Kilduff-Wirtanen Legion Post Main Street PO Box 761 Brookline, NH

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1 Kilduff-Wirtanen Legion Post Main Street PO Box 761 Brookline, NH For God and Country May 2016 Newsletter Kilduff-Wirtanen American Legion Post 74, Brookline, NH meets the 4 th Thursday of the month* at 38 Main Street Brookline. Meetings begin at 1900 hours (7PM). *Nov meeting held 3 rd Thursday. If you wish to join or have questions about the American Legion, please call one of the Post Officers. Commander David Larkin 007 Bond St Brookline, NH drlark2004@yahoo.com 1 st Vice Commander Bill Graham 37 Averill Rd Brookline, NH bill@bibst.com 2 nd Vice Commander Richard Coutermarsh 20 Hood Road Brookline, NH rickcoutermarsh@charter.net Adjutant Greg d Arbonne 65 Cleveland Hill Rd Brookline NH gdarbo6844@aol.com Treasurer Bob Glover 100 Witches Spring Rd Hollis, NH kanga926@tds.net Sergeant at Arms Jim Pope 85 Old Milford Rd. Brookline, NH JimPope1@charter.net Chaplain Bruce Moran 45 Flint Pond Dr Hollis, NH bruce.moran@hotmail.com Historian Del Porter PO Box 17 Brookline, NH Delro033@aol.com Next Meeting: 26 May at 7:00 PM April Meeting Minutes Meeting called to order at 7:01 PM by Commander Dave Larkin. 7 Members present. Colors advanced, prayer offered, POW/MIA empty chair recognized, prayers offered for those lost and unaccounted for and the Preamble recited. MEMBERSHIP: Nothing to report. MINUTES: The Minutes of the March 2016 meeting were read. Bruce Moran made a motion that the Minutes be approved as read; seconded by Bob Canada and unanimously approved. TREASURERS REPORT: The Treasurer s Reports for April 2016 was read. Bob Glover reported that he ordered 3 boxes of flags for the gravesites ($411.92) and five Legion Grave Markers ($190.70). Bruce Moran made a motion that the treasurer s Report be approved as read; seconded by Del Porter and unanimously approved. SICK CALL AND EMPLOYMENT: Del Porter stated Art Fenske is back home, up and about and doing therapy. Art welcomes visitors. OLD BUSINESS: Flag Retirement Ceremony: Members are requested to be at the Post at 9 AM so we can prepare for the ceremony. Due to the fire hazard, the members asked if we need a Burn Permit. Greg d Arbonne will ask Scott Boggis of the Fire Department. Greg will also ask Allen Rosenberg, who runs the video taping of Town Meetings, about videotaping the Flag Ceremony and the memorial Day Ceremony. Flags for the Schools: Greg d Arbonne stated he told the VFW the Legion would work with the VFW on this project. The members asked if the person donating the New Hampshire flags was also donating them to the Brookline Schools so Greg will ask the VFW. Jim Pope asked if there were organizations like the Rotary and Lions Club who may be interested in helping with this project. Bruce Moran stated the target date for this project should be in the next school year (September). Bruce Moran made a motion that the Post make a $400 donation to the Honor Flight program; seconded by Greg d Arbonne and unanimously approved. Bruce Moran made a motion that the Adjutant cast one ballot for the following slate of officers; seconded by Bob Canada and unanimously approved: o Commander = Dave Larkin o 1st Vice Commander = Will Collard o 2nd Vice Commander = Bill Graham o Sergeant at Arms = Jim Pope o Chaplain = Bruce Moran

