MBPD RETIREE NEWS. Vinny s Breakfast... Sept/Oct 2013 Issue. Inside this issue: Unity Is Strength For A Better Retirement

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1 MBPD RETIREE NEWS Unity Is Strength For A Better Retirement Sept/Oct 2013 Issue Inside this issue: Sam Corner 1-3 Birthdays 3 News Capsules 4 COP s & Joke of the Month COP s Continued 6-7 Ads/Sponsors 8 5 Sam s Corner A Collection of Disorganized Thoughts Welcome back my friends/fellow retirees. As you're reading this issue of your newsletter, you're probably saying to yourselves-" What took so long"? Let me remind you once again that this ain't USA Today. There are but a few souls running this operation and sometimes, one of us takes a vacation. Usually, like a faithful wife, the editor is always the last one to know. Don't despair; your newsletter will fall back into its regular schedule in a few months. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Mr. Herman Press a very happy 89th birthday. Herman turned 89 on August 2nd. Unfortunately, due to a computer glitch in our mainframe server located in Brussels-Sprouts, uh, Russia...No, uh, Cleveland, we lost the bandwidth, which was connected to the drive train, interlocked with the telegraph cable which was taken down in a hurricane which came through the southern hemisphere of Columbia. In other words, we don't know how the hell we forgot Herman's birthday. It's not like we didn't know who Herman was. We know Herman. So sorry about that, won't happen again. This is one of those months where I sit down and look at my screen and try to figure out what to write about. It seems like I've covered just about every subject under the sun. So now I'm reaching. I'm inclined to write about something that irritates me just to get it off my chest. It seems the older I get, the less tolerance I have for "BS". Do you know what that is? Of course you do. I can spell it out you know. I run this bad boy newsletter...but something tells me to keep it sort of professional. I do acknowledge that there are a lot of respectful folks (unlike myself) that read this, even though I do push the envelope from time to time. Ok here it is. The other day my lady and I went to the Sawgrass Mall. If you've never been, it's the big one located near Sunrise Boulevard in central Broward County. I'd like to preface what I'm about to say by saying that I was not born in this country. I am a naturalized citizen from the country of Cuba. I love the United States of America and I fly the red, white, and blue in front of my house every day. I listen to Country-Western music and drive a pickup truck. It's a Toyota, but it was built in the U.S. (whew!) I don't fly a Cuban flag. I don't call myself a Cuban-American, or an American-Cuban. On the other hand, I love Cuban food, and if you'll let me, I'll eat a whole loaf of Cuban bread at one sitting..with butter, toasted, dipped in "cafe con leche." Continued on pg#2 Vinny s Breakfast... On Friday, August 16, 2013, a breakfast was held at the Blue Moon Diner in Cooper City with 22 people attending. Retirees attending were Ray Chambers and his wife, Gloria, Vinny Aprile, Alan Skolnick, Carlos Devarona, Charlie Losey, Tony Sammarco, Billy O Neil, John Van Vranken, Pat Ryan, Rocky Morgan, Pat Quinlan, Ellen Roelofs, Joan Ochoa, Steve Robbins, Bernie Winer, Kevin & Carol Graham, and active Detective Oldy Ochoa, and active Sgt. Gary Kluger. Also, Michael Noriega, who is a Primerica Financial Advisor (and son of Retired Chief Carlos Noriega) made an appearance

2 Page 2 MBPD RETIREE NEWS Sam s Corner Continued from pg1 Oh, Jeez, the point I'm trying to make is that the Sawgrass Mall during any given day is packed with tourists. It's a popular destination for South Americans, but I also detected visitors and employees from other countries including European countries. I guess it's said that we are all from someplace else, but for some reason I was sort of uncomfortable. It wasn't the language thing. Some of the people were just plain rude and obnoxious. I don't consider myself a rude individual. I'd like to think of myself as polite, accommodating, and understanding, to the extent I can be. I noticed people blocking isles, gathering around in groups as if they owned the place, and refusing to excuse themselves when they bump into you. I've been to malls in other parts of the country and it's not like that, so I have to assume that it's the people visiting here who have some type of sense of entitlement. Perhaps