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Letters To VVAWBy VVAWTHE VETERAN welcomes letters, comments and criticisms. Please write. Also, send along any poetry, drawings, photos or stories you would like to see in the paper. Dear VVAW, I am writing to you to try and get some information on Agent Orange. I used to be an active member when the fight against Nixon and the Vietnam War was on. I demonstrated at the May Day and other marches in Washington, and at Florida against Nixon and the Republican National Convention. I tried calling a toll-free number for dioxin exposure, was kept waiting and then told that the New York State Commission on this matter was no longer at this number and they could not give me any further information, then quickly and rudely hung up on me. That attitude is changing for Vietnam vets because I have been exposed to Agent Orange wile serving with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam from May 1968 to May 1969. I need to know more about Agent Orange because things have been happening to me since the 1970's. I had one cyst removed from the left side of my face. I have another on my right side and one on my left buttock. Also bad circulation. But now I am fighting for my life with cancer. Lymphoma on the left side of my head and ear area and right side of body between the bladder and colon. Now it has moved to my spine. Needless to say I cannot get around well at all. I made an appointment at the Syracuse, NY VA Hospital for April 5, 1984. I don't expect a government organization to admit to the problems caused by Agent Orange to vets. But I will continue to fight for my life and also the compensation due to the vets who were used and now neglected. Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated. Anthony Fiore Dear VVAW: Would you please send me a copy of the FALL 1983 edition of THE VETERAN, if you have one? Also send information on how to subscribe and how much it costs, etc. I want to congratulate you on your fine publication. I spend the last 2 weeks helping as Casa Romero, taking care of refugees in San Benito, and found the VETERAN in a stack of literature on Central America. I'm interested in the fall, '83 edition because of the article by Jack Elder (who runs Casa Romero) and also because it has some information about an Agent Orange Foundation here in Oklahoma and my husband has several of the symptoms of Agent Orange poisoning.... Garber, OK Dear Judge Weinstein: Loyalty forces me to reject the settlement in favor of my day in court. The fact that there are wrongs, which are blood wrongs, is a wisdom, which is ancient but not antique. But the $180 million won't hurt them; their insurance will pick it up and the chemical companies will go on with business as usual. The way to hurt them is to expose them in open court, to show they acted in bad faith all along. And please remember a few years ago less than twenty railroad workers were exposed and received over $50 million and continuing healthcare. John Zutz Dear Judge Weinstein, I as an American citizen urge you not to approve the Agent Orange settlement. While neither myself nor anyone in my family is affected financially by the outcome, I have invested time and money in the suit in support of the veterans. The question here is much more far-reaching than that. A country where justice can't be allowed to interfere with corporate profits? I urge you to send this case to trial. Don't let it be swept under the rug. If some 12,000 Vietnam veterans representing some 2.5 million vets can't have their day in court please tell me what rights I as an individual have. Ralph Weece
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