City legalities will not stand in the way of Disabled American Veterans collecting for a worthy cause.

Friday, May 05, 2000

City legalities will not stand in the way of Disabled American Veterans collecting for a worthy cause.

Ironton Mayor Bob Cleary signed a waiver that will allow DAV Chapter 15 to collect money for their Forget-Me-Nots in the streets of Ironton, despite council debates over the city’s possible liability in the issue.

At the regular council meeting April 27, city council members spoke out in favor of allowing the veterans their one day of fundraising – the only event the organization has to raise money for needy disabled veterans.

"This is the only fundraising event the DAV has (for this purpose)," commander Ronald McFann said. "All of this money goes to benefit disabled veterans. That way, if they get into a hardship, then we have the money available to help them out."

In years past, fund-raising events were allowed in the city streets, which is where veterans’ representatives petitioned Ironton City Council to allow them to stand and sell their poppies this year.

But, liability issues mean that is no longer an option, council chairman Jim Tordiff said.

Veterans’ representatives first approached council last month about the fund-raising efforts and asked to have collections and sales in the city entrance’s intersection.

Now that the organization has permission from the city, they will sell the flowers, called poppies or forget-me-nots, to passersby in traffic at the intersection of Park Avenue and Sixth Street.

The veterans will take these donations today only until 4 p.m. – the only time slot available to them by permission of the city.

"We really need people to donate to the DAV," McFann said. "If they donate money, we’ll give them a forget-me-not and we’ll still give them a flower if they don’t. But a lot of people lost their lives serving their country and a lot of people came back disabled. These donations help those people."

The fundraising efforts will span through the weekend at local shopping centers and grocery stores, such as Tipton’s Foodland, Ames, Save-A-Lot Grocery and Wal-Mart in Burlington.