veterans

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.