9/98 Dispatch

April 2000

In our last newsletter, I had advertised that Roy Innis from C.O.R.E. would be our guest speaker, the Friday before the meeting I received a phone call from Mr. Innis' office informing me he had just returned to the country and had come down with the flu and wanted to reschedule his appearance. As luck would have it, we were able to contact Paul Ragonese, retired NYPD and Chief of Woodstock PD and TV host, to fill in. Paul kept us all entertained and I would really like to thank him publicly for taking the time out of his busy schedule with very little notice to fill in as our guest speaker.

    I had also said in the last newsletter that I had sent a response to the Times Herald Record about the editorial about cops should be considered expendable. I have tried a lot of different ways to contact the writer of that letter but to no avail. When I was talking to Paul Ragonese, Paul stated that he was friends with the writer Ken Cooper. I called Ken and told him how the letter was received down in Orange County, and Ken said he wanted to speak to our members, and I think he did a good job clearing the air, since the cover letter was not included in the original editorial. We were the first public gathering that Ken had talked to about that letter and I think he settled the matter. I guess now we have to cancel the contract on him (Tonya Harding was going after his kneecaps).

    The first St. Patty's Day Dinner was successful, thanks to Sean Franklin, Frank Cush, Larry Bennet and yours truly, who all helped cook. A check of local hospitals showed no outbreak of food poisoning.   The Board is planning another such dinner in a few months for a variety in our dinner selections, as well as a barbecue this summer. We will probably be doing a Columbus Day spaghetti dinner (kind of hard to start a kitchen fire with spaghetti).

    If any members have any ideas for meetings, please let us know.

    For the April meeting we have lined up two very special speakers. First is hero cop Det. Steve McDonald, critically injured 14 years ago, and Pat Bodnar, wife of one of the Memorial Wall honorees who was killed defending his family. The meeting will be April 10th at the American Legion.

    Lastly, please keep in your thoughts and prayers the family of PO William O'Brien 30th Pct NYPD of Monroe, who died by his own hand last week. The Lodge is presently looking into things to assist our members and their families to help prevent this from occurring again. To briefly borrow the motto of the New York Shields, "Cops for Cops".

    Remember, stay safe, and wear your vests.
Tom

Vests

Every month the President's Column ends with stay safe and wear your vests. To that end, there are police officers around the world who do not have access to vests. Member Bill Lomelli, Ramapo PD (ret) is going to England at the end of March with vests for the cops over there, donated by Lodge 957. Regardless of politics, cops are cops no matter where you go, and it's only right to help out your own. We will have more upon Bill's return in the next issue.

E -Mail

We are always trying to update our e-mail files, the importance of which was recently demonstrated by the e-mailing of PO O'Brien's funeral arrangements. E-mail is the quickest way for the Lodge to contact our members with timely and important messages. Your e-mail will only be used for internal use and not given to other agencies or groups. We have sent out funeral announcements, police product recalls and safety recalls on firearms, so keep this in mind when you wonder should I submit my e-mail. You can submit it at a meeting, over the Hot Line number PO Box or to Cartonus@frontiernet.net.

April Meeting

Will be held on Monday April 10 at the American Legion Post 488 Lakes Road Monroe. Guest Speakers will be Hero Cop, Det Steven McDonald and Police Survivor Pat Bodnar. Doors open at 8:00 PM.

Memorial Wall Biography

    PO Alexander Bodnar, NYC Transit Police (ret)

    In the early morning hours of August 3, 1990, Alex Bodnar, 49, of Blooming Grove, Orange County, and his wife were asleep when Ronald Cummings broke into their house. Cummings, high on alcohol and crack, was apparently unaware that Alex was there, and was holding a knife above Alex's wife and was slicing her pajamas while threatening to kill her. When Cummings cut his hand, Alex's wife awakened Alex. Cummings then demanded money from Alex while still holding the knife to his wife's chest. Alex tossed a can containing some money to Cummings and was stabbed in the chest causing him to roll out of bed onto the floor. Then, with Alex watching, Cummings attempted twice to rape his wife. Alex, a retired police officer who had survived 22 years of duty in Harlem, crawled to the bathroom to retrieve his revolver. Cummings let go of his wife and went after Alex stabbing him five more times, but not before PO Bodnar was able to shoot and kill Cummings.

    PO Bodnar succumbed to his wounds received defending his wife, and died as he had lived, a Police Officer.

Get Well:

To Ginny Hennessey 19th Pct NYPD recovering from surgery
To Joey Andujar, 23 Pct NYPD recovering from broken ribs wrestling with a perp for a gun.

Congratulations

Pete and Maria Guastamacchia on the birth of their daughter in March

To all the NYPD sergeants who made the Lts list, Sergeants list is due out soon.

New Members

Hank Sullivan        NYPD ret
Peter Rogers         NYPD OCCB
William Lynch       NYPD 19th Pct
Kenneth Sartare    NYPD Bklyn DAO
Ed Bradley            NYPD ret
Thomas Viserta      OC Sheriff's Office
Jorge Martinez        NYDOC
Alex Melchiorre      Monroe PD
John W. Klahn        Associate

Special Thanks

This newsletter is being put together the same week that our editor, Efrain Oyola is planning his wedding to Nilda and is taking the time out from all the hectic arrangements to put together our newsletter. This is actually their 15th Wedding Anniversary but they are having the wedding they have always wanted, on April 1st. Thanks again Efrain and Nilda.

Spring time

The Lodge is planning a day of VIN and Bike Etching in May. We will coordinate this with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to etch the bikes of any child in Orange County as well as VIN etching for the insurance discount for anyone in Orange County.

Again, this is your newsletter, whatever you would like to see printed please submit it. we will print anything from the members, pro or con. We will not practice censorship, just correct for spelling. We want to make this a newsletter that the readers, our members, look forward to.