veterans

Rochester-based Veterans Outreach Center will be hosting three summits "for improving out veterans' reintegration system" on September 19, 20 and 26 in Rochester, Canandaigua and Batavia (see below for details). From the release:

This is a first-of-its-kind summit that will bring veterans, family members of veterans, and service providers together. The mission: improve upon the health and quality of life for service-members and their families post-Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and/or Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). To accomplish this, we will explore what it is we need, in terms of services and resources, to create a better system of reintegration for all.

Service members and their families are invited to attend, along with providers such as social workers, Veterans Affairs nurses and doctors and clinicians. There does not seem to be any cost to attend, but the center urges folks to register early as space is limited.

For more information, contact Jocene Preston, Director of the center's Operation Welcome Home & Recovery. She can be reached at (585) 295-7854 or (866) 906-8387, or by e-mail at jocene (dot) preston (at) veteransoutreachcenter (dot) org.

Each session will run from 10:00am to 4:00pm at the following locations:

• Crosswinds Wesleyan Church, Canandaigua, September 19.
• Nazareth College, Rochester, September 20.
• Genesee Community College, Batavia, September 26.

You can download the registration and information form: here.

Area veterans looking for some time away in the great outdoors need look no further than Outward Bound, a non-profit outdoor education group that takes veterans on backpacking excursions in far away places.

It doesn’t matter what your current military status is (active, inactive, discharged, retired) — you’re eligible to attend as long as you deployed in support of OEF/OIF combat operations while in the military.  These five-day excursions offer adventure activities such as backpacking, rock climbing, canyoneering, canoeing, and dog sledding in wilderness areas in Maine, Texas, Colorado, California, and Minnesota.

Now for the good news: All trip costs, including transportation to and from the excursion site, are covered by a Sierra Club grant. Yes, that means it's free.

Call Doug Hayward at 1-866-669-2362 ext. 8387 for more information or to sign up. You can also e-mail Doug at obvets (at) outwardbound (dot) org. Visit the Outward Bound Web site to find out more about the programs.

Today we premiere the first episode in a series that I would hope continues indefinitely. Without much deliberation, we chose Veteran's Corner as the official title — but if anyone thinks this isn't apt or not apt enough or has other ideas, please submit them before we get too far along in the series, and we'll consider renaming.

Every few weeks we hope to sit down with another veteran and just talk. There are no set topics of conversation. I don't have a list of questions. We want only for the veteran to talk about whatever is on his mind. He can talk about his time in the war. She can talk about what life was like when she got back from the war. He can talk about bagging groceries before he ever even got drafted. Whatever.

That's it.

For our first episode, we sat down with Don Nagle, a veteran of the U.S. Navy during World War II. Don told us a little about his time with the American Legion — he's the historian for the Bergen post. He also spoke a little bit about his training as a radioman for a division of the Navy's air crew, about flying over the Bermuda Triangle and about almost getting shipped to Japan for an airstrike in what may have very well been a suicide mission.

Eighty-six-year-old Louis O'Geen tells me that the "guy upstairs" took all of his friends from him, all his hunting and fishing buddies, and he's the only one left. He seems resigned to the fact, though slightly bemused by his own good fortune, if he would ever call it that. Probably not. But he isn't above getting a laugh out of it.

Louis fought in World War II. He saw the gore, the portent, the indecipherable anomaly of war up close, nose to nose with bodies chewed to the marrow and eyes sick with the madness of submerged warfare. Louis was a seaman. He joined with the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor, left his native LeRoy and was dispatched with little haste to some of the most hairy battle theaters in the Pacific and elsewhere.

When the German U-Boats were wreaking havoc not far from Casablanca, he was there. He saw bulkheads torn to shreds. He saw the deck of his destroyer, its hawsers and rails coated two inches thick with ice. He saw the fizzle and flotsam of ships sunk like tinker toy bath boats poked underwater by the vengeful finger of a child.

"I had many close shaves," he says.

Louis almost joined up as a submariner. Almost. Until he saw the subs come up to dock, beaten and barely afloat, ambulances parked on the shore, waiting for the wounded and cracked as they were taken back from the sea that had swallowed their minds whole, often along with some of their limbs.

Ironically, though, the one episode of the war that nearly knocked out Louis O'Geen for good came after the war was already over, in the waters just off the shore of Okinawa when a typhoon tore through the Pacific in early October, 1945. (I think that typhoon was named Louise, and isn't that apt.)

