The Silent Ensemble Cast
What followed was exquisitely choreographed. Mr. Raetz promptly strode down the middle aisle to the speaker’s podium as soon as he was called. Arriving at the microphone, he was instantly surrounded by seven or eight brawny union members. Except for one officer in uniform, you never would have known they were cops. In tee-shirts and jeans, the imposingly burly young men looked as if they had just jogged in from Muscle Beach. Only Mr. Raetz had a speaking part. The supporting cast was, however, far more than decorous. Without preamble or epilogue, Mr. Raetz did his job. He leaned into the mike and read the following one-paragraph email, dated Tuesday, July 25.
The Message
“Dear Jim Raetz — I retired in 1978 on a broken back. Since then, I have had another broken back. And now I am fighting osteoporosis, which causes more breaks in the spine. Also at this time, I am having surgery for a possibly cancerous tumor in my pancreas. When I retired at 50 percent ax-free, I was paid $654 a month. Now, after all these years, I am making only $1834 a month. This makes my house, car and insurance payments for my home. If I lose 5 percent of my pay, I won’t make it. The 2 percent COLA has taken me to just above poverty. I do get Social Security disability, which amounts to $723. That just makes the food and co-payments on my meds. This coming surgery is at a special hospital 300 miles from home. Now making those trips is hurting my food budget due to gas. Because my daughter is out of college, I am single and therefore make too much for any kind of assistance. Yet I will be paying my daughter’s student loans for most of the rest of my life, should I live to 70. At the time of retirement, they did not include any additional pay, like overtime, clothing, shooting pay, etc. It was the base pay for the last three years, averaged out. I retired early, but I have paid all my life. I broke my neck, T-spine and now need a new knee as well as the coming surgery. And just to add some fun in there, I had a melanoma removed three months ago. When I was in, we didn’t even have a Police Officers Assn. You don’t know how much I appreciate your efforts in our behalf. Please let the city know. I am not the only one that retired in those violent years. Cantell, Jourbet, Cagle, Harrington and others all retired during those days, and others just shortly after, like Erickson, Owen Schmidt and others. My pay raises are in the neighborhood of $30 to $40 a year now, but for many years we had no raise at all. At one time, a percentage of the profits gained by PERS, over a certain amount, was paid to us to catch up. That lasted for two years in the early ‘80s. Then the state borrowed money from PERS and never paid it back, ending those payments. As you can see, I need my medical badly. However, any additional loss of income would come close to putting me on the streets. I live in Florida, and I cannot afford normal homeowner insurance. So if I should get hit by a hurricane or sustain roof damage, they will only pay for the face value at the time it was built. That would not allow me to even rent. And yet, the federal government says I make too much money for any aid. You can give my numbers to the city and see if they could work out a plan to live on that income. Thanks. John R. Weaver, CCPD Ret. #254. Date of Retirement, 5/28/78.”
