WEBVTT 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:08.980 All across America and around the world, this 00:00:08.980 --> 00:00:15.140 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. Good 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:18.600 day. I'm Jim Fausone. I'm the Officer of the 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:20.699 Deck today here on Veterans Radio and thanks 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:23.460 for joining us. We've got some interesting stories 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:25.640 for you. We always want to remind you, you can 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:28.739 find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:32.420 site or at the web, veteransradio .org, where 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:35.259 we're on the web 24 -7. You can find a lot of 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:38.299 our podcasts there as well. We post new ones 00:00:38.299 --> 00:00:42.479 every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:45.240 new interview, something you didn't know before 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:49.219 by going to veteransradio .org. And before we 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:52.259 get started, we want to thank our sponsors. First 00:00:52.259 --> 00:00:55.259 up, we want to thank National Veteran Business 00:00:55.259 --> 00:01:01.039 Development Council, NVBDC .org. It was established 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:04.379 to certify both service -disabled and veteran 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.659 -owned businesses. You'll find out how they can 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:12.319 help your business by going to NVBDC .org. We 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:15.840 want to thank Legal Help for Veterans. Legal 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:18.939 Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability 00:01:18.939 --> 00:01:22.060 rights all across the nation. You can reach them 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:30.500 at 800 -693 -4800 or on the web at legalhelpforveterans 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:36.180 .com. And finally, PuroClean. PuroClean is the 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:38.760 paramedics of property damage. It provides water 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:42.019 damage remediation, flood water removal, fire 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:45.840 and smoke damage remediation, mold removal, biohazard 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:50.879 cleanup. It also has a focus on veteran franchisees. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:54.359 You can learn more about them by going to PuroClean 00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:59.219 .com. We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today 00:01:59.219 --> 00:02:03.540 an Army veteran, Stephen Parent Jr. Stephen, 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:07.060 welcome to Veterans Radio. Jim, thanks for having 00:02:07.060 --> 00:02:10.069 me. Excited to be on. Well, we have you on to 00:02:10.069 --> 00:02:12.990 talk about an issue that you've been involved 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:15.909 in lately and we'll talk a little bit about your 00:02:15.909 --> 00:02:19.330 military service and certainly your businesses 00:02:19.330 --> 00:02:23.150 which are interesting. But you know, every state 00:02:23.150 --> 00:02:29.090 kind of promotes what it does for veterans from 00:02:29.090 --> 00:02:32.909 different breaks on licenses and fees or real 00:02:32.909 --> 00:02:36.849 property tax credits. or exemptions, and that's 00:02:36.849 --> 00:02:40.009 where you bumped into a problem that I think 00:02:40.009 --> 00:02:43.830 we ought to talk about. But before we get into 00:02:43.830 --> 00:02:47.909 the problem, let's talk a little bit, Stephen, 00:02:48.030 --> 00:02:52.370 about your service in the Army from 2000 to 2004. 00:02:53.810 --> 00:02:59.520 Sure, yeah. Like a lot of guys, I... Uh, joined, 00:02:59.539 --> 00:03:02.819 uh, with, uh, third generation, uh, military 00:03:02.819 --> 00:03:06.060 guy always wanted to do it. And, um, I also had 00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:08.580 really no other means to go to college without, 00:03:08.580 --> 00:03:12.780 without, uh, using the military. So, uh, joined 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:16.199 as a 14 tango and, uh, did my basic training 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:21.020 there in Fort, uh, Sill, Oklahoma. And, uh, my 00:03:21.020 --> 00:03:25.729 AIT was down in, uh, Fort Bliss, Texas. And I 00:03:25.729 --> 00:03:29.349 immediately did my first, I guess, deployment 00:03:29.349 --> 00:03:33.189 would be in South Korea for a year. And then 00:03:33.189 --> 00:03:37.449 I went back to Fort Bliss and then shot over 00:03:37.449 --> 00:03:40.430 to Iraq for a tour there before getting out. 00:03:41.650 --> 00:03:47.069 Well, and like a lot of folks who serve, there's 00:03:47.069 --> 00:03:50.919 dings and dings along the way. You found yourself 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:54.460 in a situation that ultimately resulted in VA 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:58.740 giving you 100 % disability rating. Maybe you 00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:01.759 can elaborate a little on that. Yeah, absolutely. 00:04:02.460 --> 00:04:06.479 So I actually had a little bit of a strange story 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:14.819 as it goes, but I began having some issues. Maybe 00:04:14.819 --> 00:04:17.540 about a year, a year or so before I got out of 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:22.199 the military with my feet. I just couldn't, I 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:24.000 couldn't deal with the pain that was happening 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:25.720 and I couldn't understand what was happening 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:30.240 with the feet. So I went in just to, you know, 00:04:30.459 --> 00:04:33.980 potentially get it fixed was the goal. Cause 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:37.220 I was thinking about reenlisting and. I went 00:04:37.220 --> 00:04:40.860 into a normal day, going to a doctor's office 00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:42.300 thinking they're going to say, hey, this was 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:46.319 wrong, wear this brace, do this. And they did 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:49.259 the x -rays and all the imaging and came back 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:51.759 in the room. And the doctor looked at me and 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:55.160 goes, you're not fit for duty. You're going to 00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:56.699 be medically discharged out of the military. 