 Welcome to Sheboygan County government working for you. My name's Adam Payne, Sheboygan County Administrative Coordinator and co-host of this program. Although as you can see, my fearless leader and County Board Chairman Bill Gehrings not with us today. He had another conflict and was unable to join us. But I am very pleased to introduce our guest, Jim Riesenberg, who is the Veteran Services Officer. He's been in that capacity for some time for Sheboygan County and does a tremendous job. Jim, welcome. Thank you, Adam. Good to be here. We're starting with our viewers a little bit about yourself and how long you've been the Veteran Services Officer. Well, the office itself goes back to 1935. We're observing 70 years of service in 2005. We've had, I'm the fifth person to hold the job, Jacob Ox. I'm not sure that too many people remember Jacob Ox or his successor, George Gessert. George served until 1954 when John Campman came on board. And a lot of people that I deal with, especially the older World War II veterans, remember John. John served for 30 years from 1954 to 1984. His successor was Katie Holshu and she worked until 1987. And I came aboard in January of 1987. I had been working at the Gilson, but then Gilson Brothers planned in Plymouth and working part time in radio. And the County Legion Council president, that commander at that time, Norb Cooney from Sheboygan Falls, said, get over there and apply for the job or we'll kick your butt until you do. So I went over and applied for the job and through the County Board process was selected. So since 1987, you're going to be coming up on your 20th anniversary here in a couple of years, but there's another very important anniversary that's coming up. I hope I last that long. It's a challenging job, but I have so far not found too many things that I don't like about it. Now, you mentioned to me that, and I know you shared with me earlier this year, late last year, a logo and you've got the 70th anniversary coming up, won't you touch on it? I really don't know. We didn't in tough times, so we didn't really budget any money for any type of 70th anniversary, get together other than perhaps maybe an open house on Veterans Day. But we did design a small logo, a foil type seal to put on stationary, and we did also redo our stationary to reflect 70 years of serving those who served. Outstanding. What's the mission or primary responsibilities of your office? Do it with a smile. Our mission statement is quite simple to serve those who serve. The actual process of serving those who served sometimes presents a quite a challenge. Basically, we advocate for and assist veterans, their survivors and dependents in accessing state, federal and county programs that were designed specifically for them. When you say to serve those that serve, there's nearly 10,000 veterans in Sheboygan County alone, and we're seeing more now with some of the global terrorism and efforts across the globe that are being fought. What does that mean from a standpoint of the services you're providing and your ability to address everyone's needs? Well, population-wise, we have just over, I think the latest figure, 10,100. In 2004, we laid 234 veterans to rest in this county, and the same year, we only had 40 new veterans come into the county, so we're laying one to rest about every 36 to 40 hours, but we're getting older faster than we're getting younger as a group. But as far as the current global war on terrorism activity, the basic programs that have been there for World War II veterans are still in place. To their credit, both the federal and the state VA's have modified their programs with the state, with the eligibility type issues. Garden reservists ordered to active duty are being made eligible for state VA benefits, and that's something we didn't have in the past, and it's something we as a service officer organization have lobbied for several years. On the federal level, excuse me, the big issue on the federal level, obviously, if you watch the news, is providing for the injured servicemen and women who are coming home. The VA has gone out of their way to make sure that these people get into the system. If they do have problems, let's get those problems addressed right now. And the challenge to that is really being able to sit down with them or get them, make them aware that there is help out there. If it's a physical injury or it's emotional problems, there is help out there, and unfortunately, the government isn't going to come running after you. It is not, you owe them money, so they're not going to come running after you and say, listen, you have to do this or you have to do that. So that's where the groups like our officers, service officer groups, and the veterans organizations doing the outreach and the public awareness, outreach to the individual troops. And the public awareness to the families is significant to others. And to the general public to, there's help there, but it's just a matter of knowing where to go to get it. And when you talk about that help, we may have some viewers who have loved ones who are in Afghanistan or in Iraq or have recently returned. And you touched on some of the assistance that's being provided there, especially if someone's injured. I imagine we have a number of viewers who are one of those 10,100 that may need service or perhaps haven't asked for assistance in the past. What types of programs do you offer? What would be from A to Z in a snapshot of some of the programs and services your office provides? Basically, the federal VA is divided into three basic categories. One is the Department of Memorial Affairs, which obviously deals with the cemetery, the grave markers, and this type of thing in funeral honors. The other part is the Veterans Health Administration, which provides for the health needs. And the third one, which is the big one, is the Veterans Benefits Administration, which deals with compensation and pension. And that basically covers everything. Veterans Benefits Administration covers a loan guarantee program, covers the compensation, it covers the pension, it covers the dependent money programs, it covers the education benefits, the bulk rehab, the insurance. That is the biggest one. So that basically is