Louis told me that he thought World War II would be the last war. He couldn't imagine how we could do it all over again. Then came Vietnam. Then came Iraq. He's quite fierce in his opposition to the war in Iraq. When I paid Louis a visit Monday, he showed me a drawing he made not long after he got out of the service. The drawing summed up his then and future feelings about war, feelings one can only understand when listening to Louis tell his stories. So let's do that:

From the Daily News (Wednesday):

• Thomas A. Aquino, the Rochester man who recently admitted that he was the notorious Pillowcase Burglar of the 1980s, received the 15-year maximum sentence for one count of second-degree burglary. Judge Robert C. Noonan told Aquino in court that it would be "a dereliction of my duty to impose anything less than the maximum sentence." Reporter Scott DeSmit put together a great article on the sentencing.
• Really, a fantastic front page put together by the Daily News today. In addition to DeSmit's article about the Pillowcase Burglar, you can find a photograph by Mark Gutman in which a pair of cyclists wait at the corner of Main and Oak streets in the midst of last night's power outage. One of them exhales a cloud of cigarette smoke, illuminated by a pair of headlights that glow intense yet puny in the pitch black night. There's also an article about the City Council's review of City Manager Jason Molino that appeared on The Batavian yesterday, and an on-the-ball article by Tom Rivers who was out assessing the damage done to local crops as a result of Monday's hail storms.
• Democratic Congressional candidate Jack Davis stopped at the VA Medical Center in Batavia Tuesday vowing that he would support a bill in Washington that would "expand and improve health care services for female veterans." Check out the article by reporter Roger Muehlig for more about Davis's visit and female veterans. It's well done.
• Eighteen-year-old Batavian, Richard J. Peters II, could face up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a 4-year-old Wyoming girl. Peters will be sentenced at Wyoming County Court on September 11.

For the complete stories, the Daily News is available on local newsstands, or you can subscribe on BataviaNews.com.

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• Genesee County legislators approved tax exemption for Cold War veterans at the meeting last night. Exemptions were previously only granted for combat veterans.
• Those same legislators clashed over how to handle the extended absence of a clerk from the treasurer's office who is out on medical leave. The treasurer's office wants a full-time replacement. Some on the Legislature suggested a temporary part-time position be created. Dan Fischer writes that "the amendment" was later "approved by a vote of 6-3," though it is not quite clear what the amendment signified. I assume it altered the request for a full-time staffer to part-time, but the language is a little unclear. Either way, it's a tricky situation, and I could understand the differing of opinions. Do you pay two people for the same job when one of those is unable to perform it? But at the same time, how can you not hire someone to do the work that is not being done?

From reader Georgia Voss:

My husband and I were honored to have a visit Sunday with a Korean Veteran who was to be honored with 6 others on Memorial Day by Steve Hawley.  I saw no mention of this in the Daily News and am curious if you folks have knowledge of the event and other participants.

So we contacted Assemblyman Hawley's office, which provided the following information on honors handed out Monday:

• Thomas E. Hayes Specialist Four, AUS, of the US Army, received the New York Medal of Merit. Hayes served in Vietnam and his military service covered 1969 to 1971.  He is a Silver Star winner.
• John E. Corrado was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross.  Corrado served in Vietnam and was in the Army from 1968 to 1970.
• Ettore Ianni also received the Conspicuous Service Cross. Ianni served in Korea and was in the Army from 1951 to 1970.
• Keith A. Weinert also received the Conspicuous Service Cross.  Weinert is a Vietnam veteran and served in the Army from 1967 to 1970.

The Conspicuous Service Cross was created by the New York Legislature in the 1920s. It is the highest award New York can bestow in its veterans. Recipients must have distinguished themselves by performing particularly brave and heroic acts which earned them individual citations while serving in the armed forces.

Retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste spoke at the VA Medical Center Saturday during the two-day veterans celebration this past weekend. The Daily News was there to cover the event. "The rest of the people of Batavia should be here," Batiste told the crowd of about 150 people. "We're in a war." Reporter Tom Rivers writes:

Batiste said the country has failed to mobilize, to rally its citizens, behind the war in Iraq, where 4,079 Americans have died since March 2003.

[He] called on the community to support the veterans and their families by insisting on speedy processing of vet claims, and fully-funded health care, including services for post traumatic stress disorder, which affects 30 percent of soldiers.

Batiste urged the Genesee County community to create a Veterans Outreach Center, similar to one in Rochester that links veterans to agencies for support.

The volunteer-run outreach centers can serve the veterans better than government, with its layers of bureaucracy, Batiste said.

When I read that, I thought of the Genesee County Veterans Service Agency, run by Hal Kreter. Hal's been especially busy these days as the liaison between the other area veterans groups, along with planning Memorial Day services. Nevertheless, he spared a few minutes to sit down with me about two weeks ago to tell me a bit about what the agency does for its local veterans. While it does not offer the more personal assistance a veteran could get from an outreach center, Hal stressed, the agency does help make the bureaucracy a little less intimidating.