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:59.399 And I said, what? He said, you got some bone 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:02.819 deformities that have happened in your feet. 00:05:04.719 --> 00:05:06.860 And we can't have you in the military anymore. 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:11.079 And I said, well, that's not a good thing because 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:12.939 I'm in the middle of getting ready to deploy 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:15.120 Tyrak. He goes, well, you're not going to be 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:17.540 deploying. He goes, you've got some stress fractures 00:05:17.540 --> 00:05:19.279 right now that I don't know how they haven't 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:23.240 snapped. And you're in a bad space right now. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:25.500 In fact, I'm going to put you on a full profile. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:27.920 You can't do anything. We got to get these stress 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:31.379 fractures healed before we can even discharge 00:05:31.379 --> 00:05:35.560 you. And long story short, I went to my chain 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.779 of command. I said, so this is what I just got 00:05:38.779 --> 00:05:41.160 told. And my first sergeant looked at me and 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.519 goes, I don't care about that. You're deploying 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:47.019 with us. And I said, oh, OK. Well, they told 00:05:47.019 --> 00:05:50.459 me I'm not deploying. But if you say so. So I 00:05:50.459 --> 00:05:53.959 had my follow up doctor appointment. I said, 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.819 hey. My first sergeant is planning on deploying 00:05:56.819 --> 00:05:58.360 me. I just want to let you know, I'm not going 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:00.019 to be able to do these other appointments. And 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:01.459 they said, you can't. You're under the command 00:06:01.459 --> 00:06:04.439 of the medical board. You can't be deployed. 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:07.920 And they sent a memorandum to my first sergeant. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.019 And I was kind of caught in the middle of it. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:14.160 And the last thing I'd been told the day before 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:17.720 Thanksgiving of 2002, the last thing I'd been 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:20.300 told was, you're not deploying. And I heard that 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:23.350 from my direct sergeant. And I said, OK, cool. 00:06:23.449 --> 00:06:25.829 So the day they were all deploying, I got a knock 00:06:25.829 --> 00:06:28.089 at the door. And it's my first sergeant. I want 00:06:28.089 --> 00:06:32.050 all your shit packed. You're coming. OK. So I 00:06:32.050 --> 00:06:35.170 hurried up, packed my C -bag, did all the things. 00:06:36.089 --> 00:06:39.550 And as I was boarding the airplane to head out, 00:06:39.810 --> 00:06:43.430 I'm going up the steps. It wasn't like a hallway 00:06:43.430 --> 00:06:44.750 they connect to the plane. It was like these 00:06:44.750 --> 00:06:46.949 steps you had to walk up into the plane. And 00:06:46.949 --> 00:06:48.790 I had all my gear on. I'm walking up in the plane. 00:06:48.889 --> 00:06:53.410 I got about halfway up and snap. My foot snapped 00:06:53.410 --> 00:06:59.089 and it didn't hurt, but I continued walking up 00:06:59.089 --> 00:07:00.829 the steps. I knew something happened, but I didn't 00:07:00.829 --> 00:07:03.949 think I broke my foot or anything. The plane 00:07:03.949 --> 00:07:06.170 took off and as it got higher and higher, I'm 00:07:06.170 --> 00:07:08.589 going, oh, this hurts, something's not right. 00:07:09.050 --> 00:07:13.129 I couldn't get my boot off. a medic cut my boot 00:07:13.129 --> 00:07:14.910 off right on the airplane as we're in the sky. 00:07:15.089 --> 00:07:17.230 And I, you know, long story short, I ended up 00:07:17.230 --> 00:07:19.410 flying about 19 hours with a compound fracture. 00:07:19.430 --> 00:07:21.149 I have bones sticking right on the top of my 00:07:21.149 --> 00:07:25.389 foot. And, uh, and somewhere, somewhere there's 00:07:25.389 --> 00:07:28.930 a doctor saying, I told you so. Yeah. Oh yeah. 00:07:28.930 --> 00:07:31.850 A hundred percent. And, uh, so I, when I, when 00:07:31.850 --> 00:07:35.209 I landed into algebra for space Kuwait, they 00:07:35.209 --> 00:07:38.550 took me to the hospital there and he goes, did 00:07:38.550 --> 00:07:42.319 you, the surgeon, he goes, Is there any history 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:44.139 did you i mean were you experiencing any pain 00:07:44.139 --> 00:07:46.279 i said doc i'm under medical board right now 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:47.779 i'm supposed to be medically i'm supposed to 00:07:47.779 --> 00:07:50.220 be being discharged in you know six months or 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:51.300 whatever i'm going through the process right 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:53.540 now for this exact thing and i kind of gave him 00:07:53.540 --> 00:07:56.259 the scoop and he he had that that look on his 00:07:56.259 --> 00:08:00.100 face that i knew and he knew someone was in some 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:04.560 trouble and uh. And so, yeah, long story short, 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:08.279 I went through some rehabilitation for that. 