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Monday, July 26, 2010

Vietnam Veterans Made To Pay Again For Their Service

Yesterday I did a post on Leather-clad bikers brave heat to honor veterans and the following is the result from a comment left on the post.

I've participated in a lot of rides and I know how much work people do before the charity ride even begins. They have to get the word out to have as many showing up as possible but above that, because bikers always want to help, to do something for the sake of someone else and to make their communities better. When it is a charity ride by veterans, these rides are not just for some fun, not just for the sake of getting together but are deeply tied to their hearts.

It appears that this ride has a back story to it that needs to be known. I would like comments on this if it happened to your group in other parts of the country because the money you raised to help charities should never be taken away from you or the charities you ride for. I would also like comments about why you ride and what they mean to you. For the next couple of days, I am taking off comment monitoring so that you won't have to wait to see your comments. Please, do not use vulgar language or make accusations under anonymous comments. I'll have to take off the comment even if you have a very valid post.
You can also email me at namguardianangel@aol.com



PUBLISHED TODAY

VETERANS FOR CHANGE NEWLETTER

Vietnam Veterans Made To Pay Again For Their Service

How many times must the Vietnam Veterans have to pay for their service? We paid with our youth, our blood, the lives of 58,000 of our comrades, our honor & dignity when we returned home, the disrespect of an uncaring hostile public and government, the abuse of the prior generations of Veterans, a VA system slanted against us, unfounded charges of drug abuse and labels as baby killers. We are dying at a faster rate then any prior generation of veterans from exposure to Agent Orange.



We have overcome all of that only to find out we must pay again. This time we were made to pay just so we could go to the Ohio Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, (a Memorial that we paid for with our donations), to Honor our fallen comrades whose names are inscribed on that Wall and in our Hearts. The Ohio Veterans Memorial Park Board and the Clinton Cemetery Ass. conspired to keep us out of the Memorial Park and forced us to spent in excess of $5,000.00 in lawyers fees, court costs and a bogus $1,000,000.00 Ins. policy so we could exercise our Constitutional and Civil Rights to peacefully assemble to Honor Our Fallen Hero's and Comrades. These un-American, anti military, anti veteran people and groups had to have a Judge tell them they were violating our Constitutional and Civil Rights as Americans.



This BLOOD MONEY was taken from the profits from the Run that were to be made to the Gold and Blue Star Mothers to support their charities, The Wounded Warrior Project, The Fisher House and The Traumatic Brain Injury Foundation



How many more times must we Vietnam Veterans have to pay for serving our Country without being allowed to be Proud of that very Service. I guess our "bill" will never be paid as long as Military and Veteran hating people like Ohio Veterans Memorial Park Board and the Clinton Cemetery Association Board can get away with making bogus rules.



What they don't understand is we will never stop fighting for our earned respect and we will never forget.



Sp-4 Luke P. Patrino

937th Combat Engineer Group Republic of Vietnam 67-68






Who Really Paid the Price





Having had very close ties with Ohio’s Vietnam Veterans for the past four years, I have learned a great deal not only about them but also about their values. They have a motto which is truly a promise, “Never again will one generation of Veterans abandon another”. Ask any of our troops and they will tell you the Vietnam Veterans are, by far, their biggest supporters. That is the main reason the Run to the Wall Committee chose to dedicate the Second Annual Run to the Ohio Wall to our deployed and fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan and to donate any proceeds from the event to the Ohio Gold and Blue Star Mothers for distribution.



So who are the real losers in the costly, nonsensical rules imposed by Ken Noon/ Ohio Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Park Board and Sandra Dreurey/ Clinton Cemetery Association Board which erupted into a court battle by Ohio Veterans’ to exercise their constitutional rights of peaceful assembly in honor of our newest generation of heroes?



· The Fisher House minus a donation of $1,600 which would fund an apartment for a Veterans’ family as they await treatment at a Military Medical Center.



· The Wounded Warrior Project minus a donation of $1,542 which would provide six brand new laptops for Veterans confined to beds at Walter Reed Hospital.



· The Traumatic Brain Injury Foundation minus a donation of $1,570 that would provide an injured Veteran with a sponsor to assist them in their daily routine.



The Run to the Wall is all and only about supporting our Veterans. How sad our Veterans are absolutely the last thing on the minds of the Ohio Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Park and Clinton Cemetery Association Boards; they have certainly shown their self worth.