it. And it doesn't sound like a lot, but it covers a lot of territory. And the state programs pretty much are along the same lines. There's loans, grants, and that's it. So it's all there. It's pretty easy to categorize it, either the Memorial Affairs, money, or health. So if someone's looking for more information, has questions after hearing what you just said was provided, where do they start? Well, the 800 number has always been available, the 1-800-827-1000. Obviously, we live in a dot-com world. And the Federal VA Internet, va.gov, and the website, the state website, dva.state.wi.us. And of course, the Sheboygan County website, the www.co.sheboygan.wi.us. And that's one thing I've noticed in the past. I think we've probably gotten more emailed inquiries this month than we did the first five years. We haven't had computers, at least not in my office for that long. But it's been a gradual increase, and I credit a lot of that to our county IS department, getting things out on the website, and making the public aware. And I look at the web count hit for the first three months of this year on the different programs that I have on my page on the website. And the websites and the education, the different programs pretty much correlates with the time that I send out the news releases to the radio and the newspaper. So it's very effective. Excellent. And for those of you who are looking for more information and want to get on the website, and hopefully TV8 will put the website address up on the screen, Sheboygan County put a county website in place. It's probably been about three, four years now. And Jim, to his credit, has done a tremendous job getting information out there, keeping it timely, and it is a good source to go to to get additional information. Jim, you said earlier that your mission statement is simply to serve those who have served. You also mentioned, however, that you not only work with those individuals, but they're family members, they're spouses. And if a spouse or a family member is watching this program, specifically, what types of programs or services, what types of assistance can you offer them? Well, basically, for a spouse, there really are not any programs per se if they become a surviving spouse or a widow, and it depends on the circumstances. The one that we see the most of is Widow's Pension. Widow's Pension for the surviving spouse, the unremarried surviving spouse of a deceased veteran, whether they are in a nursing home, in an assisted living facility, or if they're living at home. It's an income-based program, albeit pension programs are, so I think who can live on $564 a month? Nobody can, but that's the only number that I can think of right off the top of my head. So, and those are the programs, the federal programs that would be available for those servicemen or, let's say spouse, let me back up here just a bit. We're doing an outreach, you're trying to do an outreach to nursing homes in assisted living facilities. The surviving spouse is taken to be a widow or a widower. So, if the male, if your wife is a veteran and she passes on and you find yourself in where you could qualify as a surviving spouse, I don't think a lot of people understand that, so we're trying to outreach to that. There are some of the state programs, the state grant programs that a surviving spouse may use if she qualifies, either for education or for healthcare or subsistence. So, the programs are out there, and again, many of them are need-based programs, so the bottom line is, if you have a lot of money, don't expect the state or the federal government to spend their money on you if you have a lot of your own. However, if you're on the other end of the scale, we certainly want to talk to you and see if we can qualify you. Well, we have a very, very important day, fast approaching, and it's one that many people may put on their calendars as one to go vacationing or to take an extra day off of work, but as you know, Memorial Day is going to be here May 30th, you're always involved with some community activities and events throughout Sheboygan County, and sometimes I think that when Memorial Day comes and goes, many people, especially younger people, perhaps, who haven't been touched as directly, may not think about a reflect on what Memorial Day is all about, so let me start by asking you, what does Memorial Day mean to you? Well, I suppose I probably see it from a different point of view because of the job that I have, but I think it's a time for all of us to probably pause and reflect on just what happened, you know, so we're going to march behind a bunch of old guys who can hardly walk, and we're going to hear somebody say how good it is, and it's going to go bang, bang, and we're going to hear taps, and that's it, but it's a day when, and I think we should probably reassess our commitment to America, you know, if we, we need to, we need to look around and realize that there are a lot of men and women since the Civil War, and probably even as we speak, are giving their day, their today for our tomorrow, and we need to realize that, and I don't think a lot of people do, I think families, it probably has a greater meaning to families with military background or people with the military in their part of, were part of the military at one time, but unfortunately, I think for a lot of the rest of the world, you know, the smoke will still be in the air, and you'll still be able to hear the rifle volley echoing across the hills, and my guess is probably 90% of the people will have forgotten what the day is all about, you know, and I, it's sad, but one of two days a year that we kind of like Christmas tree ornaments, we take them out once a year and put them on and take them down, same thing with veterans Memorial Day, and Veterans Day, we take them out, parade them around, and put them back and forget about them for another six months, but I think people need to, especially the younger generation, need to take some time to maybe, history doesn't tell us a lot about it, get more veterans into schools and into settings like that to, to share what, what freedom really means. All right, one of the things that I found very encouraging and really endearing to be a part of this community was