Press Release

Contact: Linda Arellano

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9 A.M. EDT, July 20, 2006

Husband and Wife Resign from Volunteer Positions

Luz and Linda Arellano announced today that they will resign their positions effective immediately with the Silver Rose. The Silver Rose is a non profit organization established in 1997 by Mary Liz Marchand to support veterans chemically wounded by Agent Orange.

Linda explained that when her father asked them to become more involved in the Silver Rose, it was hard not to graciously accept the honor.

Her father is the Nebraska Director and was a guest speaker at a Nevada ceremony, which honored fifteen Vietnam Veterans who were chemically wounded by Agent Orange.

The Arellano’s especially understood how important it is to share the health warnings related to being chemically wounded by Agent Orange because Linda's father is alive today due to an early diagnosis of more than one cancer identified by the Veterans Administration as one of the 43 Agent Orange related illnesses.

As volunteers, Luz and Linda were both troubled by the direction and budgeting of the Silver Rose. Linda had openly shared her concerns with senior board members without any useful or significant effect. It is their personal opinion that the organization is expanding on the founder’s mission too quickly and that direction will detract from effectively communicating the necessity for Vietnam Veterans to receive annual checkups and, if possible, cat scans.

One of the questions that has arisen is whether the resignation was forced; and the answer is that Linda and Luz were told to find another veterans group in which they had more confidence and both intend to do so.

Regarding their future plans Linda Arellano added, "We have a wide range of interest in serving Vietnam Veterans and feel a personal and professional responsibility to continue doing so in a manner that will not require donations or grants and will be solely privately funded and managed.

The state of Nevada has been very supportive in our efforts to serve Vietnam Veterans including, but not limited to, honoring us with an entry in the Congressional Record from Congressman Jon C. Porter's office”.

The Arellano’s did not say anything about who their successors would be.

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