Chet Edwards For Congress - Waco

Editorial: Edwards' help still needed at VA

Kat — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:33:05 -0700

August 21, 2007

Editorial: Edwards' help still needed at VA

Waco Tribune Herald
By Editorial Staff

If anyone deserves a tribute for working to save the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center it is U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards.

He will get it Wednesday when the city hosts a reception in his honor.

But it needs to be more than a tribute. It needs to be a pep rally. As much as Edwards and other allies have done to preserve the hospital, much needs to be done to enhance services and utilize an under-used campus.

In June, a similar reception was held to recognize U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for her decisive efforts in saving the hospital.

In her campaign to save the VA campus, Hutchison made several important visits to Waco, especially when she accompanied both the VA secretaries on tours of the facility.

She also sponsored legislation to designate the hospital a “mental health center of excellence.”

But no one was as diligent about this task as Edwards. His hands-on efforts helped blunt the proposal to move all of Waco’s mental health treatment programs, blind rehabilitation treatment and geriatric care units to the Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center in Temple and to farm its services elsewhere around the country.

The Waco VA hospital has specialized in treating the mental health problems of veterans for more than 70 years. Over that period an invaluable network of mental health services developed both on the VA campus and in the Waco community.

Edwards worked with community groups while also securing more funding for the VA hospital in Congress.

He was instrumental in securing a joint research project into post-traumatic stress disorder between Fort Hood and the Waco VA hospital.

Although VA Secretary Jim Nicholson finally announced late last year that the Waco VA facility would not be closed, challenges still remain that could again jeopardize the facility.

One of the reasons cited in the original decision to close the hospital was the number of empty buildings and their associated maintenance costs.

Edwards has warned that the fight to preserve the hospital must continue.

A promising plan has been proposed to utilize some of the empty buildings for transitional housing for the homeless, especially veterans.

VA officials have promised to consider the idea.

Besides that program, Edwards’ help is needed as the VA implements plans to expand mental health services nationwide during a time of warfare, bloodshed and psychological wounds on two fronts.

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County

Kat — Wed, 30 May 2007 22:51:11 -0700

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County

Chet Edwards has worked hard for McLennan County and his hometown of Waco, using his seniority and seat on the House Appropriations Committee to bring some of our tax dollars back home.

Since the November 2004 election, Chet has secured $44 million in investments over Administration budget requests for defense jobs, better roads, protecting the Waco VA Hospital, cleaning up Lake Waco and other key priorities for McLennan County.

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County I

Kat — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:49:47 -0700

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County I
Fighting to Save the Waco VA Hospital

Chet secured $3 million for PTSD research in 2005 that will involve the Waco VA, Baylor University and Fort Hood.

Chet worked with Senator Hutchison to declare the Waco VA a Center of Excellence for Mental Health and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Chet worked with Senator Hutchison to pass legislation prohibiting the VA from reducing the mission of any of the facilities under study by the CARES Commission.

Strengthening our National Security and Protecting Jobs at Home

Chet secured $21.6 million for Waco's L-3 for work on key defense and homeland security projects, including $16 million for refurbishing the P-3 aircraft, which is an important tool for border patrol and drug interdiction efforts, $4.1 million for upgrades to the E-6B aircraft and $1.5 million to upgrade communications systems on the Navy's Special Projects Aircraft.

Chet secured $1.3 million for McDowell Research Corporation for work on advanced fuel cell technology.

Chet secured $1 million for ACT I, to improve detection of biological and chemical contaminants in our troops' drinking water supplies.

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County II

Kat — Tue, 30 May 2006 16:35:53 -0700

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County II

Economic Development through Better and Safer Roads

Chet secured $2.4 million to expand Ritchie Road from Hewitt Drive (FM 1695) to US 84 in Waco. These funds will construct a four lane urban roadway, along with reconstructing a bridge over the railroad on Ritchie Road. The expansion of Ritchie Road will serve a rapidly growing residential area and aid in relieving increasing traffic congestion along Hewitt Drive while improving safety in the area.

Chet secured $1.6 million to widen FM 1637 from FM 3051 (Waco) to FM 185 (China Spring). This project will widen the four lane urban divided roadway on FM 1637 to serve the rapidly growing residential and retail development by enhancing safety, increasing mobility, and relieving congestion.

Chet secured $1.6 million to construct Loop 574 from BU77 to I-35 in McLennan County. The funds will construct the last segment of a four lane roadway necessary to create Business Highway 6 which will provide improved access from southeastern McLennan County to Downtown Waco, Cameron Park and Zoo, Waco Regional Airport, and the southeastern portion of the Brazos River corridor.

