Miss America pays visit as center for homeless veterans breaks ground

Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2000 | 10:44 a.m.

Miss America Heather French grew up in a household that barely survived on a 30 percent disability check that her father, a disabled Marine Vietnam War veteran, received.

Having witnessed the nights he awoke screaming in terror from his nightmares of the war and how he could no longer work by the time she was 11, French gained a firsthand understanding of veterans' needs.

When she became the first Miss Kentucky to win the Miss America title last September, French vowed to help veterans, including the nation's estimated 275,000 homeless vets -- a mission that brought her to Las Vegas Tuesday.

"It's time to give them a hand up -- help them to get a piece of the American pie that they fought for," French said during a visit to the A.D. Guy Veterans Clinic, before attending a groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S. VETS homeless veterans center.

The 300-bed facility at 525 E. Bonanza Road, the site of the old Meadows Inn, will offer job training, counseling and transitional housing to homeless veterans. It is the first of its kind in the valley.

French said that by talking to veterans nationwide, she has learned that many of them -- homeless or otherwise -- appear to be lost in a tangled system that drowns them in a sea of red tape.

"Their top concerns are for benefit forms to be simplified and for there to be more ways to inform them about just what benefits they are entitled to," she said.

French recalled traveling with her father to the Cincinnati Veterans Administration hospital, where he was treated for physical and emotional scars suffered at Quang Tri in 1968. She said she realized early on that "every American citizen is responsible for helping our veterans.

"Their problems have gone ignored for too long," she said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who accompanied French on what was her fourth veterans-related visit to Las Vegas since May, asked Miss America to support his Senate bill that would allow retired vets to collect disability pay without an equal amount being deducted from their retirement checks.

"It's easy (for senators and House members) to turn down someone asking for something, but when Miss America comes to you and asks you to spend a little more money, it's hard to say no," Reid said.

His bill, which has passed the Senate and awaits House action, would give veterans benefits similar to those of retired federal employees, who currently receive full disability and retirement checks.

Upon her arrival at the clinic at 1700 Vegas Drive, French cheerfully greeted more than 150 veterans, many in wheelchairs, thanking them for serving their nation as her father did in Vietnam and her grandfather did in the Korean War.

French, who travels 20,000 miles a month as part of her Miss America duties, said "Las Vegas and (all of) Nevada have been proactive on veterans affairs."