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VOL. 2/ISSUE 52
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014
Governor visits St. Lucie Patrick McCallister FOR VETERAN VOICE
patrick.mccallister@yahoo.com
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Gov. Rick Scott made a campaign stop by Port St. Lucie to thank veterans for their service and the community for working hard to get the next state veterans nursing home in Tradition. Before making a short campaign speech focused on job creation since he took office in 2011, Scott talked about his earliest tie to the military. “My dad was 82nd Airborne,” he told a crowd of local veterans and supporters at the Flamingo Hometown Café on Thursday, Oct. 16. Veterans called back, “Hooah!” and “Airborne!” to the smiling governor, who is a Navy veteran. He said Marines used to beat up his shipmates and him. “Then the next day they were asking us for a ride,” he said. “It didn’t seem fair.” Scott served aboard the USS Glover during his three years in the Navy, 1971 to 1974. He later attended college on the GI Bill. His adoptive father, Orba Scott Jr., was a World War II veteran. “This veterans home wouldn’t have happened except for a lot of local support,” he said. The governor and Florida Cabinet OK’d a Florida Department of Veterans Affairs’ site-selection committee recommendation to build the seventh state veterans nursing home in St. Lucie at a Sept. 23 regular meeting. The vote came after an unexpected delay. Other contending communities — including Scott’s home county, Collier — raised questions about the committee’s methodology and findings. The points spread between St. Lucie and Marion counties was paper thin. Construction is likely to start next fall, Steve Murray, communications director at the state veterans department, said in previous interviews. The last home, the Clyde E. Lassen State Veterans’ Nursing Home in St. Augustine, took about two years to complete. State veterans homes are named after Medal of Honor recipients who have ties to the areas they’re located. The St. Lucie County Commis-
Staff photo by Patrick McCallister Gov. Rick Scott talks to Vietnam veteran James Harrell, who’s married to state Rep. Gayle Harrell. She represents the 83rd District, which includes parts of St. Lucie and Martin counties. sion unanimously voted on Oct. 7 to ask the state to name the Tradition facility in honor of Fort Pierce native Sgt. Ardie Ray Copas, Copas died in May 1970 in Vietnam. Copas was a gunner who stayed at his post despite injuries until four wounded soldiers could be evacuated to safety. He died from his wounds. President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Copas the
prestigious medal earlier this year. In a press gaggle after talking to veterans and supporters, Scott talked about how his wife, Ann, patiently awaited his return from an 18-month duty cruise in less-than-ideal housing, and other rigors military families face. “My wife put up with a lot,” he said.
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