ARMED FORCES

ARMED FORCES

VETERANS

VietNow settlement

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and 23 other state attorneys general recently announced a settlement dissolving an Illinois-based nonprofit accused of misleading donors to VietNow, which also used the name of VeteransNow, across the United States.

According to the settlement, VietNow National Headquarters Inc. is to dissolve, and its directors and officers are required to cooperate in investigations of VietNow’s professional fundraisers. Any remaining VietNow funds are to be paid to two national veterans charities: Fisher House Foundation and Operation Homefront.

The states’ investigations found that since March 2015, VietNow had been raising money using deceptive telemarketing scripts, claiming donations would help local veterans when it had no local programs.

In its most recent financial statement, VietNow reported raising nearly $2 million nationwide. Most of this cash was paid to fundraisers, with less than 5 percent of funds raised going to charitable programs.

The telemarketing scripts, which were used by professional fundraiser Corporations for Character, told potential donors that VietNow gave a minimum of 12 percent after expenses to veterans in the donor’s state or that donations helped local veterans in the donor’s state, even though VietNow had no local programs in most states.

Veterans office closed

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission office, located in Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave., Suite 100, will be closed Wednesday for training purposes.

HONORS

Veterans Hall of Fame

Two area military veterans, James W. Campbell of Howland and Howard B. Friend of Poland, were inducted Thursday into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.

Campbell, 68, served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War in 1969 and 1970 and was a decorated machine-gunner on a quick-response team.

Campbell, who served in several law-enforcement agencies in Trumbull County, retired from the Howland Police Department as a detective in the criminal investigations section. He held numerous local and state offices in veterans organizations, including that of commander of the American Legion Department of Ohio in 2015 and 2016.He is a member of the Trumbull County Honor Guard, which has provided full military honors for more than 3,000 veterans since 2000.

Friend, 91, who served in the Army during World War II, was sent to Europe in December 1944 to become part of Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army and was quickly moved into the Battle of the Bulge, in which he was severely wounded Jan. 9, 1945, leaving him hospitalized for 18 months. After his discharge from the Army on May 26, 1946, he graduated from Mount Union College and had a long career as an educator, serving as a high-school teacher and principal in several area school districts, and was the first superintendent of the Mahoning County Joint Vocational School. Also, he has been active in the community, particularly as a volunteer for Youngstown YMCA and its Camp Fitch.

BASIC TRAINING GRADS

Air Force: Airman 1st Class Ashlyn N. Brock, a 2017 graduate of Smiths Station High School, Smiths Station, Ala., the daughter of Michelle Sherwood of Salem, Ala., and Mike Brock of Columbiana.

Airman Kenneth D. Speed II, a 2017 graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, the son of Jeannine Baker of Austintown, grandson of Willie Baker of Youngstown, and brother of Paige McClendon.

Items of note for the Armed Forces Digest can be sent to The Vindicator, Regional Desk, P.O. Box 780, Youngstown 44501-0780, or emailed to William K. Alcorn at alcorn@vindy.com