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Praise for History and Hawkins

Dear Bay Weekly:

I thought what you did for the February 25 issue was just great. The editorial on black history was right on target, and I loved the pieces on Donnie Radcliffe and Tom Wisner. The way you honor life and legacy for those at or nearing the end is an inspiration!

–Bonnie Lefkowitz, North Beach

Dear Bay Weekly:

Can’t tell you how much I enjoyed Margaret Tearman’s story about Hawk [Feb. 18: Alphonso ‘Hawk’ Hawkins: Shooting for the Moon]. I’ve known him for ages, and your feature was excellent.

–Grace Mary Brady, St. Leonard

Praise from Hawkins

Dear Bay Weekly:

When Margaret Tearman’s story on me broke, I was out of town. [Calvert County] Commissioner Wilson Parran left me a voice message. Then following his message, the floodgates opened. My cell phone blew up from Thursday to Thursday.

While watching the basketball game, one of my classmates (1974) was walking around the gym, holding up the article for all to see. I then was asked for autographs. Do you believe that? I was so embarrassed. I asked how she got it, and she told me one of my dorm students from Annapolis saw it and brought it to our homecoming.

It didn’t stop there. I got calls from Georgia to New York to Kentucky. One of my officers put it on my Face Book page and wrote that I would never let anyone know about the article because I am low-key (she knows me very well).

I pulled a guy over for a traffic violation on Rt. 2, near Central Avenue. As I returned his drivers license, he asked, “Are you the officer I read about in the Bay Weekly?” I said yes, and he told me it was a very inspiring story.

I just want to say to you, thank you!

–Alphonso ‘Hawk’ Hawkins, Huntingtown

Think about Women Veterans in
Women’s History Month

Dear Bay Weekly:

March is Women’s History Month, and the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System honors the essential roles women have been playing in the United States armed forces since 1775. Military women have made great contributions and achieved stellar accomplishments in service to our nation throughout history, and the numbers of women in the military are steadily increasing.

Today, women represent about 14 percent of our nation’s returning veterans, and they are well represented among all ranks in each branch of service and all career fields. Because the percentage of women in the military has doubled in the last 30 years, women veterans compose one of the fastest growing sub-populations of veterans, second only to elderly veterans. Today, of the 23.4 million veterans, 1.8 million are women, and the population is projected to increase to nearly two million by 2020. In Maryland, of approximately 484,013 veterans, 47,276 are women.

Some women have left their children, husbands and loved ones, deploying on orders when actively serving. This sacrifice is like no other, and the VA is committed to honoring that service by increasing funding for women’s health care programs by nearly $20 million in 2011.

To serve the growing number of women veterans, the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System’s Women Veterans Program has been expanded to include same-day, urgent and Saturday appointments. The health care system offers a comprehensive health care plan that spans the range of all women’s needs from mental health to primary care and gynecologic services.

To find out more about the Women Veteran’s Health Care Program, please call the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center Women’s Clinic at 800-463-6295 x4981, or the Perry Point clinic at 800-949-1003, x5768.

To make an appointment for women’s health or primary care, call 800-463-6295, x7333. To enroll for Veterans Affairs health care, call the enrollment center for the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System at 800-463-6295, x7324 or visit www.maryland.va.gov.