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Greetings from New York and vicinity, an area which encompasses the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, Orange, Rockland, and Westchester in New York State and a large portion of New Jersey. Quite an area to watch over, which is one of the reasons our business agents never rest. They cover a lot of miles, make a lot of stops, and field non-stop phone calls, which brings me to my next item. In November, nominations were held for the position of business agent. Five candidates ran and the election was held on December 18th. At the end of the evening, Brother Ed Krull emerged the winner. Congratulations to Ed and continued success.
December was a fairly busy month for Local 1. The NEIEP mechanics exam was held on December 9th. We had so many qualifiers that we had to have two sittings, one AM and one PM. Over 110 people sat for the test. The passing ratio for recent program graduates was 80 percent. I will publish the exact figure in next month's issue. On Saturday evening, December 6th, the Christmas party was held in Carteret, New Jersey. Unfortunately for me, snow fell Friday the 5th into Saturday the 6th and I was unable to attend. I hear I missed a great time. God willing, I'll be there next year. Pictures of the party will be seen in next month's issue. A big thanks to the O'Neills for organizing the soiree. I also have some great photos sent to me by Jimmy Sheehan and Bobby Mitchell from the Regional Hoist job at Goldman-Sachs Tower in Jersey City, NJ (next issue).
I was shocked to read in the paper that Wal-Mart stores are China's eighth largest trading partner, purchasing 12 billion dollars worth of goods yearly, which in turn are purchased by us, the American public. 12 billion dollars to one chain store, we are moving towards disaster if we continue to import more than we export. (Fujitec's escalators at the Atlantic Terminal job were fabricated guess where? That's right - China). Check all of your tools and see where they were made. All of mine are made in the USA. I refuse to handle any Hadji tools. Always use a good American made tool, don't bet your life on junk.
We had the good fortune to host General President Dana Brigham, Assistant to the President James Chapman, and General Secretary-Treasurer Kevin Stringer at the November regular meeting. Brother Brigham administered the oath of office to newly elected President and Business Manager Raymond Hernandez and to Secretary-Treasurer Anthony Carrudo. Brother Brigham also donated $2000 to the Local 1 Pipe Band.
Brother Gary Reifenhauser was elected Recording Secretary. He ran unopposed. Congratulations Gary. Brother Reifenhauser is pictured below.
In November, Gary's uncle John Reiff passed away. John had 40 years in Local 1. We extend our sympathies to Joyce and Greg and the rest of the Reiff-Riefenhauser family.
$500 was donated to the Scholarship fund by the Otis crew and the operators at the AOL Time Warner job in memory of John Reiff. Brother Ron Paul donated $500 to the Scholarship fund. Local 1 thanks you for these generous gifts.
Brother Tom Moore's daughter was accepted to Harvard University, more on this story next month.
Thanks to Bobby and Dennis for getting me over the hump. Bobby and Joanie: good luck with your enterprise. Hello Newman! Vincent Towers has a knee operation scheduled for early March. Brother Stephen Hook was injured on the job in November, he suffered a concussion. Get well soon. Also on the sick and injured list is John Green Sr., we wish you a quick recovery. Well as Seņor Kelly says, that's that on that.
Love,
Bill Bennet
Freeze2349@aol.com
Posted Online February 23, 2003
