JWV Lobbying
For Stamp
KIDZ, KLOZ
• ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR
N
either rain nor snow nor
sleet nor the Jewish War
Veterans of the United
States of America will
keep the U.S. Postal Service
from its appointed rounds.
That's what JWV State Com-
mander Ely J. Katz and
100,000 JWV members around
the country believe.
JWV nationally is the oldest
veterans' organization in the
United States. The group, for
the last five years, has been try-
ing to convince the post office to
recognize its 1996 centennial
with a U.S. commemorative
stamp.
Not only has the post office
refused, it hasn't even told the
vets why.
Mr. Katz attended JWV na-
tional executive committee
meetings last month, and spent
a day on Capitol Hill lobbying
congressmen and senators
about homeless veterans, vet-
erans benefits, and the postage
stamp issue.
According to Julie Himelfarb,
development assistant at JWV's
national headquarters, the Cit-
izens Stamp Advisory Com-
mittee of the USPS will
reconsider the JWV request at
its quarterly meeting April 14-
15. She said, "That's the closest
we've gotten to anything posi-
tive since we started" request-
ing the stamp in 1988.
On Feb. 3, the JWV staged a
rally on the Capitol steps in
support of a JWV commemora-
tive stamp. Twelve veterans
groups and a number of sena-
tors and congressmen appeared
at the rally. Rep. James Talent,
R-Mo., and Sen. Phil Gramm,
R-Texas, are sponsoring reso-
lutions in the House and Sen-
ate.
The JWV is encouraging
members and the public to
write letters to the Citizens
Stamp Advisory Committee
(475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room
5800, Washington, D.C. 20260).
But a postal official does not
think the letters will make a dif-
ference.
"The committee receives
30,000 letters each year, and
only 25 or 30 requests will be-
come stamps," said USPS
spokesman Robin Minard. She
said the volume of mail pre-
vents the volunteer committee
from responding to each re-
quest.
The criteria for selecting a
commemorative stamp include
that it fit into a balance of top-
ical and historical subjects for
each year, is consistent with
public opi*on and there is
broad national interest. ❑
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