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:11.540 It's never actually been corrected since getting 00:08:11.540 --> 00:08:16.259 out of the military. I've had three pretty extensive 00:08:16.259 --> 00:08:19.019 surgeries, my last one being December 2nd of 00:08:19.019 --> 00:08:23.420 2023, where I was out for six months, non -weight 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:26.180 bearing. I've went to consultations to have the 00:08:26.180 --> 00:08:28.759 thing amputated a few times. And every time I 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:31.160 go to a surgeon to do that, they say, I have 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.899 a better idea. Let's try this. And so yeah, the 00:08:34.899 --> 00:08:38.860 military actually ended up giving me 100 % retirement. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:41.960 And then I ended up getting the 100 % disability 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.179 to the VA as well because of the ongoing issues 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:47.960 that now my left foot is experiencing because 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:50.700 it's taken the brunt of all the all the weakness 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:53.759 in the right foot. So sure. Well, that we wanted 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:56.750 to explain to folks sort of how you got to this 00:08:56.750 --> 00:09:00.629 100 % because it is, for many, kind of a mythical 00:09:00.629 --> 00:09:04.350 number. But it also triggers, in many states, 00:09:04.570 --> 00:09:08.129 it triggers various benefits, state benefits 00:09:08.129 --> 00:09:12.450 available to veterans. And in Michigan, where 00:09:12.450 --> 00:09:16.590 you're situated, one of those benefits is property 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:21.879 tax exemption. Correct. And it's an annual renewal 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:24.259 thing. You've got to continually tell the local 00:09:24.259 --> 00:09:27.779 assessor, hey, I'm exempt. I'm 100 % service 00:09:27.779 --> 00:09:31.940 disabled. Here's my VA letter proving that up. 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:34.879 And you've done that for a number of years, correct? 00:09:35.700 --> 00:09:39.600 Yes. Yep. I've done it since 2013. And then one 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:44.000 day, 12 years later, I guess, somebody says, 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:48.629 oh, no, we've interpreted the the state benefit 00:09:48.629 --> 00:09:52.389 differently now, you no longer qualify. So talk 00:09:52.389 --> 00:09:56.289 us through how that became like, wait a minute, 00:09:56.330 --> 00:09:59.929 what changed? And then we'll talk about the battle 00:09:59.929 --> 00:10:05.350 that you're on now. Yeah, so like you said, it's 00:10:05.350 --> 00:10:09.009 been steady as she goes. Since 2013, I've had 00:10:09.009 --> 00:10:11.169 my property tax exemption, which has been great. 00:10:11.669 --> 00:10:16.419 I actually live in one of the colonies here in 00:10:16.419 --> 00:10:20.080 Michigan that has, you know, high property taxes, 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:23.919 Ottawa County. And, you know, the difference 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:26.940 is, you know, pretty significant, five to 600 00:10:26.940 --> 00:10:29.399 bucks a month or something to that effect. And 00:10:29.399 --> 00:10:32.960 one day I, you know, I, well, let me preface 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:36.279 this by saying, you know, I'm very active in 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:38.860 my community and in my township and the things 00:10:38.860 --> 00:10:40.899 that I do for a living, which we can get into, 00:10:41.580 --> 00:10:43.860 have never been a secret. In fact, you know, 00:10:43.850 --> 00:10:46.929 the plans for my facility here that I work out 00:10:46.929 --> 00:10:49.690 of have had to be approved by my township and 00:10:49.690 --> 00:10:52.490 all of those things and nothing's changed. So 00:10:52.490 --> 00:10:58.049 since I've had this property tax exemption, I've 00:10:58.049 --> 00:11:01.750 continued to do the things that I do here, which 00:11:01.750 --> 00:11:05.169 is I have three businesses. I have a dog training 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:09.549 company that specializes in police dogs and whatnot. 00:11:09.850 --> 00:11:14.159 And then I have security company, a large event 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:17.019 security company. And then I have a foundation 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:21.980 and the foundation is kind of my passion. It's 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:24.700 what I work probably 30 to 40 hours a week on, 00:11:25.059 --> 00:11:28.059 but that's providing service dogs to veterans 00:11:28.059 --> 00:11:33.960 at no cost in Michigan. So it's a great thing 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:37.870 and I've been doing it. And one day, I think 00:11:37.870 --> 00:11:40.549 it was last February, I went to my mailbox, opened 00:11:40.549 --> 00:11:44.269 my mail, and I saw that my township was revoking 00:11:44.269 --> 00:11:50.409 my property tax exemption due to the fact that 00:11:50.409 --> 00:11:52.830 I have a business or that I operate a business 00:11:52.830 --> 00:11:57.259 on the property that my home is on. And I was 00:11:57.259 --> 00:12:01.000 shocked. And that's kind of led me to you and 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:05.159 why we're talking. It is. And when you go back 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:08.679 to this, we spent, Steve and I spent some time 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:11.620 looking at like, why did they change their position? 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:16.899 We found that the Michigan Tax Commission had 00:12:16.899 --> 00:12:24.580 put out a new fact questionnaire, FAQ, and In 00:12:24.580 --> 00:12:27.860 it, there was like one line that said, well if 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:30.519 you operate any business out of your house, you 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.019 don't get the exemption. And that's not what 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:36.940 the law says. That was what somebody interpreted 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:39.399 it to mean and wrote it up in an FAQ and now 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:43.340 it became gospel because they wrote it on state 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:47.759 stationary and your local property assessor said, 00:12:47.779 --> 00:12:53.330 oh well, look at this. denied or revoked your 00:12:53.330 --> 00:12:55.950 exemption for that year and the years going forward, 00:12:56.850 --> 00:12:59.570 I wanna point out that most of these benefits 00:12:59.570 --> 00:13:03.950 that the state issues don't have qualifiers on 00:13:03.950 --> 00:13:07.950 them. The decision is made by the VA. If the 00:13:07.950 --> 00:13:12.190 VA says you're 100 % rated and disabled, you 00:13:12.190 --> 00:13:15.200 get the exemptions, not. Oh, but maybe you can 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:17.360 do some work or you do some work out of the house 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:21.240 or you got a side hustle. I mean, you really 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:24.759 have kind of a small bit of your business on 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.799 your personal property. Why don't you explain 00:13:27.799 --> 00:13:31.299 what it is that that is on the personal property? 