N002112
Sunday, January 20, 2002 11:07 AM
September 11th Federal Fund
Mr. Feinberg/
Kenneth L. Zwick, Director
Office of Management Programs, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Main Building, Room 3140, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20530
SUBJECT: 11 SEP VICTIM COMPENSATION FUND
Sirs:
I'm writing under the assumption you are committed to respecting the concerns
of every family. I refer your to the encouraging material you published
explaining the intent of this fund and ponder these extracts:
"Unprecedented expression of compassion on the part of the American people"
As one of the seriously wounded survivors of the terrorist-related attack on
the Pentagon, I'm so sorry that this relief didn't start with the Oklahoma
City victims, the victims of the flood in Houston in June, 2001 and others.
It is misleading to the taxpayer that the average family will receive $1.6
million dollars or be made rich from our taxpayer funds when most of the
families in our areas will receive nothing! I hope that the relief becomes
retroactive to them and their representatives take that honorable lead. I
don't know one of those victims however I would like to share, and for now
just help locally. From 11 Sep 01, one wounded survivor received
reimbursements, from personal items destroyed, and made initial repayments to
caretakers, then quietly donated the remainder to a local widow that lost her
husband suddenly to cancer and was left with no resources to bury him Don't
think the worst of the victims and start TRUSTING that they will "do unto
others" with exponential acts of kindness, in the memory of the American
people. This is healing the communities as well.
"objectives: (to provide fair, predictable and consistent compensation to
the victims of September 11 and their familiesâ?¦.." As a seriously wounded
survivor I have two simpler and obvious distinctions for any presumed award
for non-economic loss; those that were in the crash site and those that sat
safely on the bench. The experience is imponderable yet you blindly penalize
the survivors. I invite you to ponder how to stay the course and respect the
demonstrable risk of those survivors that crawled away from the plane's dead
bodies that rested in the burning/ collapsing conference room, with the
landing gear within sight. You don't need the physical wound to stick
fingers into (evidence), it is directly verifiable to the plane's destructive
path though Wedge 1 of the Pentagon and surviving witnesses. There may be
comparable places at the World Trade Center. Don't short change those few
surviving souls, trapped in a collapsing inferno building, from a presumed
award that will help them discreetly find their own private resolutions for
their families, sanity, support networks and jobs to "provide them with a
strong economic foundation from which to rebuild their lives". Being the
head of household and sole provider for my family, it is a challenge to do my
part for my family. Some of the seriously wounded believe it would have been
easier it they didn't come out injured and had just died. I respect that the
OK City victims are still going through counseling and the government
continues to help buy-out their homes. Personal experience has proven that
Worker's Compensation and insurance will wear them down with "red tape"
requiring them to constantly prove their need for labor rejected
prescriptions and to relive the terrors of 11 Sep 01â?¦, while everyone else
sleeps.
"Advance Benefits in the case of severely injured individuals who required
hospitalization for one week or more." Why did you segregate "severely
injured individuals" under 7 days? Why weren't you consistent with severely
injured individuals supported by certified contemporaneous medical records?
Surely the hospitals weren't polled to single out the few severely injured
individuals that escaped from the hospital/media setting before 7 days?
"In evaluating claims of disability, the Special Master willâ?¦. make a
determination regarding whether the claimant is capable of performing his or
her usual profession in light of injuries"
With all due respect, these individuals will never perform up to their
"usual profession" or "usual daily activities" they are forever changed,
consider it "replacement services loss" for their families. Bless you Mr.
Feinberg and your staff, for admitting you don't understand military
retirements and that the tragic experience is imponderable. Stick to your
resolution for fairness, as you ponder the imponderable. Rest with the
dignity that the presumed award for non-economic loss is also appropriate for
survivors/victims witnessed in the destructive geographic path. Don't
fallback on a prejudiced, mortal, biased determination trying to quantify the
imponderable.
"CRIME VICTIM'S BILL OF RIGHTS "1. The right to be treated with fairness and
with respect for the victim's dignity and privacy" Please consider that your
display of names "List of Claimants" listed on your web site violates the
victim's privacy.
Respectfully,
Individual Comment
Washington, D.C.