KING, WI (WSAU) — State Representative Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point) and three others on the Joint Finance Committee have written a letter to Daniel J. Zimmerman, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, urging him to release funds needed to aid veterans programs in the state.
Rep. Shankland says some of that funding would go to the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King to fix some of the problems there.
She said, “We have seen from the results of an audit as well as from investigative reporting, that (the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King) not only has staff shortages, but also reports of yellow drinking water, moldy walls, stained floors, (and) potentially unsafe equipment.”
Rep. Shankland says the intent of the letter is to get the necessary people talking about the issue.
“We hope that this letter will spur the needed conversations between members of the committee, members of the legislature, and the Veterans Affairs Secretary. We think its a bare minimum of what the state should be doing right now for our veterans,” said Shankland.
Rep. Shankland says she personally toured the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King with Secretary Zimmerman and says she will not let this issue go anytime soon.
Rep. Shankland says Secretary Zimmerman has the power to release the funds even though the state budget has yet to be passed by filing a 13.10 request.
The letter was also signed by State Senators Jon Erpenbach and Lena Taylor, as well as State Representative Gordon Hintz.
