase Posada del Sol.”

 

Among other memos from staff dealing with “Hunter” was the County Administrator’s recommendation dated August 15, 2011 which stated:

“Recommendation:

I recommend accepting the bid of $7,800,000 from Hunter Property Investments, LLC for the purchase of Posada del Sol Healthcare Center.”

 

The County Administrator made these recommendations after staff did their examination and due diligence on “Hunter”.  The Board of Supervisors accepted the “bid” from “Hunter”.

 

I paid for copies of the two highest bids received by Pima County for this purchase.  There was NO “BID” from Hunter Property Investments LLC. In other words, Pima County turned down a bid for $9,150,000 and, instead, awarded the purchase to Hunter Property Investments LLC for $7,800,000 – a company that had not submitted a bid. In my opinion, the reasons given by County staff for throwing out the higher bids actually received are suspect.

 

As a real estate broker for more than 40 years and a member of the Board of Supervisors for 12 years, I believe County staff involved with this purchase recommendation should have been laughed out of the building.

 

I know the members of the Board of Supervisors and I know that if staff had told them the truth, they would have awarded the purchase that was $1,350,000 higher.

 

To help expose the truth to our community, I will pay $1000 to the first person who can provide a copy of the bid from Hunter Property Investments LLC. It must be the bid voted on by Pima County.

 

In my opinion, this entire process has had a “Rio Nuevo” stink from the point of view of the staff and not the Board of Supervisors.   Any bid is public record and easily obtained.  Any County employee is eligible to earn the $1000 reward.

 

Supervisor Richard Elias is to be complimented for voting against this possibly rigged transaction.

 

Ed Moore

Former Pima County Supervisor and

Pima County taxpayer.

Veterans Benefits

Veterans At Work

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 For years, maybe ten or fifteen, I have often wondered what our daily living would be like without the millions of veterans, disabled included, that volunteer their time and talents to make the world a better place.  Time is clearly a commodity that is meted out to all  without discrimination.  It is only with time that we can implement the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Were I not a disabled veteran, I would not have the time to either write this blog, nor assist fellow vets with their claims.  My salary is zero.  And I love it that way.
> > As you open your pockets for the next natural disaster, please keep
> > these facts in mind:
> >
> >
> > � The American Red Cross President and CEO Marsha J. Evans
> > salary for the year was $651,957 plus expenses
> >
> >
> > � The United Way President Brian Gallagher receives a $375,000
> > base salary along with numerous expense benefits.
> >
> >
> > � UNICEF CEO Caryl M. Stern receives $1,200,000 per year (100k
> > per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE . Less than 5
> > cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause.
> >
> >
> > � The Salvation Army’s Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a
> > salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2
> > billion dollar organization. 96 percent of donated dollars go to the
> > cause.
> >
> >
> > � The American Legion National Commander receives a $0.00 zero
> > salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and
> > youth!
> >
> >
> > � The Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander receives a
> > $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their
> > families and youth!
> >
> >
> > � The Disabled American Veterans National Commander receives a
> > $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their
> > families and youth!
> >
> >
> > � The Military Order of Purple Hearts National Commander
> > receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and
> > their families and youth!
> >
> >
> > � The Vietnam Veterans Association National Commander receives
> > a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their
> > families and youth!
> >
> >
> > No further comment is necessary. Please share this with everyone you can.
Veterans Benefits

Veterans Love The Trolley

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You may be asking what this has to do with Veterans Affairs. Lots, if you know the history of transportation in America and its respect for veterans. One of the Old Pueblo Trolley cars, the “Belgian,” has medallions above several of the seats. They were placed there for World War l veterans, signifying they could ride for free if they sat in those seats.

As a trained Conductor for Old Pueblo Trolley, I used to invite tons of disabled veterans to come and ride with us on the weekends and I would just pay the tab. The camaraderie was tremendous and mingling with happy riders, including smiling children, was good for the vets. This will be nothing but nostalgia, like the Trolley itself, if they do not survive after the construction of the modern streetcar. Tucson has not been noted for its collective interest in preservation. Nor have the staff and volunteers had much recognition since its founding in 1983.

Few know that Old Pueblo Trolley has operated on an  all volunteer crew, inclusive of maintenance and restoration, since its inception. God bless you all, you have brought many fond memories to thousands of Tucsonans. The hope of your loyal riders is that we will be able to create more of those memories on the rails of the future

PRESS RELEASE

OLD PUEBLO TROLLEY SUSPENSION OF OPERATION

Revised as of 9-27-11

 

HISTORIC TROLLEY SUSPENDS OPERATION DURING MODERN STREETCAR CONSTRUCTION

 

LAST RIDES DURING OCTOBER

FREE RIDES ON HALLOWEEN FOR THOSE IN COSTUME

After 18 ½ years of serving the community, Old Pueblo Trolley’s operation of historic streetcars will be suspended at the end of October until construction of the modern streetcar project is finished.  Initial project work will provide an improved drainage system on 7th Street and 8th street necessitating removal of the track and overhead electric conductor in early November.  This work is scheduled to be followed by replacement of the single existing track and overhead on 4th Avenue and University Blvd. with new double track and overhead electric supply system.

Therefore, the last opportunity for the public to ride the historic trolley will be during the five weekends of October.  The schedule will remain the same as it has been – Friday evening from 6 p.m. to midnight., Saturday from noon to midnight, and Sunday afternoon from noon to 6 p.m.  Regular fares of $1.50 one-way, $3.00 round trip will be charged.  Also private charters for groups can be arranged during any week in October.

The month of last rides will be capped off with a special Halloween “last run” night on Monday, October 31, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.  Anyone in a Halloween costume will be given a free ride.

Old Pueblo Trolley looks forward to operating with the modern streetcar when it commences operation in 2013.  In preparation, volunteers will continue restoration and maintenance work on the trolleys.  Tours of the ongoing work at the trolley barn and of OPT’s historic bus restoration efforts can be arranged by appointment.  The public may also visit the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum and Locomotive 1673 at the historic depot, 414 N. Toole Avenue, Sunday and Tuesday thru Thursday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, or to charter the trolley, check the website – www.oldpueblotrolley.org, or call Tom Gorman at (520) 326-0377.