HAPPY 72ND BIRTHDAY - TONY ROSE

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Tony Rose Speaks

Interview on Channel 9 on Veteran's Day with Tony Rose, former resident at Hastings Veteran's Home.

Vets home resident says Rose’s claim to get money back is unfounded

When reading the story linked above, please recall the following:

As the Hastings Gazette has previously reported, there are 3 important differences between Mr. Rose and Mr. Weeks:

1. Mr. Rose was denied his citizenship by his country for a period of 4 years. His country later admitted the error and reinstated it, only after Mr. Rose acquired his file under the Freedom of Information Act on his own, located a lawyer on his own and worked on his case with legal counsel which he acquired on his own.

2. Mr. Rose is 70 years old and was denied his rightfully paid social security for a period of almost 4 years due to the government error on his citizenship status.

3. Mr. Rose has never filed for any kind of disability, worked for over 40 years in this country and paid his taxes during that period.

HASTINGS GAZETTE UPDATE ARTICLE ON TONY ROSE

Battle between Rose and Vets Home continues

"Nearly six months after Hastings veteran Tony Rose received a $48,000 bill from the veterans’ home, he’s living on his own, but still fighting to see his money returned.

By: Katrina Styx, The Hastings Star-Gazette

Nearly six months after Hastings veteran Tony Rose received a $48,000 bill from the veterans’ home, he’s living on his own, but still fighting to see his money returned.

The home billed Rose retroactively when he received nearly $50,000 in social security back pay. He and Stella Mednik, an immigration lawyer in New York, had worked for two years to recover the social security pay.

On March 11, Rose sent a formal complaint to Charles Cox, the home’s administrator, regarding the handling of his social security pay as well as a number of other shortfalls in regard to his treatment and care at the home.

“Firstly I am writing this letter to you to ask you to reconsider keeping from me the sum of $47,957.96 that I have handed over to you under extreme duress,” the letter states.

After receiving his back pay, Rose deposited the money into his account with the home, since he had no other place to keep it at the time. The demand to pay roughly $48,000 in recalculated maintenance fees was accompanied by a threat of eviction, Rose said. The time table laid before him – just a few days – left him no time to contact Mednik.

“I paid ‘em,” he said. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“They basically coerced him, because they had no other way to get the money out,” Mednik said.

Rose moved out of the home in June, but he and Mednik are still fighting the home. Because Rose already paid the home, getting the money back won’t be easy.

“It makes it extraordinarily difficult,” Mednik said.

Rose did receive a reply from Cox, dated April 26. After presenting the series of events and charges applied, Cox writes, “Our calculations are current under Minnesota Rules, and as such, we do not believe that you are entitled to a refund.”

The letter also denied any knowledge that a staff member forced, enticed or coerced Rose to pay the fee.

The reply was one of few Rose has received from the home, and the lack of communication has been frustrating.

“(My lawyers have) given up talking to (staff at the home),” Rose said. “They’re just going to go to court.”

Mednik is working with local lawyer Harry Sieben to bring the case before a judge, but that process could take another two years, Mednik said.

“Like everything else, it’s a long, slow process,” Rose said.

In the meantime, he’s enjoying his new life outside the home. When asked what his life is like now, he replied, “No blood pressure, no depression… I’m independent. I’m paying my own way.”

He passes his time by biking through town, reading, working a couple days a week and volunteering.

“You’ve gotta balance your life. You gotta give back what you took,” he said.

He also bakes often, giving the food to Hastings Family Service, Dunn Bros. and others.

“I don’t eat it,” he said.

As far as his relationship with the veterans’ home goes, he’s glad to be out.

“I don’t even want to go near the place anymore,” he said.

As difficult as his experience with the home has been lately, he acknowledged that for some of the veterans who live there, it’s a valuable place, especially if they have to take a lot of medication.

“They’ve got to stay there, because they couldn’t afford it on the outside,” he said.

A spokesperson from the Veterans Home could not be reached for comment."

Rose Covered Glasses - The Book

"Rose Covered Glasses" by Tony Rose is now available as a free download from the Box Net Cube in the Right margin of this site.

The Vietnam Era Veteran fought and won a 4 year battle with the Federal Government to affirm his citizenship and obtain his social security, which had been falsely denied. The book contains some of his best satirical writings over the last few years.

BUCKS FOR BANKERS - BILLS FOR THE BRAVE

You may recall the story of Vietnam Veteran Tony Rose who fought a long battle with the Social Security, Homeland Security and Department of Immigration to re-establish his citizenship and gain his pension.

The Minnesota Veteran's Home and the State of Minnesota have seized $44K of Tony Rose's retroactive social security for payment of back rent.

The Federal Veteran's Administration has levied a substantial, indefinate, deduction on his monthly social security check for payment of unspecified medical bills they will not identify, the amounts and details for which they have not been provided to Mr. Rose.

Tony plans to leave the Minnesota Veteran's Home and move to an unspecified location.

VETERAN TONY ROSE NOW HAS US CITIZENSHIP

After a nearly 4 year battle with the Departments of Immigration, Homeland Security and Social Security, the US Government has conceded that Mr. Anthony Aldo Rose who served in the US Navy during the Vietnam Era and worked in this country for 40 years, in fact never left the country, is an American citizen and can draw his Social Security Pension.You may recall his story as covered by the Pioneer Press and the Hastings Gazette last year. The blog on his struggles with the Feds is at:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/11/help-for-us-navy-vet-without-country.html

Our thanks to Pro Bono Lawyer Stella Mednick, who we met through "Linked In", for her untiring efforts on Tony's behalf.

Below is the link to the St. Paul Pioneer Press coverage of the Citizenship Ceremony:

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_13828521?nclick_check=1

UPDATES - ON STATUS OF NAVY VETERAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY - GOVERNMENT CONTRACT WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE

TONY ROSE GETTING PRESS AND GOVERNMENT COVERAGE ON HIS PENSION STATUS

The Pioneer Press has run a story on Tony Rose, the Navy Veteran who has not been able to collect his social security pension for 2 years while being snared in a malfunctioning Homeland Security database:

http://www.twincities.com/ci_11190464?nclick_check=1


The Office of Norm Coleman and the St. Paul Pioneer Press have also interviewed Mr. Rose in continuing efforts to focus attention to his problem.

Mr. Rose's case has not been re-opened by the St. Paul Office of the Social Security Administration and his lawyer is preparing affidavits in pursuit of hearings on the matter.

USA TODAY COVERAGE OF GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR WASTE FRAUD AND ABUSE.

The following two stories detail the horrendous waste of taxpayer money in connection with federal contracts containing funds earmarked for support of the Iraq war.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-11-17-iraqcontracts_N.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-11-17-iraq-contract-inside_n.htm

The data points to the escalating demise of the Military Industrial Complex as covered in the following postings:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/09/two-collapsing-towers-wall-street-and.html


http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/11/as-recently-announced-by-project-on.html