Thursday, July 3, 1997 | 9:23 a.m.
Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Hershel Gober says the nation's 26.5 million military veterans are his "board of directors."
If that's the case, on Wednesday he got high marks from his 200,000 Southern Nevada "bosses," including about 500 veterans attending the dedication of the Addeliar D. Guy III Veterans Ambulatory Care Center at Vegas Drive and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
"At the VA, our mission is very simple -- take care of veterans," Gober said in his 10-minute keynote address under tents outside the building that will handle about 140,000 patient visits a year. The $16 million facility is slated to see its first patients on July 29.
"When a veteran walks into (a VA clinic or hospital) he should see a smile or hear 'can I help you?' When (VA employees) see an old gentleman, they should look deep into his eyes and see the 18-year-old who landed on Normandy, Iwo Jima or Korea.
"We have a moral obligation to help those who borne the battle."
Gober and Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., both paraphrased that line from President Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, noting that Lincoln was saying that all veterans should be taken care of by their country for the sacrifices they made during their youth.
Nevada became the 36th state in 1864 and, in its first-ever elections, overwhelmingly voted to re-elect Lincoln. Atop the front of the Guy center, 36 American flags flew in honor of that position of statehood.
"We had three priorities for veterans (health care) -- the first was the Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital (opened in 1994), the second jewel is today, and the third is the (planned) veterans retirement home," Bryan said.
He also paid homage to former District Judge Addeliar "Dell" Guy, the state's first black jurist for whom the facility was named last month.
"He was the first African-American prosecutor (in Nev-ada), the first African-American trial judge, but if he were here today he would say he was first an American patriot," Bryan said.
Guy was a Coast Guard Veteran of World War II, an Army veteran of Korea, a National Guard member and the state judge advocate. A Purple Heart recipient, he retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
"This is a day of affirmation and celebration," said Rosalyn Guy, Dell's widow. "It is the affirmation that his service to his country and community transcends his death. It is a celebration for a facility that is needed in this community.
"Dell would consider it the highest honor for this building to bear his name."
Guy, who was 73 when he died from complications caused by emphysema, served 20 years in the Eighth Judicial District Court and retired Jan. 12, 1996.
Guy, a 33-year Las Vegas resident, became the first black to practice law in the state. He later became the first black Clark County deputy district attorney and the first chief deputy district attorney.
When District Court's Department 11 was created, then-Gov. O'Callaghan appointed him to the post on June 27, 1975.
Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones noted that Guy "symbolized all that is good and pure in community service."
She and Councilman Gary Reese, in whose ward the project was built by the Moreland Corp. on a 13-acre site, said it will be a shot in the arm for economically depressed West Las Vegas.
The Guy clinic is expected to generate 104 new jobs, many of them in the professional and technical health care fields.
The 149,000-square-foot clinic is almost triple the size of the existing cramped facility on West Charleston Boulevard.
Also in attendance at Wednesday's ceremony were Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Reps. John Ensign and Jim Gibbons, both R-Nev., and O'Callaghan.
After the dedication ceremony, during which a ribbon was tied, not cut, Gober acknowledged that some Southern Nevada veterans may want more in the way of facilities than the VA can offer.
"I have read local newspaper reports that there are a number of veterans who want a VA hospital here," he said. "Realistically, however, with the balanced budget proposal to reduce the deficit, they have to realize the situation.
"We want to provide quality health care for veterans, and I believe we'll do that with this facility, the (O'Callaghan) hospital and two outpatient clinics planned for Las Vegas and Henderson."
As for the Guy facility, Gober said he feels its best features are that it is "state of the art, airy and light with a huge parking lot (800 spaces).
"This is not your grandfather's VA clinic."
archive