2 o Treasurer = Bob Glover o Adjutant = Greg d Arbonne o Historian = Del Porter o Service Officer = Bob Glover CORRESPONDENCE: Nothing to report. NEW BUSINESS: Solar Lights for flag poles: Greg d Arbonne made a motion that the Post purchase 2 solar lights for the flag poles at the main cemetery and at the Post building at a cost of no more than $100; seconded by Bruce Moran and unanimously approved. It was noted there are a lot of flags around Town on Town property so after this purchase the members will see how effective they are and make a recommendation to the Town. POW/MIA Flag for the Post flag pole: Greg d Arbonne made a motion that the Post purchase a new POW/MIA flag that is 3 by 5 and made of nylon with the POW/MIA symbol on both sides of the flag; seconded by Bruce Moran and unanimously approved. Bob Glover will order the flag through the American Legion catalog. Memorial Day Activities: o Graveside Flags at the Cemetery: Bob Glover will take care of the graves at the Rt. 13 Cemetery. Greg d Arbonne reported Bill Graham and Charlotte Farwell will take care of the Lakeside Cemetery. Main Cemetery: Del Porter, Dave Larkin and Bob Canada will meet at the cemetery at 9 AM. More help is needed. Greg d Arbonne will contact the Boy Scout Troop and the Girl Scouts to see if they can provide support. o Poppies at the Transfer Station: Schedule is as follows but more help is needed. 8 AM to 11 AM = Bob Glover 11 AM to 2 PM = Dave Larkin 2 PM to 4 PM = Jim Pope o Memorial Day Ceremony: The ceremony will start at 9:30 AM. Dave Larkin will ask the Minister at the Brookline Community Church if she can attend to give the invocation. Bill Graham will coordinate to get the wreaths. Dave Larkin will ask the Town Band or his musical group from the Church if they can play the National Anthem at the ceremony. Dave Larkin will ask Tad Putney if he would like to be the Guest Speaker. FOR THE GOOD OF THE POST: News For & From Members Dave Larkin announced that Motorcycle Week will be 11 to 18 June. Bruce Moran stated there will be a panel discussion about the Opioid problem at 7 PM on 5 May at the Brookline Entertainment Center. All are welcome to attend. Bob Glover stated he attended a Legion Meeting in Rochester where he learned that our financial books need to be audited once a year as a minimum and that all officers of the Post need their DD214 s on file, which Bob stated he believes the latter is in place for our Post. He also attended the District meeting and attended the Merrimack and Milford Post meetings as well. Del Porter stated we need to come up with a way to hold those who use the Post building accountable for the condition they leave the building after their meeting or event. He stated it should be clean and orderly, which is common courtesy for using the facility. It was suggested the Post see the checklist the Firehouse has and copy that as an example to post in the building and tell each organization that uses the building. Greg d Arbonne will stop by the firehouse to get a copy of the checklist. There being no further business, the closing prayer was said and the colors retired. The meeting adjourned at 8:36 PM. The next meeting is 26 May at 7 PM. Memorial Day Activities 26 through 30 May

3 Memorial Day is 30 May. A highlight of our activities is listed here. Your participation is greatly appreciated. Please watch the local papers for times for other events at the schools and in the community. Thursday, 26 May: 2:15 PM, Hollis Upper Elementary School. Friday, 27 May: 9 AM, Brookline Memorial Day Ceremony at Brookline CSDA School. Saturday, 28 May: o 8 AM to 4 PM = Poppy Distribution at the Transfer Station: We will pass out Poppies at the Transfer Station. An hour of your time is requested. o 9 AM to 10 AM = Graveside Flags at the Cemetery: We will replace the old American flags at each Veteran gravesite with new flags. Quick activity if we get enough people to participate. Monday, 30 May, Memorial Day: Preferred dress for the ceremonies in Brookline and Hollis is blue blazer, blue or grey slacks, white shirt, cap, tie optional. o 9:30 AM, Brookline Town Hall = Brookline will hold their Memorial Day ceremony in front of the Brookline Town Hall. The public, especially Veterans, are invited to attend. o 5:30 PM, Hollis Town Common = Hollis will hold their Memorial Day ceremony at the Hollis Town Common. Those who are in town and will participate should plan on meeting on the Common at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony. All Veterans are invited to attend. Brookline Elementary School Annual Memorial Day Ceremony, Friday, May 22nd The Brookline Elementary Schools will hold their annual Memorial Day ceremony on Friday, May 22nd at 9am in the Captain Samuel Douglass Academy (CSDA) Gymnasium. This is a tremendous event and the Veterans and First Responders, who are all honored at this event, truly enjoy being with the kids. The invitation for this event is below for your information, viewing, and dispersing to other Vets. Please RSVP to the school as requested so you can participate and be honored at the ceremony.

