Top 10 Hot Spot Veterans News from Around the Country – 07-16-08

1. Peake Announces VA Will Now Fund Suicide Hotline Advertising. 
2. Peake To Address Vietnam Veterans Leadership Conference In South Carolina.  
3. Peake Announces Summer Sports Clinic For Wounded Veterans.  
4. Wisconsin ANG Sergeant Tells House Panel That VA Should Use Web To Reach Veterans.  
5. VA Approves $5 Million For Nebraska Veterans Cemetery.  
6. Oregon Program To Benefit From VA Homeless Vet Per-Diem.  
7. Filmmaker Releases PTSD, Veteran Suicide Documentary.  
8. Wisconsin DVA Chief Being Deployed Back To Iraq.  
9. Minnesota DVA Investigating Veterans Home Burglary.  
10. Planning Continues For California "Stand Down" Homeless Veterans Project.  
11. IRS Continues Calls For Hawaiian Veterans To Claim Stimulus Checks.  
12. Woodward: Rewriting A Wrong Cast In Stone.  
13. Cobb Gets Vet Center.  
14. VA Medical Center Receives Environmental Excellence Award.  
15. 7 Vets In National Wheelchair Games.

     1.       Peake Announces VA Will Now Fund Suicide Hotline Advertising.   The AP (7/16, Hefling) reports, "The Veterans Affairs Department announced a new advertising campaign on Tuesday that targets veterans at risk for suicide. The ads include the VA’s suicide hot line number. ‘It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help,’ is the slogan in the ads, which will start running on Monday. They will run in the metropolitan Washington area inside metro stations, on metro cars, and on buses for three months as part of a pilot project. The city was chosen, in part, because of its proximity to veterans hospitals and military bases. On June 16, VA Secretary James Peake changed an agency policy to allow it to pay for advertising. The changes were praised by Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., who has encouraged the VA to have more targeted outreach." The AP notes that VA spokeswoman Lisette Mondello said that the program will be expanded if successful. 

2.      Peake To Address Vietnam Veterans Leadership Conference In South Carolina.   The Greenville News (7/16, 84K) reports, "The Vietnam Veterans of America National Leadership Conference will get its biennial meeting under way today in Greenville, with an agenda that includes pressure on Congress to improve treatment of war veterans, a golf event fund raiser and recognition of war era radio host and ‘weather girl’ Bobbie Keith. … Dr. James Peake, sworn in as Secretary of Veterans Affairs last December, will deliver remarks at a lunch Friday, organizers said." The News goes on to describe Peake’s military and medical background.

3.      Peake Announces Summer Sports Clinic For Wounded Veterans.   PRNewswire (7/16) runs a press release from the VA containing a statement from Secretary of Veterans Affairs James B. Peake and announcing a "a unique rehabilitative sports experience this September in San Diego, the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic, sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). ‘This new rehabilitative event is a therapeutic extension of the superior health care veterans receives in our medical centers each day,’ said [Peake]. ‘The sports clinic will strengthen veterans battling back from injury, improving their mental and physical well-being.’ The event is open to recently injured veterans who have spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, certain neurological conditions, amputations, other mobility impairments, or post-traumatic stress disorder. For many injured veterans, this event will provide their first exposure to recreational sports and other activities after being injured."

4.      Wisconsin ANG Sergeant Tells House Panel That VA Should Use Web To Reach Veterans.   The Army Times (7/15, Maze) reports, that Elizabeth O’Herrin, a staff sergeant with the Wisconsin Air National Guard who has completed three tours in Iraq, "told a House subcommittee Tuesday that the Department of Veterans Affairs is not doing enough to reach out to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans," saying that "VA’s long reliance on pamphlets, brochures and letters to contact veterans isn’t working in the digital age" O’Herrin suggested that email would be a better medium to contact younger veterans, and "Subcommittee members said O’Herrin’s ideas have promise.  "Lisette Mondello, assistant VA secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, said VA is open to trying almost anything." 5.      VA Approves $5 Million For Nebraska Veterans Cemetery.   The Chadron (NE) Record (7/15, Interactive) reports, "Gov. Dave Heineman received word this week that Nebraska has been approved to move forward with plans to build the state’s first veterans cemetery. The National Cemetery Administration within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will provide approximately $5 million in federal funding to build the Nebraska State Veteran Cemetery. The cemetery is planned to occupy 22 acres of land donated by the city of Alliance in western Nebraska."

