[real-eyes] Re: Fw: did you hear about this?
- From: "Brandie Young" <deaftaz@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 15:59:47 -0500
hmm are we getting or won't get BP?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrea Breier" <abreier@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 12:04 PM
Subject: [real-eyes] Fw: did you hear about this?
>F Y I
> Hugs, Andrea M Breier
>
> Remember: If you see someone without a smile today give them one of yours!
> Live simply. Love seriously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to
> God
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 9:45 AM
> Subject: did you hear about this?
>
>
> From today's Kansas City Star:
>
>
> Posted on Fri, Apr. 02, 2010
> Judge awards $30 million to blind Missourians
> By JIM SALTER
> The Associated Press
> ST. LOUIS | Missouri owes $30 million to 3,300 blind residents to make up
> for years of shortchanging payments to them through the Blind Pension
> Fund, a judge has ruled.
>
> Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce determined the Missouri Department of
> Social Services miscalculated benefits dating to 1992. She awarded nearly
> $19 million in unpaid benefits and more than $11 million in interest.
>
> It wasn't clear Friday whether the state would appeal Thursday's decision.
> A Social Services spokesman referred questions to the Missouri Attorney
> General's office. A spokeswoman for the attorney general did not return
> messages seeking comment.
>
> Pensioners were underpaid for more than a decade, said attorney Deborah
> Greider, who filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of the St.
> Louis-based Missouri Council of the Blind and seven blind Missourians.
> After the lawsuit was filed about five years ago, Missouri recalculated
> the pension and now pays a fair amount, she said.
>
> The average blind pensioner now receives about $651 a month from the
> state, and for many, that is their only income.
>
> "Most of these people are poor and unemployed, many are elderly," Greider
> said. She recalled testimony from one blind woman who was asked what an
> additional $40 a month would mean to her.
>
> "She said, 'I could feed my guide dog better, I could get a pizza once in
> a while,'" Greider said. "It was really heartbreaking."
>
> Denny Huff, president of the Missouri Council of the Blind, said the state
> shorted people who were already on tight budgets.
>
> "To be denied even a percentage of what they should have been receiving
> may not seem like much to some people," he said, "but for a lot of
> recipients, it affected them a great deal."
>
> The Missouri Constitution has required the General Assembly since 1875 to
> levy an annual property tax to fund the Blind Pension Fund. But starting
> in 1992, the state began using some of the money for other expenses,
> Greider said.
>
> For example, some of the money goes to rehabilitation services for the
> blind. But Greider said the pensions should be fully funded first, with
> leftover money going for rehab services.
>
> The Missouri Court of Appeals agreed in a January 2009 ruling and sent the
> case to Cole County to determine the amount of back benefits owed to
> pensioners.
>
>
> --
> Laura Gayle
> aka knittingayle@xxxxxxxxx
> aka lauragayle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> aka laura.gayle.green@xxxxxxxxx
> http://lauragayle.com
>
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>
>
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