Ag topics top concern

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Sen. Jerry Moran promised Saturday to go to bat for a Marion veteran whose audiologist’s requests for new hearing aids have repeatedly been ignored by the Veterans Administration.

Marion Assisted Living resident Don Fruechting came to Moran’s town hall meeting armed with a folder of paperwork.

“I need your help dealing with the VA,” Fruechting told Moran.

Fruechting said his audiologist has repeatedly filed paperwork for him to get new hearing aids, which he is entitled to have under veterans’ benefits. Repeatedly, VA has ignored his requests, Fruechting said.

“We will go to bat,” Moran said.

Mike Zamrzla, deputy state director for Moran, took information on Fruechting’s claims for hearing aids.

Although services for veterans were a topic of high interest for the 30 people who attended Moran’s town hall meeting, agricultural-related topics drew more questions and comments.

Impositions of trade tariffs, and how tariffs affect agriculture, were at the forefront of concerns and questions from the audience.

Moran said he’s told President Trump that he disagrees with “tariffs on top of tariffs.” Once other countries find alternative places to purchase supplies, it’s a question of how to get those customers back, Moran said.

Moran said Canada is the top importer of anything produced in Kansas.

“If you’re looking at the kids coming home, coming back to the farm, you look at the cost of doing business, tariffs, and uncertainty, and the decision is, they don’t come back,” Moran said.

Moran said pressures on agriculture today are “tremendous,” and the suicide rate among farmers is close to the suicide rate among veterans.

“We need to talk about what we’re going to do about mental health issues in Kansas,” Moran said.