Two memorials will be built and a scholarship fund will be established under a plan Metro’s board of directors approved Thursday to honor employees killed in the line of duty.
The memorials and scholarship fund were proposed several months ago, well before two track inspectors were struck and killed by a Yellow Line train last month, the third and fourth Metro employees killed on the job since October 2005. Overall, 15 Metro employees have died on the job in the rail transit operation’s 30-year history.
Metro’s board authorized spending $100,000 to set up the scholarship fund, which will benefit the children of the deceased employees. Metro will also set up a way for the public to donate to the fund. Scholarship payments will be limited to $5,000 per child per year.
“I am very proud we will be able to help the children of these employees who have died in the line of duty with their education,” said Gladys Mack, chair of Metro’s board.
Metro will spend another $50,000 to build two memorials to the fallen workers. The money for the scholarship fund and the memorials comes from last year’s budget surplus.
One of the memorials will be built at Metro’s Carmen Turner Maintenance and Training Facility in Landover.
“It is important that the new employees being trained will walk by this memorial and remember those who came before them and gave their life in the line of duty,” said Gordon Linton, a board member from Maryland.
The second memorial is slated for either a Metro transfer station, such as Metro Center or Rosslyn, or the Jackson Graham building, which houses Metro’s headquarters. The memorials will include the names of the employees, the dates of their deaths and the dates of their Metro service.
