Town continues to seek space for Howell VFW
BY TOYNETT HALL
Staff Writer

HOWELL - Ninety-five men and 26 women from Howell have been searching for a permanent home for nearly 20 years. They have fought battles overseas and returned home with no refuge.

Members of Howell Memorial Post 9691 Veterans of Foreign Wars have laid down their plight in front of the Township Council. Although no action has been taken yet, the dialogue and a search for a permanent home for the VFW continues.

Speaking at the council's June 26 meeting, Lucille Codella said she sympathizes with her hometown veterans.

"I am very upset with the way the veterans in this town are being treated. I think this town has degraded them, belittled them, disrespected them and handed them leftovers. They deserve more," Codella said.

Township Manager Thomas Czerniecki, who will be leaving his position in August, has been directed by the council to try to locate a permanent home for the VFW.

Czerniecki responded to Codella, saying, "I think it is very unfair to point to these five (council members) and to say they are doing nothing for our veterans."

Councilman Michael Howell told Codella, "One distinction I have up here among my peers is that I am the only veteran sitting up here. For you or anyone to say that we're not doing enough ... I take it as a personal affront. I have been a member of three different American Legion posts, the 82nd Airborne Division Assoc-iation and the Disabled American Veterans and not one of those posts was in a building that had been given to them. Every one of them purchased their land and built their building."

Howell said it would be unusual for a municipality to give a VFW post a piece of land or a building.

"It has never been done," he said.

"There's a first time for everything, so hopefully you'll do something," Codella responded.

Mayor Joseph DiBella said the council has been exploring several options. He also clarified that the VFW does not simply want a meeting place.

"What they are looking for is a place to have furniture, filing cabinets, phones and computers ... giving them a room to meet on a monthly basis is not what they're looking for," DiBella said.

VFW Commander Ben Novick was not in attendance at the council meeting, but in a telephone interview he said, "Don't ever forget the people who shed their blood so that we can enjoy all our freedoms."

Novick, who is a Vietnam veteran, said he would like his town to "honor the dead by serving the living." He said that motto can be upheld if the township provides the post with a home of its own.

DiBella said municipal officials are working to find a location for the veterans organization.

"We are going to do everything we can to continue to work with the veterans because they are just as entitled, if not more so than anybody else," the mayor said.