when some soldiers, soldiers returned from Iraq, and we had the Welcome Home in Sheboygan, and they started going through Greenbush and through Plymouth and onto Sheboygan, and my wife and I and our three children went out to greet them, and a lot of folks had to wait, I think it was two, two and a half hours because they were running a little late, but it was just so heartwarming to see the turnout throughout Sheboygan County, and both young and old, and all the posters and signs that I think a lot of school children prepared, and at least that's an indication that perhaps the last couple of few years there's been a renewed awareness, or at least more than there may have been because of some of the things happening around the world. Probably, well, maybe calling it a good war is not the proper terminology to use, but probably because of the everything that has led up to both the Persian Gulf War and the current global war on terrorism. I think it would, it'll be 30 years ago next Saturday that the Vietnam War ended, and not too many Vietnam veterans remember a parade or welcome home of any kind, so it, I think, in a way, I've talked to several who were not real pleased about it, and others who have kind of, I pulled a couple of them, well, you've got a Vietnam license plate on your vehicle, get in the parade and follow along. Well, back to Memorial Day and the activities that you're going to be involved with, what can you share with our viewers? What's coming up? Well, the city program is pretty much the same as it has been for the last 65 years. They'll have the parade and a program over at Fountain Park. I think the parade starts around 8.30 or 9 o'clock. We have another meeting next Thursday night to finalize everything. City of Plymouth, likewise, I think their program, parade starts around 9.30 and it ends over at Union Cemetery with a program. I haven't gotten, I've tried to get them all on the county website as they come in. I've asked the organizations to send me the information when they have these, when they have their program set. So that notice went out to them last Saturday, Monday. So I hopefully, as it, as the information does come in, the IS Department will put it on the county, on the county webpage and on the Veterans Service Office webpage. My participation is pretty much limited to marching with the Vietnam Veterans Color Guard. And that's it. That's enough for one day. And of course, the GI breakfast down at the VFW on Evan Street. And Sunday, Sunday morning, the Special Church Service, I don't remember the name of the church, but that information will be in a news release that goes out the next couple of weeks. Are you also going to have an activity at either Sunny Ridge or Rocky Knoll or both? No, none of that. No, they don't usually have a Memorial Day program. Okay. They say there's for flag day and Veterans Day. Very good. Very good. Well, again, if you're looking for more information on that, look at the county website, or I'm sure Jim's going to be getting news releases out and sharing with folks what activities are coming up. Memorial Day, obviously, is a day where a lot of people take a moment to go out to cemeteries across the county and, as you said, reflect on the loss of a loved one. And your office has a role in that as well. Oh boy, do we ever, yes. As a matter of fact, we have 26 Veterans Organizations in Sheboygan County. We also have 108 cemeteries in Sheboygan County. And those organizations, I think last year, I think last year was the first year that we surpassed 10,000 flags on graves of deceased veterans here in Sheboygan County. It's a lot of work. I know if you look at the numbers, I think the biggest cemetery, of course, the Lutheran Wildwood complex and just over 2,000 flags get placed out there. And I think the American Legion and the BFW from here in town take care of that. And then the smallest one is, excuse me, is the Sharp Cemetery out in Elkhart Lake. And that has one soldier in it, Private Edwin Sharp from Civil War. So it's a big job. It's a hard work. And God bless those aging veterans for getting out there under old achy bones and taking the time to pay respect to those who have served and sacrificed. We're going to try something new this year. I hope it works. Maybe getting some Boy Scouts or some Girl Scouts out to help because I've done this in the past working over at Plymouth several years ago. And the cemeteries aren't large, but the rows are long. It gets to be tedious after a while, especially if you're not used to walking and you're walking on uneven ground. And you've got one guy with a clipboard hollering names and three guys putting down flags. So it does get to be work. But it's a daunting task. And thanks to the taxpayers of Sheboygan County, we've been able to afford the flags that they've gone from when I started from 18 cents a piece up to 47 cents a piece. And unfortunately, the events of 9 11, the price, the price went up two and a half times just from demand. Yes. Well, you mentioned old creaking bones or not. These veterans and their organizations and there's 26 across the county, they're active. They're making good things happen in the community. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, we had student governance government data Sheboygan County and the Legionnaires always put that on and do a nice job bringing young people and to get a flavor of county government. Please share a little bit about what these 26 organizations are about and some of their activities in the community because I think a lot of people may not appreciate what it is they do. There's a lot of they really hardly know where to start. I think the American Legion with their youth with their youth government day, they also sponsor a thing called Badger Boys State, which goes on over at Ripon College. That's a week long session with state government officials. The BFW, I think a lot of them sponsor essay contest, you know, write or speak for scholarships, flags in schools, a lot of veterans through organizations and individually as a favor to the grandkids go to school and schools and talk about their their involvement in the war. Just I think this past fall or this winter, the Vietnam Veterans Group found a flagpole over