PAUL NOWELL
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- The relatives of some firefighters who died at the World Trade Center are unhappy with the way a union plans to distribute $60 million in donations collected after Sept. 11, their lawyer said.
The Uniformed Firefighters Association has proposed investing the entire amount and then providing payments to the families of all firefighters killed in the line of duty, not just those who died on Sept. 11, said Randy Mastro, who represents about 70 firefighters' families.
The distributions would include a $20,000 initial payment per family and $3,000 every year for each spouse and child, with a final lump sum payment of $50,000 when each child reached the age of 24.
The plan would not give money to the families of single, childless firefighters who died in the terrorist attacks, Mastro said. The department lost 343 firefighters at the trade center.
In a letter to state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office dated Wednesday, Mastro requested that the office investigate and ``if necessary, bring suit'' against the union.
Mastro said the union's plan ``ignores the obvious donor intent that these monies go to help the families of Sept. 11 victims, regardless of the hero firefighter's marital status.''
Mastro argued that the plan ``has the union retaining these vast sums, rather than distributing them to the families for whom they were intended.''
The firefighters association issued a statement Wednesday saying the plan has not been made final, and that the union also asked Spitzer's office to intervene and settle the argument ``in order to avoid litigation and unnecessary acrimony,'' the Daily News reported Thursday.
Juanita Scarlett, a spokeswoman for Spitzer, told the News that the office was reviewing the request for an investigation.
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