"We handle the files," he says. "We file claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs for compensation and insurance... We're basically going over the benefits for veterans. An outreach center is a place where veterans can go and talk to people, associate with them."

I told Hal that Batavia already seemed to have many resources available to veterans to help ease the transition from military to civilian life and to engage them throughout their life back home: his own agency, the VA Medical Center (including its PTSD clinic), the American Legion, the VFW. True, he said, and all of those groups are "great at what they do," but an oureach center would provide that added service that veterans could really use, another place they could go to find people there for them, even if just to talk.

United Memorial Medical Center will host a Memorial Day observance Monday, May 26, at 9:00am at the monument in front of the hospital's main entrance at 127 North St. Gold Star Family members and representatives from the Batavia Veterans' Association will lay a wreath at the monument. Members of the Batavia Concert Band will perform.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be available following the observance in the hospital board room. Call (585) 344-5415 for more information.

From the Daily News (Friday):

• A big hit from Joe Stachowski put the Batavia Blue Devils over Hornell last night. The high school baseball team rolled to a 7-7 record with the win. Meanwhile, the girls softball team was triumphant over Eastridge, winning 3-2 and setting their record at 7-8. Also, Blue Devils tennis took home a win over Alexander, 4-1, wrapping up their season with an 8-5 record, "one of the most succesful seasons the squad has had in years," writes reporter Brian Hillabush.

For the complete stories, the Daily News is available on local newsstands, or you can subscribe on BataviaNews.com.

As a Cold War veteran myself, the County's Legislature's proposal to cut property taxes by 10 percent for those who served in the military from 1945 to 1991 is applause worthy.

If approved, the tax break would be effective March 1, 2009, for county tax bills. The property must be a private residence of the veteran or the unmarried spouse of a deceased veteran.

Those who served in the three wars during that period — Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm — are currently eligible for property tax exemptions.

Applications are processed by the county’s Veteran Service Office.

For the Cold War veterans the percentage would apply to residential property values up to $60,000. Those with homes assessed at more would get the same exemption but only to a cap level of $60,000.

I served in the USAF from 1980 to 1994, and I always felt like I did my part to protect the country from the Red Menace, so it's nice to see the Cold War veterans of Genesee get some recognition.

Can't seem to dredge up anything of great import in the way of news this afternoon. Whenever that happens, I head out into the community, into the shops on Main Street and elsewhere, into the parks...

Batavia police tell me they don't have anything to report — I've called them twice today so far. We should probably consider that good news. Strange though, since a city councilman told me that the city was already 300 calls above where they were this time last year.

Still not much luck connecting with the busy city manager. I did get a couple City Council members on the phone today, but didn't make it much further than that. I'll be meeting with Sam Barone next week. Looking forward to it. Sam mentions fishing, bowling and reading under special interests on the city's Web site. I'm a fan of all three myself, though I'm only good at the last one.

Also, I found this fine shot of the bend in the Tonawanda River in my camera. Have those bulbs popped yet?

Then I met with Hal Kreter over at the county's Veterans Service Agency. He's a great guy — a longtime U.S. Marine himself — who works for an organization that fills the gap between the American veteran and the no doubt intimidating bureaucracy of the federal government.

That's about all for now. But here's a note before I go: The Batavian's MySpace is humming along. We've picked up 30 friends so far — honestly, I don't know if that's very many, but I'm excited about it. For those of you interested in that, please stop by and check it out. We'd be happy to be your friend. For those who aren't interested or just don't know much about the site, it's a social networking hub where anyone can register and create a personal profile for themselves, meet other folks, keep up remotely with friends. Music is big on MySpace, so we're hoping to link up with a few bands, maybe even put together a music video from time to time to bring back here to our site. Look for that in the future.

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• Iraq war veteran Mathew Hebell, 22, received full military honors at his funeral services held yesterday in Batavia. Hebell died recently after his car crashed into a pole on Richmond Avenue.

Head down to Center Street for a Block Party, starting at 6:00pm on May 16 — the first night of the Genesee County Veterans Appreciation Weekend. Stay for the food and music... But not too late as the festivities contintue Saturday morning (May 17) at 9:00am. That's when registration opens for the Motorcycle Run that starts at Stan's Harley Davidson on Saile Drive and heads through the city to end at the VA Medical Center. Then, at noon, veterans and their families will tour the VA grounds in an honor walk, followed by food and music.

Speakers will take the mic at various events througout the weekend to talk about services for veterans and their familes. Call (585) 344-2611 for more information.