at Wildwood Cemetery without a light on it. So they got together with the city. The veterans group came up with the money. The city came up with what had to be done. And now there's the flag, there's a light on the flagpole. And a lot of the things that go on probably really never publicized anywhere other than within the veterans community. The Flag Day, the Flag Day program up at Sunny Ridge and out at Rocky Knoll, the Veterans Day programs at Sunny Ridge and Rocky Knoll, veterans organizations who get together and what has to be done, we do some of it, the activities at facilities to some of them. And we have a nice program. And as you said, a lot of it just goes on year after year without a lot of fanfare. And it's it's a credit to the community as a whole, the work that they're doing. So if someone is watching this program of a veteran in particular and they haven't been active with one of these organizations, how would one look into that or are there different eligibility requirements for each of these 26 organizations or how does that work? We have our office Prince of brochure that's made available unless all the organizations accounting at a contact point. And yeah, each one, the military order, the Purple Heart, obviously you have to have the Purple Heart. Veterans of foreign wars, obviously you need to have served on foreign soil and be issued a metal commensurate with that war period. The other one is the Vietnam Veterans of America, the AMVETs and all of those. Each one has their own set of rules that need to be followed. And they're relatively simple, basically an honorable discharge and service within their parameters. Are you seeing because of the current membership, a decline, as you said, with the passing of veterans each year? Or is there some renewed membership and energy going into the organizations because of what's happening across the world? It's hard to say. Some places you see an increase and some a decrease, you know, the I don't know some of the organizations like the Polish Legion of American veterans and the Catholic War veterans and things like that are small groups and they probably at one time were very big before the other organizations came along. The more organizations have you, the thinner you spread out the population. And I think probably those who do stay with them stay with them for the activities and things that they can participate in. Someone who's not a veteran or a young person who might be watching this Memorial Day comes and goes. But with the importance of it, what advice would you give an individual in regards to what to say to a veteran or how to show your appreciation? To say thank you. That doesn't take a lot. Thank you. If it's a cold day, give them a cold, offer them a cold glass of water. It's a warm day. Or just something to say. And and if nothing else, you know, try to try to at least, if you can't be a model citizen, at least try to be a good citizen. You know, that doesn't take a lot either. You might get laughed at for doing the right thing. But you know, you know, in your heart that that somewhere along the way, if somebody hadn't stood up and and taken a stand, we probably would also be speaking a foreign language and not being able to gather like we do and things like that. Very good. Well, we only have a few minutes remaining. Jim, is there anything else you'd like to share or touch on before we for the program? Well, you know, the we have talked to probably informally about the budget process. And I looked through that and following the looking at the 3% that percentile that we cut. And I kind of wonder how on $139,000 budget that that's going to be accomplished. I had, I looked at that figure based on what on 3%. And that's the cost of our cemetery flags. So I see a challenge coming. I see a challenge coming not next year, probably next month is when we start a budget process. And what what Jim's referring to is the 2006 annual budget process that we've just began to look at preliminary figures and information and countywide to address the financial gap that we're going to have. If we spread the pain out evenly amongst every department, after you build in the wage and benefit increases, the utility and ongoing operational cost increases, we project that every department would have to reduce their department by 3% after building that all in. But Jim's right. I mean, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip and the smaller departments, especially one like veteran services that has Jim as the director or the veteran services officer and one employee, you're not going to be able to garner a lot of savings. Jim's been able to do so over the years in the past, but you get to a point where really priorities have to be established. And that's why I give the county board a lot of credit for going through this program evaluation and prioritization approach because not every program service department is created equal. And of course, some departments due to their size and scope may have more opportunity to tighten their belts than others. So the process will ensue, but I think Jim makes a very good point and I would be very surprised to see the county board suggest reductions and purchasing flags or things that really are important and need to continue. So with that, Jim, I want to again, thank you for your time and a very informative overview of your roles and responsibilities and some of the things happening in the community. I hope you have time and I hope everyone takes the time to take part in the program this Memorial Day someplace. So if it's nothing more than going out to the cemetery when the ceremonial unit does the rifle volley and it taps at least, at least it shows that you had enough interest and cared enough to spend a few minutes with it anyway. Well done and well said, Jim. On behalf of the Sheboygan County Board and myself, Adam Payne, we want to thank Jim Reisenberg for being our guest and obviously the tremendous job and service he provides to the veterans and their families in this community. Next month, it's our hope to have Dean Ray Hernandez here to talk a little bit about some of the real exciting things happening out here at UW Sheboygan. So until then, thank you very much for joining us.