Chet secured $4 million for the City of Waco to replace aging transit vehicles. Due to increases in ridership over the last six years, the current buses will not meet the demand for the services they provide. These funds will go to replace 13 buses and purchase five additional new buses. The funds replace aging transit vehicles with alternative fuel buses the city will be better prepared to meet state and federal clean air requirements.

Chet on the Radio: For Waco and McLennan County

Kat — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:29:53 -0700

Who’s making a difference for us? Chet Edwards

Click the "play" button

Who’s making a difference for us? Think about this.

It’s Chet Edwards who’s stood up to bureaucrats in Washington, and is leading the fight to keep the Waco VA hospital open. Chet Edwards made a promise to honor our nation’s veterans, and he’s keeping that promise, no matter what.

And Chet Edwards is fighting to strengthen Fort Hood to defend our nation, and to clean up Lake Waco for our families. And while others talk about homeland security, Chet Edwards is doing something about it.

Chet Edwards won the fight to build border surveillance aircraft at L-3 in Waco, protecting our local jobs, and securing our borders from drug traffickers and terrorists.

McLennan County is home to Chet Edwards. Chet Edward’s roots here run deep. He’s one of us. He knows what counts, and what he’s fighting for. And that's exactly why those of us in Chet Edwards for Congress, are proud, to have paid for this message.

Congressman Edwards: This is Chet Edwards, running for Congress, and I approve this message.

Editorial: Waco VA task force labors on

Kat — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 08:40:21 -0700

June 8, 2006
Waco VA task force labors on

Waco Tribune Herald
By Tribune-Herald editorial staff |

It would be helpful if Veterans Affairs officials in Washington, D.C,. worked a little closer with Waco officials trying to save their hospital.

It’s hard to imagine that any community would do more to support its VA hospital than we have here in Greater Waco.

From the moment nearly three years ago when Washington VA officials announced plans to shut down the Waco VA Hospital, veterans, residents and business, civic and government leaders in Waco have rallied to save their hospital.

On the good news side, the lengthy review process has allowed time for light to shine on the demand for the primary mental health service provided by the Waco hospital as wars are waged in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From the time when the Waco VA Hospital first opened its doors in 1932, it has specialized in helping veterans with mental health problems that have been referred to as “shell shock,” “battle fatigue” or post-traumatic stress disorder.

It’s also good news that the review process has allowed time for the Texas Legislature to pass a resolution supporting the Waco VA Hospital and for Congress to name the Waco hospital as a “center of excellence” for mental health care, which has resulted in the authorization of additional funding to study post-traumatic stress disorder at the Waco hospital and at Fort Hood.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, was able to add $3 million to an appropriations bill to fund the PTSD study last year and add another $3.5 million to continue the same study this year.

Also, in the nearly three years since the VA first announced plans to shutter the Waco hospital, VA officials have shown a willingness to change their minds.

The Waco hospital and 17 other VA hospitals nationwide were put on the chopping block in the summer of 2003. VA officials announced earlier this year that they are removing the Big Spring VA hospital from further consideration for closure.

That decision offers hope for Waco.

On the bad news side, the longer it takes VA officials to make a decision, the more difficult it becomes for supporters of the local hospital to put together proposals to occupy the empty buildings on the Waco campus.

The Waco VA Task Force has found and lost prospective tenants for some of the empty buildings on the campus during the lengthy time that the hospital’s future has been up in the air.

The drawn-out process makes it difficult to hold the community together.

Edwards has urged local hospital supporters to continue to look for ways to partner with the hospital. That’s good advice. It also would be good if the VA officials would offer specific guidance and keep the review process on track.

No community is willing to work harder or do more to support its VA hospital and veterans than Greater Waco.

5/6/06 - Chet Edwards attends Cinco de Mayo @ Mission Waco

Kat — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 15:56:19 -0700

May 5, 2006: Chet Edwards attends Cinco de Mayo @ Mission Waco

On May 5, 2006, Congressman Edwards celebrated Cinco de Mayo with Mission Waco with dancing, food and music.

Click on an image to enlarge

VA Hospital advocates plan to meet ...

Kat — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:45:50 -0700

June 1, 2006
VA Hospital advocates plan to meet to discuss strategy

Waco Tribune Herald
By Dan Genz |Tribune-Herald staff writer

A community group trying to keep the embattled Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital open is planning to meet June 13 to discuss strategy during the long-standing lull in the facility’s federal review process.

