Printer Friendly Page
TEXAS MAYORS WANT COUNTY TO BUILD VETERANS'
HOSPITAL INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR VA -- "How many
veterans have to die to get a hospital here?
Let's get this
hospital built for our veterans once and for
all."
Veterans in 2006 march for a VA hospital
in the Rio Grande Valley.
For more on the push for a VA hospital in the
Rio Grande Valley, use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=rio+grande&op=ph
Story here...
http://www.brownsvilleherald
.com/news/veterans_78986___article.
html/hospital_morales.html
Story below:
-------------------------
Mayors suggest county-funded VA hospital
By JASEL CANTU/ Mid-Valley Town Crier
MERCEDES — A veterans hospital in the Mid-Valley area was a topic of
discussion during a meeting by the Rio Grande Mid-Valley Mayors and
Commissioners Association on July 26.
The group consists of mayors and city commissioners from Weslaco, Donna,
San Juan, Mercedes, Alamo and Progreso, as well as district
representatives. During the meeting, Donna Mayor Rick Morales proposed
that Hidalgo County build its own veterans hospital instead of waiting
for the federal government to build it.
“Let’s get this hospital built for our veterans once and for all. How
many veterans have to die to get a hospital here?” Morales said.
Morales further proposed that funding for the county VA hospital would
come from a new, one-cent tax property tax levied only in Hidalgo
County.
“One penny per $100 evaluated yearly; there’s approximately $24 billion
taxable property in Hidalgo County, and if other counties want to
participate, just add in,” he said. “With Hidalgo County, it’d come out
to $240 million, just from one penny. I think we can build a hospital.
Reimbursement from VA is very low, (and) I have no faith in VA. I want
one penny, and with all the counties it’d be $30 billion and we can
build our own facility, staff it and take care of our own veterans.”
Morales said various obstacles including the cost of the facility and a
construction location must be considered but Morales said land donations
could reduce the cost of construction.
“We want to take it farther than just offer 30 acres. We want to get it
done,” he said. “I don’t know of any politician who wouldn’t want it. I
have a lot of veterans in my city and in Weslaco, and San Juan.”
One possible location is 2,300 acres of land near the site of a future
international bridge voluntarily annexed by Donna in September 2006.
“It’s all farmland. We bought the land from (the owner) for the bridge,
and he wanted commercial and industrial development, it was voluntary.
Donna doubled in land size,” Morales said.
The mayors and officials attending the event agreed and backed the idea
of a county veterans hospital. Alamo Mayor Rudy Villarreal is more
familiar with veterans’ needs than others, since he is a Navy veteran of
the Korea and Vietnam Wars.
“I don’t need (the hospital) myself, I won’t get benefits, but a big
reason they were giving (no answer) was we don’t have a medical school,
that was the excuse these big men in Washington gave,” Villarreal said.
He went on to say how in the 1970s, the G.I. Bill allowed a large
percentage of Vietnam veterans to earn college degrees which in turn
helped them afford medical insurance that paid for their medical care.
However, times have changed, Morales said.
“I was talking to one Vietnam veteran on Saturday; (he) signed a
petition in 1974 saying there would be a VA hospital. It’s been 36 years
since we’ve been trying to get a hospital,” Morales said.
Villarreal remembered that petition, and recalled how it contained more
than 200,000 signatures from across the Valley.
“Right now to raise taxes is perfect because people care about
veterans,” Villarreal said.
The Association wants to organize their and deliver a presentation U.S.
Rep. Bob Filner, D-California, who serves as VA Committee chairman.
Filner is scheduled to attend a Rio Grande Valley Veterans Town Hall
Meeting in Donna on Aug. 6.
The Association plans to meet with Filner in private to discuss their
proposal and a panel of veterans will discuss an issue dealing with
proposals for a veterans hospital.
For more information on the Town Hall Meeting, call (956) 682-5545,
(956) 541-1242 or (956) 631-4826.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
