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Too many waiting too long
Former Clarksville Base employees need compensation.
Bobby Murphy is one of 442 people who have submitted claims with the government regarding illnesses linked to working at the Clarksville Base at Fort Campbell a half-century ago. He filed on behalf of his father in 2001 and has been turned down four times despite extensive documentation.
Murphy told The Leaf-Chronicle that many of the people his father worked with are already dead. "It seems they're just waiting for everyone to die."
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Officials with the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program say that claims approved for workers at the Clarksville Base amount to a total of close to $1.2 million. They preach patience. They say that nationwide, 133,000 claims have been filed.
But that provides little comfort to those who worked at the Clarksville Base — one of 13 nuclear facilities in the United States during the Cold War — got sick years later and want the EEOICP to recognize their claims now.
Others apparently think it would be a losing cause and haven't bothered to ever file.
Debbie Bratton, a researcher on the Clarksville Base, says that people should not give up. They would not have gotten even this far, if not for persistence.
We agree with Bratton. It's a battle worth fighting.
But the fact remains that the government shouldn't have made it this difficult for people who worked on behalf of their country to get the compensation that they deserved for ending up with compromised health.
Too many waiting too long
Former Clarksville Base employees need compensation.
Bobby Murphy is one of 442 people who have submitted claims with the government regarding illnesses linked to working at the Clarksville Base at Fort Campbell a half-century ago. He filed on behalf of his father in 2001 and has been turned down four times despite extensive documentation.
Murphy told The Leaf-Chronicle that many of the people his father worked with are already dead. "It seems they're just waiting for everyone to die."
ADVERTISEMENT
Officials with the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program say that claims approved for workers at the Clarksville Base amount to a total of close to $1.2 million. They preach patience. They say that nationwide, 133,000 claims have been filed.
But that provides little comfort to those who worked at the Clarksville Base — one of 13 nuclear facilities in the United States during the Cold War — got sick years later and want the EEOICP to recognize their claims now.
Others apparently think it would be a losing cause and haven't bothered to ever file.
Debbie Bratton, a researcher on the Clarksville Base, says that people should not give up. They would not have gotten even this far, if not for persistence.
We agree with Bratton. It's a battle worth fighting.
But the fact remains that the government shouldn't have made it this difficult for people who worked on behalf of their country to get the compensation that they deserved for ending up with compromised health.
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