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:37.539 Sure, so I have a 50 by 64 pole barn that makes 00:13:37.539 --> 00:13:42.120 up less than one percent of my total. property 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:47.399 area. And within that pole barn, we facilitate 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:51.620 younger dogs in that area. So dogs that can't 00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:55.000 go to our normal or larger, that's not on the 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:56.779 property training facility because of their age, 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:00.820 we bring dogs in here. They're usually three 00:14:00.820 --> 00:14:06.389 to eight, maybe nine months old. And we start 00:14:06.389 --> 00:14:09.769 socializing them, feeding them, doing all the 00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:12.429 things to get them ready for what we call their 00:14:12.429 --> 00:14:15.309 school, which is where they learn to be superheroes. 00:14:16.830 --> 00:14:18.889 And so that's what we do here. It is a minimal 00:14:18.889 --> 00:14:24.710 use in terms of what we do here versus what my 00:14:24.710 --> 00:14:30.590 township believes we do here. They have documented 00:14:30.590 --> 00:14:34.590 that their belief is that I'm making millions 00:14:34.590 --> 00:14:38.730 of dollars out of this building, which my response 00:14:38.730 --> 00:14:41.389 to them is, well, where is that? Where is it? 00:14:42.049 --> 00:14:45.950 Well, and more importantly, what the hell is 00:14:45.950 --> 00:14:50.409 it to any of their business? Right. You've got 00:14:50.409 --> 00:14:55.610 the VA rating, end of story. Don't make an extra, 00:14:56.090 --> 00:14:58.090 well, we don't want you to have a business, or 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:00.389 maybe we don't want to have too successful business. 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:04.340 When you and I've talked about this, a lot of 00:15:04.340 --> 00:15:08.700 veterans with 100 % ratings have some side hustle 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:13.340 because you're barely making it with what you're 00:15:13.340 --> 00:15:15.220 getting paid if you have a family and you gotta 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:18.659 pay property taxes or anything else. But somehow 00:15:18.659 --> 00:15:21.059 they've read into this and what's their explanation 00:15:21.059 --> 00:15:24.779 for why they get to decide if the side hustle 00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:28.139 disqualifies you? You know, it's interesting. 00:15:29.810 --> 00:15:33.190 Oftentimes in my life I've had things come up 00:15:33.190 --> 00:15:37.250 or just being in a normal day of work. I've seen 00:15:37.250 --> 00:15:39.029 things happen. I've had things happen to me. 00:15:39.029 --> 00:15:41.549 And I always have this perspective of positive 00:15:41.549 --> 00:15:45.710 intent. I always assume that somebody made a 00:15:45.710 --> 00:15:47.850 mistake and the person who's in charge of that 00:15:47.850 --> 00:15:50.070 somebody probably doesn't know or isn't aware 00:15:50.070 --> 00:15:52.169 of that mistake, but will correct it when it's 00:15:52.169 --> 00:15:56.070 presented. And that belief has been validated 00:15:56.070 --> 00:15:59.529 dozens of times in my life. And so when this 00:15:59.529 --> 00:16:02.149 first happened and my township referenced this 00:16:02.149 --> 00:16:04.769 fact that was updated by the Michigan State Tax 00:16:04.769 --> 00:16:07.429 Commission that we could not operate a business 00:16:07.429 --> 00:16:11.149 on the property, my first thought was, this is 00:16:11.149 --> 00:16:14.049 a joke. This isn't real. This is some intern 00:16:14.049 --> 00:16:17.389 wrote this or there's no way. And I really quickly 00:16:17.389 --> 00:16:21.590 went and referenced the law of the MCL that governs 00:16:21.590 --> 00:16:23.730 the tax exemption to see if potentially there 00:16:23.730 --> 00:16:27.539 was an update. that I was unaware of. And there 00:16:27.539 --> 00:16:31.360 wasn't, right? It's been since the governor Snider 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:33.960 signed it into legislation, it's remained that 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:37.320 way and untouched. And so from my perspective, 00:16:37.620 --> 00:16:40.940 I was confused. I didn't know where this was 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:45.850 coming from. I'm someone who, I won't say I'm 00:16:45.850 --> 00:16:49.169 political savvy or anything like that, but I'm 00:16:49.169 --> 00:16:52.230 aware of process. I took a ninth grade civics 00:16:52.230 --> 00:16:57.629 class. I pay attention to the news and I equated 00:16:57.629 --> 00:17:00.950 this initially, day one as I'm processing everything, 00:17:01.129 --> 00:17:04.269 I equated this to if my daughter were to walk 00:17:04.269 --> 00:17:07.529 into Secretary of State right now, and she's 00:17:07.529 --> 00:17:10.450 16, and she said, I'm here to get my driver's 00:17:10.450 --> 00:17:14.940 license, And the woman at the counter says, you 00:17:14.940 --> 00:17:18.119 know, sorry, but the Secretary of State has decided 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:20.299 that you have to be 19 to get a driver's license. