The original G.I. Bill is credited for creating the middle class after the Second World War. The bill paid not only the educational costs for all veterans to go to college, but included a stipend for the veteran’s cost of living expenses. The current Montgomery G.I. Bill that veterans are eligible for is meant for a peacetime military, not for a military at war. This relic requires that eligible soldiers pay $100.00 a month for a year to receive up to $800.00 a month towards an education. This payment, known as the ‘combat tax’, does not even go towards the Veterans Administration. Worse, $800.00 a month is not enough money for a veteran to go to even a state school due with rising inflation and education costs.
Senator Webb (D-VA) and Senator Hagel (R-NE) have cosponsored the bipartisan ‘Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act.’ This revised G.I. Bill is similar to the original. It eliminates the ‘combat tax’, pays the full amount of the education, and offers a cost of living stipend to eligible veterans. All veterans, National Guard and Army Reserves included, that served on active duty after 9/11 would be eligible for benefits proportional to the amount of time they served. For example, if a National Guard soldier served a total of three years on active duty for two tours in Iraq he or she would be eligible for three years of benefits.
The current G.I. Bill is now in committee. I have met with Governor Shaheen and she said she would support the bill as a Senator. I met with the legislative assistant of Senator Sununu who said the Senator is uncommitted at this point. I am calling for both Senator Sununu and Senator Greg, neither of whom have served in the military, to support the ‘Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act.
Joshua David Denton
VoteVets.org
NH State Team Captain
To the Editor:
Wallace has a Good Side
With the sentencing of Derek Wallace in the Bayview Crematory case this past week, I have had some thoughts on this that I would like to share.
I don’t know much about the financial side of Derek Wallace, but what I do know is the human side of this man, the man who has dealt with grieving families for many years, and did so with such gentleness, caring and compassion. He was wonderful with families who were going through this horrible time in life. I have experienced this with Derek Wallace more than one time in the years that I have known him.
This is the man who came to the hospital at 1:00 in the morning to help my husband and I by taking our stillborn daughter so she didn’t have to sit in the morgue. We let her go, as we had to, knowing that we could trust Derek to have the utmost respect for her. The nurses were so amazed at what care and compassion he took with our little girl. In the depths of our despair, this man was a comfort to us. Do I feel that I have my daughter’s remains? Yes I have absolutely no doubt about it.
His staff and he also took care of my grandmother when she passed away suddenly. They were always caring and compassionate with us.
Also, hearing from many families who had been through both of his funeral homes, no one ever had anything but wonderful things to say about Derek Wallace.
Hearing all the news and knowing that he was convicted on financial issues has not stopped me from thinking all of the things that were said in the news that make him look bad. But I have not heard one news story that has even tried to see things in a different light. The things that were reported on were these:
Bodies found in a broken refrigerator: Well do you know what happens to a refrigerator if it breaks and you don’t know about it? It starts to heat. Do you know what happens to a body that starts to heat? That refrigerator could have broken overnight and it would have started heated because that is what happens with refrigerators.
Remains found with no label: Do you wonder what happens to the bodies that are fished out of rivers or are unidentifiable? Well people in the same profession as Derek Wallace go and pick up these bodies and they may not be identifiable, so you can’t put a tag on something that you don’t know.
There has been so much said to hurt the name of Derek Wallace, that I thought that there should be someone out there saying that they stand up for him. As I stated in the beginning of this letter, I don’t know about the financial end of all of this, but as for the character of this man and his dealings with the families of the deceased, as well as the deceased themselves, this I can attest to. Derek Wallace is a good husband, father, friend, son, brother..just ask those who really know him and you will find out. He and his family will be in my prayers.
Dawn Kalgren
Fremont
To the Editor:
War Should End
It’s been five years since our country marched into Iraq. The day was March 19, 2003. We’ve been told by the president and Senator McCain and anyone that supports the military campaign overseas that the war effort is making headway, the surge is working. And yet, no deadline has been set for the withdrawal of troops. General David Petraeus has said he‚d recommend in April that President Bush wait another 4 to 6 weeks before a determination can be made concerning changes in the numbers of U.S. troops. The president has recently said that troop draw downs would need to wait until October 1 when Iraq will be holding provincial elections. Senator McCain has been quoted as saying he would have troops stay in Iraq for 100 years if necessary to bring closure to the war. Any of these scenarios are not very comforting thoughts, especially to the women and men that have already served two, three, and perhaps four tours of duty.
The Iraq War has fallen off the radar screen. The presidential campaigns have taken center stage. The jabs and counterpunches between candidates are now the headline stories and daily reports from Iraq rarely receive notice. Iraqi Security Forces, civilians, and members of the American Armed Services are still risking their lives and dying. But the Iraq War as a headline story does not have the urgency it did when the U.S. first entered the country. And the president continues his same line about pressuring the Iraqi government to put a political system together that will give the country some cohesion. That same sentiment was stated back in June of 2005, 'As Iraqis Stand Up, We Will Stand Down'. That was nearly three years ago.
