 
May 2000 |
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May 2000 |
President's Message :
May 2000
Police Memorial Services
The April meeting was a very moving meeting. We were lucky to have Det Steve McDonald, NYPD who was paralyzed 14 years ago by a young miscreant. Steve, who has every right to be bitter, impressed the members by his forgiveness and bright outlook on life, and during his speech he held the audience spellbound.
We also had as another guest speaker, Patricia Bodnar, (and new Lodge member), whose husband, Alex, a retired NYTPD PO and Memorial Wall honoree, spoke about her husband coming to her rescue as a perp broke into their house and attempted to rape her. Alex shot and killed the perp after the perp had stabbed him numerous times.
The two speakers during the time that they spoke, held the audience - there wasn't a sound to be heard and quite honestly there weren't too many dry eyes in the audience. Someone came up to me after the meeting and said that it seems that we like to have one tear-jerker meeting a year. While this is not the intention, it does make the public aware of what we do for a living and what we face and more importantly, what our families face.
This May 15th is Police Memorial Day, with ceremonies going on the entire week. While we had planned to have our Wall up and starting annual services to remember our fallen comrades, things did not turn out as we have planned. We are still talking to the County about the site for the Memorial, and once their legal problems are settled, we will be doing the groundbreaking for the Wall.
In keeping with Police Memorial Week, we are trying to get as many survivors of our Wall Honorees to attend the meeting May 8th to show that their loved ones' sacrifices have not been forgotten. Hopefully we will have a larger turnout to show our support for the family members who will attend.
As a whole let us try to remember Police Memorial Week in our own way, but to also show our support by wearing a blue ribbon during the week in honor of those who will no longer attend Roll Call.
And lastly, remember, stay safe and wear your vest.
Tom
On May 20, at 7 PM there will be a service and blessing of the colors at Sacred Heart Church in Monroe. This will be a non denominational service and will be attended by many departments. Please wear your dress uniforms. Lodge 957 will be there with their colors.
Repeal the City Waiver:
For the members of the NYPD, Lodge Member and NYS Assemblywoman, Nancy Calhoun is presently drafting a bill to abolish the City Waiver for all members of the NYPD NYDOC and FDNY, which will come out to a 4% raise for us, and a cost of about $60 million to the city. Nancy addressed the Shields in April but will not be available for our meeting, until June. The Lodge has gotten involved with Nancy on this and has been contacting various unions to help lobby for this Bill. The State Lodge has been notified and the wheels are in motion. We should have petitions at the meeting going into detail about this bill, and will keep the members informed about any changes. Members will be notified via e-mail with all changes and it will be updated in the newsletter.
Memorial Wall Biography:
Sp4 Derek M. Schultz, a 20 year old 2 year veteran of the Army, was on post at the Washington Gate at the United States Military Academy at West Point when on July 20,1987 at about 12:10 pm a bus lost control and struck the guard booth that Spc4 Schultz was stationed in.
Spc4 Schultz suffered severe head trauma and was rushed to St Luke's Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Derek was a native of California and only recently assigned to West Point at the time of his death.
NEW YORK STATE GRAND LODGE MEMORIAL SERVICES
The Empire State Lodge will be holding a memorial service on Thursday May 11 at 11:00 am. It will conducted outside the State Headquarters at 911 Police Plaza Hicksville, Long Island. Members of the Lodge will be attending and it is requested that members attend do so in dress uniform or business attire.
NYPD Highway Unit Video Enforcement:
The Lodge has received e-mails that the Highway unit will be in unmarked cars equipped with video cameras to tape aggressive drivers and speeders and other violations. We have printed the steps to take in a previous newsletter and just want to reiterate again the importance of remaining professional in your dealings, the Department heirarchy is working with the DA's on this one so exercise due care.
Remember our fellow officers and their families during this month, keep them and your families in your prayers
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.