Another vote for saving Casa Verdugo

Hooray for Louise Phelan and Franklin Ruehl (“Casa Verdugo library must survive,” May 19) sticking up for Casa Verdugo Library and pointing out the solid grass-roots base of support and need for that library! When I lived in that part of Glendale, that was my library too.

OK, there is need for economizing in the city budget, but come on, city of Glendale, we all know there are plenty of unnecessary and unproductive weeds in the budget whose elimination can create the necessary savings. It may require more work to discover and cut them out, but that effort will be decidedly better than plowing up the grass-roots need for a good local library.

Besides, have you ever tried to find a parking place at Central Library? What would that be like if you add Casa Verdugo patrons to the mix?

Honor Haase

La Crescenta

Remember the troops on Memorial Day

I rarely speak publicly about my military experience in Vietnam because I feel lucky to be one of the soldiers who returned home in one piece and in sound mind.

I was in my early 20s, naïve and fresh out of college, when I volunteered for the Army. The politicians called Vietnam a “conflict,” but to the soldiers on the ground it was “war.” When talking about the war, I would say to family and friends I was a “lover” and never a soldier. When I was discharged, there was no military parade for me and my comrades-in-arms, as it was just best to blend into society and move on with one’s life.

I was one of the lucky ones who were able to make the transition. I knew, on the other hand, many soldiers came home with limbs gone, drug addicted and broken hearted.

About two years ago, I visited the veterans hospital in the valley and saw an establishment that made me want to cry. Acres of rundown buildings and landscaping, the complex was old and, because of politics and government neglect, reminded me how lucky I was to have been able to transition to civilian life and live comfortably.

At the Veterans Affairs hospital were hundreds of people with serious problems, unlike me, being pushed around in wheelchairs, on crutches and with sadness in their eyes? Why wasn’t this country honoring these heroes with an environment that was new and cheerful, not old and neglected?