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:26.599 And we treated that as if it was law. That's 00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:28.500 sort of what the Michigan State Tax Commission 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:33.289 is doing. They're taking, the law is. you have 00:17:33.289 --> 00:17:35.630 to be 16 to get a driver's license, but the Secretary 00:17:35.630 --> 00:17:37.369 of State is taking a position of, well, we want 00:17:37.369 --> 00:17:39.910 it to be 19. It's the exact same thing that's 00:17:39.910 --> 00:17:42.349 happening right now. Legislation has approved 00:17:42.349 --> 00:17:46.490 and passed and signed what this Michigan State 00:17:46.490 --> 00:17:49.690 or what the veteran property tax exemption is 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:52.990 and how it operates. And then we have an agency, 00:17:53.289 --> 00:17:54.950 which is the Michigan State Tax Commission going, 00:17:55.309 --> 00:17:57.809 yeah, that's cool, but we think it should be 00:17:57.809 --> 00:18:02.690 this. with no promulgation, with no discussion, 00:18:02.769 --> 00:18:05.930 with no public input. And there's plenty of case 00:18:05.930 --> 00:18:10.029 law that outlines that agencies do not create 00:18:10.029 --> 00:18:15.329 laws. And so I was confused. I was very confused, 00:18:15.329 --> 00:18:16.890 but I felt like it was going to be a phone call 00:18:16.890 --> 00:18:19.589 to fix it. Right. And you figure, well, if I 00:18:19.589 --> 00:18:23.190 go to the state commissioner of Michigan, Michigan 00:18:23.190 --> 00:18:25.789 state commissioner on taxes. She's gonna clean 00:18:25.789 --> 00:18:28.109 that right up. So, you know, you send her a letter, 00:18:28.589 --> 00:18:31.710 you explain what's going on, and clearly that 00:18:31.710 --> 00:18:35.009 extra language about running a business of any 00:18:35.009 --> 00:18:39.970 size or shape or scope isn't in the law. Crickets 00:18:39.970 --> 00:18:44.210 is what you get back. That led you to, well, 00:18:44.450 --> 00:18:48.210 I'm, you know. I'm a hard -headed army guy. I'm 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:50.690 taking this forward, not only for myself, but 00:18:50.690 --> 00:18:53.130 for everybody else, and let me go talk to some 00:18:53.130 --> 00:18:57.670 politicians in the state capitol. How's that 00:18:57.670 --> 00:19:03.950 worked out? So, you know, I'll tell ya, I am 00:19:03.950 --> 00:19:07.730 someone that is extremely mission -oriented and 00:19:07.730 --> 00:19:11.450 task -oriented. If there's something that... 00:19:12.100 --> 00:19:16.619 I focus on, I see it through almost to a fault. 00:19:18.019 --> 00:19:20.759 And one of the things I did like a lot of other 00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:24.640 people do is I got onto my foundation Facebook 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:28.599 page that mostly connected to veterans and I 00:19:28.599 --> 00:19:30.440 posted to anyone else having issues with us. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:38.839 My belief was initially that I can afford the 00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:42.140 property taxes. uh i'm blessed to be able to 00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:45.039 do that but man if they start doing this doing 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:46.680 this to some of the other veterans that i know 00:19:46.680 --> 00:19:49.539 that i've that i've given service dogs to um 00:19:49.539 --> 00:19:53.160 you know uh this is gonna this could potentially 00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:55.819 be bad and so as i put out my feelers and started 00:19:55.819 --> 00:19:59.640 getting other people responding to me letting 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:01.900 me know that it is happening to them you know 00:20:01.900 --> 00:20:04.240 a veteran uh that's paralyzed from the waist 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:07.980 down that was maybe three miles from me um that 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:12.339 operates a car detailing business. He's never 00:20:12.339 --> 00:20:14.900 made more than $3 ,200. That's his highest month 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:19.680 in four years is $3 ,200 extra in a month. He's 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:24.740 got tons of issues, including PTSD. And the idea 00:20:24.740 --> 00:20:30.299 that they would punish him for trying to supplement 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:32.920 his VA income and make a better life for himself 00:20:32.920 --> 00:20:37.259 and provide for his family blew my mind. um especially 00:20:37.259 --> 00:20:40.380 given the fact that he's part of his rating a 00:20:40.380 --> 00:20:43.599 significant part of his rating is for ptsd which 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:47.700 he has so social anxiety he don't he he i not 00:20:47.700 --> 00:20:51.839 to say he can't but it's not in his best interest 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.400 i suppose you could say to go get a normal job 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:57.599 at walmart and be around all the people and so 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:00.400 he's doing what he can and so as i started learning 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.359 that this wasn't just me this is other people 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.410 other people who aren't as fortunate as me. And 00:21:07.410 --> 00:21:10.049 when they get hit with an extra $600, $700 a 00:21:10.049 --> 00:21:11.970 month, it's the difference between them being 00:21:11.970 --> 00:21:14.130 able to afford their home or not afford their 00:21:14.130 --> 00:21:21.269 home. And so at that point, I decided, OK, I'm 00:21:21.269 --> 00:21:24.609 going to advocate. And I didn't know what that 00:21:24.609 --> 00:21:28.269 meant. I didn't know where to start. And so I 00:21:28.269 --> 00:21:31.750 just started calling people and Googling people. 00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:35.299 You know, getting on Google and typing in Michigan 00:21:35.299 --> 00:21:38.240 Senator Veterans and just really anything that 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:44.240 I could do to get somebody on the phone. Let 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:47.099 me stop you here because we're talking to people 00:21:47.099 --> 00:21:49.160 all across the nation who are listening in on 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:51.359 Veterans Radio. And one of the things that, you 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:53.819 know, we do this for this sort of pearls of wisdom 00:21:53.819 --> 00:21:58.299 that is being offered by our guests. And this 00:21:58.299 --> 00:22:01.960 is one of them. If you see a wrong, There is 00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:04.099 a way, you know, one person often thinks, oh, 00:22:04.099 --> 00:22:06.619 I can't do anything. Yeah, you can get on the 00:22:06.619 --> 00:22:08.440 phone. You can get on the computer. You can talk 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:11.720 to folks who about this isn't right and why it 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:14.680 isn't right. And in this instance, it's a bunch 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:16.579 of government folk you got to talk to to try 00:22:16.579 --> 00:22:19.480 to get somebody to say, oh, yeah, somebody typed 00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:21.700 in an extra sentence that's not really there. