University Daily Kansan, September 28, 1983
Page 7
Former employees of railroad not happy with their benefits
By United Press International
DES MOINES, Iowa — Former employees of the bankrupt Rock Island Railroad, who were told that they will begin receiving some federal benefits later this year, yesterday called the government payments "table scraps."
Sen. Roger Jepsen, R. Iowa, said the benefits were being allocated from the Department of Transportation Appropriations bill and will be available after Oct. 1 — three years after the railroad's demise.
Dwight Diltz, chairman of the Iowa Federation of Former Rock Island Employees, said the benefits were quite small, especially when compared with offers made to employees of other bankrupt railroads.
"It's supposed to be severance pay to kind of help a person out and take care of the immediate bills and tide you over until you get a job," he said. "Right at the present time, all we're getting is table scraps."
DILTZ SAID CONGRESS originally approved $75 million in benefits for the Rock Island employees in 1980, which would have been about equal to the
benefits offered to employees of the bankrupt Miluakee Road,
He said the Milwaukee employees had the option of taking part in an employee stock-owned plan, taking incentive compensation of 80 percent of average monthly straight-time earnings for 3 years, or severance pay of $2,000 for each year of service up to a maximum of $2,500.
But the U.S. Supreme Court declared the original $75 million allocation unconstitutional. Congress then came to an agreement on appropriation of $35 million this year.
"The to best of my figures, the most anybody is going to get is a maximum of $5,000 to $6,000 and very few are going to that," Diltz said. "Most of them are going to get a maximum of $500 to $1,000.
"You divide 8,000 (Rock Island apples) and it just comes to go far更易."
JEPSEN SAID APPLICATIONS for the benefits would be mailed to all former Rock Island employees for whom addresses are available on the Railroad Retirement Board's unemployment insurance records.
be able to obtain applications at any board office after 10. 15. the deadline for such an application.
The Rock Island employees also will
Processing of the benefits application is expected to require 90 to 120 days from the date of its receipt at the board. Processing of the benefits expected to be made in December 1983.
Despite the small benefits, Dillt said the Rock Island employees are not given the same benefit.
"We're going to still try to get some kind of compensation or get something done about the public law that requires that we be hired first," he said. "A lot of railroads are not responding to this law."
"We're not going to give up. They
been trying very hard already.
They've not heard the last of us."
THE IOWA FEDERATION has called for a federal investigation into the railroad's bankruptcy. Iowa congressmen have been given petitions signed by about 1,600 citizens, but so far no evidence has been found in mounting an investigation. Diltz said.
The Rock Island, once the nation's 12th largest railroad with 7,025 miles of track in 13 states, went bankrupt in 1975.
About 400 cyclists are expected to ride down Massachusetts Street with a police escort Sunday morning to kick off an 80-mile bicycle tour sponsored by the Mount Oread Bicycle Club.
Rent it. Call the Kansan. Call 864-4358.
By the Kansan Staff
The bicycle tour is a highlight of Octoginta '83, a weekend extravaganza for bicycling enthusiasts of all ability levels.
Bicycle activities begin at 9 p.m.
Friday with a free 13-mile moonlight ride to Lakeview, northwest of Lawrence.
Bicycle club plans weekend events
12-mile time trial Saturday morning, in Sibleyville, near Baldwin, or a 32-mile ride to Lone Star Lake. Both events begin at 10 a.m.
Riders may either participate in a
Other activities scheduled for Saturday include a 3:30 p.m. matinee and a 7 p.m. showing of the film "A Sunday in Hell" in Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union. The film documents a grueling 270-kilometer race in northern France.
The main event of the weekend, an 80-mile tour to Lake Perry, begins at
THEER WILL also be a slide show of the event Biking Across Kansas '83 at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Kansas Room of the Union.
8 a.m. Sunday at the gazebo in South Park. Lunch and rest stops will be provided at various places on the route, which winds its way to the lake and back to Lawrence. Cars and vans will trail the riders to help people who tire or who have bike trouble before finishing the ride.
A post-tour party in South Park featuring the Eddie Zavodnik Polk Band is planned from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Entry forms for the events are available at the Student Union Activities office. Entry forms for all the riding events, and fees for the time trial or Sunday's Octoginta tour, should be turned in to SUA by Friday.
Robbery likely motive in killings, ranger says
KILGORE, Texas — A Texas Rangers said yesterday that robbery was likely the primary motive in a raid on a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, and that the decision to abduct and kill five people was made at the scene.
at least one of the employees," Elliott said.
Ranger Glenn Elliott, participating in the two-county investigation, said the killers might have known that $2,000 from the restaurant's till last Friday night.
'My gut feeling, and this is pure speculation, is that these people knew
"They definitely wanted to do away with the witnesses. Well, if you kill the witness, you don't go to the penitentiary. There seems no question about it — there was no premeditation (of murder)."
"My personal observation and speculation is that they might have had some information that the employees had not made a deposit (of receipts)." Mr. Cronin said of the situation. "Someone might have been going in and out and observing the place."
THE KILLERS ROBBED the restaurant at about closing time Friday night, took four employees and a visitor to a remote dirt road 10 miles south of town in New York. The group were found Saturday, with three men and a woman lying together and a
second woman lying 40 feet away,
indicating she had run.
At the restaurant chain's headquarters in Louisville, KY, spokesman Greg Reynolds said $2,000 was more than would ordinarily be kept.
"Normally the employees are required to deposit the receipts in the bank."
REGISTER TO WIN!
1984 CAMARO
THE CASTLE TEA ROOM
phone: 843-1151