Moses Lake VFW post will see 60th year

Election of new officers means charter suspension lifted

MOSES LAKE — Looks like Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5926 will get to see its 60th birthday.

The state suspended the charter for the Moses Lake VFW post when its top three officers resigned earlier this year, but 25 members gathered at the American Legion Thursday night to nominate and elect new officers, and attend a hearing before a national representative.

"Not having officers in place to take their place, the state decided to pull the VFW charter," explained member Carl Smith before the meeting. "I requested from national a hearing as to the reasoning behind it, and this is what this is coming from."

The post needed to nominate and elect new officers so as to have them in place, and lift the suspension of its charter.

"If we cannot nominate and elect the set of officers tonight, they will pull the charter and it will be gone, period," Smith said, adding that the positions that needed to be filled included commander, senior and junior vice commander, and quarter master.

The Moses Lake VFW has 293 members. Had the Moses Lake post lost its charter, those members would have been able to go to VFW posts in Odessa, Soap Lake, Ritzville, Othello, Wilbur, Mattawa or Columbia Basin/Grand Coulee.

"Why are veterans important?" Smith replied when asked why it was important to maintain the Moses Lake post. "VFW is pushing the boat. They're the organization right now. They're the second largest veterans organization in the world, and we have a lot of new veterans coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq. They're going to have to have these facilities, benefits. You don't have veterans clubs, you don't have service officers."

After the meeting, Jim Riedel, Jr., vice chairman for the national military affairs committee for the VFW, explained that he was appointed by letter to attend, and will respond to the VFW national commander, based in Kansas City.

Riedel said his response would be that a slate of officers was elected by the post, and he would recommend that the charter suspension be allowed so that the members may move forward.

"I have faith that there's enough guys in here that want to do it that they're going to drag some guys out of the weeds," Riedel said, noting that the post needs a minimum of six people at a time to constitute a legal meeting. "The fact that these guys showed up tonight is certainly an indication to me that they don't want to lose this post. We don't want the community to lose this post."

The post has been chartered for 591/2 years, and will celebrate its 60th anniversary in February, Riedel noted.

"That's a credit; I know they've done a lot of things in this area," Riedel said. "When I was the state commander, I'd look to this post for a lot of support, and they gave it to me. I have some answers to get to them, about questions they raised tonight, and it's my responsibility to get those answers and write to them, which I will do."

"It was the way I wanted it to go," said Smith, who was elected as quarter master during the meeting. "I wish more people would have showed up, but everything's good."

"The best I can say is we got our charter back," said member Jim Daniel. "Some of the people that were elected are loyal, good members of the Post. Some of them, I have my doubts about."

Albert Kassman was elected as three-year trustee at the meeting.

"I was very well pleased with the way the meeting was conducted," he said. "It was very professional, and everybody seemed to know how to answer questions of what was going on. I think the people that conducted the meeting (were) pretty well qualified."

Kassman said he was happy the charter would remain.

"We should never have lost it," he said. "That was my watering hole for 20 years, just about."

Jack Hetherington said the meeting went great, and addressed some of the negativity he felt was in existence between the post and the state officers for the VFW.

"We got some interest going again," he said.