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WORLD WAR II VETERAN FIGHTS WEST L.A. VA LAND
GRAB -- They say he's the oldest paperboy in
American.
And, he's really upset about the possibility of
losing
a huge chunk of the West L.A. VA campus.
World War II veteran Steve Palmer
hold a sign that says, "SHAME ON THE VA." |
For more about the VA's plans to turn over part
of the West L.A. campus to developers, use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=west+l.a.&op=ph
Story here...
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_9954114
Story below:
-------------------------
Local veteran fighting another war
By Dennis McCarthy, Columnist
The oldest newspaper boy in America pulls out of his garage early Monday
morning to begin his route.
Seven days a week, 85-year-old World War II veteran Steve Palmer takes 15
copies of the Daily News - left on the mat outside his Panorama City
apartment - and drives them over to the Sepulveda VA in North Hills.
He parks his van in the lot outside Building 99, unloads his motorized
wheelchair, and starts his paper route inside the VA nursing home - the
last stop for some veterans.
The newspaper is his calling card, Palmer says. His reason for
 dropping
by every morning and spending a few minutes talking with Albert Rios,
Larry Gump, Eugene Feistman and many of the other 20 vets who call
Building 99 home these days.
They don't get a lot of visitors.
"For most of them, it's me and your newspaper," Palmer says.
If their eyes are too weak to read or their English is poor, Steve reads
the headlines and stories to them. He's been doing it every day for nearly
15 years, beginning right after the Northridge Earthquake.
"These guys don't have a lot; they miss the paper terribly," he told me in
early 1994 while we walked around the VA looking at the damage from the
quake.
"Any chance you could get me a few copies I could deliver to them every
morning?"
More than a chance, I told him. How many did he need? There wouldn't be a
free press today if the World War II vets lying in those beds in Building
99 over the years hadn't saved the world's bacon when they were young and
tough as nails.
A few dozen free newspapers every morning seemed like a small way to say
thanks. The editors of the Daily News agreed.
After delivering his papers, Palmer would stop by Building 10 to drop in
on the veterans fighting drug and alcohol abuse, trying to find their way
home.
Palmer would bring them an encouraging word and some secondhand clothing
he collected around town from people who knew what the paper boy was doing
over there.
He finally had to stop making the rounds around town to pick things up for
the vets about eight years ago because VA doctors told him to take it easy
or he'd wind up in Building 99 himself.
"I'm living on 35 percent of my heart," the paper boy told me Monday.
He took their advice and cut back to just delivering his papers. Instead
of walking his route now, he uses a motorized wheelchair to give his heart
a break.
Which brings me to Sunday. For the past six months, instead of going home
and relaxing after his paper route, Palmer's been driving over the hill to
sit in his wheelchair on the sidewalk outside the West Los Angeles VA for
four hours with a handful of other veterans.
Strapped for cash, VA officials have been looking for creative ways to
raise funds at VA facilities, such as leasing space out for private
enterprise.
But that was not part of the agreement when the land was donated to the
government in 1888 by local families for the sole purpose of a Los Angeles
National Veterans Home.
The deal was clear and simple back then. The 16-acre site, now worth
billions of dollars, was for veterans' care. Period.
"It's a land grab," Palmer says Sunday, as a few motorists honk their
horns, and give him the thumbs up.
The paper boy waves a small American flag back at them.
The threat of leasing out parts of this and other VA facilities to private
and public concerns is like yanking that thread on your old sweater, the
vets say.
Tug at it long enough and pretty soon the whole damn thing is gone, and
what's left for the vets?
"You only have to look at all the cutbacks for veterans at Sepulveda VA,"
Palmer says. "Do you know what I have to do if I have a heart attack while
delivering those newspapers?
"Call 911 because there are no emergency medical services anymore at
Sepulveda. Imagine that. No emergency services at a VA hospital."
The oldest newspaper boy in America shakes his head and holds up a sign
that says it all.
"Shame on the VA."
Dennis McCarthy's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
dennis.mccarthy@dailynews.com
, 818-713-3749
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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