January 2008
What can we say... except that maybe the fire got a little too free... The Chapter meeting schedule for January as published in the past two issues of the Free Fire Wire, and for February as published in the past issue, were WRONG! Methinks that malfunction had something to do with using a 2007 calendar, but whatever... that doesn't matter. What does matter is that you do NOT look at those issues, but rather at THIS ONE, to get the correct meeting dates. The dates stated below ARE CORRECT!!!
UPCOMING VVA BIG BEND CHAPTER 96 MEETINGS
January 17, 2008
- February 21,
2008 -
March 20, 2008
On these dates the Board will meet at 6:15 p.m., and Members will meet at 7:30 p.m.
The Board also meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first Monday of each month.
REMEMBER TO BRING CANNED GOODS FOR HOMELESS VETS!
On these dates the Board will meet at 6:15 p.m., and Members will meet at 7:30 p.m.
The Board also meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first Monday of each month.
REMEMBER TO BRING CANNED GOODS FOR HOMELESS VETS!
Classic Chevy Club of Tallahassee Benefit for VVA Chapter 96
The Classic Chevy Club of Tallahassee has approved VVA 96 as the
recipient for their charity donation for the proceeds from their Car,
Truck, and Motorcycle Show to be held on Saturday, March 8, 2008 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m at J. Lee Vause Park (off of Old Bainbridge Road north of Capital Circle).
The Chapter's Bradley's Sausage Booth will be the only food vendor
(beverages will be sold by a children's group). Besides the Chevy
Club's awards, the Chapter will have a "Veterans
Choice" trophy for each category: car, truck, motorcycle. We need
volunteers to provide assistance for the sausage booth, the show
registration, door prizes, membership table, and distribution of
flyers, applications and posters; and also, for contacting potential
monetary or door prize
donations/sponsors. We also need several chapter members to be
the
judges for our trophies (especially for the motorcycles). Flyers
for the event will be printed by the Chevy Club and should be available
at the Chapter 96 January meeting for VVA to help distribute. For further info or
to volunteer please contact: Charlie Yonts by phone at 383-0073 or
by email at yontsceyjr@comcast.net
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGECharlie Yonts
I hope all had a great holiday season. Now we can all get busy breaking our New Year’s resolutions.
Speaking of getting busy, as a Chapter we have a lot of planning, and a lot of doing, ahead for this year. There are several important dates coming up in the near future that you should mark on your calendars. The Classic Chevy Club of Tallahassee has approved VVA 96 as the recipient for their charity donation for the proceeds from their Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Show. We plan on having our sausage booth set up. Springtime Tallahassee on March 29th is also a fundraiser with our Bradley's sausage booth. Chapter elections will be held at our annual meeting in April. In November we will commemorate our 25th anniversary for our Chapter as well as the 20th anniversary for the Hootch. A replica of the Wall, owned by the Vietnam Veterans of Brevard, is scheduled to be in Tallahassee for a week for Veterans Day. The exact location is to be determined. I ask that all of you help with any or all of these events in some way.
The Hootch’s wish list before all this takes place includes painting inside and out, new carpet, tile in the kitchen, new deck and steps on the front, some landscape work and the list goes on. I know that this seems like a lot to do but I feel we should stand tall and show Tallahassee and the Big Bend area that we are proud of who we are and what we have done in these 25 years.
Anyone interested in serving on the board, as an officer, or on the (elected) Nominating Committee, please contact the Allen Beal, the Chair of our Nominating Committee. His e-mail address is allen.beal at vva.96.org (take out " at " and substitute "@"). Our annual meeting and elections will be held in April.
I ask that you continue to bring canned goods for the needy. Try to get involved in something that gives to others and makes you feel good in doing so. In closing I wish you the best and happiest in 2008.
Lest we forget
Rick Clevenger
The Agent Orange Saga Continues...
