Senator Mike Bell and Reps. Eric Watson and Kevin Brooks met this week in Nashville to discuss a plan of action for the recent change of status of the local Bradley County Veterans Home on the federal priority listing.
“We were of course disappointed to see the drop in ranking of our local Veteran’s home,” said Senator Bell. “We are putting our heads together to come up with other options and a letter of appeal to our colleagues in Washington.”
Rep. Watson added, “We want to reassure the folks in Bradley County that the Veteran’s Home is not cancelled or gone.
This is simply another delay that we are sad to see come. This has been a long struggle, but we are not giving up.”
“There was a lot of excitement here in Nashville when Governor Haslam put funding for our Bradley County Veteran’s Home in the State Budget,” stated Rep. Brooks. “The night we found out about our Veterans Home funding, we were also told to ‘Believe in Better’, by the governor. Well, we do believe we can do better and we hope to exercise any and all options to keep the momentum going on our local project.”
The members of the local state delegation wrote a joint letter of appeal to Senator Lamar Alexander, Senator Bob Corker, Congressman Chuck Fleishmann and the newest potential local Congressman Scott DeJarlais. The Tennessee delegation asked for every consideration of an appeal to be made and for a possible reconsideration of the Bradley County Veteran’s Home priority, since all local and state funding has been confirmed.
The letter says:
State of Tennessee
General Assembly
Bradley County Delegation
February 23, 2012
Dear Members of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation:
As proud representatives for Bradley County and as members of the 107th Tennessee General Assembly, we ask for your consideration of an appeal on the local Bradley County Veterans Home ranking on the recent Project Priority Listing published by the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs.
Recently, great progress has been made for the future Bradley County Veterans Home for Cleveland, TN. We were very pleased that the state funding portion for the new Veterans Home in Bradley Co. was included by Governor Haslam in the 2012-2013 State Budget. Combined with the local city and county funds, a donor gift of $3million and a generous land donation, the stage is truly set for full speed ahead on construction.
Please imagine our great disappointment when it was reported locally that the long-sought after Southeast Tennessee Veterans Home in Bradley County dropped in ranking on the annual priority list published recently by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Bradley County Veterans Services Officer Larry McDaris states that our local facility now ranks number 58 on the 2012 Priority 1 list, even with full funding and land. Sadly, the proposed Veterans Home in Cleveland fell from 47th on the annual list published in November 2010.
Although we do not understand how our fully funded local project could drop in priority, we are hoping that your influence in Washington can be exerted on our behalf. The local Veteran population continues to grow.
The need for a local Veterans Home has been shown. Land for a local Veterans Home has been donated.
The state and local funds for a Veteran’s Home have now been secured. Please help us on the Priority List.
We urge you to join our support of the Southeast Tennessee Veterans Home in Bradley County. This is the right thing to do, for the greatest generation of our districts. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Sen. Mike Bell Rep. Eric Watson Rep. Kevin Brooks