MO Vet on 5th Day of Hunger Strike

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MO Vet Enters 5th Day of Hunger Strike over Senate's Lack of Action

May 7, 2012 (Stover, MO) -- A Missouri veteran enters his fifth day of not eating as a protest over the Missouri State Senate's lack of action regarding a permanent funding solution for the state's seven veteran nursing facilities and five state cemeteries. Bill Fairbairn of Stover says, "This is not about me, it's about every veteran who ever served or will serve from the Great State of Missouri. I, along with all veterans, are getting impatient over the Senate's lack of action to get a permanent funding bill to Governor Nixon's desk as he's requested."

The House passed a bill 143 -- 0 in early March and forwarded it to the Veteran's Subcommittee where Senator Crowell from the Cape Girardeau area blocked it from being introduced. Now, in the last week of this year's legislative session, President Pro Tem Robert Mayer, of Crowell's neighboring district, has offered additional legislation after veterans and the public were led to believe an agreement had been struck. Now, the language is different from the House's original version according to an email from Senator Kehoe to Fairbairn last week.

"This morning I had a very positive conversation with a member of Senator Kehoe's staff explaining the progress, or lack thereof over this bill. He also explained the legislative process; the one everyone is tired of, claims Fairbairn. "Senator Kehoe has been and continues to be a supporter of veteran issues and I hope he makes phone calls, or better yet, walks the halls on our behalf. He's been good at sending me updates, but I'm not a lawyer and without eating solid food for awhile I'm having difficulty understanding the wording. Amendments and changing the wording and meaning of bills is always political football at the end of a session, this one is becoming political suicide. Veterans do vote."

Fairbairn, who spent 20 years in the Air Force said, "It's always a shame when politicians, at either the federal or state level, hold veterans and their programs hostage. When I was on active duty it seemed like every year we did ten percent more with ten percent less and more often than not, held our breath on whether we'd even get paid at the start of every fiscal year."

Some true American heroes are being harmed by this lack of progress. How can the Senate and public say no to men and women who have kept this nation free, won wars and continue to proudly serve in harms way? Fairbairn urges all veterans and concerned citizens to call their state senator and the Senate President Pro Tem, Robert Mayer (573-751-3859) and demand they take action immediately.

Contact: Bill Fairbairn

573-377-2190 (The Split Rail Country Market)

573-377-2334 -- home

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