Chell Rossi, Sec/Treas. Run to the Ohio Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall, Inc.

10 comments:

  1. I was of military age during the Vietnam War. Thanks to the lottery I wasn’t required to serve. I did then and I do now, however, have a great deal of respect for those who did. Having seen some of my classmates who didn’t return or those who did return physically or mentally altered is devastating. One of the ways I show my appreciation is by supporting the Vietnam War Memorial in Clinton , OH .



    I don’t understand why rules that seem to be costly, unnecessary and vindictive would deprive the Blue Star Mothers of resources to do their important volunteer work. I don’t understand why the management of the wall would see fit to force bikers honoring the dead to park elsewhere than the memorial. It seems to be a slap in the face to the war dead and to those who came to honor our fallen heroes. I don’t understand why those who came to honor our Vietnam heroes would be made to feel unwelcome at a place that was dedicated to their comrades.



    A bad think turned good! Walking to the memorial in the 95 degree blistering sun gave me some appreciation for today’s heroes who are fighting for our freedom in these weather conditions in full gear every day.



    Thanks you to all who have served.



    Chuck Myers

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  2. Thank you Chuck. Very heartfelt post.

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  3. did u know that we have people living at the ohio veterans home who were deserters during the war and are recieving disabilty benefits,and living in a home meant for those of us who served proudly

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  4. Anonymous, did you know that if you know about this then you have an obligation to report them to the VA instead of making wild accusations on a blog?

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  5. If Chell Rossi had been honest about the 193 people attending instead of blowing it up to "thousands" it would not have cost the veterans a single dime to visit the wall. She and Luke Patrino are solely responsible for the costs involved.

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  6. Posting a comment like this is hard to believe. That's the problem when people make accusations but don't bother to leave a name or offer anything more than an accusation.

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  7. The “Anonymous” post is not hard to believe at all. I was at the Park for the run. There was 193 people showed up. Rossi and Patrino have been told from the beginning that they could park 250 bikes at the park, that is all it can hold. It was the two of them that decided not to park the bikes at the park because, according to them, they had 1700 people registered for the ride.

    What I did notice was the Luke and Rossi both parked at the Park, while others were made to walk?

    The $ 5,000.00 in lost money was due to three separate lawsuits filed against the park by Rossi and Patrino. The first two lawsuits were dismissed and the third lawsuit is where Rossi and Patrino decided to not park the bikes at the park and where they were ordered to pay for local law enforcement because, again according to them, they had 1700 registered riders.

    Had the numbers not been so grossly over-inflated there would have been no issues from the beginning.

    For anyone interested in the truth about this event, all of the court papers are public record and can be easily ordered from the courts.

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  8. Not sure what to say now but I hope they respond to what was posted here.

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  9. RTAl:Let’s just start from the top…that was not an anonymous post, our names were signed to the letters. Unlike you, my friend, we are not afraid to disclose our writings.

    In reply to your erroneous count, there were well over 500 registered for the Run.
    Yes, we were told we could park 250 bikes but when we arrived, the OVVMP had seen fit to have dozens of their own vehicles already in the area we were to park in.

    You seem to have a problem with numbers; the 1700 figure was from last year, nowhere was that number used this year.

    Yes, Luke parked at the Memorial. Had you looked closely you would have seen the Disabled Vet ribbon on his bike. As for me, I rode in and out and in and out filming barely getting parked in time for the ceremony. Where in you book does it say that the program coordinator and person in charge of filming the ride has no place parking at the Memorial? I was listed on the New Franklin PD as approved parking.
    Once again, you do not have any of the facts straight. There was only one lawsuit!!!! The one filed in Judge Judy Hunter’s Court which she saw fit to issue a PERMANENT Court Injunction never, ever, limiting the number of visitors to the Ohio Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
    OK, let’s talk about the $5000. Every penny is documented expenses to counteract the order from the OVVMP restricting the number of visitors to the Memorial. The charge for law enforcement also was completely related to enforcing the same which became a mute point after the Court order.
    The only grossly inflated figures were in your mind!

    The court order is out there for all to see, I suggest you be the first to look at it as you just haven’t a clue!

    Chell Rossi

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  10. Thank you for clearing that up Chell.

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