by Cynthia Price
Legal News
For those who might have lost sight of the purpose of Veteran’s Day with all the distractions of the traditional holiday season, Zaneta Adams, President of Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s Veteran Corps, made it clear last Friday.
“Memorial Day honors those who have died for their country, but Veteran’s Day is for everyone who has served and is still serving,” she told the dozens of veterans, students, and supporters gathered for Cooley’s “Celebrate Freedom” lunch.
Cooley’s Veterans Corps joined its Center for Ethics, Service and Professionalism, to host the event.
Adams welcomed guests, introduced co-emcee and Veterans Corps treasurer Sergeant-Major Paul Martin, and played a tape she had made for the occasion, showing soldiers and patriotic images accompanied by Adams herself singing a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
While Adams was serving in Iraq, she fell from a truck and was told she would be wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life, a prediction which happily did not come true. Later in the program she read an inspirational and emotional message about how she viewed her reprieve from the “sentence” of a life in a wheelchair. “As a second-year law student I often have to face my fear of falling again, this time from the proverbial truck called law school,” she read, noting that her military experience had given her strengths to help her meet each challenge head-on.
Karen Rowlader, Cooley’s Assistant Director of the Center for Ethics, Service and Professionalism, had reached out to the community to invite veterans to the luncheon, including people from the Grand Rapids Homeless Veterans. One of the event speakers, Katie Papke of the Grand Rapids Veterans Center, helped with the invitations.
Rowlader is in a good position to make contact with the veterans community, because she is now the chair of Stand Down, the annual expo which focuses on exhibiting services available to those serving our country. Originally involved with Stand Down due to Cooley’s Service to Soldiers legal assistance referral program, Rowlader followed her heart and agreed to chair the planning committee when asked.
Heather Spielmaker from Lansing, Director of the Center for Ethics, Service and Professionalism and program director of Service to Soldiers, was also present for the luncheon.
Everyone who was able to attend Friday helped themselves to a buffet, right after Grand Rapids Associate Dean Nelson Miller gave an invocation along with a reading from Ben Franklin’s speech supporting opening the Continental Congress with prayer each day.
As people finished eating, Paul Martin introduced Judge James Redford of the 17th Circuit Court.
Redford jumped up in the middle of Martin’s glowing introduction, smiling and saying, “That’s enough.” The judge did, however, want to add that Martin had been the recipient of some extraordinary commendations for his service.
Judge Redford himself was honored at the beginning of October by receiving the Navy Legion of Merit for 28 years of service as a United States Navy Judge Advocate. Rear Admiral Daniel O’Toole JAGC, USN, Retired, came to the Kent County Courthouse to make the presentation.
Redford gave a history of the role of veterans in assuring our freedoms. “The first European settlers who landed in New England came with the basic concept of rights from the English tradition. So those who came before us enjoyed some substantial rights that have come down through U.S. history— with the one obvious and abhorrent exception of the era of slavery.
“We became an independent nation, which we couldn’t have done of course without the sacrifice of veterans. It was through their blood and sacrifice that we have freedoms of worship, assembly, speech, association, due process and other rights. Then later, we got rid of the institution of slavery through the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans during the Civil War.”
Judge Redford cautioned people not to think that the necessity of defending the U.S. is all in the past. “Have we done anything big?” he asked. “Well, we only crushed totalitarianism, we only crushed Nazism. What would the world look like without the sacrifices of the World War II veterans?”
He concluded by saying, “I am so honored to be an American. I am so honored that I have had the privilege of serving in the Navy of the United States.” People rose to give him a standing ovation as he rushed back to his courtroom to preside over a critical jury decision.
He was followed by Jeff Muehlenbeck, a representative of the American Legion; the above-mentioned Katie Papke, who urged law students to continue helping veterans with their legal needs and spoke of her passion for finding housing for veterans; and Mary Judnich from Senator Debbie Stabenow’s West Michigan office. Zaneta Adams said that even when she was in Virginia she had referred a number of veterans to Sen. Stabenow’s office because the senator is so dedicated to assisting them.
The Veterans Corps gave Karen Rowlader an award for her priceless assistance.
On the wall hung a display of flags, each of which had a wish from a newly-housed veteran (in Papke’s program), from blenders to vacuum cleaners to mixing bowls. The Cooley Veterans Corps encouraged attendees to take a flag and fulfill those wishes this holiday season.
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