they look down on "Americans" and feel bold and energized by the sheer numbers of their own around them. But it's just not right. I felt like I was not in my own country, that is, the good old United States of America. I felt like an outcast. By the way, my girlfriend told me to be very careful when I write this. She said-" You may offend someone." I agreed with her, so I kept it generic. South Americans and Europeans. I didn't say Columbians, or Argentineans, or Venezuelans. I didn't refer to French, German, or Russians. I mean, it could have been anyone. Even so, I've written about Michael Jackson, Treyvon Martin, sex, violence, perverted acts, and a number of other things...and have gotten almost no complains. Writing about rude tourists at the mall is not going to get me fired from my zero dollar an hour writing for the newsletter I told her. So I'm feeling pretty much ok about the whole thing. Anyhow, it wasn't until we finished shopping and went out to the parking lot that I suddenly felt "whole" again. As we were getting into my enormous four door Toyota pickup truck (that was built in the U.S.), I noticed that many of these same tourists were trying to stuff their shopping bags into tiny little subcompact cars. Evidently they and their entourage had spent so much on airfare and hotels, that they couldn't afford to rent big luxury cars, instead renting the smallest Mazdas, Nissans, and Toyotas they could. Even the ones that had the vans could barely get into them with all their stuff, since they brought their family of twelve. I felt powerful and vindicated. Inside that mall you were all hot s--t, but out here in the parking lot...the real world, you're little weasels. Isn't it amazing what I can think of when I really put my mind to it? Of course, I conveniently forgot to mention my truck gets about thirteen miles to the gallon while their Mazdas get forty. And, they can stuff many more of themselves in their vehicles cause they're tiny. Ah! Enough! And then, there's another thing that has been really irritating me. Yes my friends, this is the "summer heat is getting to me and everything bothers me" issue of Sam's Corner this month. Do you know how I know it's summer? Or how I know when school is out? It's when I'm on the road, and every intersection I stop at is loaded with kids collecting money. Of course, down here in South Florida, when it's not kids collecting money, it's everyone else. I've written about this before but it's a subject that continues to get to me. For example...today, I'm out running an errand and I see a group of kids at an intersection walking in and out of traffic collecting money for who knows what? There were about ten little kids being "supervised" by one adult. The kids, some of whom were barely tall enough to reach most people's side windows were wearing some kind of uniform and they were being allowed to run up and down sometimes moving lanes of traffic with their cups. Now you see, in my world, if you want money, I'd like to know why you need it. A sign explaining the organization and it's cause a half a block away or so would have been nice. This way, I can decide whether or not I'm going to reach for my wallet or not. When I see fire trucks and rescue vehicles parked near the intersection, signs out, and real firefighters with their boots out, I know what their cause is and I know that I'm going to reach for my wallet, open my window, and drop cash into one or more of those boots. When I see little kids being supervised by almost noone, no signs, holding 7-11 cups...i'm not sure what the scam is. In fact, one day I rolled down my window and asked a little boy what he was collecting money for. He gave me a "shut-up and just put money in my cup." look. Then he blurted out something like- "I collectin money fo da basketball, blah, blah, blah thing." I dropped a few scheckles in the cup because I felt bad that he was being exploited the way he was. I thought about calling someone, but I figured others had and it would have been just another wasted call. As I rolled into the next intersection, there was a fellow wearing a baseball cap, raggedy t-shirt, and shorts holding up a sign that read something like- "Help my football team make it to the tournament in Texas." He didn't look like a football player and his team evidently abandoned him. He stood by my window for a long time and made me very uncomfortable. I'm the type of guy that if I roll down my window, I'm going to say some very, very nasty. Is it