Dying Officer Again
Turned Down
on Benefits for
Companion
 |
|
Joseph J. Delconzo for The New York Times
Ocean
County freeholders in Toms River, N.J., watched Lt. Laurel Hester
ask them to allow county employees to pass their pension benefits to
domestic partners. The freeholders refused to consider the matter,
over the objections of many in the audience. Friends of Lieutenant
Hester say she has only weeks to live. |
By DAMIEN CAVE,
NYTimes on the Web, January 19, 2006
TOMS RIVER, N.J., Jan. 18 --
Rejecting an emotional videotaped plea from a lesbian police lieutenant on the
verge of death, Ocean County's freeholders declined once again on Wednesday to
approve a resolution that would let county employees pass on their pension
benefits to domestic partners.
For more than a year, the freeholders have repeatedly refused to consider the
resolution, and their opposition has become increasingly controversial over the
past few months.
On Wednesday, it appeared likely that the lieutenant, Laurel Hester, a veteran
investigator in the county prosecutor's office, would die without seeing her
quest fulfilled. Friends said she probably had only a few weeks to live.
Perhaps as a result, the monthly meeting of the freeholders created an
atmosphere of electric urgency. Every seat in the wood-paneled room on
Hooper Street here was filled, mostly with Lieutenant Hester's supporters,
including clergymen, veterans and fellow officers. Over the course of two
hours, shouting matches over morality ruptured the civility common at county
meetings.
Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, a New Jersey gay rights
group, began the period of public comment by sarcastically thanking the
freeholders for advancing the cause of gay marriage by turning Lieutenant Hester
into a martyr. He then picked up a laptop computer and played the video of
what he said was likely her final plea for help.
All five freeholders sat silently as Lieutenant Hester, 49, appeared onscreen.
"I've been diagnosed with several brain tumors, hence the loss of hair," she
said. "In addition, it has spread elsewhere."
She explained that she wanted to extend her pension benefits to her domestic
partner, Stacie Andree, 30, a mechanic, so that she can afford to keep the house
in Point Pleasant that they bought several years ago. "All I'm asking for
is that you sign the resolution and that you make a change," Lieutenant Hester
said in the video, wheezing, "a change for good, a change for righteousness, and
a change in the lives of so many people that have dedicated themselves to county
government."
Ms. Andree did not attend the meeting, and was by Lieutenant Hester's bedside on
Wednesday night.
Gerry P. Little, one of the freeholders, said Lieutenant Hester "is in our
prayers and our thoughts." In response to critics, he and the other
freeholders laid out several reasons for their decision not to act on a state
law allowing local governments to grant benefits to their employees' domestic
partners. Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. said the cost would be too high.
Freeholder John P. Kelly, denying that Lieutenant Hester's sexual orientation
was an issue -- over shouts of derision from the audience -- said the domestic
partnership law was unfair because it did not let siblings or other relatives
not married to each other share benefits when they lived together. But
members of the crowd, holding signs declaring "Don't Let Laurel Hester Die Like
This," seemed to find the argument disingenuous; several people chanted, "You
have the power, you have the power."
"Six other counties have shown that you have the power to act," said George
Farrugia, president of the Gay Officers Action League, a law enforcement group.
"Your inaction is reprehensible."
Others said they were simply confused by the freeholders' stance. Lou
Spadaro, 75, a retired veteran, said it was a "no brainer" to let Ms. Andree
receive the benefits because she shared in the "highs and lows" of a loving
relationship.
The only person to speak in the freeholders' defense was, Jessica Murachanian,
an 18-year-old student at Toms River High School East, who said: "It's
unfair and outrageous to come up here and call these men uncaring. No one
knows these men."
|
