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Friday, April 27, 2001
Commander: Gregory-Portland VFW eager to stay active
Overseers indicate attendance may threaten charter
By Stephanie L. Jordan
Caller-Times
The commander of Gregory-Portland's Veterans of Foreign Wars post said he worried that the group would lose its charter even though members wanted to stay active.
But state VFW leaders say that no post's charter will be pulled as long as the members abide by rules in place for decades.
Marcial C. Besinaiz, commander of Gregory-Portland VFW Post 9783, said his group has adhered to the rules.
"Our quota is 25 members and we have 28," Besinaiz said.
"We'll do everything we need to do to keep it open."
For at least the past five years, area commanders who oversee District 6, which encompasses 3,700 members out of 95,000 across the state, have been concerned about the Gregory-Portland post, said Glen Gardner, the state VFW adjutant quartermaster. Concerns center on community service and meeting attendance, he said.
At issue is whether enough members attend meetings held the first Wednesday of every month at a local Dairy Queen.
The organization's bylaws require that at least five members attend.
"We always have people come, but some of us show up on time, at 7, and there are others who come at 7:30 or run late, but they're there," Besinaiz said.
A lot of posts in Texas are having trouble attracting new members and old ones are slowly dying off, Gardner said.
"A lot of groups in Texas are made up of primarily World War II veterans and they have kept these posts going," Gardner said.
"We've had to close 15 posts out of 465 in the this state."
But the only post that has been closed in the Coastal Bend was in Bishop, and that post closed voluntarily, Gardner said.
Besinaiz said that his group has completed such community service projects as flag presentations, Christmas toy drives, church barbecues and fire-safety presentations.
Buddi Harlan, the VFW state commander, will travel from Houston to attend next month's meeting to talk to members
"The state commander will attend the meeting there by himself, with no one else, and talk to the members," Gardner said. "The state commander wants some signal that this is a viable post."
Contact Stephanie L. Jordan at 886-3724 or jordans@caller.com
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© 2001,
a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.
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