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LETTER: Charity funds to go toward smoking fines  

From the greatest generation to our current conflicts, the men and women who've served our country gather in private at our local VFW where those who gave continue giving. Last year alone, we donated more than $40,000 of our own money back into the charities of Warren.

Though our doors are closed to the privacy of war veterans and supporters, we have been singled out and adjudicated by the city as a public entity under the state smoking ban. Mayor O'Brien and the Warren Health Department have fined us anonymously and spuriously in the thousands of dollars.

These same monies, which I used to give to local charities such as the Salvation Army, Warren Family Mission, Hospice, Meals on Wheels and many others, now goes as fines through the health department.

As Veterans Day approaches, on behalf of the men and women of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1090 of Warren, I feel personally obligated as charities chairman to apologize to my fellow citizens. Our loss of revenue has caused me to protect our own interests, redirecting an open policy of charity to lesser amounts in a time when the funds are needed most.

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