With no news from the government, the Waco VA Task Force has not met since the fall as members awaited updates on plans for the hospital the VA has considered downsizing for the past three years.

The task force of more than 20 prominent local veterans, business leaders and civic officials is trying to regroup and decide where to focus its energy in the coming months.

“We never want to have a meeting unless there’s a reason, (but) we need to be sure we’re doing everything we need to be doing,” said Linda Ethridge, former Waco mayor and the task force chairwoman.

The meeting is tentatively slated for 8 a.m. June 13 at the Waco Transit Center.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, said it’s time for the community to again discuss how it can help the hospital.

“I have spoken recently with members of the Waco VA Task Force and stressed that now is the time for our community to develop specific ways we can partner with the Waco VA Hospital,” Edwards said.

VA officials in Texas tentatively scheduled a public hearing on the hospital’s fate in January but later postponed the session indefinitely and now say they still are awaiting guidance from VA Secretary Jim Nicholson before setting another meeting.

‘No updates’

“We have no updates,” said Tom Balderach, acting associate director for operations with the VA in Temple. He said the regional office is hoping to hear an update on the process this summer.
There has been little explanation for the delay, said Dr. Roland A. Goertz, executive director of the Family Practice Center and a member of the Local Advisory Panel that oversaw the first two public hearings on the hospital’s future in 2005.

“The last communication we received was, ‘Don’t read anything negative or positive into the delay,’ ” Goertz said. “All we’ve been told is ‘stay tuned’ for the last six months.”

The VA announced that it will keep the Big Spring VA Hospital in West Texas open, but the VA has seemingly stalled its review of 15 other hospitals around the country and suspended its review of the Gulfport VA Hospital in hurricane-battered Mississippi.

Ethridge said the Big Spring decision encourages local leaders to continue working.
“We certainly remain optimistic about the prospects for the hospital,” Ethridge said, “but it certainly got our attention when they did resolve the future of Big Spring and did not resolve ours.”

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County III

Kat — Tue, 30 May 2006 23:00:14 -0700

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County III
Fighting for Fort Hood

Chet secured $6.6 million for the Fort Hood Central Shipping/Receiving Point, an important security measure, to ensure goods brought onto Fort Hood must enter through a central security location.

Chet secured $6.8 million for the new Fort Hood Fitness Center.

Protecting Local Water Quality

Chet obtained authorization for $10 million for environmental infrastructure projects on the Bosque River that will promote improving water quality in Lake Waco and the Bosque watershed. Some examples of projects that could be funded are buffer strips, wetlands, lagoon upgrades, wastewater treatment plant upgrades and dairy modifications.

Chet secured $1 million in additional funds for Animal Waste Removal Program at Texas A&M, in partnership with the Texas Agriculture Experiment Station, to develop efficient and economically methods to convert animal waste into energy. Developing an economical method to produce energy from animal waste will help alleviate some of the pollution problems caused by animal waste in the Bosque River and Lake Waco.

Chet secured $700,000 for a Baylor study of Lake Whitney salinity levels, the first step in considering Lake Whitney as an alternative source of drinking water for Central Texas.

Chet secured $350,000 for City of Lorena wastewater capacity improvements. These funds will help provide first time sewer connections for lower to moderate-income residents that are not connected to the municipal system.

Chet introduced the Central Texas Water Recycling Act of 2005 to conserve water resources by recycling treated wastewater in McLennan County. The bill, if approved, would amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the federal government to help the City of Waco and other communities pay for a wastewater treatment facility under the McLennan County/Waco Regional Satellite Reuse Project.

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County IV

Kat — Tue, 30 May 2006 19:41:06 -0700

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County IV
Making Our Communities Safer and Supporting Law Enforcement

Chet secured $500,000 to update the Waco Police and Fire Departments’ Emergency Dispatch System. This funding will update the Waco PD’s 20-year-old dispatching system and install a more effective dispatching system, which will help officers to respond to emergency calls more quickly and efficiently. The funds will also enable the Waco Fire Department to implement a computer-aided dispatch system to respond faster to distress calls.

Chet secured $500,000 to replace the Waco Police Department’s field data system. These funds will update the system used by the Waco PD to provide information to police officers in the field, providing them with needed information relating to emergency situations.

Chet secured $150,000 in Edward Byrne Discretionary Grants for hiring additional police officers at the Lacy Lakeview and the Bellmead police departments.