Newsletter # 90
January 8, 2005
THE AMERICAN
LEGION
“STILL SERVING”
Master
Sergeant Mario Enrique Gonzales Acker
Guatemala
Post # 2
Antigua Guatemala
Founded
July 19, 1997
Meetings 1st Tuesday of the Month Mail: Codigo A-178
Restaurant “Jardin Bavaria” 1:00 P.M. P.O. Box 669004
7a Avenida Norte # 49 Miami Springs Fl. 33266
Antigua Guatemala E-Mail American_legion2@conexion.com.gt
Telephone 011-502-7832-1018 Cellular 011-502-5494-1560
Join the Cadmus Cavalry
Sign up
5 members and become a Cadmus cavalryman
Thomas P. Cadmus the National commander has initiated a
membership incentive program. Sign up five new members between now and May 31,
2005 and receive a Cadmus Cavalry Pin. Mail your name, address, e-mail address
and membership # along with the full name and address and zip code of the 5
members you signed up to The American Legion, Membership
Division, PO Box 1055, Indianapolis Indiana Or e-mail wsloan@legion.org
Additional pins are awarded for every 5 members you sign up, I am currently
working on my third pin. How About you???
Membership
The 2005 membership cards are here and its time to pay your dues for the year January 1, 2005 through December 31st 2005. We currently have 114 members paid for 2005 putting us 79% of our goal of 145 members. Please welcome to the post James F. “Joe” Collins a U.S.Marine Corp Vietnam veteran from Morristown N.J., David Mata Jr. a U.S.Marine Corp Korean war veteran of Antigua Guatemala and Joel H. Corrigan a U.S.Army Korean war veteran from Naples Fl. Please make out all dues checks for 2005 in the amount of $20.00 (we keep as low as possible so we may serve as many veterans as possible) and mail to “The American Legion”, Codigo A-178, P.O. Box 669004, Miami Springs Fl. 33266. Please write in the remarks section of your check “dues 2005”.
AMERICAN LEGION POSTS IN LATIN
AMERICA, POST NUMBERS, LOCATIONS, CLOSING MEMBERSHIP FOR 2004, GOALS FOR 2005
AND CURRENT MEMBERSHIP AS RECORDED WITH THE DEPARTMENT ADJUTANT AS OF THE DATE
POSTED.
|
Post |
Location |
2004 TOTAL |
2005 GOAL |
PUFL'S |
1/7/05 |
% of Goal |
|
CR-10 |
San Jose, Costa Rica |
51 |
56 |
20 |
36 |
64.29% |
|
CR-12 |
Golfito, Costa Rica |
12 |
12 |
4 |
23 |
191.67% |
|
CR-16 |
Heredia, Costa Rica |
36 |
40 |
9 |
37 |
92.50% |
|
ES-01 |
San Salvador, El Salvador |
26 |
29 |
0 |
13 |
44.83% |
|
GT-01 |
Guatemala, Guatemala |
62 |
68 |
3 |
42 |
61.76% |
|
GT-02 |
Antigua, Guatemala |
127 |
145 |
12 |
114 |
78.62% |
|
MX-01 |
Tampico Mexico (holding post) |
0 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
10.00% |
|
MX-02 |
Mexico City, Mexico |
114 |
116 |
26 |
57 |
49.14% |
|
MX-03 |
Guadalajara, Mexico |
122 |
133 |
25 |
87 |
65.41% |
|
MX-04 |
Acapulco, Mexico |
85 |
92 |
7 |
73 |
79.35% |
|
MX-05 |
Monterrey, Mexico |
28 |
31 |
3 |
3 |
9.68% |
|
MX-06 |
San Miguel Allende, Mexico |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
100.00% |
|
MX-07 |
Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico |
224 |
246 |
12 |
127 |
51.63% |
|
MX-08 |
San Miguel Allende, Mexico |
42 |
46 |
2 |
21 |
45.65% |
|
MX-09 |
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico |
13 |
14 |
5 |
5 |
35.71% |
|
MX-10 |
Cuernavaca, Mexico |
7 |
8 |
1 |
1 |
12.50% |
|
MX-11 |
Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico |
30 |
33 |
5 |
26 |
78.79% |
|
MX-12 |
Guadalajara, Mexico |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0.00% |
|
MX-14 |
Puerta Viarta, Mexico |
30 |
33 |
0 |
23 |
69.70% |
|
MX-15 |
Rocky Point, Mexico |
69 |
76 |
1 |
41 |
53.95% |
|
MX-18 |
Mexico City, Mexico |
3 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
25.00% |
|
NI-01 |
Granada, Nicaragua |
26 |
28 |
0 |
5 |
17.86% |
|
PC-01 |
Balboa, Panama |
83 |
91 |
67 |
64 |
70.33% |
|
PC-02 |
Panama City, Panama |
42 |
40 |
2 |
10 |
25.00% |
|
Totals |
|
1237 |
1358 |
207 |
813 |
59.87% |
National Headquarters has assigned the Department of Mexico a quota of 1208 members for the year 2005 reflecting a net loss from 2004 however with the growth taking place in Central America and recruiting in South America I estimated that a net gain of 10% would be reasonable expectation.
