The local branch of the League of United Latin American Citizens
has been making a push the past two years in support of San Benito
County employing a full-time veterans services officer due to the
growing needs of 4,000 residents eligible for the offerings
here.
HOLLISTER
The local branch of the League of United Latin American Citizens has been making a push the past two years in support of San Benito County employing a full-time veterans services officer due to the growing needs of 4,000 residents eligible for the offerings here.
The local LULAC chapter has done so primarily by surveying residents at its annual Veterans Day breakfast on whether they want a full-time veterans services officer here.
Mickie Luna, president of the county’s LULAC chapter, said the group “has always been an organization that supports veterans.” Luna has everyday experience with the local office, too, because her husband is a veteran who served in Vietnam.
“There’s a lot of needs for veterans,” Luna said. “If they don’t know about the services, they’re not going to receive them.”
For about 15 years, San Benito County has partnered with Monterey County’s Military and Veterans Affairs Office, which provides an employee three days a week from 8 a.m. to noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Before that, the county had employed a full-time officer, but at a relatively low cost because it was former Supervisor Rita Bowling’s husband.
The veterans services officer is crucial to the 4,000 veterans in San Benito County and other areas because obtaining the benefits offered through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can be a “bureaucratic jungle,” said Richard Garza, head of the Monterey County office that services San Benito County. There is ample documentation for such offerings as medical coverage and tuition assistance for children of disabled veterans.
The biggest roadblock to going full time again, however, is the local government’s declining revenues in correlation with the down economy – and a slew of cuts over the past year, most markedly the 5 percent pay reductions for employees.
“More is always better than less time,” said Garza, who acknowledged the number of veterans seeking services in San Benito County has increased in his seven years on the job. “But that’s both a fiscal and policy decision that’s best addressed by the board of supervisors.”
For the full story see the Free Lance on Tuesday.
