Archive for December, 2007

January 2008 Scuttlebutt

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

Dear Fellow Comrades,

If you didn’t make it to the annual VFW Christmas Party you missed out on some great food. A big thank you to all the members for cooking and bringing in the great meal. A great turn out of members.

I have been on the road the last two months inspecting posts in the district and I have had a great time doing it. It is a great feeling to have all the inspections done before the weather turns bad for the winter. I inspected 17 of 33 posts in the district and put on a lot of miles. We have a lot of great veterans in the 9th District and I have enjoyed talking to all of them.

I am very proud to say, Post 2204 has done it again. We reached our 100% membership goal in December. We were the first post in the district to reach it. Since then at least one other post has also gotten to 100%. Our newest member this month is Dean Harrington. Welcome to our post; hope to see you at future meetings.

Just a reminder, if you have not yet paid your post annual dues for 2008, please pay it now. If not paid by the 1st of January, you are delinquent and will not be able to vote during meetings until you dues are paid.

The Youth Essays (Patriot Pen) were outstanding this year. The winners this year are; Marissa Gomez, Garrison Strand and Lindsay VonFelt. The winners were forwarded to district for their judging and I should know next month how our entries placed.

The VFW Department of Wisconsin Mid-Winter Conference will be held in Green Bay 15-16 February and the 9th District Conference will be at Altoona on the 23rd of February.  I would like to see as many post members who can attend these meeting.

I attended a meeting in Madison on 01 December regarding our Headquarters Building. We have discussed several options; sell & relocate, remodel, etc. We will be discussing it more at the Mid-Winter Conference.

I recently received word that I have been appointed to the National Youth, Education & Community Service Committee and have been invite to attend the National Conference in Washington, DC, March 2-5. I mentioned it to Betty and she said, “When do we pack out bags”? We have several people we met in the service that live in the area that we would like to visit with. We will be attending the banquet when the national awards are given out to the VOD and Teacher of the Year awards. Sounds like a lot of fun.

All VFW members should have received their state raffle tickets.  Please don’t just throw them away. This is the major fundraisers for the state and is used to pay all the expense. Send in the money and help out your fellow veterans.

    **** If you know of any member who is sick or could use some sunshine, please contact Ted Kuchera at 434-3123.

Upcoming Events:

15 January  - Monthly Meeting

    15-16 February - Mid-Winter Conference (Green Bay)
    19 February  - Monthly Meeting

Yours in Comradeship,

John L. Fredrickson

9th District Commander

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January 2008 Scuttlebutt

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Hi Comrades,

Our Adjutant was back on the road again this month. Joy & Lenny filled in for him as adjutant and treasurer and both did a great job. Not a lot of new information or action items to discuss so it was a fairly short meeting. One of our newest members (Tom Johnson of Poplar) was able to attend his first meeting. What dedication, he drove all the way down from Poplar just to attend the meeting. It is great to see, we have some members who won’t drive a mile or two to attend a meeting.

We have another new member to report this month. Ronald Sutliff of St Croix Falls just joined this month. We are now well over our 100% goal for membership for the year. Welcome Aboard. Hope he can make it to meetings this next spring.

Our Barron County Administrator is up to his old tricks. Todd Wagner was asked to turn in his keys and is no longer employed in the CVSO office. The county is going to hire someone else to enter our “CONFIDENTIAL” VA DATA into the computer system. It was brought to his attention that ALL VA Records are Confidential and that ONLY Authorized Personnel are authorized to look into them. It appears that County Administrators has interpreted State and Federal Laws to suit his own goals. Do we again have to go to a county board meeting and tell the members that they are breaking the law by letting UN-Authorized Personnel look at our Veterans Records? If we can’t get the board to follow the law, maybe we should replace them all during the spring elections.

Our CBOC Clinic will again be open at the old location. However, this time it will be completely under the control of the Minneapolis VA.

Our Christmas Dinner will be held on Saturday, 12 January 2008 at the Sportsman’s Restaurant. Cocktails from 1:00-2:00PM and we will eat at 2:00 PM. We have invited Department of Wisconsin Commander Charles Vandenplas, Sr. Vice-Commander Roger Dorman and 4th District Commander Terry McNitt. Hopefully they will all be able to attend. Please let our Adjutant John Fredrickson know by 07 January if you plan on attending as they need to know how many will be attending.  (715-234-8050)

Remember all our men and women serving all over the world to keep us safe. Say a big prayer for each and every one of them. May they all come home safe. God bless each and every one of you.

Upcoming Events:

  • 12 January -  Christmas Dinner (Sportsman’s)
  • NO MEETINGS IN JANUARY & FEBRUARY
  • 10 March 08 - Monthly Meeting

God Bless, Love Ya

Yours in Comradeship,

Ben (Walking Eagle) Anderson

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