Chuck Odom spent 30 years as a snowplow operator on Nebraska highways. Now he says he is working to clear his name after being fired for doing what he believed was a good deed.

While Odom says he was just trying to help someone in need during the March blizzard, his bosses claim there's more to the story than what we've been told.

Odom tells us, "I'm going to clear my name from what they said I did."

The state offered nine pages filled with 13 reasons why Chuck Odom has been fired as a department of roads foreman but he sees just one reason why he should get his job back.

"That was, my intention to be the Good Samaritan, to help somebody out."

After the blizzard, heart patient Bob Howard couldn't get out of his driveway on Highway 36 to get to a doctor's appointment so his wife called Odom, an acquaintance, and said her husband was experiencing chest discomfort but not enough to warrant a 911 call.

Odom says he considered it an emergency and attempted to clear the driveway but didn't tell his boss.

Chuck Odom says, "I didn't do this for anything other than to try and help some people out, not trying to do a favor. I wouldn't risk my job, 30 years worth, for something like this."

The termination letter implies that Odom shouldn't have acted without getting permission from a boss and that he put the state in a liability risk by getting two plows stuck on private property, calling in a third, and then bringing a loader to free them from the drifts in a private driveway.

The district engineer, Tim Weander, says he can only comment on policy.

He says, "The key is, if you're unsure about any activity, get higher authority approval. That's an easy phone call, that's an easy radio call to get that."

Another reason for termination was talking to Channel 6 reporter Mike McKnight.

Odom made a comment during the internal investigation about trying to do a good deed and he says, "Their contention was I couldn't talk to anybody, trying to destroy my first amendment rights."

The district engineer explains that employees are instructed not to comment during an internal investigation in order to make sure the facts are not distorted.

After losing his job, Odom can speak freely and he says his firing will have a chilling effect on other state workers.

He says, "From now on, when they're out in a snowstorm and somebody's stuck off the road, they're not going to stop to help them because they're going to be afraid for their jobs."

Odom plans to file a grievance and has hired an attorney for a possible lawsuit against the state. The 48-year-old says he's about seven years from retirement and also wants his job back for health coverage. His wife works part-time and they have five children, two of whom are in college.