Foundation Offers Backup to Families of CHP Officers

Bob Weinberg never knew Steven Tull.

But when Tull, a California Highway Patrol officer in Westminster, was killed in a traffic accident in 1983, Weinberg gave $1,000 to help pay for emergency medical transportation of Tull’s wife, Judith, who suffered brain damage in the crash.

That gift to the Tull family was one of the first donations by the 11-99 Foundation, a nonprofit organization Weinberg founded in 1982 to financially assist families of injured or killed CHP officers. The 59-year-old president of Coast Grain Co. formed the group because, he said, there was no statewide organization of its kind.

The 11-99 Foundation borrows its name from CHP radio codes. In CHP parlance, 11-99 means “officer requires emergency help.” The 11-99 Foundation has helped a dozen families statewide, dispensing more than $80,000 so far.

Tales of Heroism

Weinberg, a portly man who revels in telling tales of CHP heroism, operates the 3-year-old foundation in his company’s Norwalk office. He is assisted by only two people: company vice president Ray Moline, who serves as the foundation’s treasurer, and a secretary. Weinberg is president.

Although the staff is small, the foundation has managed to enlist more than 300 members, who pay $200 a year in dues. They include Los Angeles Raiders Coach Tom Flores and actor Robert Pine, a former star of the television show “CHiPs” who acts as the fund-raising spokesman for 11-99. Most members are businessmen.

The families of CHP officers may face crippling financial difficulties in the days immediately after a death. Although the widows of officers receive hefty pensions--about $1,500 a month if the death is work-related and more if there are children--the money does not come in for several weeks.

“Sometimes widows are faced with tremendous medical bills, or they find out that the joint bank account they had with their husband has been frozen,” Weinberg said. “This is where we come in. The purpose of our program is to help the families get back on their feet. It’s not designed as any sort of permanent pension plan.”

Why would Weinberg, who has no direct affiliation with the CHP, devote so much time to such a cause?

‘Love’ for CHP

He is motivated, he said, purely by a desire to give something back to those who protect him and by what he calls his “love” for the CHP.

“Many years ago, I made friends with some CHP officers,” he said. “I came to like those guys. They do a heck of a job. It takes a lot of guts to pull over bad guys without any backup. I tell you, I wouldn’t have the courage to do it.”

Weinberg and his organization remain largely unknown to CHP officers.

On Feb. 24, 1983, CHP pilot Bob Carey, 46, of Barstow was killed in a freak helicopter crash. Within a week, the foundation handed Carey’s wife a check for $2,000.

“I didn’t even know about the organization,” said Sharon Carey Shroeder, the officer’s widow, who has since remarried. “I’m sure my husband had no idea what would happen to us if he died. You think things like that happen to other people. We weren’t prepared at all.

“If it hadn’t been for 11-99, I would have been forced to borrow money . . . or live without money for a week. What happens is that, within the first 24 hours, you realize you have no access to money. All you’ve got is what’s in your purse, and what you can lay your hands on before they close your account.”

College Scholarship Fund

In addition to providing money to families of injured or killed CHP officers, the foundation has established a college scholarship fund for children of slain officers.

Last October, Theresa Pence of Napa received the first scholarship awarded by the 11-99 Foundation, for $1,500. Pence, who will probably study journalism at California State University, Sacramento, was only 2 years old in April, 1970, when her father, James, was killed in a shoot-out in Newhall.

The foundation may also set up a scholarship fund for dependents of any CHP officer and for any high school student who states an intention to become a CHP officer.