By Jeff Maps
The Oregonian
PENDLETON, Ore. — In 2011, Oregon corrections officer Buddy Herron was stabbed to death near Pendleton when he stopped to help what he thought was a stranded motorist on the roadway.
On Friday, the Legislature’s budget committee will take up a bill that would provide a $1,541 payout from the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System to aid his family. Herron died just 10 days short of serving the five years needed to vest in the system, according to Mary Botkin, a lobbyist for Herron’s union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Botkin said the union had hoped to win a small monthly stipend for Herron’s family. But she said the best they could do was persuade legislators to go along with House Bill 3243, which gives Herron’s family the amount that had been paid into his account by his employer. Herron, 42, worked at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution and is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and by three sons and a daughter.
Full story: A PERS bill for a slain corrections officer: Oregon Legislature today