Gloucester has not disserved its veterans

Gloucester: Mayor says city didn't fail its veterans

By Richard Gaines
Staff writer


"Gloucester has not disserved its veterans," Mayor Carolyn Kirk said yesterday in releasing her analysis of the state report that charged the city wasn't doing enough to provide services and financial aid to veterans.

Gloucester's failure was to its budget, not its veterans, she said. "The failure here is a failure to submit reimbursements to the state in a timely manner, which has caused Gloucester to lose funding," she wrote.

Kirk released the state report to the City Council yesterday, along with her analysis of the audit, based on research conducted by James Duggan, her administrative assistant.

The state also noted that the city lost $18,000 in reimbursements last year because of late submission of paperwork to justify the claims.

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Is it a poor choice of words? Shouldn't it have been "Gloucester has not deserved it's veterans" instead? When you think about it, they did not take the veterans needs seriously enough to have the right kind of help or enough help to get the job done right for the sake of the veterans. By the way it's pronounced "Gloster" not "Glochester" or "Glockester" but if you're from New England it's "Glosta" because we never like to pronounce the "r" in anything.

This was reported about one city in this country. How many more are doing the same shoddy job? It would be fantastic if they were all geared up to address the needs of our veterans. People tend to think it's just the federal government failing our veterans but all across the country, it's the same story being repeated. Either they have help not trained well enough or they don't have enough help. This is not just about money, but the lives of the men and women who served this country being in need of assistance instead of being at our assistance. Every single city and town in this country had better step up and move mountains for the sake of those who serve this nation because they are suffering.

The state agency concluded "outreach is lacking."

This is another problem. What will it take to get this right and do the right thing?

Arley Pett, whose office was described in the state report as a cluttered mess with a desk "awash" in unorganized paperwork. But she said she still has confidence in Pett.

Unorganized people can get the job done if they know what they are doing. Was Pett trained and qualified for the job? I don't know but they need to make sure anyone working in such an important job has all the knowledge and skils up to the challenge. After all, the veterans were trained and up to the every challenge we gave them. They deserve the same in return.