Region 8 Report

BY TOM OWEN, DIRECTOR

Region 8 has been busy over the past few months. The Portland, Ore., and Sandpoint, Idaho, chapters have active firewood give-away programs to help disabled veterans with their winter heating. Russ Fankle, the new Idaho State Council president, conducted his first meeting and did an excellent job staying on track. The Hamilton, Mont., chapter has continued to make progress on its veterans memorial, which is quite impressive as I observed during a visit in late October. During the daylight hours—and also after dark—the memorial shines as a tribute to veterans of all eras.

At the fall meeting of the Oregon State Council it was my honor to present the VVA Commendation Medal to Dick Gorby, president of the council, for his many years of dedicated service to veterans and to VVA.

In late November I attended the quarterly meeting with the administrator of the Roseburg VA Hospital in Oregon. We were brought up to date on the acquisition of new personnel and allocations for expanding the facility. Several members from the Roseburg VVA chapter are active on this board.

I am continuing to research the possibility of setting up a national veterans real estate referral network. It seems that a corporate sponsor may be the answer to some of the challenges that might arise.

The rider that has been attached to the farm bill in Congress has drawn quite a bit of my attention. It is section 733 in HR5973, which is the Agriculture and Rural Development Appropriations Act of 2013. The rider would essentially eliminate any oversight of the bio-tech industry in the production of genetically engineered crops or the additives used in their production.

I have had ongoing, weekly communications with Northwest congressional representatives, and our position is being supported. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has written a letter of support for the removal of section 733 from the agriculture bill. He also put on a town hall meeting in D.C. to provide other legislators with information on problems with the passage of this section of the bill.

I have spoken with several community service groups and leaders about this, and I have gotten overwhelming support from both sides of the political fence. Please contact me for copies of the rider to find out why we are working to remove this section from the bill. I also will forward the letter from Rep. DeFazio so that you may send it to your congressional representatives for their support.