<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">T</SPAN></FONT><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">hey've been turned down and trying again on appeal....sometimes a 3 YEAR wait for an answer.....marta</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Veterans court swamped with disability claim appeals</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060715/NEWS/607150316/1001"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060715/NEWS/607150316/1001</SPAN></FONT></A></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Backlog means cases take much longer to process</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">BY DENNIS CAMIRE<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"> Statesman Journal</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">July 15, 2006</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">WASHINGTON -- Veterans appealing disability claims and other issues soon may be waiting much longer for decisions.</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims' case backlog has more than doubled in the past two years to 5,800. If the trend continues, veterans could be waiting more than three years for a decision from the court, said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Currently, it takes a year, on average, for a case to go through the court.</SPAN></FONT></P></BODY></HTML>