More than 100 veterans pack commissioners meeting
WASHINGTON – More than 100 veterans packed into the Washington County commissioners’ meeting Thursday to show support for fired Veterans Affairs Director Col. Chuck Rockwell and several people recommended for the county Veterans Advisory Council. First to take the podium during public comment, however, was Harry Sabatasse, who two weeks ago suggested that tax dollars should not be spent to fund the Veterans Affairs office, since it isn’t used by all the taxpayers.
“I’m not against any veteran,” Sabatasse said. “I had three brothers who served in the Second World War. I think that the veterans who need help deserve help.”
Sabatasse said his problem was with veterans “who are crying like babies” because they want certain people to serve as their representatives and want only veterans to serve as the director of Veterans Affairs.
“I had a person call me the other day saying there are 25,000 veterans in the county. I said ‘Why not put in $2 each and hire your own administrator instead of fighting with the commissioners?'” Sabatasse said.
His comment drew some boos and catcalls, as did the comments of Veterans Advisory Council member Joe Abate.
“These guys were elected to run the government, and it can’t be done by committee,” Abate said. “That’s how the government works. We can’t change the government to suit the needs of individuals.”
Abate also noted that the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion are supposed to be politically neutral. He criticized the groups for staging what he said amounted to a political protest at the meeting.
“I know all three commissioners, and there’s not one of them that any one of us couldn’t sit down with and get results. We don’t need to do this,” Abate said.
The former chairman of the Veterans Advisory Council, Lew Irwin, presented the commissioners with a list of five issues that have come up in the past eight months and five things he would like to see done to remedy the problems for veterans in the county.
Irwin contends that the commissioners have ignored the advisory council input that the veterans office is inadequately staffed. The county has only one full-time employee working in the office, while surrounding counties have more people addressing the needs of the veterans. Irwin said even Greene County, which has only 3,686 veterans compared to Washington’s 22,942, has two full-time employees in the veterans office.
“We make every attempt to provide services to every veteran in Washington County,” Commissioner John Bevec said. “You and I have personal differences, but we can’t let that get in the way.”
Irwin is requesting that the staff be increased to two full-time employees in Washington County and that the director of Veterans Affairs be relieved of all duties not directly related to his responsibilities to the veterans community. He is also calling for Rockwell to be reinstated to his job as director of Veterans Affairs and that he answer to the board of commissioners instead of to another director.
He also asked that Herman Bigi and Dennis Koman be named to the advisory council, as the commanders of the American Legion and the Mon Valley Leathernecks had recommended. He did not ask to be reappointed to the council.
“We ask you to pledge to respect your own rules which govern the Veterans Advisory Council, including the bylaws regarding representation on the council and the involvement of the council in all matters pertaining to the veterans of Washington County and their families,” Irwin said.
“We will take all the requests under advisement and put them on the agenda at a future meeting,” Bevec said.
He said some of the requests would have a financial impact on the county, and it would not be fiscally responsible to act on them without further study.
Commissioner Bracken Burns made a motion to reinstate Rockwell, but it died for a lack of a second. While Burns contends that Rockwell was promised two weeks’ unpaid leave when he was hired in August, Bevec and Human Services Director George Krcelich say no such promise was made. Rockwell reportedly was fired after taking a week off without the permission of the commissioners or Krcelich.
“The gentleman came to me personally and asked for the time off, and it was denied. I’m not overly familiar with military matters, but I believe that is AWOL (absent without leave),” Bevec said.
Krcelich said he was the one who actually fired Rockwell and he too had denied the time off to Rockwell. Krcelich said Rockwell had taken 18 days off, four of them vacation days, between the time he was hired in August and his firing 66 days later.
Bevec defended his record of support for veterans, noting changes made by the commissioners to improve van service for medical appointments and the attraction of a national veterans cemetery to Washington County.