CHEYENNE - A Wyoming Veterans' Nursing Home is one of the goals that Wyoming Veterans' Commission officials presented to Gov. Dave Freudenthal Thursday afternoon.

The commission wants a $30,000 study to determine how many veterans would use the facility.

Commission Director Don Ewing said the facility would offer different levels of care, in comparison with the state-run Veterans' Home of Wyoming at Buffalo, which is an assisted living facility.

Freudenthal suggested the commission officials take the study to a legislative interim committee for quicker action.

But he made clear that he was not approving any budget items at this time.

He rejected flatly two commission proposals: to create a Wyoming Department of Veterans' Services in the Wyoming Military Department, and alternate long-term financing to support the veterans' operation.

Ewing mentioned that Colorado's Veterans organization receives $1 million a year in tobacco settlement money.

"Why don't we concentrate on what we can do to provide services before we worry about rearranging the blocks on the organization chart," Freudenthal said.

Wyoming's Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Edward Wright, made reference to tensions between the Veterans' Commission and veterans' service organizations, primarily the Veterans of Foreign Wars, that surfaced last March.

The commission is under the Wyoming Military Department.

The domain of the American Legion and VFW, Wright said, is to sign up veterans for benefits. The role of the Veterans' Commission is education, outreach and to work on legislation.

The service organizations were frustrated, Wright said, because they felt the commission was getting into their business when it was established.

Ewing and Commission Chairman Robert I. Palmer Sr. of Cheyenne listed the commission's activities, which included the Governor's Veterans' Summit, attended by 20 organizations.

They said the commission now has 19 partners with a common mission of serving 57,000 veterans in the state.

One of their legislative goals is securing nearly $900,000 in state money to hire four regional veteran outreach representatives, one administrative outreach specialist in Casper, and two tribal veteran representatives.

The federal government, Ewing said, cut four veterans' outreach positions leaving the state with 5.5 positions. Meanwhile aging veterans are being underserved and Wyoming ranks ninth of 10 northwestern states in the amount of federal compensation and benefits they receive.

Adding the regional outreach positions will increase the federal compensation to veterans, he said.

"We run into veterans daily that have no idea of what their benefits are," he said.

Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.