THE CHIEF-LEADER welcomes letters from its readers for publication.
Correspondents must include their names, addresses and
phone numbers. Letters should be submitted with the understanding
that all correspondence is subject to the editorial judgment of this
newspaper. Letters can be e-mailed to: RSTEIER@RCN.COM or
mailed to: Richard Steier, Editor, 277 Broadway, Suite 1506, NY, NY
10007.

Honor FDNY Post-9/11 Dead

To the Editor:

I applaud the leadership of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly in honoring and respecting the memories of his officers who died as a result of illnesses they developed due to their heroic work at the World Trade Center site post-9/11. I wish the leadership of the FDNY had the same style and courage.

I am even more surprised that the Mayor who attended the memorial event as your Oct. 24 issue described (''8 Victims of 9/11 Illnesses Placed on NYPD Memorial'') has not stepped up to the plate and suggested to FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta that he do the same. I guess the city does not feel honoring the memories of our fallen firefighters, EMTs and paramedics is worthy, and without conscience allows this disparity in recognition to continue. I find this appalling and cannot imagine why on earth the NYPD can honor its officers and even its Auxiliary police officers who are not employed by the city, and we, bona fide civil servants in the uniformed services, are kicked to the curb by our own agency and ignored by the Mayor.

All of those who went to Ground Zero performed the same horrific work side by side under such horrible circumstances. The city has blood on its hands not just for the handling of these workers' pension and Workers' Compensation cases, but for failing to honor their work after all their dedication to the uniform and the people of this city they took an oath to protect. I guess when we were hired, we should have had the city take an oath too, one that would promise to provide us with the necessary equipment to safely perform our duties, and when we succumbed in the line of duty, to promise our families that it would be there.

It is all too easy for some city official or the Mayor to show up at a funeral and say kind words. But when they leave, the heartache the family endures when there is no benefit or honor lives on. They question why the city abandoned them.

EMT Steven Hess asks this every day. Ground Zero took his health. For five years he unsuccessfully fought for his disability pension. The FDNY terminated him because he was sick and disabled from 9/11. They originally refused him access to the WTC program. NYCERS repeatedly refused him a pension and refuses to allow him to re-file. He is left with nothing. Is this how we honor our workers? Why?

I applaud the leadership of Commissioner Kelly, and hope that one day, Commissioner Scoppetta will take a page from this real leader's book and learn what true leadership is. Scoppetta can learn from the messages this pioneer sent to his rank and file when Kelly made the honorable decision to recognize his officers' sacrifice.

The FDNY must learn that sometimes simple recognition that a member of the service was a valued member and will be missed is worth more than money. The FDNY has the power to make this recognition, and yet, they fail to do so with lame excuses wrapped in "tradition." If that was the case, on 9/11 we could have said we traditionally never responded to fiery towering infernos that collapse, so maybe we should not advance or return day after day. But that is just not our way. We stepped up; now it is time for the FDNY to do the same. If not, maybe Commissioner Kelly will choose to remember our fallen, since our own agency refuses to.

MARIANNE PIZZITOLA