How much is your Disability Pension worth to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

A word of caution to all our members (read below)

Add a runner who recently competed in an Escape from Alcatraz triathlon to the rogues gallery of NYPD cops who retired on a taxpayer-funded disability pension.

Rachel Niccoll, who spent 13 years on the force before retiring in 2009, receives the generous pension package that pays her $66,083 a year, plus benefits — and also regularly runs races in New York, records show.

Niccoll spent 13 years on the force before retiring in 2009.

 

A letter to the Daily News signed “concerned citizen” said Niccoll, 44, suffered a knee injury on the job.

“She has, since retirement, been able to participate in several grueling sports events which many able body full duty (Members of the Service) would have a hard time participating much less finishing,” the letter read.

“Why am I doing this? Many truly deserving individuals have been denied or put through the ringer to get their benefits.”

 

LOST INFO PREVENTS COP FROM GETTING 9/11 DISABILITY PENSION

 

The New York City Police Pension Fund confirmed Niccoll — who worked in the 24th Precinct on the Upper West Side — received the disability pension but would not reveal the nature of her injury.Online records show that three years after retirement she competed in the 2012 Harryman triathlon on Bear Mountain. At the 2013 Escape From Alcatraz triathlon she placed 50th in her age group. All told, Niccoll competed in at least eight triathlons, including in Thailand and Ireland. Numerous photos of her at finish lines are posted online.

Another Nitwit Story

The Inspector General overseeing the NYPD has opened a probe into the disability pension system following the Daily News' article about a retired cop who still receives his annual $82,069 disability pension even though he runs in distance races and works for a Florida sheriff's department.

Investigators working for Inspector General Phillip Eure have visited the NYPD's medical offices in Lefrak City, Queens asking questions about the disability program, a source told the News.

The investigation was sparked by the case of retired cop Christopher DePaolis, who obtained the lucrative tax free lifetime pension after hurting his knee, moved to Florida and started running.

 

Earlier this year, he went to work for the Broward County Sheriff’s Department at a $52,156 annual salary.

EDITORIAL: TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

 

Nothing in the current rules prevents DePaolis from continuing to receive the special pension. Investigators plan to look for other similar cases.

“They want to see why these questionable cases get approved,” the source said. “It's in its infancy.”

Eure is also looking at the feasibility of adding more staff to check on what retired officers are doing while receiving their pensions.

EXCLUSIVE: Several FDNY Engine Companies Add Fifth Firefighter

 

NY Daily News - February 10, 2016

 

by Jennifer Fermino, Thomas Tracy

Several of the FDNY’s busiest engine companies across all the boroughs are finally getting one more firefighter.

As part of a contract agreement between City Hall and the Uniformed Firefighters Association last summer, the department has added a fifth firefighter to five of the most swamped engine companies throughout the city — something the union has been clamoring for since 2011.

“During our contract negotiations this summer, one of the most important things on our agenda was trying to get a fifth firefighter for our engine companies,” UFA President Stephen Cassidy said Tuesday. “It is such an important safety measure, especially for those engine companies that operate alone.”

The added firefighters began their tours of duty at Engine 65 in Midtown, Engine 42 in Mount Hope, Bronx, Engine 283 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Engine 324 in Flushing, Queens and Engine 158 in Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island on Feb. 1.

The FDNY’s own studies show that engine companies equipped with five firefighters can “get water on a fire twice as quickly,” Cassidy said.

The city has been tinkering with engine company staffing since 1996 when the union signed a deal granting the city discretion to reduce staffing in engine companies if firefighter medical leave averages increased.

"FDNY are some of the hardest working women and men in this city, and this increased staffing will support New York’s Bravest in their tireless efforts to keep our residents safe," Cassidy said.

In 2011, former Mayor Bloomberg pulled the fifth firefighter for the last 60 engine companies that had them as part of a cost-cutting measure.

The union filed an action with the Office of Collective Bargaining, but lost its bid to restore the lost positions.

 

Relatives of 9/11 Victims Rip Colonial Williamsburg for Exploiting Tragedy in Super Bowl Ad

 

NY Daily News - February 09, 2016

 

by Ryan Sit

A Super Bowl ad for Colonial Williamsburg — which depicted images of the World Trade Center’s collapse in reverse — was upsetting and wrong, said some relatives of 9/11 victims Monday. The minute-long commercial that aired regionally across New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. during Super Bowl showed video clips of the nation’s watershed moments in reverse as narrator Tom Brokaw asked the viewers what formative experiences have shaped the country.

 

“When you reflect upon our sacrifices, our breakthroughs, and yes, our heartbreaks,” Brokaw says over footage of a smoking tower crumbling before asking, “Where did our spirit first take shape?”

Retired FDNY deputy chief Jim Riches said he’s never forgotten the day the towers fell, killing his firefighter son Jimmy Jr., and doesn’t need a tourism promo to remind him of the terror attack.