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5 News of Interest to Veterans Update on Veterans Choice Program The Manchester VAMC is in the process of hiring four (4) new Primary Care doctors. There are two new doctors, to bring the staff up to full complement. Two additional doctors are being brought on board as "floaters", to bolster the chronically swamped staff and fill in for doctors who are: out sick; away for required continuing training; retiring or are leaving as part of normal staff turnover. The Primary Care department has been chronically short of doctors for many years, due to lack of proper funding, turnover and retirements. There has also been a chronic inability to replace doctors in a timely manner. This has been a major reason for long appointment wait times for Veterans at many VAMC's, including Manchester. The additional funding provided by Congress -- following the Phoenix VA fiasco, is helping the VAMC's to address their previous understaffing and long appointment wait times. Manchester has added a Nurse Practitioner to the Nurse One position in the Primary Care department, who will also double as another Urgent Care department doctor. This will help improve patient assessment and access to Urgent Care. The Manchester VAMC was made aware that an outside pain care provider -- and participant in the Veterans Choice program, was not being paid and was about to drop out of the program. The reason was the Choice Program's administrative requirement that virtually every scrap of patient care paperwork be submitted by the care provider to Health Net -- the program's administrator, prior to payment. This was a looming major issue for the Choice Program not only locally, but nationally. The Manchester VAMC has subsequently been working with our Congressional delegation to modify the rules, to insure payment to outside providers when reasonable patient care documentation has been provided. Points To Ponder The views expressed in the following article were deemed interesting enough by me to include in the newsletter. I take full responsibility and the content does not reflect the opinion of the members of the Post. Please contact me if these articles offend you. Greg d Arbonne Philosophers ~ John Glenn...As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind - every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder. ~ Desmond Tutu...When the white missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land. ~ David Letterman...America is the only country where a significant proportion of the population believes that professional wrestling is real but the moon landing was faked. ~ Howard Hughes...I'm not a paranoid, deranged millionaire. I'm a billionaire. ~ Old Italian proverb...after the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box. ~ Betsy Salkind...Men are like linoleum floors. Lay 'em right and you can walk all over them for thirty years. ~ Jean Kerr...The only reason they say 'Women and children first' is to test the strength of the lifeboats. ~ Zsa Zsa Gabor...I've been married to a communist and a fascist, and neither would take out the garbage. ~ Jeff Foxworthy...You know you're a redneck if your home has wheels and your car doesn't. ~ Prince Philip...When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife. ~ Emo Philips...A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kickboxing.

6 ~ Harrison Ford...Wood burns faster when you have to cut and chop it yourself. ~ Spike Milligan...The best cure for Sea Sickness, is to sit under a tree. ~ Robin Hall...Lawyers believe a person is innocent until proven broke. ~ Jean Rostand...Kill one man and you're a murderer, kill a million and you're a conqueror ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger...Having more money doesn't make you happier. I have 50 million dollars but I'm just as happy as when I had 48 million. ~ WH Auden...We are here on earth to do good unto others. What the others are here for, I have no idea. ~ Jonathan Katz...In hotel rooms I worry. I can't be the only guy who sits on the furniture naked ~ Johnny Carson...If life were fair, Elvis would still be alive today and all the impersonators would be dead. ~ Steve Martin...Hollywood must be the only place on earth where you can be fired by a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a baseball cap ~ Jimmy Durante...Home cooking. Where many a man thinks his wife is. ~ Doug Hanwell...America is so advanced that even the chairs are electric. ~ George Roberts...The first piece of luggage on the carousel never belongs to anyone ~ Jonathan Winters...If God had intended us to fly he would have made it easier to get to the airport. ~ Robert Benchley... I have kleptomania, but when it gets bad, I take something for it.