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.119 So the momentum starts building and where does 00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:31.210 it go? So the momentum starts building I'm getting 00:22:31.210 --> 00:22:35.769 a lot of people I make a lot of noise and I got 00:22:35.769 --> 00:22:40.089 in touch for the first time someone said we'll 00:22:40.089 --> 00:22:44.190 call you back was Center Hotel here in Michigan 00:22:44.190 --> 00:22:46.329 Someone from his office said he'll call you back 00:22:46.329 --> 00:22:48.569 and I don't yeah. Okay. I'd heard that, you know 00:22:48.569 --> 00:22:52.589 64 other times And he did he called me back and 00:22:52.589 --> 00:22:53.869 said, you know, what are you doing Wednesday? 00:22:53.869 --> 00:22:57.009 I want you to come down here and meet with me 00:22:57.289 --> 00:23:01.069 And, you know, after over a year, it's actually 00:23:01.069 --> 00:23:04.450 been about 14 months of me just screaming at 00:23:04.450 --> 00:23:07.650 the top of my lungs, hey, this is what's happening. 00:23:07.750 --> 00:23:11.470 Someone help and no one listening. It felt really, 00:23:11.470 --> 00:23:14.910 really good just to get that meeting. And it 00:23:14.910 --> 00:23:17.509 went great. I was very prepared for the meeting. 00:23:17.529 --> 00:23:21.569 I put together a packet, a one -pager. I actually 00:23:21.569 --> 00:23:23.609 had draft legislation. I knew that was going 00:23:23.609 --> 00:23:26.170 to be an obstacle just from doing my research. 00:23:27.350 --> 00:23:30.890 sometimes just getting the language formatted 00:23:30.890 --> 00:23:33.450 right and done right to put into legislation 00:23:33.450 --> 00:23:37.089 can be a long process. And so I went through 00:23:37.089 --> 00:23:40.490 and contacted a bunch of folks and had the draft 00:23:40.490 --> 00:23:43.990 legislation put together, met with Senator Hurtel. 00:23:44.190 --> 00:23:46.990 He was floored when I presented this to him. 00:23:46.990 --> 00:23:50.529 He had no idea. He actually reached out to, right 00:23:50.529 --> 00:23:52.210 in front of me, reached out to some other folks 00:23:52.210 --> 00:23:55.869 that sit on the Veterans Committee. and said, 00:23:55.990 --> 00:23:58.390 are you aware of this? They were unaware of it. 00:23:59.269 --> 00:24:04.130 And so he said, listen, he actually had a bill 00:24:04.130 --> 00:24:06.109 that was about two weeks away from me and submitted 00:24:06.109 --> 00:24:08.950 to committee that had to do with property taxes, 00:24:09.009 --> 00:24:10.630 something to do with the proration. And he said, 00:24:10.670 --> 00:24:12.730 we're going to save six months here because we're 00:24:12.730 --> 00:24:14.450 just going to take, we're going to send this 00:24:14.450 --> 00:24:16.670 out, we're going to have the language drafted, 00:24:16.670 --> 00:24:19.250 and we're going to put it into our existing bill 00:24:19.250 --> 00:24:21.049 that's already been cleared to be submitted to 00:24:21.049 --> 00:24:24.359 committee. I said, well, turn to page nine. I 00:24:24.359 --> 00:24:26.619 had the language already written. And he was 00:24:26.619 --> 00:24:28.519 like, you got to be kidding. And it was written 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:31.240 in the way it could be easily submitted. And 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:34.319 so it was. And they owned it. And they've been 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:38.019 in day -to -day communication with me. Since 00:24:38.019 --> 00:24:42.250 then, I've had other senators reach out. I have 00:24:42.250 --> 00:24:45.029 an invite to go sit before a committee. It's 00:24:45.029 --> 00:24:46.549 an open invite. I'm not sure of the day yet, 00:24:46.549 --> 00:24:48.549 but coming up in the next three or four weeks, 00:24:48.569 --> 00:24:50.609 I'll be going to Lansing to sit in front of a 00:24:50.609 --> 00:24:52.609 committee to discuss how this impacts veterans. 00:24:53.470 --> 00:24:57.250 And, you know, I'm hoping that we can move this 00:24:57.250 --> 00:24:58.509 in the right direction. We still have a long 00:24:58.509 --> 00:25:02.309 ways to go, but this has been, you know, with 00:25:02.309 --> 00:25:04.390 your help, you know, you've been a great advocate 00:25:04.390 --> 00:25:06.849 for this as well in writing the letter you did 00:25:06.849 --> 00:25:10.180 to the chairwoman. It's been people like you 00:25:10.180 --> 00:25:12.720 that I've found that actually do listen and go, 00:25:12.859 --> 00:25:15.259 yeah, this isn't right. If I can dedicate some 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:17.579 time and some resources to it, I'm gonna. So 00:25:17.579 --> 00:25:19.299 Stephen, let me interrupt, because I don't want 00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:23.019 to run out of time. If there's somebody out there 00:25:23.019 --> 00:25:25.000 going, yeah, you've got to treat your veterans 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:28.519 better than that. You can't be taking this property 00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:30.519 tax exemption away because they've got to side 00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:33.200 hustle a little bit or something going on on 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:36.740 their property. If you moved the car detailing 00:25:36.740 --> 00:25:39.519 off -site, he'd get his exemption. If you moved 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:42.279 keeping some puppies in the pole barn off -site, 00:25:42.740 --> 00:25:44.839 you'd get the property taxes. It's sort of a 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:49.420 stupid game. But if people want to get on your 00:25:49.420 --> 00:25:53.180 soapbox and reach out to somebody, who should 00:25:53.180 --> 00:25:58.789 they reach out to? Well, I would say that we 00:25:58.789 --> 00:26:01.230 can reach out. There's two ways to go about it. 00:26:01.730 --> 00:26:05.390 If they want to write a productive email that 00:26:05.390 --> 00:26:11.369 expressing their disagreement with what's going 00:26:11.369 --> 00:26:14.829 on, I think the Michigan State Tax Commission 00:26:14.829 --> 00:26:16.890 Chairperson would be a great start since they 00:26:16.890 --> 00:26:20.309 oversee this back that was published. They can 00:26:20.309 --> 00:26:23.930 reach her by email. Uh, and I, and again, I wanted 00:26:23.930 --> 00:26:25.890 to remind the listeners, you know, these need 00:26:25.890 --> 00:26:27.809 to be productive. They're not, we're, we're not 00:26:27.809 --> 00:26:30.710 looking for anyone to, you know, be bullied or, 00:26:30.710 --> 00:26:33.049 or anything like that. Absolutely. And, and, 00:26:33.049 --> 00:26:35.829 and just be productive and, uh, and be an advocate. 