The Post plans to travel to San Salvador, El Salvador
We are planning a trip to San Salvador El Salvador leaving Guatemala on Wednesday the 9th of February. Our date of return would be Sunday the 13th of February. We will be using a first class bus service (breakfast and movies in route) and will be visiting with the members of El Salvador Post # 1. Call Bill at 5494-1560 if you have an interest in this trip.
Guatemala
Post # 2 Officers
Each one of our elected
officers has taken the position to serve veterans and the community, please
feel free to call upon them whenever you feel the necessity.
Commander------William J.
Shetz-011-502-7832-1018---- american_legion2@conexion.com.gt
Vice-Commander--Jerry
Lightel-----011-502-7832-5289---- jjlgua@yahoo.com
Service Officer-----Milo
Vukovich--011-502-7831-0609---- mvuko68@aol.com
Judge Advocate----Jerry
Williams---011-502-7832-3555---- hjwnofun@conexion.com.gt
Sergeant-at-arms---James
Gibbs-----011-502-7832-3629---- ochodemarzo75@hotmail.com
Karina Margarita Barahona Urizar was born April 15, 1977 with Spinal Bifida type Lipomeningocele. Spinal Bifida means cleft spine, which is an incomplete closure in the spinal column. A meningocele occurs when the meningeal sac (the sac that envelops the spinal cord) extends beyond the confines of the spinal canal but does not contain any neural elements. Lipomeningocele is a lipoma or fatty tumor, which is skin covered and located over the lower back (lumbar sacral spine). In her case, the lipoma was enveloped in nerves; also she had two vertebrae missing.
She was taken to a family physician (not a specialist) that advised an operation but warned she might not be able to walk. No operation took place. She had no apparent problems and could walk normally until the age of 12. Thereafter, her feet began to show abnormalities and she fell a lot. She was taken to an orthopedist. At the age of 15 she had an operation called arthrodesis, to fix and strengthen the ankles. After the operation she started using crutches, and often lost her balance. There were 7 operations on her feet until the age of 20. At 19 she started to suffer burning pain in the back of her legs and hips. In 2001 she had an operation to remove the lipoma (*see attached statement). The burning pain worsened. The infiltrations of the spinal column (injections of analgesics) were done, with no improvement.
Since the 2001 operation she saw four different physicians, including an American neurosurgeon specializing in Spinal Bifida, and all concurred that nothing more could be done. Her present doctor, whom she has not seen in a year, only prescribes medication and states that an operation to stop the burning pain could be done, but then she would not be able walk anymore and would not feel urination and defecation.
