American Legion post surrenders its charter

For the second time in four years, a veterans post in Columbia Falls has closed down. The Columbia Falls City Council heard the news during its Nov. 4 meeting.

Don Connors, the past adjutant and past commander of American Legion Post 72, told the council a quorum of the post’s members met Oct. 15 and voted to voluntarily surrender its charter.

Declining membership and lack of participation in a poor economy were factors in the post’s decision, but public allegations about the post’s responsibility in maintaining the Veterans Memorial Wall at Marantette Park was the “last straw,” Connors told the council.

The American Legion post in Columbia Falls was established about five years ago, Connors told the Hungry Horse News. As of Oct. 15, it had 37 dues-paid members, but only 16 had renewed their membership, and only five showed up for the Oct. 15 meeting — barely enough for a quorum.

Getting a quorum been a problem for the post, Connors said. The post’s leaders wanted to respond to allegations about the vets wall made at the Aug. 5 city council meeting but couldn’t get a quorum together until more than two months later. Connors said the post follows strict protocol about not conducting post business without a quorum, and post members couldn’t discuss the situation until Oct. 15.

“The consensus of the members present was that these factors were becoming insurmountable and that the disservice accorded us during the ‘Wall’ controversy was the last straw,” Connors and Past Commander Gene Hallas said in a letter to the city.

Connors and Hallas closed the bank account for the vets wall on Oct. 25 and handed the city a cashier’s check for $310.74 at the Nov. 4 meeting. They also said they would draft another letter for the city attorney.

“Included in that letter will be copies of several more documents which should clearly illustrate that we made absolutely no expenditures from the Wall account over the entire period of time from its inception until the day of its closure,” the letter to the city states.

Connors and Hallas said they will provide the city with names of people interested in putting names on the wall and documentation on whether they already had paid.

“Finally, please be advised that we will no longer sit idly by if the good name of Columbia Falls American Legion Post 72 or any of its officers or members is sullied by further false or baseless accusations,” the letter states. “We are very proud of our service and/or sacrifice to our local community and to our nation.”

The local American Legion post took over responsibility for putting names on the vets wall in 2009 after the Veterans of Foreign Wars William Murphy Post 5650 ceased to exist. The charter for the local VFW post was pulled by the VFW’s national leadership 64 years after it was established.

Bill Schulte, the VFW post’s past commander, built the vets wall, which was dedicated on Memorial Day 2005. And it was Schulte who addressed the city council about the vets wall on Aug. 5. He said the VFW post had covered the wall’s west side with about 250 names, and it was up to the American Legion to install names on the east side. He wanted to know why no names had been put on the wall in the past four years.

There were also concerns expressed about maintenance. Mayor Don Barnhart told the rest of the council on Aug. 5 that he and city crews had cleaned up the wall that spring and repaired the flag pole. Barnhart and two other city councilors are veterans, and consensus was quickly reached that, if necessary, the city would take over responsibility for the wall.

Connors responding these concerns by noting that the American Legion post was not allowed to do maintenance on the wall because it was city property. He said that point was made clear after vandals caused more than $400 worth of damage to the wall’s flood lights in 2011 and he was told the post wasn’t allowed to make the repairs.

Connors also said no decision was made on what type of materials should be used for names on the east side. The bronze lettering used by the VFW was expensive, he said, and the American Legion was looking for a more affordable method.

Meanwhile, the American Legion Auxiliary Columbia Falls Unit 72, for women only, continues to exist, according to the unit’s president, MaryAnn Jones. They have about a dozen members, she said. The local VFW ladies auxiliary disbanded after the VFW post’s charter was pulled.