Up & Coming Weekly

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Veteran Responds to Sister City Concept Dear Editor: After reading Mayor Tony Chavonne’s passionate plea for the community to embrace the communist city of Soc Trang, South Vietnam, as a sister city, I am left wondering about his underlying gimmick. In my humble opinion, I suspect he feels guilty for the past and his generation’s rebellious college days. He writes about a lot of things in an attempt for us to feel good about going back 35-40 years to remember an unpopular war — interesting, since he did not serve any time in the military. The notion that adopting Soc Trang as a sister city will somehow eliminate the terminology of Fayettenam and Fatalburg is ridiculous. Those terms defi ne a time and an attitude of this community, as well as other communities, which can never be erased or diminished — even for those from Berkeley to Kent State and even Yale. Who is the mayor referring to when he says WE must heal? It certainly is not for us Vietnam veterans! We have moved on. Our children have their own children now, giving us the chance for lives fi lled with the laughter of grandchildren. Why such efforts to resurrect a war better left behind us? Mayor Chavonne mentions that no other city in America has a more complicated connection to Vietnam than Fayetteville. I can only say “Au contraire Mr. Mayor.” I am sure the towns surrounding Fort Campbell, Fort Deven, Fort Carson, Fort Hood, Fort Jackson, Fort Leonard Wood, Fort Riley, Fort Polk, Fort Benning, Fort Lewis, Fort Ord, Camp Le Jeune, Camp Pendleton and Quantico, just to name a few, would beg to differ. We veterans who served have no need for healing from the Vietnam War. Others who stand up for our nation do have that need. Please consider the current generation who is in harm’s way now. The war at hand has forced most of our military personnel to go on multiple combat tours of duty. Some of these returning military personnel and veterans need a lot of care and understanding. The mayor could better support his need for true healing by moving forward to realize and support the needs of our newest Veterans and their families. As Vietnam Veterans, we were not appreciated or accepted. We are thankful the veterans of today see and feel a new attitude across America. That is what Fayetteville should continue to openly embrace. Let me suggest to the mayor that it is civilians from the Vietnam War-era who need the healing — not the men and women who went to that war. The healing they need is for the things stated and actions performed by the many Jane Fonda-types or the ever present college fl ower children. We have witnessed fi rsthand the reputation this city has earned since 1998 and are very proud of Fayetteville. That pride continues to grow in keeping with the bureaucrats fi nally realizing it was and is the military within the community that drives prosperity. Salaries, retirement pay, sales taxes, home and automobile sales and those extra dollars from hazard pay earned during combat deployments produce more than local industry. More than 55, 000 military personnel are assigned locally with their families representing a tremendous populace for the area. Several billions of dollars are spent locally as a result of the strong military presence in our fair city — by active duty, dependents or veterans. The Veterans Affairs Medical Center budget alone represents millions of dollars for the community. The sterling presence of the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, Freedom Memorial Park and construction of the new N.C. Veterans Park show our ever increasing pride and acceptance of our military. It is never too late to say thank you for a warrior’s past service. Saying it while handing us a Communist sister city on the same platter is a bit too much. The mayor states a sister-city relationship could provide an opportunity to capture our lost history. Obviously, he did not witness his past employer’s news photos of the countless thousands of Vietnamese fl eeing their country on boats to escape the incoming Communist regime. He must have missed seeing the last helicopter leave the American Embassy in Saigon and the thousands of Vietnamese climbing the fences who wanted a way out. To me, I would like to see a letter from our nation’s Secretary of State that South Vietnam is moving from a socialist communist state to a democratic nation. Or perhaps a statement from the CIA that all genocide has ended on the people of Vietnam, and that the reeducation concentration camps for ARVN military and politicos are truly no longer in operation. I would like to have a local historian explain to everyone just what history has been lost. Perhaps our mayor, who used to work for the newspaper, could check out the archives in his quest for healing something or somebody. While there, he needs to read the names on the Vietnam Wall, the list of prisoners of WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM war, and those still unaccounted for who cannot speak on this matter. All the things the mayor mentions about what could happen can happen. Merely inviting different countries to participate in art and cultural exchanges can accomplish those benefi ts for our city. Being a sister city is not a requirement for this type of cultural exchange and is accomplished all the time by the arts community. The mayor states it is time for change. Well now … last time I looked, things are changing quite rapidly around us all the time — some good, some bad. We have moved past his divisiveness and the pain of a long ago era. We do not want or need to relive it. We certainly should continue to honor those who served, and most importantly honor those who are currently serving this great nation. On Memorial Day, Mr. Mayor, we would like to see you attend our local ceremony to honor those past and present heroes. Don Talbot, Foreign Army Advisor Purple Heart Recipient Vietnam Vet, 64,65,68,69,71,72. Congressman Clarifi es Health Care Vote Dear Editor: I voted against the Health Care Reform Bill in Congress. I did so because I made a promise. As a candidate, I promised the citizens of the 8th District I would fi ght to protect Medicare, and the bill cuts nearly $500 billion from Medicare. From this day forward, I will make it a priority to restore as much of this money as possible back into Medicare. For starters, we must immediately restore the $40 billion cut from home-health care, allowing the many thousands of families who depend on those services to plan for the future care of their loved ones. I have heard from friends and constituents on both sides of this issue. To those of you who disagree with my vote on the Health Care Reform Bill, and my belief that a nearly half trillion dollar cut to Medicare will negatively impact services to our seniors, know that I believe taking care of our seniors and our children trumps all else. It is indisputable that home health care and hospice keep folks out of hospitals and nursing homes and allows them to live, and die, with dignity. These institutions, and the dedicated professionals they employ, help keep seniors in their homes and living independently which, among other things, keeps health care costs down. I am gravely concerned that the cuts in home-health care reimbursements will devastate home-health care and hospice programs, especially in rural communities, where they are a vital part of the business and community fabric, and where care options for seniors are becoming more and more scarce. In the coming years, millions of “Baby Boomers” will join the Medicare rolls. The system will require enhanced funding, not massive cuts, in order to meet the obligation the government has made to our senior citizens. The nearly $500 billion cut from Medicare in the Senate Health Care Bill are not re- invested into Medicare; they are used to pay for new programs that do nothing to increase the sustainability of Medicare. Hubert Humphrey once said, “The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” Medicare, coupled with Medicaid, forms the primary social safety net that provides a level of care to our citizens who fall within these groups. And I do not believe we should trade off the quality of care for people in one of these groups in order to enhance care for the members of another group. That is why I supported an expansion of the State Children’s Insurance Program, and that is why I will continue my fi ght against any attempts to cut funding to Medicare and the services it provides to the disabled, the terminally ill and the senior citizens of our nation. Our senior citizens have earned the right to be treated with love, dignity and respect as they enter and navigate the twilight of life. That journey is suffi ciently challenging and stressful without the government making it worse by denying key elements of care to those who need it most. It is never the right time to shortchange senior citizens the care and dignity they are due; and this is certainly not the time to pull a half trillion dollars in funding out of the Medicare programs on which so many of our seniors depend. U.S. Congressman Larry Kissell 8th District APRIL 7-13, 2010 UCW 5

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