Oppose Senate Bill 1125 Long Beach, CA

Subj: S.B. 1125, Compensation for asbestos related illnesses & my personal crusade

Greetings:

I have edited my poem and am sending it to Senator Diane Feinstein along with a letter expressing my disappointment with her vote in favor of S.B. 1125, which if passed would revoke all litigation rights of victims of asbestos disease and puts a price tag on their lives according to the extent of their illness, ie. worst case scenario being, mesothelioma, which is always fatal, a payment of $750,000, and the other end of the spectrum, asbestosis, which is usually not fatal but the victim suffers from respiratory distress and the usual related symptoms of lung disease, $40,000, to be paid out over a period of not more than 4 years but in the case of mesothelioma, average life expectancy, 3 - 6 months they will try to expedite payment, isn't that swell? Keep in mind that asbestos related disease can lie dormant for 20- 30 years or more and once this fund is depleted, which is made up of contributions from the corporations, etc. of asbestos products and manufacturing, then what happens?

Best regards,

Terri

NOT FAIR
...in memory of Ron

Middle aged, kids grown, divorced from his wife
He went north to God's country to start a new life
A little house near his children among the trees and clean air
When hit with the bad news he said, "It's not fair."

Why didn't they tell him is all he could ask
They said "there's no danger just wear this here mask"
They knew it would kill him but they didn't care
And all he kept saying was "It's just not fair."

How could they claim that they never knew?
Long passed were shipbuilders from world war ll.
Miners and weavers and even their wives
Were dying all over cut short were their lives.

X-rays of workers soon were revealed
Asbestosis, fibrosis, wounds never healed
The truth finally known when the doctors did say
They told us to lie or they'd have to pay.

When faced with disaster the big guns came out
They schemed and finagled, payola no doubt
New bankruptcy law was protection they found
And they continued in business, their fortunes abound.

It saddened him so when he had to leave
His peaceful existence for his children he grieved
With the help of his sister he was nursed back to health
But to spare her pain later he went somewhere else.

He sought comfort in a friend he'd known many years
He told her his story amidst the pain and the tears
Together they fought they searched and they prayed
His desire so strong his prognosis delayed.

So brave,she would think, hardly ever complained
he would hide, writhing, all alone with his pain
Frantically pushing the button in fear
Eight minutes to him was more like a year.

On the phone to his doctor she's calling his bluff
No backing down this time, enough is enough.
Why can't he have something better for pain?
Addiction, come on doc, what you're saying's insane

Too weak to walk he would sit in his chair
In the doorway he'd welcome each new breath of air
Head bowed to his chest as if pinned to his chin
He'd manage to look up and eke out a grin.

He beat all the odds for two years he did last
The six months he was given had already passed
He amazed all the doctors, "Why didn't he die?"
Then he'd wink with a smile, he fought, that's why.

"Not fair" he would mumble as his time grew more near
Over and over again in her ear
His last words "Not fair cause they knew but they lied"
And "Not fair" was all she could say when he died.

He asked her to promise that one thing she would do
Was to reach out to others who had been exposed, too
He said, "Tell my story, the fight must go on."
So she's written it here, as a "TRIBUTE TO RON.'

©T. Blattner 2001

Note: Ron worked for Johns-Manville in the 70's, manufacturing the pipes that supply our drinking water, yes you heard it right, cement and asbestos. By the way these pipes have an average life of 40 years at which time they can corrode and break apart. Ron was 53 when he died.

Note: Mrs. Blattner is not represented by RGW, PC.

• Click here for more letters from asbestos cancer survivors taking action against inhumane asbestos trust/bail out bill (SB 1125)

*** POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 2, 2004 ***