Disabled American Veteran Yuma bar shuts down
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - Several Veterans at the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Yuma non-profit are upset after their bar was shut down.
"The bar was shut down because we lost our tax exempt," said DAV Yuma Chapter member Ron Benson.
"That happened because for three consecutive years, they did not file their form 990 nonprofit tax return, according to IRS regulations. That requires the IRS to withdraw their nonprofit status," said DAV Arizona adjutant & CEO Dr. Carl Forkner.
"So we worked diligently to get the tax return reinstated," said Benson.
However, I sat down with the DAV CEO and adjutant, Dr. Carl Forkner, who says once your status has been lost, you cannot, according to DAV national bylaws, conduct any fundraiser activities or accept any donations while you are not in a tax exempt status.
"As a result, we went down to the chapter for a visit and found that they were still operating their bar even though they were told that they were not able to do so as a result of the non-profit status being lost," said Dr. Forkner.
"In less than two months, we had our taxes exempt back, so we wrote an appeal letter using an attorney for YPG to write the appeal to national and to state," said Benson.
However, the letter was denied. The CEO says DAV Yuma also didn't meet additional financial requirements.
"The requirement, according to our National Executive Committee regulation 4 is that any bar, lounge, bingo operation, or thrift store must contribute a minimum of 10% of the gross proceeds into free services for our veterans. They contributed 0.92%. As a result of the other issues going on and the failure to meet the standard in NEC regulation 4, the National Commander revoked their privilege to have a bar. A bar in DAV is a form of a fundraiser," said Forkner.
The state leaders came and removed all the alcohol and shut down the bar permanently.
"We want that chapter to survive and thrive because there are a lot of veterans in Yuma and the surrounding area that need their services, so our intent is to support them remaining viable in fact without having a bar. They were one of only four chapters in the state that had bars. All the other chapters, the other 11 chapters that don't have bars, are thriving. They have other fundraisers. They have outreach. They have corporate sponsorships and so on and so forth, so we want that chapter to survive and thrive," said Forkner.
The DAV Yuma says they help hundreds of Veterans and without the space, they say it's hurting the community.
"I say it's not about the money, but what national has taken away from us since they closed the bar down is roughly closed between 60 and $70,000. Those are the figures you know, and that's all I have to say is that they took something away from the community for the veterans here," said DAV Yuma commander Chop Rodriquez.
"People come up 'When are you going to open? We miss it' that they don't even drink, but they like to play pool or they like to sit and talk to people," said DAV Yuma auxiliary commander Mary Jones Martinez.
Both veterans and state officials say they wish the bar didn’t have to shut down.
"And now this place is going to flounder, and it's going to sit at the bottom of the ocean with no air because they're not going to be able to afford to stay open. We're not a bingo community you know. Bingo isn't going to fund this," said Benson.
"We wish this hadn't happened. We don't wish anything bad on any of our chapters. Our responsibility here at the department is to support our chapters," said Forkner.
Both the state and Veterans say they want the center to thrive. The state suggested the non-profit host other fundraiser events without the bar like renting the space when not in use.