worth it? No! The light will change...the light will change. It did, and I left Mr. crack head, or whatever he was to collect from other less...informed individuals. It's really getting ridiculous down here in South Florida. You can hardly drive anywhere without being bombarded with requests for money at seemingly every intersection. If it's not representatives from "The Homeless Voice", it's these little kids collecting for some sports team I never heard of, or people with little cardboard signs that read something like-"lost my job, have six kids, need money." I feel bad I really do. Heck, that could be me. I don't have a problem with people asking for help, but I take exception with people who think that it's ok to collect money on the street all day rather than seek a legitimate job. There are people out there collecting money at intersections who are obviously healthier than I am. I liked the guy that held up a sign that read- "Why lie? I need beer money." At least he's honest. Recently, there was a national protest by employees of fast food restaurants because they felt that the salaries they were getting was just not good enough, and they wanted those salaries doubled or more! I am sure that working in a fast food establishment is hard work. When I was a kid, I worked in a supermarket. It was hard work and I made minimum wage. When I took the job, I knew it was minimum wage, but I also knew that you can't work there and expect to get paid the same as a brain surgeon. Some of these folks that were interviewed on TV lamented that they couldn't afford to feed their three kids on what they made working a McDonalds, or Burger Kind, or whatever fast food place they worked at. This is my opinion on that matter. There are reasons why people work in fast food joints. Perhaps they are young and just entering the workforce. They need to get experience working, being on a schedule, dealing with the public. Perhaps there are other people who were laid off from better paying jobs and tried hard to find work in their respective fields and were unable to. They had to resort, at least temporarily, to working in a fast food joint. Perhaps there are people who split from their mates, got divorced, widowed, released from prison, experienced some other type of loss, and for whatever other reason had to resort to working in a minimum wage establishment. Continued on pg#3

3 Page 3 Sam s Corner continued from pg #2 Perhaps there are people who don't have the mental capacity to secure better jobs. There are a lot of reasons people work at McDonalds, or Burger King, etc... It's a job, and it's honest work. It's a place to work. Everyone knows that places like that don't pay the greatest salaries. It's common knowledge. No one, No ONE should expect or demand to get paid top dollar to work at one of these places. I also think that if one works at a fast food establishment and perhaps wants to improve themselves and move up in the corporation, they should perhaps make a small effort to at least be cordial with the public they service. I rarely see this at fast food establishments. Instead, I see poor service, surly personnel, and bad attitudes. I see flippant and sometimes even hostile employees who hate their lives and customers. You want more money? Act like it!! And treat your customers like you want to be treated. Well, anyway...hopefully by the time your next newsletter comes around, I won't be complaining about the weather, and things will be cooling down. See you next time folks, stay healthy and happy! CONGRATULATIONS TO OFFICER RONALD SHIMKO. RON RECENTLY JOINED THE RANKS OF THE RETIRED. HOPE TO SEE YOU AT BREAKFAST SOON RONNIE! September Birthdays... Samuel Bejar Greg Butler Bud Dawson Happy Birthday To You!!!! Robin Drayson Priscilla Grandage Bert Greenberg Howard Gross Zell Hall Garth Hamman William Lamb William Mike Lowe Jack Lynch Charlie Losey William Maxwell Don McGavern Rick Mendoza John Millerick Ronald Scott Morgan Lisa Newland Mike Putz Sharon Saballos Robert Settle

