by Bill Maddick
VETERAN’ S CORNER
The Fourth Annual West Metro Veterans Fair
On September 20, 2016, from 13:00 hours until 17:00 hours, the fourth annual West Metro Veterans Fair will be held at the Elks Lakewood Lodge # 1777, 1455 Newland Street, Lakewood. The purpose of the fair is to connect as many veterans as possible with the largest selection of veteran related vendors and service groups as possible. And this year there will be 39 vendors attending.
You wouldn’ t think of a city municipal court as the most likely place to find a veteran’ s charity but, in fact, this event has been sponsored and organized by Lakewood Municipal Court, which has also pioneered the Lakewood Municipal Court Veterans Program( LMCVP). The LMCVP provides a special court for veterans and their unique situations.
A driving force behind this development is Scott Hefty, Chief Probation Officer for Lakewood Municipal Court, himself a retired veteran of the 101st Airborne. Probation officers in Lakewood carry a case load of roughly two hundred probationers, so anything that can reduce the case load and increase efficiency is always welcome. Borrowing from a model utilized in several Colorado District Courts, Scott likewise proposed adopting a specialized court for veterans in Lakewood. A committee was formed, approval granted and now these services are provided, with Lakewood being a pioneer in implementing specialized veteran services at the municipal level. As Scott says,“ We don’ t just jail folks, we try the holistic approach.” And with roughly a thousand probationers registered in Lakewood, the Lakewood Municipal Court Veterans Process( LMCVP) seems to be proving to be effective.
Last year, 160 veterans attended the West Metro Veterans Fair. And the planning and logistics for staging this event fell to a planning committee chaired by Norman Brisson, Court Administrator, Lakewood Municipal Court( and included Scott). The fair was a success with some thirty one Veteran Service Organizations serving 160 veteran attendees. The services represented ranged from homeless assistance to health benefits, from human services to jobs assistance, from personal counseling to a congressional representative’ s office and from claims assistance to education; plus everything in between. Complimentary grilled-to-order brats, dogs and hamburgers were served on the Elks Club patio and fittingly, the fair began with the posting of colors and the national anthem. It then remained busy for the next four hours. No personal statistics are available, so we can only hope that every one of the veterans who attended found the program helpful and received the assistance they deserve, and we can also hope that even more veterans will be served this year.
So the moral of the story is: You know how we love to hate government, especially when they raise our taxes or when a cop gives us a ticket? You know how we love to hate bureaucrats, especially when a road doesn’ t get repaired or we hear about a public official being charged with some crime like money laundering? Well, I’ m right there with you on that, and rightfully so. But I was quite surprised and impressed when I followed up on an email I received in the spam folder about a West Metro Veterans Fair. Whereupon I found that the Lakewood Municipal Court has a couple of government workers who are going out of their way to create something special for our veterans. I guess I must have known that there are always good people out there, but to find such charity in the court system was a major attitude adjustment for me. Who would have thought?
At the least, I feel that Scott and Norm deserve a commendation for their effort and for their concern about veterans. The taxpayer is definitely getting their worth out of these guys. But more important; it’ s a victory if we can keep our veterans from winding up in court in the first place. So if you might know any veterans out there that are living on the edge, please do all you can to get them the support and assistance to which they are entitled. The Veterans Crisis line is( 800) 273-8255 and is open 24 / 7 / 365. Or call the US Veterans Affairs Department regional office in Lakewood at 303-393-2802. Make the call. It could save a life or maybe even keep a veteran out of court. I’ m sure that Scott and Norm would agree. www. thunderroadscolorado. com September 2016 Thunder Roads Magazine ® Colorado 29