By Todd South
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
WALKER COUNTY, Ga. — Kenny Little thought he’d dealt with enough tragedy when he had to bury his son a few months ago.
Walker County firefighter Jarrett Little died Dec. 31, 2008, when the firetruck he was driving rolled and hit a power pole while turning onto McFarland Avenue on the way to a fire.
Then Kenny Little got a letter saying that because his son was single and had no children, his surviving family would not receive any of the $100,000 indemnity benefit that covers nearly all safety workers in Georgia.
“You’re in another world. Your life gets turned upside down when this happens.” he said. “For some reason, they got together and changed the law and didn’t tell anybody.”
Legislators and firefighter representatives are looking for a way to fix the law passed in 2008 that actually expanded coverage to most police, firefighters, emergency workers, prison guards and highway workers and increased the benefit to the current amount.
But the bill’s language designated that benefits go only to dependents, defined as spouses or children.
Georgia Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, a former fire chief, co-sponsored the 2008 bill after firefighter associations pushed for the intended changes.
He has spoken with the Little family, local fire chiefs and heads of both the Georgia State Firefighters Association and the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs about the problem.
“It’s terrible that it takes a tragedy to find some things that were previously missed in laws,” Sen. Mullis said.
Georgia Rep. Jay Neal, R-LaFayette, said it’s unlikely that much can be changed until the Legislature reconvenes in January.
“That was absolutely never the intention of anybody to make (the law) that way,” Rep. Neal said. “We obviously have to get it fixed.”
He and Sen. Mullis said they would work to compensate the Little family and any other safety employees who could be affected between now and the law change.
Several local firefighters and chiefs said they were unaware that the law excluded single safety workers until the Littles’ situation arose.
“I was fully under the impression that Jarrett’s family would receive this money,” said Walker County Fire Chief Randy Camp, Jarrett Little’s former boss.
Chief Camp said the law’s wording affects all public safety workers covered in the statute.
“I was really shocked when they denied (the benefits),” he said.
Copyright 2009 Chattanooga Publishing Company