4 Page 4 MBPD RETIREE NEWS News Capsules... ROBERT GOLDSTEIN We received some late breaking news regarding a death in our family. Sheldon (Shelly) Goldstein sent us the following: "I lost my kid brother Robert yesterday, Sept. 31st. He was being examined at the hospital when he suffered a blood clot in his lungs. He was only 63 years old." -Sheldon. We don't have any more information with respect to services and such, but we offer our condolences to Sheldon and his family on the loss of his younger brother. GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Please mark your calendars for TUESDAY, September 17th, 2013 at 12 noon where a General Membership Meeting will be held at the Blue Moon Diner located at Griffin Road. The Blue Moon is located on the southwest corner of Griffin Road and Knob Hill Road/Palm Av). And here is the MENU... -Grilled Marinated Chicken Breast on Caesar Salad -Grouper Broiled with White Wine, Lemon and Garlic Crust. Served with Rice and Vegetables -Oven Roasted Turkey Wrap with Fries -8 oz. Angus Steak Cheeseburger with Fries -Crispy Fish and Chips -Country Fried Steak with Sausage Gravy. Served with Mashed Potatoes and Vegetables -Soft Drink is included. Wine, Beer and Coffee is extra.. Price is $11.00/Person. Hope to see you there. All are welcome. THE 2013 HOLIDAY PARTY, FIRST NOTIFICATION! Don't put your calendars away just yet! This year's Miami Beach Police Department Retiree's Holiday Party will be held on Saturday, December 14, 2013 at the Tropical Acres Steakhouse. There will be more information for you soon. ANNOUCEMENT-- THE ANNUAL FALL LUNCHEON IN KNOXVILLE, Submitted by Jerry Mackey Hey Folks! It's that time of year again! All retirees are invited to join the "Tennessee Gang" for the Fall Luncheon in Knoxville. The luncheon will take place at 11:30AM (EDT) on Wednesday, October 23, The location will be same restaurant as last year: Famous Dave's BBQ ( located at 208 Advantage Drive, Knoxville, TN It is easily accessible from I-40 (exit #378) and there are several hotels within easy walking and driving distance to the restaurant. If anyone needs a list of hotels or any other information, they can contact me at: mackeyg2007@yahoo.com. Reservations are not required but I'd like to get an idea of how many may be going, so I can let the manager know. If potential attendees would contact me by October 16, either through or Facebook, that would be great. NEW BOOK BY VIVIAN SIELAFF (BILL'S WIDOW), Submitted by Charlie Seraydar For all interested members and friends, (Retired MBPD Officer) Bill Sielaff's wife Vivian wrote a book called "Asleep in Jesus". It was published by WestBow press and is now available online. The following is an excerpt from their website: In her own struggle with grief, Vivian Sielaff found the path that leads to soul-level healing, and she shares it with you in this powerful book. If you want to recover from your loss, you ll find the help you need by reading Asleep in Jesus. - Steve Grissom, founder, Grief Share Grief Recovery Support Groups; founder, The Church Initiative, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina In Asleep in Jesus, author Vivian Sielaff brings encouragement and hope to Christians who have experienced grief from the unexpected loss of a loved one. In a conversational style, Vivian shares how God comforted her when her husband, a police officer for twenty-two years, died after a struggle with depression related to alcohol dependence and recovery following an unanticipated early retirement. Sections include devotionals; practical ways to cope with your loss; help and hope for those with depression and anxiety; guidance for those struggling with addiction; and encouragement for those dealing with loved ones with depression and addiction. Asleep in Jesus offers hope an eternal hope that those who belong to Jesus are safely held in His hands even as we grieve their absence. Vivian s supernatural gift from God in her deepest point of despair is a gift to all of us who need to know we are not alone. Anyone interested can access the West Bow website by clicking on this link: Products/Default.aspx?bookId=SKU If you have trouble getting to it please let us know!! MEMBER BIRTHDAYS It has been brought to my attention (me..being the editor of this fine newsletter) that from time to time we neglect to publish the birthdays of some of our members, especially our more senior members. Rest assured that this is not on purpose and you are VERY IMPORTANT to us and definitely NOT forgotten. Keeping up with birthdays, addresses, etc.. is not as easy as it might seem. I know, bad excuse...so if we screw up and forget your birthday, please let us know immediately. Contact sam0444@yahoo.com, or if you don't have a computer, get the message to someone who can get the message to us. Obama said one time- "No one gets left behind." Or, I think he said that. Whether he did or didn't, he didn't really mean it. I mean it!! And I'm not even the President!

