Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Tuesday, November 06, 2001 3:44 PM September 11th funds With regards to your request for comments, I respectfully submit the following: All claims for benefits should follow the traditional line of survivorship; i.e., spouse, children, etc. and only if their well-being, care or income has been directly effected by the tragedy. If parents or brothers and sisters were being supported by a victim due to their age or incapacity, they also would be included. On the other hand two persons who lived together and both worked to maintain an apartment or residence would therefore not be entitled to benefits as the single person is still perfectly capable of earning a living. The only exception, in any case is that all funeral expenses should be covered in the sum of $15,000. This sum should adequately provide for all expenses including a church donation and flowers if so desired . The sum of $15,000. should be given directly to the next of kin, be it spouse, child, brother, sister or parent. If there is no relative, funeral claims should be addressed to the administrator of the fund by the funeral home providing such services. I feel it is a horrifying concept to put a specific dollar value on the life of an individual but solely in the interest of disbursing the funds which have been allocated for this endeavor, please consider: a) Precise calculation of the yearly income also including health benefits generated by the victim at the time of the tragedy. Multiply by the amount of years that person would have worked (retirement age) including a yearly cost of living increase comparable to the cost of living increase that was common to the date prior to September 11th. Amortize until the Social Security age of retirement according to his/her date of birth. This formula would be standard across the board. It might be prudent to consider a maximum yearly income in order to level out the differences in salary range as the employees at Windows on the World surely did not earn as much as those in the Investment business. A cap might be decided after all claims are considered. b) A additional college fund has already been initiated by Bill Clinton. The State of New Jersey has already offered free tuition to children or spouses of victims. This should be the rule in the home state of each victim's family. Additional funds should be held in escrow for children of the victims to cover additional expenses incurred in attending school in the total of perhaps $50,000. To give this money out up front would probably be a mistake in that the funds may be spent for purposes other that which they were intended especially in the case of infants and young children. This money should be applied for at the time the child enters school with little or no hassle. c) A payment of X-dollars should be awarded each dependent family to alleviate the anxiety and insecurity caused by the immediate loss of income and financial well being. This in no way should be considered a payoff benefit similar to insurance payouts given at the time of death. The purpose is to provide immediate assistance. It could be addressed as a Financial Burden payout. (This amount should be determined by the total sum of all claims however immediate disbursement of a sum of $10,000 may be appropriate until all claims are calculated) d) All attorneys should be instructed to handle claims and provide assistance to families without charge. e) Crisis counseling should also be provided at no cost to all families until such time that it is no longer needed. All funds collected on behalf of the victims families by the Red Cross, United Way, etc. etc should be distributed to the parties for which they were intended. None of these charities should be redirecting these monies to other projects. It was the intent of the public to donate this money to the families not to the organizations. Someone needs to address this issue before the funds disappear. As far as whether those who receive charity should get further assistance, I would propose that if the distribution is broken down into certain areas, such as funerals, education, immediate financial aid and salary, the answer to that question becomes clearer. For instance if a surviving child receives a full scholarship from the state in which he resides, he does not need the Federal government to pay for his education. If funeral expenses are being paid by the Firemen's fund, the family does not need the $15,000 funeral benefit from the Federal fund. The X- dollars Financial burden payout should be standard in any case as should the salary income loss benefit . As we approach Thanksgiving and the Christmas season, I think all concerned will suffer additionally due to the absence of their loved ones at holiday season. It is imperative these matters be at least partially settled by that time. If the U.S. government needs help in the disbursement of these funds, please ask. There are many of us that still want to help. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-06 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojW000125.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-11-06