CINCINNATI — Alger Cable served in the United States Army as a Ground Surveillance Radar operator. He’s now suing the Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission and its executive director among others for how he claims he and his wife were treated during visits to the office for financial assistance.
"A roach has more respect it's that bad," Cable said. "I'm not exaggerating."
"We really wanted to change how the organization treated their veterans. And specifically, we felt that African Americans, we were being treated equally worse than other veterans," said June Hill-Cable.
The couple claims in the lawsuit they were treated like "unwelcome trespassers" and saw "great rudeness and hostility by the employees and staff at HCVSO." Other words in the complaint say the visit was "painful," "agonizing," "demeaning" and "humiliating."
The Cables went to the HCVSO to apply for financial assistance in February 2020. They said their request for food assistance was denied. Alger Cable said they went in front of Executive Director William Boettcher to plead their case and had explained to Boettcher that since his wife handles the finances in the family, she could answer his questions.
"I'm telling him in front of his face, she can answer all your questions, right? She represents me, right? And (that) went out the window," Alger Cable said.
They both claim that Boettcher said she couldn’t speak and that only the veteran can answer. They go on to claim Boettcher said if she didn’t stop talking, he would have a sheriff’s deputy remove her.
"To be threatened to be taken out in handcuffs — how more humiliating can that be? It's, it's, it's degrading, it's frightening and that's coming from the man that's at the top of the helm," Hill-Cable said.
At the end of their meeting, Cable said he mentioned they’ll have to go to Legal Aide to see if they can get anywhere, to which the Cables claim Boettcher told them, "Good luck with that."
They then claim Boettcher said, "You people get the hell out of my office."
WCPO reached out to Boettcher directly for a response to the allegations made in the lawsuit. Veterans Services Administrative Assistant Pamela Minser responded via email on Boettcher’s behalf saying, "On the advice of counsel: Since Case A2300526 is currently pending, we cannot provide a comment at this time."
The Cables filed the lawsuit on their own with no legal counsel. Meanwhile, Hamilton County Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Eric Munas and Jerome Kunkel have filed motions on behalf of the defendants in the case asking to dismiss it on a variety of legal grounds.
The couple said they are looking for change within the Veterans Service Commission and the office to better serve all veterans. They launched a Facebook group Stand Up 4 Vets Cincy seeking to speak with other veterans who have experienced similar treatment at the HCVSO. Their phone number and email are also on the group site.
Public Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission meetings take place the second Wednesday of each month at 230 E. 9th St. Room 1100, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
