North Idaho needs a veteran cemetery

Recently I travelled to Medical Lake, Wash., for a military funeral service for a dear veteran friend. The Washington State Veterans Cemetery is beautiful, and the Spokane Veterans Honor Guard did a superb job honoring my fallen friend. On the drive back to Coeur d’Alene, I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have our own veteran cemetery here in North Idaho.

I know Sen. Risch is working on this and it is a recurring discussion topic among the Veteran community here in North Idaho. I commend him and his staff for working on this endeavor. I hope it comes to fruition and I thank him for making this a pressing issue with VA.

A year ago, Sen. Risch was instrumental on obtaining the necessary funds to remodel and update the Boise Veterans Home. Sen. Risch worked with the VA and federal officials to secure 135 million dollars for the Boise Veterans Home. He has an excellent relationship with the VA secretary.

Additionally, at the last Kootenai County Veteran Council held in June two veterans spoke up and complimented Sen. Risch’s staff for assisting them with their VA disability claims. I could clearly tell in their demeanor they were genuinely thrilled to have received the help! It was a joy to hear!

Additionally, aside from veterans’ issues Sen. Risch is a fiscal conservative, supports NATO and our allies as the Senate Foreign Relations Chair. He has served Idaho well.

Sen. Risch has a proven track record supporting Idaho and Idaho Veterans. I hope to see him win re-election and serve Idaho another six years. God bless. Thank you, Sen. Risch.

DAMON DARAKJY

Coeur d’Alene