MOAA News

Doug Wolf holds Certificate of Appreciation presented by Col. Huffman. (Photo by George Bone)

Former Lt. William Myers, CEC, USN

The Catalina Mountain Chapter (CMC) of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) held its recent meeting on March 15 at SaddleBrooke Ranch. The meeting began with a business session presided over by CMC’s First Vice President, retired Col. Bruce Huffman, U.S. Army, during which members were updated on the chapter’s current activities.

Our speaker was the Pinal County Assessor Douglas Wolf. Mr. Wolf was born in Minnesota and graduated from Mankato State University in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. One of his accomplishments as Assessor was helping pass a real property tax exemption for disabled veterans. During his presentation he explained why it took years to make this legislative change in Arizona Law.

Doug discussed the functions and purposes of the Pinal County Assessor’s office and highlighted some of the challenges and complications of Arizona property tax law. Lastly, he explained how to sign up for the “PAL” plan to help prevent the fraudulent transfer of real property located in Pinal County.

The April CMC luncheon meeting was scheduled for April 19 with speaker Paula Pedene, who began working as the public information officer at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Hospital in 1994, after serving more than 11 years as a U.S. Navy communications specialist. In 2014, Ms. Pedene became front-page news when she helped a doctor at the hospital expose the deceptive bookkeeping practices that were used to cover up how long veterans were waiting to receive medical care. She is also the co-author with novelist Doug Williams of the 2022 book on this scandal called A Sacred Duty.

If you are a former or present officer of the uniformed services interested in joining our organization, please contact Membership Chair, retired Lt. Col. Donald Timian, U.S. Army, by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 571-216-3679.

The membership of CMC encompasses the areas of Catalina, Oracle, parts of Marana and Oro Valley, SaddleBrooke, SaddleBrooke Ranch, San Manuel, and Sun City. For additional information, please visit our website at catalinamountainsmoaa.org.

The CMC and MOAA are non-profit, IRS Section 501(c)(19) tax exempt veterans’ organizations dedicated to maintaining a strong national defense and preserving the earned entitlements of members of the uniformed services and their families.