PD Editorial: Giving back

<p>Meet Dennis R. Ferguson.</p><p>He's 74 years old, a retired computer programmer who lives in South Carolina. He's also a man who remembers those who help him.</p><p>Ferguson recently sent a $10,000 check to the state of California as repayment for unemployment benefits he collected 46 years ago.</p><p>“Anyone who is helped out when they are down ought to give something back, especially now that California has budget problems,” Ferguson wrote in a note enclosed with his check.</p><p>His check won't reduce the state's $25 billion budget deficit by an appreciable amount, but his expression of gratitude embodies the spirit of community. Moreover, Ferguson exemplifies the value of unemployment insurance, having used his benefits to develop new skills. </p><p>In 1964, Ferguson was working as an aerospace engineer. When he was laid off from his job at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, he decided to pursue a new career. While living in a $25-a-week hotel, he enrolled in a technical school for a course in computer programming, sharing a single computer with 10 other students. Along the way, he collected unemployment benefits for about four months.</p><p>“This allowed me to have a great career, and I've been ever thankful,” Ferguson said in the note that accompanied his Nov. 23 check.</p><p>Officials at the state Employment Development Department estimate that Ferguson would have received about $1,100 in unemployment benefits before starting a new job with a Southern California savings-and-loan. Eventually, he got a better job with Honeywell and moved to the East Coast.</p><p>To show his appreciation, he wanted to reimburse the state for his benefits with interest and decided that $10,000 was “a nice round figure.” Ferguson's check had a notation: “Repayment for what Calif. did for me!”</p><p>The check found its way to the office of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer. Since it didn't specify a recipient, Lockyer said state law requires that the money be spent on public schools. “It's appropriate this money will go to educate our kids,” he added, “because there's a lesson to be learned here about what it means to have a sense of shared sacrifice and commitment to the common good.”</p><p>As part of the tax bill signed last week by President Barack Obama, unemployment benefits soon will be restored for thousands of people across the nation who have been without work for two years or more. Perhaps, years from now, one of the beneficiaries will repeat Dennis Ferguson's act of goodwill.</p>