OHIO FUND Salem soldier needs aid

The soldier suffered serious facial injuries in a suicide car bomb explosion in 2003.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Former Army Spc. 4 Randall Clunen of Salem is one of the wounded veterans Ohioans can help by checking the box on their 2005 tax forms to donate their tax returns to the state's Military Injury Relief Fund.
The new relief fund is for soldiers injured in Afghanistan or Iraq during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, said state Rep. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-61st.
Clunen, 21, suffered serious facial injuries when a suicide car bomb exploded on Dec. 9, 2003, Iraq time, in Tal Afar in the northern part of the country. He was treated for several days in a hospital in Germany and was sent back to the United States and Walter Reed Army Hospital in Maryland on Dec. 13, 2003, from which he was discharged in August 2005.
Boccierri's role
Boccieri introduced the legislation, which was passed in 2005, creating the fund. He signed over his $150 tax refund check at a ceremony Monday at the Mahoning Valley Veterans Memorial on the Canfield Fairgrounds, and urged other Ohioans to do likewise.
"They need the help," Boccieri said of the wounded veterans.
Boccieri said rules about how the money will be disbursed are being worked out and should be ready by the end of April. Grants will be issued through the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
As of Friday, 16,695 people had used the check-off feature on their tax return, donating $250,000. He said the 2005 goal is $500,000.
Boccieri said people who want to contribute should write the amount on Line 18 on the EZ 1040 tax return form. People who don't have a refund and still want to contribute to the fund can do so by sending a check, made payable to the Ohio Treasurer of State, to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Military Relief Fund, P.O. Box, 182367, Columbus 43218-2367.
Others injured
Clunen is one of the 765 Ohioans injured in Iraq while serving in active duty, reserve or national guard units, according to Boccieri. He attended Monday's ceremony with his wife, Heather, and 9-month-old son, Bryce.
Clunen has had several operations for reconstructive surgery and skin grafts on his face, and he said doctors tell him more surgeries are necessary.
However, because he did not sign up correctly for military health insurance when he was discharged from the military -- no one advised him what to do, he said -- he has accumulated $12,000 in medical bills related to his war injuries. Collection agencies are after them, his wife said.
Clunen said he will have to go through the Veterans Administration for any additional surgeries, but that will entail using a different doctor from the one who has done his surgeries to date and is familiar with his case.
Clunen said he started receiving disability this month through the VA, but it is not enough to pay his living expenses. He said if he could get a grant through the Military Injury Relief Fund, he would use it to pay bills.
alcorn@vindy.com