[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 17 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              A PRIVATE RELIEF BILL TO BENEFIT WADE BOMAR

                                 ______


                           HON. PAT WILLIAMS

                               of montana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 27, 1995
  Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Speaker, today I am reintroducing a private relief 
bill to award a $100,000 injury settlement to Mr. Wade Bomar.
  Mr. Speaker, in August 1989 the Pryor Gap fire was burning its way 
through a national forest in southeastern Montana. Among those battling 
the fire was an oil refinery worker from Billings named Wade Bomar. 
Married with three children, Bomar supplemented his income during the 
summer working as an emergency firefighter with the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs.
  On August 6, 1989, while struggling to slow the progress of the fire, 
a large tree fell on Mr. Bomar, severely damaging his back and pinning 
his legs under its weight. After several operations, it was apparent 
that the accident had left Mr. Bomar a paraplegic.
  It is truly ironic that while Mr. Bomar was fighting the Pryor Gap 
fire of 1989, Congress was debating the Public Safety Officers' 
Benefits Act [PSOBA]. This act awards benefits to firefighters and 
other public safety officers who are permanently disabled as a result 
of injuries sustained in the line of duty on or after November, 29, 
1990. Although Mr. Bomar and his family are exactly the kind of people 
that this act is intended to help, Mr. Bomar was injured in 1989 and 
therefore ineligible for benefits under the act.
  As a result of Mr. Bomar's injuries, and numerous operations, he has 
incurred tremendous and unpayable medical bills. And because of the 
violent nature of the accident, new medical problems continue to arise, 
calling for more surgery and more debt. Having exhausted all other 
administrative solutions, Wade and his family live day to day on Social 
Security disability payments, financially ruined and without hope.
  Mr. Speaker, I am introducing this bill today so that an exception 
might be made to help a man and his family who are very deserving of 
our help. It is the right thing to do.


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