Congressman told of family’s


VERONICA YANKOWSKI Congressman Rush Holt delivers an American flag to James Samuel during a visit to Samuel’s Jamesburg home on Friday.VERONICA YANKOWSKI Congressman Rush Holt delivers an American flag to James Samuel during a visit to Samuel’s Jamesburg home on Friday.

struggle since Sept. 11

By lynn K. Barra

Staff Writer

JAMESBURG — James Samuel has finally been able to put his son to rest, but he has yet to find peace.

"It’s one nightmare after another," Samuel said about his attempts to settle the estate of his 29-year-old son, James Jr., who was killed Sept. 11 in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

"Since Sept. 12, all it was for my wife and I were headaches," he said.

Samuel’s frustration over settling his son’s estate was still far from over last Friday, when U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12) visited his home to present the couple with an American flag that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol.

The flags are being distributed to victims’ families as part of the Terrorist Victims Flag Memorial Program, created by the 107th Congress to honor deceased and physically injured victims of Sept. 11.

"The flag is a recognition from the Congress of the United States of America of the loss you have experienced," Holt told Samuel. "Because your son was working where he was, he has become a symbol for America."

After discussing the significance behind the flag presentation, Holt patiently listened to Samuel, as he talked about the problems he has been experiencing over his son’s estate. Samuel also has a daughter, Jennifer Agresto, 26, who lives in Sayreville. Since he recently began to distribute flags to victims’ families, Holt was prepared for an emotional encounter. After listening to complaints about the organizations Samuel has had difficulty dealing with regarding his son’s estate, Holt asked him to talk about his son. Samuel paused for a few seconds, then began to cry.

Holt then spoke privately to Samuel for approximately 20 minutes, and later told him, "This is a very stressful period of time, personally and emotionally for all of us."

"It’s also been stressful because some of the problems that we’re called on to solve are very difficult," Holt said about his encounters with widows, widowers and other family members to whom he has presented flags.

Like so many thousands of other family members who lost loved ones at the World Trade Center, James Samuel tried to move on with his life after he learned his only son died while working on the 92nd floor of tower one. James Jr. was a commodities trader for Carr Futures.

Since Sept. 11, James Samuel’s nightmare, as he describes it, is the ongoing effort by both him and his wife to settle matters with his son’s estate. The couple has been trying to settle debts with credit card companies, cancel airline tickets for a vacation his son never took, gain access to his son’s bank accounts and deal with numerous other similar issues, Samuel said.

"We’re not responsible for any of his bills, but in the end we are, because it goes to the estate," Samuel said, adding that he is concerned that, after dealing with his son’s creditors for the past four months with little success, he and his wife may not receive any of their son’s assets.

The biggest problem facing the Samuel family is that, despite money that is available through charitable organizations such as the American Red Cross, the money is intended for the spouses of victims. According to Samuel, little or no money is available to the families of victims who were not married.

"There’s a lot of money out there, but you have to fight for it," Samuel said. The Red Cross, he said, gave him $250 for "travel expenses" after he and his wife went to Liberty State Park in October and on two other occasions to fill out forms at a Red Cross information center set up for the families of victims.

Samuel said he was told by Red Cross officials that, because his son was unmarried, the Red Cross could only give both him and his wife $250 for travel expenses, to get to and from Liberty State Park.

Samuel said he soon discovered that, while money for victims’ families was being donated to organizations such as the Red Cross, the money was intended for the spouses of those who died. Any other living relative was entitled to limited amounts, if any, according to Samuel.

According to the Red Cross’ emergency service director, David Carden, the charity organization has to review the situations of non-spousal survivors on a case-by-case basis before deciding how much money will be given to a particular family.

"We don’t differentiate if someone lost a spouse or a significant other. In the case of a father and a mother who lost a child, we’d have to sit with them and see what their needs are," Carden said.

Factors that go into the Red Cross’ decision on an amount of money are not based on the income of a deceased person or their families, but instead on the stated financial needs of the survivors, he said.

"It’s one situation where the spouse is lost and the family doesn’t have the income coming in, and the family needs to pay rent. Then, it’s another situation where a parent lost a son and there is no need for help with rent," Carden said.

As of this week, the Red Cross had given out $270 million to the families of victims of Sept. 11.

To date, Samuel said he has received approximately $2,900 from the Red Cross, which went to pay part of the rent on his son’s Hoboken condominium and the unit’s gas and electric bills.

Samuel believes the family deserves more — more funding for things such as his son’s $2,300 credit card bill. The Red Cross, he said, offered to pay $2,000. To get the full amount, he was told he would have to fill out more paperwork — something that has been consuming the family since October, when it received a letter from the Red Cross. In the letter, Samuel said, the Princeton office of the Red Cross offered to assist the family should it need money to hold a memorial service. Samuel decided to follow up on the offer.

"I called them and that’s when I completely flipped," Samuel said. "I went there and talked to them [in the Princeton office]. The woman I spoke to asked me if I filled out an application [for my son], and I told her I did. I was reading right off it. I had a copy. Then she asked me where I filled it out. I told her Liberty State Park. She then said to me, ‘That’s Liberty, we’re Princeton.’ Then I just lost it."

While Samuel continues his battle, he appeared in better spirits after speaking to the congressman.

"I just feel that I deserve as much help as anyone else," Samuel said. "I’m a survivor. My son isn’t here. We deserve it."