The cost of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, originally budgeted for $592 million dollars, is now expected to cost over $730 million. The cost of the war to date has now surpassed 0.5 trillion dollars and recent estimates project the final cost to be between one and two trillion dollars. Of course, that number depends on whether or not the war continues into the decade of 2010. The number of American casualties is approaching 4,000. The suicide rate of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007 was up 20% compared to 2006. Since the war began in 2003, more than half of the veteran suicides were members of the National Guard or Reserves http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23132421. The last six American soldier casualties in Iraq were ages 24, 22, 23, 19, 25, and 20 http://icasualties.org. A recent AP news story highlights the silent epidemic of hearing loss that many veterans are experiencing upon their return from the war. Iraq veterans going on disability for hearing loss is expected to increase 18% per year and is expected to cost the Veterans Administration 1.1 billion dollars per year in disability payments to veterans by 2011. Iraqi Security Forces and civilian deaths peaked in February and March of 2007 at about 3000 per month and have been reduced to about 550 per month (since November of 2007). So, the feeling is the surge is working because the number of Iraqi Security Forces and civilian deaths have dropped and leveled to about 550 per month (in February 2008 it was 668). There have been 948 Coalition casualties since the surge began in February of 2007. The average number of Coalition casualties peaked in May of 2007 at about four/day and has fallen to 1 or 2 per day. This number has remained relatively unchanged since September of 2007. This may be the reason General Petraeus is taking a wait and see approach. But if this is the strategy, then are we really making progress in Iraq?
There are some guarantees when a country enters a war. But one of them certainly is not to know when the enemy will fall or submit to a force that is entering from outside of the country. How long should the U.S. wait until this determination can be made? How many more anniversaries of the Iraq War are the U.S. Armed Forces and the Iraqi civilians and Security Forces going to have to endure before this futile war is brought to an end?
Bob Moore
East Kingston
To the Editor:
Schools and Tax Increases
I don’t have the answers but something has to be done to stop the escalating costs of the public school systems. The Charter School Branches seem to be doing a much better job of providing education at a much better price. It would be good if lessons would be learned from their ability to manage costs. The cost per student is much lower and yet the cost, now that it is New Hampshire’s turn to fund, is being quibbled about.
Now I would like to quibble about the SAU salaries per hour actually worked and the lack of excellent results for SAU students. Driving up the costs are too many holidays, teacher conferences, late starting days with time not being made up. As one young mother said “students have breaks and barely get back into attending classes again before another break comes along.”
I admit I am bad about attending meetings and just pay the levied taxes. If we are not happy about the situation we should do something and not just complain among ourselves.
However there are many young parents who are getting squeezed by the teacher’s hourly pay and benefits without substantial results for students to compete on the world stage.
Mary Smyk
Stratham
To the Editor:
Permanent Funding for Charter Schools
House Bill 1642 is critical to maintaining an effective public school option for educating children in New Hampshire. I am the parent of a child at the Seacoast Charter School in Kingston and have first-hand experience with the value that a different teaching approach can bring to a child.
Traditional schools in NH do a great job with most kids. But there is a whole group of kids, some very bright and capable, who are not reaching their potential. Providing alternative approaches to learning allows more kids to not only get through school, but to truly thrive. And as a parent, that‚s what I hope to provide for my children. Our state and our nation have benefited from the diversity of thought that comes from people of all types. Charter schools represent an opportunity to maximize our education funding by providing multiple approaches to learning giving more of our children the chance to find that niche that helps them truly excel.
I understand that there are concerns about funding charter schools given the tight economic times and I agree we should be as fiscally prudent as possible. Some people feel that by focusing funding on larger regional schools, the school systems can derive economies of scale to reduce costs. I would agree that we should maximize the amount of consolidation that we can get in administration and logistics. However, when it comes to the curriculum, we should be trying to maximize the educational output for the dollars we spend. We do that not by restricting our children’s creativity and individuality, but by recognizing that each child is different. What motivates one child may put off another child entirely. There is a time for standardization and a time for specialization. These are our children we are developing, not widgets.
The Seacoast Charter School has given my daughter a whole new outlook on school and how much she has to offer when given the opportunity to be herself. She has always been an out-going, theatrical girl which can be perceived as being challenging in a highly structured standard class room. The arts based curriculum at the Seacoast Charter School doesn‚t just tolerate that artistic style, but leverages it to keep her interested in the fundamentals of math and science that are critical for her to understand. Where before she may have been perceived as uncomfortable in her classroom environment, she is now a leader who has even run for school Vice-President as a second grader.
During a recent visit to the school, I spoke with several of the children about why they liked the school. A recurring theme was that the children felt “safe” there - not in the sense of being secured behind locked doors, but in the sense that being themselves was really OK.
New Hampshire needs the value proposition that charter schools represent. I sincerely hope that the House Finance committee will support House Bill 1642 and that the full House will pass this important legislation to secure permanent funding for NH charter schools. Concerned citizens should immediately contact the House Finance Committee members whose votes are imminent.
James G. Voteur
Brentwood
To the Editor:
Celebrate Meat Out
If you saw the Humane Society of the U.S. undercover footage on the news of cows too sick to walk, being jabbed and electric shocked, you were sickened just like any normal caring person would be. The fact that the slaughterhouse workers seen in the video are being brought up on animal abuse charges is a strange outcome. As though what happens at slaughterhouses is not animal abuse, in any case.
Gail Eisnetz‚ book Slaughterhouse is full of eyewitness statements from slaughterhouse workers such as this, “A lot of times the skinner finds a cow is still conscious when he slices the side of its head and it starts kicking wildly,” and this about hog slaughter... “it takes a long time for him to bleed out. These hogs get up to the scalding tank, hit the water, and start kicking and screaming.”
The Great American Meat Out is being held on (or around) March 20. Educational events and displays are planned in the US and in other countries. The NH Animal Rights League will have a display at the Nashua and Milford libraries from March 16-24.
Celebrate Meat Out and please give up eating meat for a day. You may find you feel better, emotionally and physically, and will decide to give it up forever.
