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Letters To VVAW

By VVAW

Class Action Attorney Still Ripping Off Vets!

I wish to share with you another example of the greed, which our appointed counsel in the Agent Orange Class Action Suit has exhibited most recently. I have, as well, shared this with Judge Weinstein, who has yet to give shit!

On June 4, 1985, I wrote to the Judge, requesting two copies of the Final Settlement Decision in the Agent Orange Class Action Suit. One copy was to go the Regional Office of VVAW, the other copy was to be added to my family's file, the one that contains my veteran husband's military and medical information, my two children's birth records, complete with deformities; their medical records from surgeries, hospitalizations and seizures, as well as the hundred or pages of school records, from Special Education, and Early Childhood Development Programs for Handicapped Children. The file that takes up a forth of a cabinet, the one with 12 years of our suffering in it.

On July 11th I received the following reply from my "appointed Counsel":

Schlegel, Azeris & Romanyak
Attorneys at Law
One North La Salle Street
Suite 3900
Chicago, IL 60602

Dear Ms Wachtendonk: Thank you for your letter of June 4, 1985 directed to Clerk of the Court in the Eastern District of New York. Please forgive me for the delay in responding to same.

Per your request, enclosed herewith please find two copies of Judge Weinstein's Memorandum, Order & Judgment of Distribution of the Settlement Fund.

We ask that you please remit $24.66 for the copying charges involved. ($12.22 per copy)

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

Yours very truly, Stephen J. Schlegel

This creep anticipated too much when he anticipated cooperation from me at this point in the game. He and his cronies made millions of dollars for a year's work on this case—on my family's monstrous file—the one with the 1400 pages of pain, and 7 years of grunt work stuffed in it. My family's file and many others. We have yet to see any testing, treatment or compensation—I doubt that we ever will—thanks to Schlegel's big deal with the chemical companies! The one that made him richer, and us a lot sicker in our souls.

As you can see by the letter, the shit wants $12.33 per copy for the Final Decision. I guess he doesn't think he made enough off us yet: Mr. Schlegel sent only one copy and billed us for two. I think he deserves the "Grenade of the Month" for the rest of his life!

Sukie Wachtendonk
VVAW/Madison

NURSES

On October 15th, in the lobby of Chicago's City Hall, Mayor Harold Washington unveiled a 33-inch bronze statue of NURSE, dedicated to the nurses who served in Vietnam.

The Mayor honoring the more than 10,000 women who served in the Vietnam War, said, "This statue is testimony to the many and varied contributions women have made..."

VVAW was well represented at this even by ex-Captain, Army Vietnam nurse 1968-69, Eileen Finnerty; Bob Spicher, Army, Vietnam, 1968-69; and Virg McFadden, Chicago Chapter coordinator.

"The time has come for America to honor all people, including women, who served in the Vietnam Way," Mayor Washington said. "This statue represents a composite of the ideals for which women served their nation in the performance of their duty and will be an important statement of our gratitude for a job well done."

Three 33-inch bronze statues and one 8-foot bronze statue, all-identical, make up the Vietnam Nurses Memorial.

For further information on NURSE, contact the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, Inc, 511 11th Ave. South, Box 45, Minneapolis, MN 55415.