“Watching that opens the wounds again,” he said.

“We’re sitting there trying to forget — and we never forget my sons never going to walk back through that door — and it pops right up again and knocks back over.”

Riches said it’s predatory to exploit 9/11 as a profit source.

“To use the worst day in American history for commercial purposes is ridiculous and it’s wrong,” he charged. “I hope they didn’t use that commercial to make money but I’m sure they did.”

“3000 people lost their loved ones that day. You don’t need to show that. It’s the worst day in our history,” he said.

Sally Regenhard, whose son Christian — also a firefighter who died in the attack, condemned the ad.

“9/11 was about the massacre of 3,000 people whose loved ones are still grieving every day and to see that in an ad campaign,” she said, overcome with incredulity.

“This is part of a larger issue of using our dead as a tourist trap,” she said.

Regenhard blamed the 9/11 museum for propagating the use of such footage.

“The unconscionable amount of advertising by the 9/11 museum has really given license to use (the attacks) as a marketing tool.”

A spokesperson for the 9/11 museum declined to comment on the situation.

The ad, titled “It started here” and produced by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia, also showed images of Presidents Obama and Reagan, a Wright brother’s flight, war memorials and suffragettes, but didn’t show the “living history museum” itself.

A spokesman for the foundation however, said the majority of responses about the ad have been in favor of it.

“The ad has been ‘trending’ positively on Facebook,” Joe Straw said in a press release. An earlier 30-second version of the commercial “received an overwhelmingly positive response, and has started an online conversation about America’s collective history,” he said.

“We understand and respect that some of the images depicted in the ad may be jarring to some, but the outpouring of support on social media sends a powerful message that the past must be remembered if we are to succeed as a Nation,” said the foundation’s senior spokesman, Kevin Crossett.

Posts across social media reveal a dichotomy of responses to the ad.YouTube user Kathy Stackhouse, who apparently lives in Virginia, commented “Great ad! It brought tears to my eyes. If I didn’t live here already, I would definitely want to visit and find out more.”

Others were not as kind. “Using 9/11 for commercial purposes is as uncool as using Auschwitz. #colonialwilliamsburg,” Alex Polkhovsky tweeted.

Riches thinks the decision to use that footage might ultimately hurt the not-for-profit organization.

"They hit a lot of raw nerves with people from New York last night. It was very crude."

 

United For The Troops

Our Mission

UnitedForTheTroops.org was created by friends and families of our Troops serving the U.S. overseas. Our sole purpose is to make life while at war a little better for our brave men and women serving in the U.S. Military by collecting food, money, and goods that the military does not provide them. Some of the items include cookies, dvd’s, cd’s, snacks, t shirts, and other food items. Through speaking with the troops the military provides them with the essentials for day to day life and many of them miss the extra amenities that they receive while at home. Our goal is to show them that we are proud of them and appreciate all of their efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of the world being affected by this war.

We do not take a political view on the war or the leaders that sent our troops to fight. We simply want to help the men and women of the armed forces get through each day with a bit of comfort that they might not have had without a little help from friends and family back home.

Our Story

In May 2007, Luke Rathschmidt, was deployed from Fort Bragg North Carolina with the rest of his battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army. Luke is a member of the family who founded United For The Troops shortly after his deployment.

After Luke entered Iraq in June of 2007, we soon realized there are many things the troops are not supplied with, that help make them feel comfortable while they are back home.

 

While speaking to Luke, he had asked that we send him things like Visine, batteries and toilet paper; simple everyday items that we take for granted each day. As time went on Luke began sharing stories of soldiers that did not have any family back in The United States, and noted that he felt bad getting all of the packages we were sending him while his comrades were receiving nothing. Although he was sharing everything we sent him, in Luke’s words “it’s not the same as getting your own”.

 

Knowing the sacrifices that these men and women were and are making for us on a daily basis, we understood that something had to be done. While these men and women are in over 110º F heat, protecting our nation on a 24/7 basis, there is no reason why they should be without the basic amenities we enjoy back home.

 

United For The Troops became an organization within weeks, collecting anything and everything from any source possible to send to our troops. During the holiday season, we made an extra effort to ramp up our gift giving and rallied our community to help “Operation Defending The Holidays” where our goal was to send out 200 packages by December 20, 2007.

 

Well, after we started spreading the word it caught on like wildfire. We not only exceeded our initial goal, but we more than doubled it! We sent over 400 packages and collected over $6000 to continue this “operation” throughout the year.

 

With the success of our first year as a not for profit organization, we knew it couldn’t stop there. United For The Troops, Inc. is just the start of how we will continue to help all of our troops until they return home safely. Thereafter, any veteran that needs assistance after that can count on all of the United For The Troops, Inc. “operations” year round to be there for them!

 

Thank you in advance for your support!