November 1999
President's Message :
President's Message: November 1999

For those of you who attended the October meeting hopefully enjoyed your pizza flambe, and the answer to the age old question, how many cops does it take to put out a kitchen fire.  Needless to say, there is rarely a dull moment at an FOP meeting.

    October has been a busy meeting for our Lodge,  we had several members present for the Monroe Cheese Festival and the Woodbury Day Fair, and we had a stand set up and we fingerprinted over twelve hundred kids as part of our Child ID kit.  Every child regardless of their age, who stopped by our stands were fingerprinted and photographed, received a kidkut first aid kit, coloring books and crayons, all free, and all provided by our Lodge.  As we go to print, we are scheduled to attend the Orange and Rockland Utilities Safety Fair on the 23rd to fingerprint even more kids.  Unfortunately our VIN etching was rained out, but we had received numerous calls about it, and Larry Bennet and myself turned back several people at Smith Clove Park who had turned out to get their cars etched.  We are trying to reschedule this for a weekend in November.  We are looking towards December for the Driver Safety Course.  We will have more info on this as it developes.

    All these projects are planned to make the public more aware of who we are, plus we have picked up a few members doing this.  More importantly, we have made the public more aware of ouor Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial Wall, we received some small donations towards the Wall and a lot of public support in it, so as the time to get heavily into our fund raising, at least the people know what we are talking about.

    On October 23, a ceremony was held for Jason Conklin at the Memorial Site in Tuxedo Park.  We will have more about it in the next newsletter.

    October is the annual renewal month as required by the State Lodge, most members have paid up, but with this issue you will be getting a reminder about your dues, due to our size, we will be checking memberships at the door.  This is to insure that the members are getting the most for their dues.  We are working on several benefits for our members, from better cell phone contracts to discounted products here in Orange County.  Remember, this is your organization, tell us your wants, likes and dislikes, and we will try to improve our Lodge, but in order to do this, we need your feedback.

    As Thanksgiving approaches, the Board would like to wish all our members and their families a safe and healthy holiday.

    Remember, stay safe and wear your vest.

~Tom


VIN Etching Rescheduled
The Lodge will be offering free VIN etching on Sunday, Nov 14 from 10-4 at ther American legion Pavillion in the upper parking lot.
This is a free service to our members and Orange County, once completed, it will entitle the vehicle owner to up to a 10% discount on the comprehensive portion of their car insurance.  This is the rain date for the October attempt, and will be held on the 14th regardless of the weather.

Warning

 The Lodge has received e mail from several members stating that common anti-theft devices known as the Club have been fitted with a shotgun barrel that can be confused as a regular Club, but is in actuality a functioning shotgun.  We urge all members and all law enforcement personnel to be aware of this when approaching a vehicle on routine car stops.  If any member comes across one of these or other dangers to law enforcement, please let us know and we will pass it on to our members and other Lodges.

Congratulations
to Matt Markowitz and his wife on the birth of their daughter, Sarah Hope.  All are doing well.

        To Ralph and Karen Pena of PBMS on the Birth of their daughter(I have to get the name)  born on 9/9/99 weighing in at 7'14 oz at St Anthony's.  Thank GOD she looks like her Mom. 

Get well wishes
to Jason Leiterman 46 Pct Jason was hit by a car while on patrol.  Speedy recovery.

    Condolences
To the family of Chris Stewart on t he paaing of his father.  His father's passing at the age of 82 was eased by the fact that in the Hospital Ward he was cared for was staffed by personnel he helped free from the Phillipines during WW!!

    The family of Det Kevin McInerney NYPD HWY 1.  Any long term member of the SHIELDS know the McInerney Clan.  Det McInerney was well represented by both the FOP and the SHIELDS.  Special thanks go to the members of HWY 1, the FOP and the O.C.Shields for their attendance at the Funeral. Extra special thanks go to Maj Al. Martin, NYSP, Sheriff Frank Bigger, OC Sheriff's Office and Chief Dom Giudice, Monroe PD for their assistance in the escorts. 

Thanks
Thanks to John Hart on his help for the Orange County Family Safety Day.  John manned the FOP Booth by himself and did almost 100 kids.  Thanks John.
Radio
  The Lodge wll be on the following radio stations on Oct20th, WALL 1180, NY WGNY103.1 and quite possibly several other radio stations plugging the Lodge and their Memorial Wall.


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.