5 Page 5 Champions of People (COP s) by Buck & Francile Griscom Introduction: (By S. Gam) I 've been looking all over for this letter, and I finally found it, along with some other stuff Buck sent me. We need to be reminded of the good (great) stuff our retirees have done over the years. This is an example of that, thanks to Buck Griscom. Among my souvenirs, I came across the enclosed letter of commendation. Appropriately, it was written on the 40th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. American Manhood has no better example of 'Valiant Knights' than these four COPs (CHAMPIONS OF PEOPLE) exhibited late one night on South Beach. Guillem, Pate, Goodwin, Febbraio. All four, on one particular dark night earned every dime paid to them, while on "The Job" and into retirement. Lest their brave actions of spitting into the flaming face of death be forgotten, or unknown to recent retirees, their letter of commendation needs to be republished in our retirees newsletter. I made certain that another American Patriot (President Ronald Reagan) was made aware of their courage. On White House stationary, President Reagan expressed his personal congratulations and gratitude for their unflagging acts of personal courage. Unfortunately legendary, and venerable actions of supreme heroism are often unknown by the next generation. OR forgotten by their own generation. Lets "tip our hats" to them! Tales of real life heroes need to be retold. Such is the case with retired COPS. - Buck and Francile Griscom See MORE on Pages 6 & 7 Joke of the month... SITTING AT A STOP LIGHT I was sitting at a long stoplight yesterday, minding my own business, wondering what I could do now that I was retired from the MBPD and patiently waiting for it to turn green, even though there was no on-coming traffic. A carload of bearded, young, loud Muslims, shouting Anti-American slogans, with a half-burned American Flag duct-taped on the trunk of their car and a "Remember 9-11" slogan spray painted on the side, was stopped next to me. Suddenly they yelled, "Allahu Akbar! Praise Allah!" and took off before the light changed. Out of nowhere an 18-wheeler came speeding through the intersection and ran directly over their car, crushing it completely and killing everyone in it. For several minutes I sat in my car thinking to myself, "Man...that could have been me!" So today, bright and early, I went out and got a job as a truck driver.

6 Page 6 MBPD RETIREE NEWS CHAMPIONS OF PEOPLE (COP s) CONTINUED FROM PG 5

7 Page 7 CHAMPIONS OF PEOPLE (COP s) CONTINUED FROM PG 6

8 Support our sponsors and advertisers. Page 8 Basler s Academy of Real Estate 1665 West 68th Street Suite 207 Hialeah, FL (305) Mary A. Basler, Instructor Personal Injury - Medical Mal-Practice Attorney Charles Appel, PLLC 45 years experience 8925 SW 148 Street Office: Miami, FL Fax: Cell: Most People Don't Plan To Fail. They Fail To Plan. Primerica Financial Services educates consumers about money management. We help active or retired law enforcement officers, firefighters, and their families to make well informed financial decisions. To discuss your personal financial goals, call today. Michael Noriega NW 60 th Ave Suite 225B Miami Lakes, FL (954) Visit us online at Law Offices LAURENCE FEINGOLD Professional Association Former City Attorney Miami Beach and Current City Attorney of South Miami FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION TO ALL MBPD RETIREES 6130 Sunset Drive. South Miami, FL Tel: (305) Fax (305) Cell: (305) aslanf@aol.com Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police William Nichols Lodge No Eleventh Street Miami Beach, FL Telephone: Fax: Beeper: Rosen L. Switkes & Associates, p.a. Robert L. Switkes Attorney at Law 407 Lincoln Rd., Penthouse SE, Miami Beach, FL Telephone: Fax: rswitkes@switkeslaw.com Joan Donnelly Ochoa Realtor EWM Esslinger Woote Maxwell Realtors Esslinger. Wooten. Maxwell, Inc., Realtors 2000 Main Street, Weston, FL Cell: Office: Fax: Direct: Ochoa.J@EWM.com Katie Maguire Novels Katiemaguirenovels.com Gerry Mackey, Author Read my latest book, A Cold Logic, available through the publisher, Lulu.com, as well as through most major booksellers (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.) You might just recognize some of the fictional South Beach Police Officers. Don t forget to check out my first two books, A Necessary End and Seed of Thetis. All books available at: Contact Me: Wordwright2010@gmail.com Also on Facebook