By Joe Smillie
Forum Editor
A chance at a new fishing rod could get a wounded veteran to Rio.
Bob Wall, owner of Compass Rose in Clallam Bay, has assembled a rod and a contest aimed at sending wounded vet Jonathan Moore to the 2016 Paralympic Games, which will follow the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“He’s really a great, a dedicated guy,” Wall said. “This seemed like a good way to help someone who helped us.”
Wall has put together a medium heavy RDR Rainshadow Salmon Rod that will be given away at Saturday’s Fun Days.
“I appreciate so much that they’re doing this for me,” Moore told the Forum in a phone interview from Tampa Bay, Fla., where he is preparing for the National Veterans Wheelchair Games.
The rod was built by Wall, who also owns Main Ax custom fishing rods, with equipment from Fisherman’s Outlet in Sequim.
Carol Batson at the Fisherman’s Outlet is Moore’s cousin.
“He’s a great guy. I know this really gives him a lot of hope,” Batson said.
Moore lost his right leg above the knee after a freak accident on an aircraft carrier broke his back.
Crawling beneath an F-14, he stood up too quickly and rammed his back into a broken steel latch that was hanging down from the airplane.
“It was like I leg-pressed my back into it. And then I lost everything from the waist down,” Moore said.
After receiving his associate degree, Moore was studying to earn a bachelor’s degree in chemistry when the Veterans Administration cut off his education benefits.
“They told me I wasn’t a viable candidate for employment,” he said.
Six classes short of his degree, Moore began competing as a way to show his viability.
“I wanted to prove them wrong,” he said.
So last September, he picked up a bow and arrow and started competing in disabled veteran archery contests.
“I needed an outlet, so that’s why I got back into sports,” he said. “I never knew I was this good at archery until I entered an event.”
He is now working to earn a spot on the national paralympic archery team.
Moore is also trying for the sharpshooting rifle team.
Tickets for a shot to win the rod can be purchased for $5, with all proceeds going to a fund to help Moore travel to Brazil.
Moore is shooting for about $4,700 to get to Rio.
Wall said the goal from the pole drawing is to raise $2,500 of that total.
The drawing will be during the Fun Days celebration in Clallam Bay on Saturday, between 3-4p.m. in front of Compass Rose, 16803 Highway 112.
To follow Moore on Facebook, visit his sponsorship page: www.facebook.com/SponsorAWoundedVetJonMoore
