VA mobile unit heads to Star Lake for 2 days

STAR LAKE — The Department of Veterans Affairs' Watertown Vet Center will bring its mobile veterans center to the Fire Department here today and Tuesday.

Star Lake seasonal resident William G. Gleason said he requested the Watertown office send to the area its mobile center, a 39-foot recreational vehicle carrying VA staff who can refer veterans and their family members to counseling and community agencies and tell them about benefits to which they are entitled.

Mr. Gleason — a Disabled American Veterans volunteer who has been working to acquire a DAV van to link veterans with VA clinic services in Carthage, Fort Drum and Syracuse — said he believes there are hundreds of Star Lake-area veterans who qualify for benefits, but might not know about them or be able to access them.

"We know there are 197 people in Clifton and Fine who get tax breaks because they are veterans. Only 54 of them are active, meaning they have benefit cards through the VA," he said. "There are plenty of guys like me who come up here for the summer, and I'm a veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm. That means during June, July and August, the number could be closer to 450."

Mr. Gleason said the mobile center will be open to veterans all day today beginning at 9 a.m. The center will be open from 9 a.m. until about 3 p.m. Tuesday.

More information about VA services can be found online at www.vetcenter.va.gov.