Page A3
August 19, 2009
Blindness Soars with Two Ongoing Wars
Vets group assists returning soldiers
and kayaking the Willamette River. But
they’re also tackling an issue that has
Rae Hail, who served in the U.S. g iv en it a d d itio n a l sa ­
Marine Corp during the Vietnam War, lience: soldiers losing their
has heard the laments of veterans and sight in the Iraq and Af­
their families as more soldiers than ghanistan.
According to the U.S.
ever come home blinded from the wars
D epartm ent of Veterans
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They worry that they’ll never be Affairs, there are 160,000
able to find work and are daunted by visually-impaired veterans,
the dizzying bureaucratic labyrinth a number the B VA expects
they must navigate to get medical at­ to rise because of the two
conflicts.
tention.
Compared to previous
The Blind Veterans Association has
extended a helping hand to veterans wars, the tactics of the ad­
grappling with the sometimes-difficult versary are particularly
return to civilian life in addition to the hazardous to the eyes of Rae Hail
soldiers, explained T ho­
hardship of losing their sight.
The 61-year-old organization is mas Zampieri, director of government
holding its annual convention in Port­ relations for the BVA who has testi­
land this week. Members are rubbing fied before Congress on the issue.
Zampieri said that nearly 14 percent
shoulders with government officials
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
of soldiers returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan suffer from a traumatic
eye injury, which are often attributed
to im provised explosive devices,
Frank Armstrong
crude bombs crafted by insurgents
that are often hidden, which often
cause brain damage in their victims
leading to loss of eye sight.
Carter Successor Unclear
c o n t i n u e d f r o m Front
executive officer of the Urban
League of Portland while serv­
ing in the Senate.
Her past legislative accom­
plishments included work on the
Human Services budget sub­
committee. She also played a
role in passing legislation that
withdrew state controlled in­
vestments in South Africa dur­
ing apartheid, and helped get
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s
birthday observed as a holiday
in Oregon.
Her new position will pay
$121,872.
B ecause C a rte r resig n ed
m idw ay through her 4-year
term, the M ultnom ah County
Board of Com m issioners will
be responsible for appointing
a replacem ent from a list of
candidates subm itted by the
local Democratic Party.
So far Rep. Chip Shields, D-
Portland, is the only person
to openly express interest in
the position.
In a s ta te m e n t S h ie ld s
praised Carter for her accom ­
plishm ents, and said that he
was a good fit for her seat
since the districts of the two
legislato rs overlap. Shields
also stressed that he has been
on the forefront of many of
the sam e issu es C arter has
cham pioned throughout her
legislative career.
Rep. Tina Kotek, D-Portland,
who also represents part of
Carter’s district, said she will
continue her work in the House
where she severs as a member
of the House leadership and as
co-chair o f a crucial budget
subcommittee working to pro­
tect public services.
“Senator Carter is a remark­
a b le le a d e r ,” K o te k said .
“Through her many years of
public service to north and
n o rth east P ortland and the
entire state, she has had an
u n fa ilin g c o m m itm e n t to
strong hum an services pro­
gram s and m aking sure the
most vulnerable Oregonians
were never left out o f state
budget conversations.”
Sue Hagmeier, spokesper­
son for the Multnomah Demo­
cratic Party, said that no one
b e s id e s S h ie ld s h a s e x ­
pressed interest for C arter’s
seat.
“I ’ve h eard n o ise s,” she
said. “ B ut I w o u ld n ’t say
they’re even at the level of
rumor.”
Also, the eyes are typically the most
difficult part of the body to put armor
on, he added.
“In World War Two, we knew who
the enemy was,” said the
Frank A rm strong, the
president of the associa­
tion and a World War II
veteran.
A ccording to the
American Academy of
O phthalm ology, more
than 1,000 soldiers with
co m b at re la te d eye
trauma were evacuated
from overseas between
October 2001 and June
2006.
The BVA has helped
shine light on the issue,
and successfully goaded Congress
into establishing a special center to help
soldiers suffering from eye injuries.
But visually-impaired veterans still
face difficulties. Navigating the com­
plex bureaucracy and mounds of pa­
perwork to get care from the U.S. De­
partment of Veterans Affairs can be a
daunting task, as can getting the
proper benefits veterans are entitled
too, said Zampieri.
There's also the issue of adjusting
to life once home from overseas.
“They have to pick up their lives
one piece at a time,” said Hail, who
often hears the wives of servicemen
wonder aloud, “will my husband be
able to do anything?”
Although the BVA assists its mem­
bers in job training and has success­
fully landed them in occupations rang­
ing from carpentry to law, blind veter­
ans still have a hard time getting em­
ployed.
However, Armstrong remains opti­
mistic.
“You have more power in groups
than as individuals,” he said.
Amtrak Expanding Service
A long awaited second daily Amtrak
Cascades train between Seattle and
Vancouver, B.C. will begin service on
Wednesday, Aug. 19. With the addi­
tion, travelers from Oregon will now
have direct round-trip service between
Portland and Vancouver, B.C.
The second Cascades train service
will begin with a northbound arrival
from Portland into Vancouver, B.C. at
approximately 10:45 p.m. The next
morning, the southbound Cascades
train will depart Vancouver, B.C. at 6:40
a.m. arriving in Portland at 2:45 p.m.
T he c u rre n t d aily S eattle to
Vancouver, B.C. route has also seen An Amtrak Cascades train carries passengers
the return of Amtrak’s Cascades Talgo between Portland and Vancouver, B.C.
trains that have been missing from this
round-trips between Portland and Seattle,
leg of the route for the past year.
The Talgo trains were substituted with with service between Bellingham and Port­
Amtrak Superliner trains while the Washing­ land, via Seattle; between Eugene and Se­
ton State Department of Transportation and attle, via Portland; and between Seattle and
Amtrak completed a refurbishment of the train Vancouver, B.C.
For Amtrak Cascades fares and schedules,
interiors.
Amtrak Cascades consists of four daily visit amtrakcascades.com.
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