BY LISA DONOVAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Linda Pope wants Cincinnati City Council to make a promise to every city employee: The city will pay funeral expenses for any worker killed in the line of duty.
Mrs. Pope is expected to receive such a payment today, 10 months after, she said, city officials promised to pay expenses for her husband's funeral. Police Officer Daniel Pope and Spc. Ronald Jeter were shot to death in December.
Mrs. Pope will give her share of the $20,000 to local charities, but she continues to work toward a larger goal.
"The thing that I want to come out of this is that when the next widow (or widower) walks down this road, that he doesn't have to, or that she doesn't have to, go through what I went through."
Mrs. Pope wants council to adopt an ordinance saying that any city employee killed in the line of duty will have funeral expenses paid.
Councilman Todd Portune has introduced such an ordinance. "I think if we're at all serious about this being a city family and that city employees are part of that family, the very least we should do . . . is pay for funeral expenses of any employee killed in the line of duty," Mr. Portune said Tuesday.
A majority of council is poised to reimburse Mrs. Pope and the family of Spc. Jeter today.
In the days after the slayings, Mrs. Pope said, city officials promised to pay for the funeral, and high-ranking police officials offered to pick up the travel tab of relatives.
She and Spc. Jeter's family have each received a lump sum payout of $200,000 -- including $20,000 from the city and $3,500 from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation specifically set aside for funeral costs.
The families are also entitled to annual payments. The initial one is $69,000.