00:26:36.049 --> 00:26:39.250 Uh, but that the email address for her is, uh, 00:26:39.349 --> 00:26:42.910 her name is Peggy Nolde and it's, uh, Nolde N 00:26:42.910 --> 00:26:50.059 O L D E P at Michigan .gov. And I think that's 00:26:50.059 --> 00:26:52.220 a great start. The more people she hears from, 00:26:52.740 --> 00:26:56.259 the better. And then Senator Hurtel's office, 00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:04.140 which is, they can be contacted at A -T -O P 00:27:04.140 --> 00:27:14.390 -I -L -A -R -I at senate .michigan .gov. And 00:27:14.390 --> 00:27:17.410 he's been a huge advocate and I don't know what 00:27:17.410 --> 00:27:21.650 I would do without him. Again, I want to broaden 00:27:21.650 --> 00:27:24.309 this out so that our veteran radio listeners 00:27:24.309 --> 00:27:27.109 around the country have some understanding how 00:27:27.109 --> 00:27:30.769 this might impact them. VA actually just put 00:27:30.769 --> 00:27:36.809 out an information sheet in April 22nd of 2025 00:27:36.809 --> 00:27:40.819 called Unlocking Veteran Tax Exemptions. across 00:27:40.819 --> 00:27:43.900 states and territories, your roadmap to veteran 00:27:43.900 --> 00:27:47.579 tax benefits by state and territory, you can 00:27:47.579 --> 00:27:52.599 go to news .va .gov and then search for that 00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:55.740 by using unlocking veteran tax exemptions. It'll 00:27:55.740 --> 00:27:58.079 come up. And it's every state. And every state 00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:03.349 has something different. Alaska, for example, 00:28:03.509 --> 00:28:06.150 it's disabled veterans with a 50 % or higher 00:28:06.150 --> 00:28:08.750 service connection rating get a property tax 00:28:08.750 --> 00:28:13.690 exemption. In Michigan, it's 100%. In Florida, 00:28:14.890 --> 00:28:19.589 it starts as low as 10%. If you have a 10 % VA 00:28:19.589 --> 00:28:23.150 rating, you get a discount on your property tax. 00:28:23.210 --> 00:28:28.119 So it's really all over the board. And while 00:28:28.119 --> 00:28:31.079 we've been talking property tax exemption, this 00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:33.799 particular VA resource is broader than that, 00:28:33.799 --> 00:28:38.140 talking about income motor vehicles and other 00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:41.420 benefits that may be available to veterans based 00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:45.640 on their disability rating. So news .va .gov. 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:49.579 And I also want to self promote a little bit 00:28:49.579 --> 00:28:53.799 on legal help for veterans. We have a e -book 00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:57.440 specifically on property tax exemptions, that 00:28:57.440 --> 00:28:59.539 may be helpful. That's a free e -book. You can 00:28:59.539 --> 00:29:02.480 go to legalhelpforveterans .com, click on the 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:06.440 e -books and go look that one up. It's really 00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:09.920 surprising to me that this has taken a year and 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:13.220 a half and still isn't quite over the finish 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.259 line. Hopefully it's heading in that direction. 00:29:16.119 --> 00:29:19.140 But what you've done is very powerful. I want 00:29:19.140 --> 00:29:23.200 to talk a little bit about what uh west michigan 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:26.440 canine and in particular west michigan canine 00:29:26.440 --> 00:29:28.839 foundation does tell tell us a little bit about 00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:32.960 that yeah so west michigan canine uh it's it's 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:36.359 a company that i started in 2013 uh with the 00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:38.140 goal of just doing some dog training you know 00:29:38.140 --> 00:29:44.140 whether people um you know uh initially just 00:29:44.140 --> 00:29:46.400 helping out people like you people people like 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:51.420 our listeners um And it's morphed into a company 00:29:51.420 --> 00:29:54.579 where we provide dogs to law enforcement agencies, 00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:02.180 to hospitals, to really training dogs to do a 00:30:02.180 --> 00:30:07.420 job. And it's been great. And the W .M. Canine 00:30:07.420 --> 00:30:10.299 Foundation is a foundation that I started. So 00:30:10.299 --> 00:30:13.680 through West Michigan Canine, which is the dog 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:16.180 training for profit side of the business, we 00:30:16.180 --> 00:30:18.589 would often get reached out to by veterans saying 00:30:18.589 --> 00:30:22.109 hey can you guys do train service dogs and I 00:30:22.109 --> 00:30:26.470 would say yeah we can do it you know but here 00:30:26.470 --> 00:30:29.289 here's the cost and you know I can't help the 00:30:29.289 --> 00:30:32.369 cost I have labor and everything else that goes 00:30:32.369 --> 00:30:34.450 into a service dog and it's very labor intensive 00:30:34.450 --> 00:30:40.569 and so we would oftentimes get dogs that made 00:30:40.569 --> 00:30:43.130 it through our program and almost all the way 00:30:43.130 --> 00:30:47.049 and then we would wash them for whatever, for 00:30:47.049 --> 00:30:48.650 one reason or the other. We decided that they 00:30:48.650 --> 00:30:49.990 weren't going to be a good fit to be a police 00:30:49.990 --> 00:30:53.769 dog. Maybe they didn't have the right tolerances 00:30:53.769 --> 00:30:57.589 for people or they didn't have the right drives 00:30:57.589 --> 00:30:59.210 in them to be a good police dog