Lamar VFW Post Ended

VFW Post on South Memorial Drive

The struggle to keep local VFW Post 3621 on South Memorial Drive open has apparently concluded with life members being notified by mail that the charter is being ended. The letter, from Patrick Botbyl, Director of Member Dues Processing states that life members have the option of transferring either to a local post of their choice or to opt for the at-large program under a different post. The letter states in part that the charter of the St. George S. Creaghe Post 3621 was canceled as of September 29, 2015.

Earlier this summer the state organization literally closed and locked the VFW on South Memorial Drive, taking the keys to the building and issuing a letter that a lack of proper reporting of activity summaries and delinquent taxes promoted the closing at the state level. Local members convened on their own and began the appeals process before the August 1 deadline to revamp their membership and reporting policies for reconsideration on the closing announcement.

An earlier meeting was called by local members for July 16^th to map out a strategy for the appeals process. Interim local commander, Don Peters, explained that lack of membership participation right now is the problem, “We only have four active members out of a total of 53. If we can’t improve on that, I guess they’ll just shut the doors to the building permanently,” he stated several months ago. He added it may stay closed, or the state VFW might sell the building.

An email inquiry on September 25^th from The Prowers Journal to the VFW State Commander, Peter Buchanan, regarding what next steps may occur in the appeals process was met with a basic reply stating, “This is an internal matter within the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization.”, and there would be no other response to outside questions.

Peters said he was displeased with the latest letter response and was considering some form of legal reply to the closing of the post although he was not certain what redress he might have at this point. The nearest VFW Post is located in Holly and another one is in Las Animas. Peters said he and several other veterans were considering membership in AmVet, a national veteran’s organization. A recent visit to the Lamar Post site shows that unattended weeds are starting to encroach into the parking lot and a used American flag has been put into a plastic shopping bag, wrapped around the front doorknob.

By Russ Baldwin

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