W000257
Tuesday, November 06, 2001 3:53 PM
Victims Funds
This is a subject that I believe I can address with some sense of
experience. In the months following the bombing of the Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City I served as of the Junior League of
Oklahoma City. The Jr. League, along with many other agencies received a
tremendous amount of money which was donated to us to ultimately benefit the
victims' families and survivors of the Murrah Building bombing. We attended
meetings with other agencies' representatives to allocate our donated funds.
Each FEMA case was presented and we would "ante" up "X" number of dollars for
each case. $2,000 toward the purchase of a van for a victim who lost a leg
in the bombing, $50 to purchase clothing for 2 children to wear to their
parents funerals, etc. It was very obvious to us what expenses should be
covered and what expenses should not. We paid for a lot of home renovations
to accommodate handicapped victims. We paid for a lot of funeral expenses
and medical expenses. We did not pay for everything that was requested. We
did not pay for new televisions or in one case an automatic lawn sprinkler
system. I would think the September 11th tragedy is too large in scale for
any group of people to sit in a room and hear all the FEMA cases presented
one at a time. There might, however, be just such a group of people
organized to work in that manner. I would guess that everyone affected by
the tragedies on September 11 would have received a FEMA number. In any
event, I feel from my experience with the OKC bombing donations and the
conversations I have heard in my office since September 11th, leads me to
believe that no one wants the victims or their families to become wealthy
because of this tragedy. I have donated money to two different September 11
funds. My intention and the feeling of everyone I have talked to is to be
sure the families are assured that they have medical expenses covered, burial
expenses covered, current physcial needs met; wheel chairs, ramps, vans, etc.
and future education expenses met. Additionally, we should pay for
counseling expenses not covered by health insurance for a number of years.
At the same time, we have no interest in buying larger, upgraded color tvs
for anyone.
I would strongly support a decision to reduce the payments from the
unlimited fund to victims' families by the amount of charitable donations
they received. The government's balance sheet is ALSO partially my money -
my money sent to the government in the form of taxes. This is a question of
wise money management. Period. It should not be politicized as it appears
to have become.
Additionally, there is a tremendous concern for the children that are
now orphans due to losing both parents or perhaps being the child of a single
parent and losing that only parent. I can understand that concern too as I
am a single parent. I adopted my daughter in China last year. We need to
spend as much money as necessary to adequately staff a group to disperse
these funds. Please do not let this become a political issue that is decided
by the loudest voices. The loudest voices may not speak with the greatest
wisdom.
Thank you,
Individual Comment