6.      Oregon Program To Benefit From VA Homeless Vet Per-Diem.   The Bend (OR) Bulletin (7/16, Chu) reports that the Central Oregon Veterans Outreach center is one of the 55 programs across the country to receive $33 per-diems from the VA, which should total some $72,000 per year to support homeless veterans.

7.      Filmmaker Releases PTSD, Veteran Suicide Documentary.   PR Web (7/16) distributes a press release from filmmaker Phil Valentine about his fill "Who Will Stand," which addresses veteran suicides and PTSD. "The two hour documentary covers, in detail, the plights of more than a dozen soldiers who have returned either physically or psychologically wounded, including hard-to-measure effects of post traumatic stress disorder. ‘Nobody is surprised that war creates amputees, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, but very few people are aware of the enormous rates of these issues,’ said Valentine. ‘And almost no one is aware of the psychological issues that nearly 100% of combat soldiers suffer with, namely Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.’"

8.      Wisconsin DVA Chief Being Deployed Back To Iraq.   WISC-TV Madison, WI (7/15) reports that Army Reserve Colonel John Scocos, the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary, "has received orders to deploy for active duty in Iraq in September. He was previously deployed to Iraq in April 2007 and returned in October 2007."

9.      Minnesota DVA Investigating Veterans Home Burglary.   The AP (7/16) reports, "The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs is working with police to solve a burglary at the Minneapolis Veterans Home. Staff at the home discovered the break-in early Sunday. A tool kit, two musical keyboards, a guitar, a Nintendo Wii and a laptop computer were taken. The laptop did not contain information about residents, employees or financial data."

10.    Planning Continues For California "Stand Down" Homeless Veterans Project.   The Contra Costa Times (7/16, Bradley, Louie, 171K) reports, "Plans are under way now for the East Bay Stand Down for veterans, that will take place Aug. 7 through 10 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Registration has begun and as many as 500 veterans are expected from the Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley for the every-other-year event. During the four-day outreach program, veterans will live and eat at the fairgrounds, go through health screenings, get medical and dental care, get legal problems resolved and other help. Bart Buechner, a deputy administrator for the Veteran’s Home for California in Yountville, said the primary focus is on homeless veterans, though that is not a requirement. He said with the bad economy there may be even more veterans needing help this year, including those who are not homeless."

11.    IRS Continues Calls For Hawaiian Veterans To Claim Stimulus Checks.   The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (7/16) reports, "About 24,463 Hawaii retirees and disabled veterans might qualify for an economic stimulus payment but have yet to file claim to it, the Internal Revenue Service announced yesterday. Not normally required to file a tax return, certain Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefit recipients must file to receive a stimulus payment. Although the April 15 deadline has passed, those individuals — some retirees, disabled veterans and others — may still file a tax return."

12.    Woodward: Rewriting A Wrong Cast In Stone.   In a column in the Idaho Statesman (7/16), Tim Woodward writes about the efforts of Carol Evans to have a spelling error on a monument at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery, wherein her husband is interred, corrected. "There it was, prominently displayed at the final resting place for Idaho veterans – a sandstone monument honoring the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and ‘Coast Gaurd.’ … Evans was dismayed not only by the misspelling, but by what she felt it represented. ‘It’s not just careless and ignorant; it’s an insult to our armed services,’ she said. ‘This is Idaho’s Veterans Cemetery. It’s where we have military events, it’s where we bury our service people who have defended our country, it’s where dignitaries come to honor them, and this is what they see – Coast Gaurd! It makes us look like a bunch of yokels.’" Evans’s efforts to have the monument corrected have so far lasted six years, and she has collected $150 of the estimated $1,000 that repairs would cost.

13.    Cobb Gets Vet Center.   The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (7/16, Gierer, 44K).

14.    VA Medical Center Receives Environmental Excellence Award.   The Huntington (WV) Herald Dispatch (7/15).

15.    7 Vets In National Wheelchair Games.   The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (7/16, 229K).