12 New Jersey VFW posts placed under suspension by state office
Denville Post 2519 was one of a dozen New Jersey Veterans of Foreign Wars posts suspended this month for administrative and other infractions by the state VFW office.
Denville and Woodbridge Post 4410 quickly resolved their largely administrative issues and are no longer under suspension, VFW state Adjudent Ken Hagemann said Wednesday. But 10 others remain shuttered and under state control with their futures in limbo.
Other posts still under suspension include 2347 in Netcong, 5082 in Lodi, 7923 in East Orange, 7474 in Plainfield, 506 in Warren, 7365 in Stratford, 6761 in Matawan, 9468 in Old Bridge 8352 in Toms River and 6594 in Pleasantville.
"There's nothing punitive about this," Hagemann said. "A lot of these posts that were suspended, we knew were in trouble. They were in trouble before COVID. Most of them don't have a building. A lot of them have a dozen or less people in the post. They have no money."
Post 9112 at the Vineland Veteran's Home also was placed under suspension but in that case, the state office is helping the elderly members there to resolve the filing of their election report. An earlier suspension continues for Post 2648 in North Bergen.
Martin Bischoff, commander of Netcong Post 2347, said his post is "in bad shape" and the suspension "just about does it for us."
"We're a small post. We're the oldest post in Morris County," Bischoff said. "It's a small building and between some structural issues we have to fix and a lawsuit with a local business, it's just a terrible situation."
Bischoff said Netcong is down to about 62 members, but many are older veterans, some of whom live in Florida and rarely participate.
"I'm one of the younger guys, and I'm 60, which [the state] beats us up about," he said. "It's hard right now attracting new members."
He wishes the state officials took a more proactive approach to help all the posts resolve their issues.
"If you were in a club, and somebody needed help, what would you do?" Bischoff asked.
Hagemann said the VFW has noticed a general trend in which many posts are growing while membership declines are highest at the posts with canteens serving alcohol.
"The VFW as a whole, our state has grown every year," he said. "We have a lot of posts that are growing. They are doing more programs that are more attractive to veterans. Our posts that are failing are the ones with bars."
Letters to suspended posts with canteens like Netcong included the order "The canteen is closed until further notice. The ABC and municipal clerk have been notified of the suspension."
"Once the state closed our canteen, we have no income," Bischoff said. "We're just stuck. We're really close to shuttering and that's a shame."
Some of the suspensions were for what Hagemann termed "fiduciary issues." Others were suspended for failure to file an election report.
Hagemann said the suspensions, enacted by new state Commander Jay Boxwell, are "more of an administrative thing where we can try and consolidate them with another post or, unfortunately, revoke the charter of a handful of them."
"We take the fiduciary responsibility of our post officers very seriously and if they don't want to do it, then well suspend the post, so we can tell our donors that your money is being properly introduced," Hagemann said.
Assemblyman Brian Bergen, a West Point graduate who has commanded the Denville post for the last three years, said the issues resulting the suspension there were easily resolved and the post is operating in good order with about 110 members.
One "fiduciary issue" for his post was failure to pay a $50 state convention delegate fee.
"The small clerical oversights which caused the temporary suspension of our post by the Department are not indicators of the health of VFW Post 2519," he said. "The issues were rectified in 24 hours and the suspension was immediately lifted. Our post remains financially strong and is an active community partner. I am proud of the great work we do for Veterans and the community and I am proud to lead this fine team."
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: A dozen New Jersey VFW posts placed under suspension by state office