Karina’s day starts when she wakes up with her neuropathic pain. She
feels intensive burning pain in her toes, ankles, back of her legs and
buttocks. She takes neurotin 300mg, metadona 5mg, which lessens the pain but
does not eliminate it. She prepares her breakfast, sometimes she sews using a
sewing machine, knits or reads or cleans her room. She has to lie down after
every activity. If she sits or stands for more than 30 minutes the pain worsens
and she suffers lower back pain. Climbing steps causes her more pain yet there
are 18 steps to her bedroom and 22 to leave the house. In the afternoon she
takes neurotin 300mg and at night tryptanol 25mg, fulcrum and metadona 5mg. She
walks using crutches, 2 blocks maximum. Twice a week she goes swimming, after
which the pain disappears for about 2 hours. If she goes swimming more often
she is exhausted and has more back pain. She has to lie down for about 2 hours
after swimming. Swimming in warm water does not help; it has to be cold or
lukewarm. She cannot endure more than 20 minutes in cold water. She goes to
have acupuncture done once a week, so far with no results (she has been having
acupuncture for about a year). When sitting on an inflated donut she feels less
pain. In addition she has headaches 3 or 4 times a week especially when it is
hot. The neuropathic pain also increases on hot days. She has to take laxatives
4 times a week, which causes diarrhea, so she cannot go out in the morning on
those days. She also suffers from frequent urination, about every hour.
What
can we do???
Enrique
Montano Marti has generously provides the use of his heated
swimming pool on a twice-weekly basis so that Karina can exercise to help
relive the pain
Mrs.
Marina Mendez de Boyce will be providing English lessons
starting in February at no cost. Mrs. Boyce is a former English teacher from
Colegio Boston and widow of our past Judge Advocate Dr.George Boyce.
We intend to have Karina’s medication evaluated by the Faith in Practice medical team that will be here in Antigua from January through June of 2005. They also will have with them an orthopedic surgeon who we intend to evaluate Karina’s medical condition.
We wish to raise funds for the following:
To purchase a proper bed so that she can sleep with the minimum of pain. (due to the generosity of our membership a bed was purchased January 3, 2005).
To
purchase a proper chair so that she may sit up for more than two hours.
To
purchase a computer so that she can pursue the career that she has been trained
in, accounting.
To
Spanish language students and bookkeeping clients so that she can earn an income
and become
independent.
The Stephen Skelton Memorial Library
The
American Legion, Guatemala Post # 2
4th
Avenida Sur # 21 (between 8th and 9th Calles)
Next
door to the Hotel San Jorge
The library is open 7 days a week, from
11:00a.m. to 3:00p.m. Sunday through Friday, with extended hours on Saturday of
9:00a.m. till 5:00p.m.The staff is totally made up of volunteers from the
community and we appreciate their wonderful work. As more volunteers come
aboard we will be extending the daily hours to accommodate those people wishing
to use the library. We currently have over 70 videos as well as over 9,000
books 1,000 of which are in the Spanish Language. Annual membership is
currently available at $10.00 for an individual and $15.00 for families. Anyone
interested in giving us a hand please contact Milo at 7831-0609 or Bill at
5494-1560.
License plate collectors please read
Mr. Michael T. Umland of the Department of France asks they we place
the following notice and of course we are very happy to oblige.
Commander
Shetz,
Could you place my name, mailing address and email account in your next
newsletter looking for
Post
or individuals within Latin America Post willing to swap American Legion
License Plates with
me.
I can swap one for one and have available Stuttgart Post 6, Stuttgart Germany
and Paris Post 1,
Paris,
France. If the post does not collect, I am also willing purchase.
My mailing
address and email account is as follows:
Michael T.
Umland
CMR 480
Box 1941
APO AE
09128-1941
EMAIL: umlandm@eur.disa.mil
Geronimo Restaurant and cocktails
Is open at 7th Avenida
between 4th and 5th Calles and Jerrry is now selling
those famous Philadelphia Cheese Steak sandwiches.
Our socials are open to all
who wish to attend so bring a friend to our twice-monthly dinners and our
weekly Sunday breakfasts. This months dinners are as follows.
Wednesday 6:00 P.M. January
12, 2005. MonoLoco 5th avenida south # 6
Saturday 4:00 P.M. January
26, 2005 at “Las Palmas” 6a Avenida Norte # 14.
Sunday breakfasts are
spontaneous as to the location please call 5494-1560 at 8:00a.m. on Sunday for
our location.
William J. Shetz /Editor, post Commander / Department of Mexico 2nd
vice Commander, Chef de Gare Voiture Local #1624
