PORT ANGELES – The Disabled American Veterans has received numerous offers to donate to buying a new van to transport vets to medical appointments in Seattle.
“We already have received people walking into the Veterans Center [at 261 S. Francis St.], handing us checks for the van,” Karen Key of the DAV said Thursday.
The donors were responding to a story in Thursday’s Peninsula Daily News, Key said. The article reported it might take a year for the DAV to buy a van through the normal channels of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.
Key added that the DAV also will accept “any donations for the veterans and families of all persons involved in the crash.”
Key referred to the wreck last Friday that killed Howard LeRoy Fisher, 63, of Port Angeles, a passenger in the DAV van returning from Seattle.
Also injured in the crash but since released from Olympic Medical Center were Daniel Lee Hendrickson, 67, of Port Angeles, also a passenger, and James Walter Paul, 63, of Port Angeles, its driver.
Donors should make checks capable to DAV Chapter 9, said Key, and the group will forward the funds to the victims.
The Clallam County DAV is using a six-passenger van on loan from its Seattle affiliate while it and Clallam County investigate options for a replacement vehicle.
The agency wants to replace the 12-passenger van that wrecked on U.S. Highway 101 near the entrance to Sequim Bay State Park.
The DAV will not buy a 15-passenger vehicle that, because of its high rollover danger, would be limited to carrying nine people, said Key.
The smaller van will allow the agency to carry 11 passengers per trip, plus a driver, she said.