This may not be news to everyone, because as a lot of us now know:
Agent Orange (AO) wasn't used just in 'Nam. It was also used in
(among other places) Korea and in the U.S., especially in Florida. And the
stuff wasn't just sprayed from aircraft: Defoliants were
also sprayed from land vehicles and "Indian tanks" on the backs of
GIs... like me. And those of us on the ground didn't wear
protective clothing when we used it -- so much for the validity of the
“Ranch Hand” study. At the end of this article is the web address
to a list of known sites, world wide.However, lets add Saginaw, Michigan to the extreme hazard list, along the Tittabawassee River, downstream from Dow Chemical Co.'s Midland plant, where from about 1900 to 1970, the company dumped dioxin directly into the river. On January 4, 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cut off river cleanup talks with Dow. At the time, Dow was sucking muck up near a park where the Dioxin measured 1.6 million parts per trillion, a level 20 times higher than ever before recorded by the EPA. Dow spin doctors dismissed the sample as “an isolated spot.” Yet, near one local homeowner's back door, Dioxin was found at 1,100 parts per trillion. The cleanup threshold is 90 ppt -- more than the contamination needed to permanently ruin one's health.
According to civilian health authorities, the heath problems associated with Dioxin (and thus AO) include: cancer, birth defects, autism, liver disease, endometriosis, reduced immunity, chronic fatigue syndrome, psychological disorders, and other nerve and blood disorders. The tiniest amount of AO / Dioxin / TCDD changes the functioning of human cells and gene functions and our bodies have no defense against it. For more info visit: http://www.cqs.com/edioxin.htm Naturally, the industry will continue to deny culpability, and as long as it's cheaper to wage lawsuits and buy politicians rather than do cleanups, their profits will remain safe.
So what now? Okay, you either were or were not exposed to AO in Nam, Korea, or scout camp; mowing the law; eating beef, pork, fish; or even breathing the damned air! Should you worry? Maybe not worry, but AO exposure increases health problems. Get regular health checkups, eat right, and take care of yourself. Those of us who have unusual health problems need to report them to the VA so that someday, we can say I told you so, or better yet, so that we may someday get decent medical treatment based on our exposure to AO and its brethren. We can and must continue to press the government to do what is right – someday they might surprise us.
Where it's at… The following URL will lead you to the known (admitted) Agent Orange / Blue / Purple, PCP, arsenic, diquat, paraquat, etc., intentional spray-sites, world-wide, outside of Vietnam: http://www1.va.gov/agentorange/docs/Report_on_DoD_Herbicides_Outside_of_Vietnam.pdf The list starts with the "Apalachicola National Forest near Sophoppy, FL," and includes for example: Eglin Air Force Base, FL; Avon Air Force Base, FL; Marathon, FL; Lake George, FL; Orlando; Cocoa, FL; Thailand; and Puerto Rico. Heck, even Kauai and Hilo, Hawaii did not escape unscathed. If that URL doesn't work, the general VA site for Agent Orange info is: http://www1.va.gov/agentorange/ or search for: DOD herbicides outside of Vietnam.
Caveat: These are DOD / VA / “official” web sites – take nothing for granted. Take what they say and expect the truth to be worse. Remember the warning in Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation, January 17, 1961:
"In
the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military -
industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of
misplaced power exists and will persist. We
must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or
democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.
Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing
of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our
peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper
together."
Ray
Dix
Army Security Agency 66-70
“Vigilant always”
Army Security Agency 66-70
“Vigilant always”
www.raydixbooks.com
Another Minor Correction
Hospice... What the Free Fire Wire said back in the October issue about Covenant Hospice wasn't quite right... There are TWO hospice organizations operating in Tallahassee now: Covenant Hospice, incorporated in as Hospice of Northwest Florida with its principal office in Pensacola in 1981, and Big Bend Hospice, incorporated with its principal office in Tallahassee in 1983. Hospice of Northwest Florida changed its name to Covenant Hospice in 2001 and serves a great area including Northwest Florida and Alabama. The smaller, local, homegrown, hospice organization with local officers and board members which serves a more compact multi-county area centered around Tallahassee, is STILL the Big Bend Hospice. Both are Florida nonprofit organizations. This is no recommendation as to which to support. It's just a matter of correcting somewhat incomplete information previously published.
Mini-News Flash!
I'm hot on the trail of VVA Chapter 96's mysterious Founding President, Ed White (We talked about our "roots" back then, and Ed's no known relation to me). Ed vanished without a trace just after we got our charter back in 1983. I've chased his trail all over MD and VA and down to NC and GA for awhile, but haven't found where he's lit right now. Stay tuned for further developments... You can read about the Vietnam experiences of VVA Chapter 96's "founder" here: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/vietnam/scrapbook/entries/422_117.html If you run across Ed somewhere, please contact Free Fire Wire Editor Richard White, at: ffw@vva96.org
Chapter 96's web site is - http://vva96.org