and we'd wash 00:30:59.210 --> 00:31:03.210 them and we would donate them to veterans as 00:31:03.210 --> 00:31:05.789 service dogs. And we just saw that, I saw the 00:31:05.789 --> 00:31:09.220 impact that that was having. and decided to create 00:31:09.220 --> 00:31:13.140 the foundation around it. And so the WMK9 Foundation, 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:16.259 which is the website is wmk9foundation .org. 00:31:17.579 --> 00:31:22.559 Its mission is to provide dogs to people and 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:24.380 communities that otherwise can't afford them. 00:31:25.259 --> 00:31:30.220 And what we do on a daily basis is we go out 00:31:30.220 --> 00:31:34.289 and procure the dog, and then we have... a team 00:31:34.289 --> 00:31:36.630 of people that train these dogs to a very high 00:31:36.630 --> 00:31:39.470 level. So whether it's a mobility assistance 00:31:39.470 --> 00:31:44.950 dog or a PTSD dog or, you know, we train dogs 00:31:44.950 --> 00:31:47.150 to, you know, help people go retrieve things 00:31:47.150 --> 00:31:50.809 or shut off the lights or we train those dogs 00:31:50.809 --> 00:31:53.789 and we do it and we provide them at no cost to 00:31:53.789 --> 00:31:56.609 the veteran. And oftentimes we're providing the 00:31:56.609 --> 00:32:00.970 dog a lifetime of food. lifetime of vet support 00:32:00.970 --> 00:32:03.829 for the dog. So really there's no out of pocket 00:32:03.829 --> 00:32:07.109 expense. And it is changing the world. It is 00:32:07.109 --> 00:32:12.609 changing lives. We've had so many success stories, 00:32:12.769 --> 00:32:15.009 Jim. I couldn't even be, I mean, I could probably 00:32:15.009 --> 00:32:16.809 spend an entire episode on it. Yeah, we could 00:32:16.809 --> 00:32:20.599 do a whole thing on it. dog stories always go 00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:22.880 well. But I wanna, before we wind up here, I 00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:25.559 wanna give people these email addresses. Again, 00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:27.900 if you're interested in the foundation, maybe 00:32:27.900 --> 00:32:32.599 supporting it, maybe requesting a dog, go to 00:32:32.599 --> 00:32:37.460 wmk9foundation .org. Correct, yep. And if you 00:32:37.460 --> 00:32:41.920 wanna know more about Stephen's business, West 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:47.759 Michigan Canine, Go to westmichigank9 .com, different 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:51.400 websites for different activities. But I really 00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:53.359 want to thank you for taking some time today 00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:57.160 to talk to veteran radio listeners about this 00:32:57.160 --> 00:33:00.900 whole problem that arises when sometimes an agency 00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:04.859 overly adds things to what the law really says 00:33:04.859 --> 00:33:07.900 and has a detrimental impact on veterans in this 00:33:07.900 --> 00:33:11.099 case. We just want to remind you that Veterans 00:33:11.099 --> 00:33:16.180 Radio Podcasts, are available on all your favorite 00:33:16.180 --> 00:33:20.200 streaming platforms including RSS .com, Apple 00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:25.059 Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts, I Heart 00:33:25.059 --> 00:33:29.160 Radio, and Reeves Across America Radio. So wherever 00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:32.680 you are, you can find us, whether it's on your 00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:35.099 mobile phone or your computer or your laptop, 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:38.859 your tablet, but listen in to Veterans Radio 00:33:38.859 --> 00:33:41.619 Podcasts. We post something new every week. and 00:33:41.619 --> 00:33:45.119 you're going to find it informative. And I want 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:46.859 to thank everybody for listening to Veterans 00:33:46.859 --> 00:33:50.700 Radio today. I am Jim Fossone. It's been a pleasure 00:33:50.700 --> 00:33:53.259 to be your host. I'm a Veterans disability lawyer 00:33:53.259 --> 00:33:56.059 at Legal Help for Veterans and you can reach 00:33:56.059 --> 00:34:02.079 us at 800 -693 -4800 or legalhelpforveterans 00:34:02.079 --> 00:34:05.250 .com on the web. You can follow Veterans Radio 00:34:05.250 --> 00:34:08.550 on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet 00:34:08.550 --> 00:34:13.170 radio shows by visiting us at veteransradio .org. 00:34:13.289 --> 00:34:16.670 That's veteransradio .org. We would again want 00:34:16.670 --> 00:34:19.670 to thank our national sponsors, the National 00:34:19.670 --> 00:34:23.610 Veterans Business Development Council, nvbdc 00:34:23.610 --> 00:34:28.670 .org. Legal Help for Veterans, a veterans disability 00:34:28.670 --> 00:34:32.699 law firm with a national practice before The 00:34:32.699 --> 00:34:36.380 VA can help you on your claims and your appeals. 00:34:37.500 --> 00:34:40.679 It can be reached at legalhelpforveterans .com 00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:48.119 or 1 -800 -693 -4800. And PuroClean, a leader 00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:52.320 in property emergency services. It's the paramedics 00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:56.099 of property damage, providing water damage remediation, 00:34:56.400 --> 00:34:59.659 flood water removal, fire and smoke damage remediation. 00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:04.179 mold and biohazard cleanups, you can reach them 00:35:04.179 --> 00:35:11.880 at puroclean .com or 800 -775 -7876. We also 00:35:11.880 --> 00:35:14.820 want to thank our local sponsors. This would 00:35:14.820 --> 00:35:20.639 include the Charles S. Kettles chapter of the 00:35:20.639 --> 00:35:23.860 Vietnam Veterans of America, that's chapter 310, 00:35:24.199 --> 00:35:28.960 VFW Graf O 'Hara Post 423, the American Legion 00:35:29.289 --> 00:35:32.309 Erwin Preskin, Post 46 in Ann Arbor as well, 00:35:32.849 --> 00:35:35.889 the VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, and certainly 00:35:35.889 --> 00:35:39.010 the National Vietnam Veterans of America Association. 00:35:39.650 --> 00:35:42.289 You can be a sponsor by going to veteransradio 00:35:42.289 --> 00:35:46.710 .org, clicking on the About Us in our sponsors, 00:35:46.829 --> 00:35:49.989 and help us out. Keep this program alive for 00:35:49.989 --> 00:35:54.550 the 21 and 22 years. Keep us going for another 00:35:54.550 --> 00:35:55.710 20. Thank you.