|
click above for details
VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.
Be sure to get all four
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
Download your
free copy of the
2008 VA benefits
handbook here...
|
Printer-Friendly Version
SIGN OF THE TIMES: ARIZONA VETS RESIST
BUDGET
CUTS -- Arizona DVA took a half-million dollar
hit in this
year's budget, and the same could happen next
year.
Arizona Department of Veterans
Services Director Joey Strickland, right, speaks with VFW Post 9972
commander “Shorty” Larson after a meeting Saturday of the Greater
Sierra Vista United Veterans Council. (photo: Bill Hess -
Herald/Review) |
All "Sign of the Times" articles are here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/signofthetimes.htm
Story here...
http://www.svherald.c
om/articles/2009/02/09/news/doc498
ff393a7984196410293.txt
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
Share story/email link.
-------------------------
Veterans resist budget cuts
Current situation OK, state director says
By Bill Hess
Herald/Review
SIERRA VISTA — While all state agencies are
seeing budget cuts, the Arizona Department of Veterans Services has been
fortunate that the reductions haven’t been too deep, said the agency’s
director said.
By closely working with Arizona legislators, whom Joey Strickland said are
interested in ensuring veterans in the state are supported, while the
department took a half-million dollar cut to balance this year’s budget,
the 41 veterans benefit counselor positions were not touched.
However, Strickland told more than three dozen people who attended
Saturday’s monthly meeting of the Greater Sierra Vista United Veterans
Council he foresees a potential of another $500,000 reduction next year.
“I’m a little worried about 2010,” Strickland admitted.
Arizona had to address the $1.6 billion deficit in this year’s budget and
will have as much, if not more to cut next year.
By working with the legislators, Strickland said he has been able to do
surgical cuts instead of taking an ax to his department’s budget and
ensured the counselor positions were not cut.
Attending the meeting was state Rep. Dave Gowan, R-District 30, who said
the need to retain the counselors, who help bring federal dollars into
Arizona to support veterans, was acknowledged by those in the Legislature
as being important to the state’s economy.
Although the long-range plan was to have 60 counselors — 19 more than
currently exist — Gowan said hiring them has to be delayed.
Strickland agrees, saying he is thankful the legislators did not reduce
the 41 to 33.
Strickland noted that in one year the counselors have been responsible in
finding $850 million in federal funds to help veterans living in Arizona,
and that means the state doesn’t have to pick up the tab for some services
that are really the responsibility of the U.S. government.
A retired Army colonel, who is a Republican and formerly headed a similar
veteran agency in Louisiana, Strickland was hired by former Democratic
Gov. Janet Napolitano in mid-2008 and he, like some other of her
appointments, is waiting to be confirmed by the state Senate.
Saying he was asked by Napolitano to be part of her administration as the
Secretary of Homeland Security, Strickland said while the offer was
enticing, “I really want to help veterans. That’s what I do best.”
A number of veteran groups and individuals are asking state senators to
confirm him because of his deep knowledge of veteran issues and ability to
work with the federal government. While in Louisiana he was able to obtain
state and federal funds to construct at least four large homes for
veterans. Currently, Arizona only has one, although one for Tucson has
been planned for years, he said.
Two years ago, the one state veterans home was under attack by the federal
government for a variety of problems in not providing the best care and
facilities.
Saturday, Strickland said the state’s veterans home has passed its current
inspection for the first time in two years.
There is a lot of work to be done for veterans throughout the state, he
said.
Last week, there was a “homeless stand-down day” in Phoenix, which is
designed to identify veterans needing help, and 503 came forward seeking
assistance, Strickland said.
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer was at the event, and she and he were amazed by
the number of homeless veterans just in the Phoenix area.
It is estimated that there are 3,000 homeless veterans in Maricopa County
alone. The total number in the state is unknown. There are 600,000 known
veterans who live in the state.
Just recently in the Sierra Vista area, a count of unsheltered homeless
individuals was taken, and eight of the 38 counted were determined to be
veterans.
“Even one homeless veteran is one too many,” Strickland said.
And, there is a growing number of women veterans, many of whom have
children, that are homeless, he added.
Receiving a special grant of $745,000, Strickland said the state’s
veterans department is setting aside $265,000 of that to house homeless
women veterans, noting a 16-unit apartment complex has been identified as
a potential site for the project.
“We’ve got to reach out to women veterans,” he said.
When it comes to today’s veterans, “it’s a different ballgame,” Strickland
said.
In April, the department is hosting an “all women’s veterans conference,”
he said.
In another veteran arena, the department director said the state-operated
cemetery in Sierra Vista is an excellent example of how such a facility
should be developed and managed.
Future plans are for one in Yuma and another in Flagstaff, as well as
other areas in the state, he said.
That he is a veteran himself — Strickland served two combat tours in
Vietnam — and his two sons are currently in the Army — it is evident he is
proud of his military ties.
And, there seems to be a need for him to reconnect with those roots every
so often.
Friday night, Strickland attended the annual Installation Awards Banquet,
noting that as an “old cavalry soldier, it’s always good to get
‘re-greened’ once in awhile.”
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------
-------------------------
Please post your comments below on Google
Friend Connect. You must sign in. For larger view and work
area, click blue "expand" button in upper right corner of comment box.
-------------------------
Don't forget to read all of today's VA
News Flashes (click here)
Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage
(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home
Page) |
Military
Medical Malpractice
Legal
Network
VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.
|
