My Responses
Thursday June 19, 2003
To date we have not received any responses - Happy Birthday to me! How many more Birthdays will go by, before this claim is settled??
Friday June 20, 2003
Today I have received several replies in e-mail and in chat from people, that are wishing me luck in my battle with the VA. They all see the terrible things that the VA has put me through, and say that I am doing a good thing, and not to give up.
Saturday June 21, 2003
Today I received a letter from Senator Akaka's office. It stated that they have forwarded my questions on the VA for clarification, and I can expect further correspondence upon receipt of their final reply.
Friday June 27, 2003
No more responses to date. Will keep posting them when they arrive!
June 30, 2003
Today I received a letter from Senator John Ensign of Nevada. He stated that because I am a resident of Hawaii, he out of a matter of custom and courtesy, referred my letter back to Senator Danial Akaka.
Click here to read my letter and response back to him. My response to him was mailed July 1. 2003.
July 1, 2003
Today I received a letter from Congressman Ed Case of Hawaii. His office sent me a copy of a letter that they wrote to Ms. Patricia J. Covington, Director of the Department of Veteran's Affairs. In Congressman Case's letter to her, he enclosed a copy of my letter to him, and requests that she review my case and address the concerns that was raised in my letter. I plan on sending a reply to Congressman Case after the July 4th Holiday.
Click here to read my letter and response back to him. My response to him was mailed July 7. 2003.
July 9, 2003
Today I received 2 letters. The first from Senator E. Benjamin Nelson from Nebraska, suggested that I contact my 2 local Senators for assistance. One, Senator Akaka, has been contacted a couple of times, the 2nd Senator Daniel Inouye will be receiving a copy of my letter soon.
The 2nd letter I received was from Vice President Dick Cheney's office. Cecelia Boyer, Special Assistant to the Vice President was asked by him to respond to me. She stated that they were going to forward my matter to the Department of Veterans Affairs to review the facts, and act accordingly. They also requested that they respond directly to me, and also send a copy to them for their files, and that it be done at the earliest possible opportunity.
July 10, 2003
I received a letter from the VA in Honolulu. They had previously said my case was going to be sent to the BVA in Washington DC on July 1, 2003, however, they made another request for any further evidence or information that I had. It said a reply was needed, so I sent them a copy of my open letter, and another letter concerning other issues.
Click here to read a copy of the letter I sent along with my open letter.
July 21, 2003
I received 2 letters today. The first was from Mrs. Bush's office. Mrs Bush's Director of Correspondence has indicated to us that she has shared our letter with the appropriate members of the White House Staff, who work with the agency that has jurisdiction over my issues. She stated that they will be in touch with me directly, and that Mrs. Bush hopes that the circumstances that I face will be resolved soon.
The second letter came from Senator Bob Graham from Florida. In an effort to assist me, he has contacted the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office on my behalf. He stated he will be in touch with me once he has received a reply or has any additional information. This letter was signed by the Senator. It is nice to see a little bit of a personal touch with my case. Most responses come through aids working with the Senators and other people that I contacted, because of the busy schedules these people have.
August 30, 2003
Today I receved a letter from a Keith Ribbentrop a Veteran Service Officer out of Hilo. He stated that Govenor Linda Lingle asked that he contact me regarding my claim with the VA. He excercised the confidentaiality agreement that I included with my letter to the Govenor, and he requested a statement of Case from the VA, he said he would contact me once he received and reviewed the document, then meet and talk and formulate a plan. Looking forward to hearing his thoughts on the matter.
October 8, 2003
As the months pass I am still waiting to hear from the appropriate members of the White house staff that work with the agency that has jurisdiction over my issues. The people from Vice President Chaney's office also have not contacted me.
The few Senators and Congressmen that responded all got back to me with their apologies, and a copy of a form letter that the VA has created to send to anyone inquiring about my case. In the letter, my questions and concerns are never addressed. Its the same old song and dance! CLICK HERE TO SEE FORM LETTER
Honorable Govenor Linda Lingle appointed Keith Ribbentrop to look into my case. After waiting a while to hear from him, I decided to contact him myself. With no phone number on the letter he sent me, I had my care taker set about getting a number that I could call him at. When I got it, I had quite a conversation with him. He said that the VA is being very slow in answering his requests, and because he is "Low man on the totum pole" there is nothing that he can do about it, except wait, like me. Aprox Sept 8th, I received a letter from the BVA in Washington DC, that they had received my file there, and would let me know the outcome. After that I called Honolulu and asked them about my case, and file, and they said it was still being worked on at their office in Honolulu, so I asked them, "How come I just got a letter from Washington DC saying the BVA has my file?" The person on the other end of the phone did some more checking and verified that my file in fact had been sent to Washington. Because of the time difference, I waited until the following morning and called the BVA. The person I spoke with said that my file was activly being looked at. I asked them if that meant that it was sitting on a desk waiting to be seen, and he told me no, that it was being looked at. I'm still waiting to hear from Keith and the BVA.