Veterans, others need to be heard about VA closings

Veterans, others need to beheard about VA closings
EDITOR:
It will be a sad day indeed for the thousands of veterans in the Valley when the Brecksville hospital closes, along with 12 other VA health-care facilities around the nation.
The Brecksville facility has served veterans of the Valley well, with its excellent and caring professionals and auxiliary staff. Its proximity to Youngstown made it easier for the disabled veterans to reach that facility within a few hours.
Under a mandate from the White House, the Veterans Administration must restructure the entire VA health-care program, resulting in the closings of 13 facilities across the nation. Supposedly, the restructuring will shift to outpatient care to save money by eliminating underused and outdated facilities.
In the above regard, how can this administration justify those closings in view of the fact that it is spending billions upon billions of dollars to pacify and democratize Iraq, a nation steeped in tribal history and fanatic religious leaders?
How soon we have forgotten those 2.3 million disabled veterans from World War I, II, Korea and Desert Storm. How can we forget, or shortchange those 2.3 million of our disabled heroes, many whose lives have become a living hell?
Sadly, the number of disabled veterans will continue to grow, because the world is still a dangerous place. New fields of battle are being added to the history of our nation's commitment to liberty -- Grenada, Panama, Somalia, The Persian Gulf, Haiti, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kosovo and now Liberia.
In Iraq today, our young soldiers are becoming victims to lung diseases due to breathing in dust from the never-ending sandstorms and the excessive heat. These, too, will add to the many thousands of veterans needing health care, if they ever come home alive.
For those countless disabled veterans to have continued health care, it is incumbent on veterans to speak out and clear in our objections to losing the Brecksville facility. Our voices must be heard in the halls of Congress and to the office of the president. Please get involved. Contact your local, county, state and national legislators. Contact the heads of the major veterans organizations based in Washington. Each of us can do something. It is our fight. Let's not shrink from it.
NEIL DELL ARCO
Youngstown
Want to study feasibilityof racetrack? Do it yourself
EDITOR:
A hundred and fifty grand for whaaaaaat? You're kidding aren't you? Mahoning County can't find someone's pocket to pick to help pay their share of the airport cost and they want to help pay for a study to build a racetrack? Come on now. I can see the hotel and motel operators grabbing their wallets with both hands. What are the Mahoning County commissioners going to do, raise the bed tax 25 percent to pay the costs?
Tell Richard Brant that if the wants to have a study done he should show the Mahoning Valley the money (i.e. pony up the funds himself). I'll lay you two to one, he'll head for the city limits.
I have this bright idea to build a casino at the airport. It will be a great boon to the local economy. All I need is $500,000 to build it. Could you spare a little change? Brant has all these bright ideas and no money. No other area will give him the time of day. The area is so desperate for any economic growth they are gullible enough to entertain this goose.
This has about the same chance of coming to fruition as Jim's gym -- that piece of property between the South Avenue Bridge and the Market Street Bridge.
The counties' commissioners can't pay the utility bills and keep track of the supplies in the county buildings. I can't wait to see the Mahoning and Trumbull county commissioners "getting in bed" with each other on this transaction.
THADDEUS M. PRICE
Warren