Spring is here, I think, which means that summer is just around the corner.  The advent of summer brings the beginning of a new year for ROWS on June 1, 2004.  It also means the changing of officers will be just one month away; note that May 13th will be our Installation luncheon day.  The past Presidents and our Founder, Jeannette Maygarden, have been invited as our guests.  You will hear more about this in our May newsletter.

MANY THANKS go to the board and members for making our March Spring Fashion Show and Luncheon a big success; attendance was at 204.  We had a lovely lunch, beautiful fashions by Chico’s and a wonderful narrator in Jo Smoot.  Randy Taylor from The Temple of Music supplied the music and piano.  Judith Casey gave us beautiful songs.  A big hit was the drawing for a free music lesson for two lucky winners.  What a lovely way to put our hearts into a “Happy Spring” mood.

The slate of candidates for office for 2004-2005 was announced by Adriana Grillo, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, at the March meeting.  The election will be held at the luncheon meeting on April 8, 2004.

Remember the May 13th   luncheon will be the celebration of ROWS’ 31st year!  This will be a special time for reflection and for visiting with all our longtime ROWS friends. 

Margaret Crawford was the lucky winner of March’s Fashionable Fifty-Fifty Raffle.  She sashayed away with seventy-eight dollars in her stylish handbag.

For the most current and up-to-date schedule of chapter events, click on Calendar of Events

Roses
     Katherine Mobbs

Get Well Cards/Notes of Cheer
     A.nnette Go
     Katherine Mobbs 
     Phillip T. Kujovsky, USMC- Ret.

Sympathy Cards
     Doris Dunham, loss of brother and cousin 

Personal Notes of Thanks
     Connie Knight, in re Capt. Ricard H. Knight

SBP Budget Battle Kicks Off - This past year, the budget committee fell two votes short of including budget authority to increase the SBP annuity for Military survivors 62 years and older.  This year, a time-phased grassroots campaign aimed at convincing the committee to right that wrong.  MOAA members, ROWS members and many others – tens of thousands – mailed in letters to tell the chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees and Armed Services committees why it’s grossly unfair for military widows to lose one third of their SBP Annuities when they reach 62.  Members of those committees say they received almost 40,000 letters each!  This prompted them to call MOAA’s lobbyists to Capitol Hill to sit down and tell them about the problem.  MORE HELP IS NEEDED!

Computer Users: visit MOAA’s web site at www.capwiz.com/moaa/home/ and click on the “Support SBP Fixes Now” alert to send your legislators a MOAA-prepared message.  Use MOAA’s toll-free Capitol Hill number, (877) 762-8762, to call representative’s and senator’s offices and urge them to make sure the budget resolution includes a provision to end the unfair survivor benefit reductions for military widows over age 62.  Ask the operators to connect you to your legislator’s office – Sen. Mary Landrieu (D. LA) sponsors S. 1916 and S. 401, and Rep. Jeff Miller (R. FL) sponsors H.R. 548 and H. R. 3763, which would phase in increases to the age 62 SBP annuity over a period of years.  One of the bills would allow currently unenrolled retirees an option to participate in the plan.  Ask all of your friends, relatives and acquaintances to join us in this battle!

There is still much wrangling and discussion regarding the prescription drug co-payments.  Studies continue to increase co-payments, so the issue isn’t likely to go away – Stay tuned.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker revealed that the Secretary of Defense has agreed to allow the Army to grow 30,000 above it’s authorized strength for the next four or five years.  It is encouraging at this seeming recognition that the Army urgently needs to add manpower to ease the excessive strains placed on active duty, Guard and Reserve forces and their families by continuing deployments.  Our need for more troops is fraught with many problems.

Concurrent Receipt checks in the Mail – The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) began payments Feb. 1, for approximately 150,000 retirees.  Others have been delayed for a month or two, including those who divide their pay with a former spouse, medical disability retirees and a few other special situations.  DFAS thinks they will be able to provide payment no later than April 1, and the first check will include retroactive payment to the Jan. 1, start date. 
Legislation news for widows, homeowners and reservists – Last year’s string of legislative successes has left the Pentagon and other agencies scrambling to implement new benefit changes.  The ones implemented are Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) widows’ benefit reinstatement, military tax upgrades, long-term care for certain reservists and health insurance coverage for mobilized reservists.

ACTIVITIES 
Pat Kiser and Audrey Kufahl

Our Christmas trip to New York City with Fun Tours was such a hit we will schedule it as an annual event.  We had 29 members participating this past December. This year the trip is scheduled for Dec. 6-9, 2004. 

1. Under the direction of the Shut-In Committee Chairman, visits will be made to present and former ROWS members who are home shut-in or residents of nursery homes or assisted living facilities.
2. This committee will be working directly with the Chaplain’s committee.