Veterans Affairs Director Certified With Honors

Potter County’s new director of veterans affairs recently completed an accreditation training session in Grantville and passed the resultant testing with top honors and commendation. William “Will” Worthington, a Shinglehouse native and 20-year U.S. Army veteran, was recently hired by the Potter County Commissioners. Worthington, who is retiring from the Coudersport Post Office, succeeds Byron Sutton. Worthington said he is anxious to build on the record of expanded services established by Sutton and his predecessors, Lenny Kalkbrenner and the late Joe Becker, and to maintain strong relations with veterans’ service organizations around the county. He can be reached at the Gunzburger Building in Coudersport at 814-274-8290, Extension 210, or by email at wworthington@pottercountypa.net.

Commissioner Paul Heimel also attended a portion of the training seminar in his role as vice chairman of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania Military and Veterans Affairs Task Force. That panel met with Brigadier General Michael Gould, who supervises the administration of the state’s assistance programs for military veterans and their dependents, to discuss issues affecting veterans at the county level. General Gould is asking county governments to play a greater role in providing assistance to military veterans, as troops return home from Afghanistan and as those serving in previous wars turn to their home counties for help.

In Potter County, the commissioners have increased the veterans affairs position from 12 hours to 20 hours per week. The board also worked with the Bath (N.Y.) VA Medical Center to establish a medical clinic in a county building at the Mapleview property off Rt. 872 in Coudersport.