Altoona Firefighters Local 299

3^rd Annual Invitational Open Classic

Golf Tournament

Friday, September 4^th, 2009

8:00 am Shotgun Start

Iron Masters Country Club

Four Man Scramble

Cost is $260 per 4-man team

Includes:

18 holes w/cart, Catered dinner following tournament, Refreshments, Prizes, and Par 3 Contests

Cost of Sponsorship of a Hole is $100, which includes your organization’s name listed on our website, on a sign placed on a tee box, and in a flyer handed out to all tournament participants.

Registrations and/or Sponsorships must be received by Friday, August 21^st, 2009.

Registration and/or Sponsorship forms must be mailed to: 2807 Edgewood Drive Altoona, Pa 16602.

For Additional Information, visit www.altoonafirefighters.org or contact Daniel Drumm at 947-0251,  drummafd@gmail.com.     

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION of FIREFIGHTERS

Local 507

525 East Broad St.

Hazleton, PA 18201

TO: All IAFF Members

From: Kevin J Ruby, Tournament Chairman

Re: 8^th Annual Memorial Golf Tournament

Brother and sister firefighters, its time again for the annual golf tournament. This year Hazleton City Local 507, is hosting the event. The tournament will take place on Thursday, September 10, at the Blue Ridge Golf Course, 260 Country Club Drive,   Mountaintop, PA 18707, their web site is www.blueridgetrail.com. The tournament will be a shotgun start at 10 AM  o’clock. A cocktail hour, dinner and then 3 hours of open bar, will follow at the golf course. Format will be a captain and crew. Enclosed are registration forms. Please Copy and post in your fire houses. Any questions don’t hesitate to call me at: 570-233-1737 or at hfd81@ptd.net.

                                                                                                Fraternally Yours,

                                                                                                Kevin J. Ruby

                                                                                                Tournament Chairman

June 8, 2009

Everyone,

I also would like to echo the sentiments posted by President Martynuska and Secretary-Treasurer Schmidt.

This was a very successful Legislative Conference and could not have occurred without the efforts of our entire Board, including Trustees, AND the members in attendance. We had almost 90 participants taking our important message, not only as Firefighters, but constituents, to the Legislature. That has a huge impact.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who participated and those that are meeting with their respective Senators and Representatives at home. Keep up the good work.

Fraternally,

Dave Chiaramonte

June 8, 2009

Brothers and Sisters,

Wow what a week!

As you all know we had another successful Legislative Conference.   Taking the lead from the IAFF, we had, probably the first ever gubernatorial candidates’ forum for a labor group. This forum attended by most of the candidates for our next Governor turned out to be very successful.  This (your) organization has come quite a distance in the last few years in the political arena, many thanks to entire E-Board President Martynuska, Recording Secretary Chiaramonte, Vice Presidents Huf and Tedesco, Trustees Murtha, Barton, Clothier, Danielson, Johnson, and Manning and the talented team (Marty Harsh, Carey Eggert, and Rich Gawlik) we have put together working for you in Harrisburg with the legislators and their staff.

On a financial note, last convention we had our largest per-capita increase in history. Because of this the Executive Board made a conscious effort to step to the plate also by trimming spending.  I am pleased to report our spending to date is 5% below what we budgeted for fiscal year 2008/2009.  Also through fiscal management and belt tightening we have trimmed our spending by 11% for the same period last year.  However on the down side with the economic downslide our income is down 20% to date due to a loss of income with our fund raising activities.

Here’s wishing everyone has a safe and fun filled summer, be safe.

With kind regards I am fraternally,

Dave Schmidt, Secretary/Treasurer

Success, success, success, those were the word used to describe the PPFFA/Barry Buskey Legislative conference that was held June 1, 2 and 3 at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Harrisburg.

The annual Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters/Barry Buskey  Legislative conference is over and by all accounts it was a huge success.  Members of the PPFFA were assembled for three days in Harrisburg and learned about legislation, the legislative process and how to lobby.  In addition, subject experts from across the state and from the IAFF itself addresses the members present. Kevin O'Connor, Assistant to the General President of the IAFF was on hand to address the group and assist with interviewing possible gubernatorial candidates. The precedent setting Gubernatorial forum gained statewide media attention and was the first time that all the major potential gubernatorial candidates were assembled to address one group.  Presentations from both Republican and Democratic contenders captivated the nearly 100 PPFFA members present.  Feedback from onside and outside the PPFFA was all positive and the PPFFA is now being seen as a major force to be reckoned with on the political front.  On the second day of the conference PPFFA members descended  on the capitol for personal visits with their district representatives and senators.  In addition to individual meetings with legislators the PPFFA rolled out their smoking cessation program in conjunction with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.  The PPFFA was joined by numerous state legislators, including Representative Kevin Murphy from Scranton who has reintroduced House bill 1231 the Fire Fighter Cancer Presumption bill.  Representative Thomas Caltagirone who sponsored similar legislation  in the last session was also present at the press event.  Bill George, President of the Pennsylvania State AFL-CIO also joined PPFFA members for this historic event.  This program make the PPFFA the first state-wide union to attempt to become tobacco free.  When questioned about the legislative conference, PPFFA President Art Martynuska stated, "The events of the past three days has placed the PPFFA on a level that we have never experienced. We will continue to build on our momentum and we will continue to expand those relationships that we have to protect our members and the citizens we are sworn to serve.  To do anything less would be a disservice to members of the PPFFA and the community.  President Martynuska also had high praise for the staff of the PPFFA, "Without all of the support and hard work done by the Officers, Trustees, staff and even the Emeritus officers we could not have enjoyed the success we did this past week."  The PPFFA will be posting pictures of the event in the very near future, stay tuned to the PPFFA web site.