Almost All Little Rock Vets Paid Back
By:
Updated: September 14, 2012
Nearly all of the veterans owed a combined total of $580,000 on improperly collected fees have been paid back, said a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.
Fifteen out of the 18 veterans have been paid their lump sum checks, the department is verifying the addresses of the last three still to be paid, said state VA spokeswoman Kendall Thornton.
The veterans are among the 58 who live or lived at the crumbling, problem-plagued state-run VA home in Little Rock off of Charles Bussey Ave. The home's administrator, who has since been fired, had been improperly collecting fees from those 18 veterans over a three year span.
Gov. Mike Beebe earlier this month transferred $580,000 from the state's rainy day fund to cover the repayment.
Regarding those still living at the soon-to-be closed home, Thornton said by the end of this week more than half will have been placed in other care facilities.
Newly appointed VA Director Cissy Rucker this summer announced she was going to close the home because the agency does not have the money to fix it, let alone build another home.
News of the Little Rock facility's conditions, coupled with the revelation that veterans had been improperly charged fees, prompted outraged veterans to rally at the Capitol earlier this month, demanding better care for veterans and more accountability from the state agency.
The state VA operates one other veterans home in Fayetteville.
Fifteen out of the 18 veterans have been paid their lump sum checks, the department is verifying the addresses of the last three still to be paid, said state VA spokeswoman Kendall Thornton.
The veterans are among the 58 who live or lived at the crumbling, problem-plagued state-run VA home in Little Rock off of Charles Bussey Ave. The home's administrator, who has since been fired, had been improperly collecting fees from those 18 veterans over a three year span.
Gov. Mike Beebe earlier this month transferred $580,000 from the state's rainy day fund to cover the repayment.
Regarding those still living at the soon-to-be closed home, Thornton said by the end of this week more than half will have been placed in other care facilities.
Newly appointed VA Director Cissy Rucker this summer announced she was going to close the home because the agency does not have the money to fix it, let alone build another home.
News of the Little Rock facility's conditions, coupled with the revelation that veterans had been improperly charged fees, prompted outraged veterans to rally at the Capitol earlier this month, demanding better care for veterans and more accountability from the state agency.
The state VA operates one other veterans home in Fayetteville.
