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The Roseburg News-Review---July 6, 2008
Rick Freund, a resident of Sutherlin, said he was thankful that the Cow Creek Tribe annually sponsors a Fourth of July tribute dinner to honor US military veterans at the Seven Feathers Convention Center.
"This is wonderful," he said. "Every year, they make it a little bit bigger and better."By John Sowell
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden told a roomful of veterans that he will seek an increase in funding in health care for them and other Americans in the coming year.
Speaking at the ninth annual Fourth of July tribute sponsored by the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians and held at the Seven Feathers Convention Center, the Oregon Democrat said veterans are finding it increasingly difficult to afford to stay healthy.
"A country that can give billions and billions of dollars to oil companies can provide more to veterans," Wyden said to applause from the 750 veterans and their families who attended the banquet. "I’m committed to doing that."
Under a plan introduced by Wyden, called the Healthy Americans Act, all Americans would receive high quality, affordable coverage.
It would provide incentives for individuals to focus on illness and disease prevention, wellness and disease management. The plan, Wyden said, would provide people with coverage equal to what he and other members of Congress receive.
Individuals would purchase coverage through private plans that would no longer be tied to employment.
People who change jobs would continue to have the same coverage, rather than being forced to switch to their new employer’s plan.
Under the Wyden plan, employees, employers and the government would share in the costs. Employers would pay less than they do now as their share, with the savings given to workers in the form of higher wages.
Workers would use a portion of their higher wages to buy coverage, with a sliding scale of subsidies provided to those between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty line.
Those who fall below the line would have their coverage fully subsidized.
Wyden and other dignitaries who spoke at Friday’s gathering, including Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, secretary of state candidate and former Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown and Stan Speaks, regional director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, saluted the veterans in the audience for their service and their sacrifice to preserve the nation’s freedom.
Wyden presented a flag that flew over the Capitol to Glide resident Wayne Barrows, who served as a medic in Vietnam.
Last year, the U.S. Army rectified a mistake made years ago, when the citation for a Silver Star Medal that Barrows was awarded during the war was inadvertently left off his military records.
Barrows was feted last August by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners after the records were updated, 39 years after he had been awarded the Silver Star for continuing to treat and evacuate wounded soldiers during a firefight in Dinh Tuong Province on April 11, 1968.
"We can always be proud of people who serve our country," said Speaks, who works out of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ office in Portland.
Brown, a Democrat, praised former Republican Rep. Bill Markham, who served in the Oregon House for 15 terms before retiring in 1999. Brown spent seven years in the Legislature working with Markham, who served as a pilot with the U.S. Air Force on bombing runs in World War II.
"Democracy is not a spectator sport and those of you in this room know that," Brown said.
Bradbury, who will be retiring in January after serving as secretary of state since 1999 and who spent 14 years in the Legislature, thanked members of the armed forces and the Oregon National Guard, who he said "defended freedom."
He also mentioned the difficult sacrifice made by the families of military members in maintaining their households while the soldiers were away.
"Thank you veterans, thank you to the families of veterans and thank you for being here today," Bradbury said.
Sutherlin resident Rick Freund said he was thankful to the tribe for honoring veterans and for sponsoring the yearly dinner.
"This is wonderful," he said. "Every year, they make it a little bit bigger and better."