Claudia Peschiutta
GLENDALE -- Although mailers and television ads continue to draw
differences between the area's two congressional candidates, their
efforts to bring attention to veterans memorials are drawing them a bit
closer together.
While state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale) is working on creating an
Internet-accesible registry of memorials for California, U.S. Rep. James
Rogan (R-Glendale) is trying to do the same on a national level.
Schiff, who introduced his bill in February, suggested Monday that
Rogan was following his example, given that the congressman presented his
legislation last week.
"Whatever his motivation is, I'm glad something is done on the federal
level," Schiff said.
Dan Revetto, chief of staff for Rogan, said the federal legislation
had nothing to do with Schiff.
"We recognize that this is about veterans," he said.
Schiff's bill would require the California Department of Veterans
Affairs to catalog the state's memorials and post them on its Web site.
Rogan's legislation encourages the creation of a nationwide federal
registry, with the assistance of local groups.
The man behind both these bills, Northridge resident Brian Rooney, is
grateful for the efforts of both legislators.
The Vietnam War veteran has spent more than two years cataloging more
than 7,000 memorials throughout the U.S. in his effort to ensure that
every plaque, statue and flag pole in the nation commemorating a fallen
soldier is not forgotten.
"If the memorial is lost and forgotten, how much more the person ...
who sacrificed his life for freedom?" he asked.
Rooney, who served as a medic in Vietnam, said his effort is motivated
by the guilt he still feels over the wounded soldiers he was unable to
save.
"Your heart doesn't heal of that," he said.
Rooney, founder of Remembering Veterans Who Earned Their Stripes, said
Rogan and Schiff have helped push his project forward.
"This whole thing, in the last few months, it's just snowballed," he
said. "Reality is exceeding my dreams."
Rooney was especially pleased with the national attention Rogan's bill
would bring.
"I think that it could be the single catalyst to make the vision a
reality," he said.
Schiff's bill was recently passed by the state Senate and has gone to
the Assembly. The Rogan legislation awaits committee review.
