The Widows’ and Orphans’ Aid Association of the San Francisco Police Department held their monthly meeting at 850 Bryant Street room 125 on Tuesday February 13, 2018.
Roll Call: President Leroy Lindo, Vice President Ray Kane, Secretary Mark McDonough, Treasurer Dean Taylor, Trustees James O’Meara, Rob Forneris, Lou Barberini, and Bookkeeper Sally Foster were present. Trustee Al Luenow was excused.
Approval of the Minutes: Vice President Ray Kane made a motion to accept the minutes from last month’s meeting in January of 2018. Trustee Rob Forneris seconded the motion. The motion passed without objection.
Receiving Applications, Suspensions; and Reinstatements: We received 15 applications (of the 34 eligible) from members of the 258th Recruit Class. Ten of those applicants have paid their dues. The remaining 19 class members are undecided regarding joining the WOAA. The WOAA Board has made contact with Christine Ardnt and Gabrielle Fisher who are unpaid members who owe back dues and fines. We have not received a response after more than one attempt to collect the dues and fines. Trustee Rob Forneris made a motion to suspend both Christine Arndt and Gabrielle Fisher. Trustee Jim O’Meara seconded motion. The vote was unanimous to suspend both members. A registered letter of suspension will be sent to the suspended members. Eleven of the 19 drop letters have been signed for and receipts returned by dropped members. Treasurer Taylor informed the Board that dropped members Charles Gale and Dan Tinney have paid their dues and fines, and submitted a note of good health by their prospective physicians. VP Ray Kane made a motion to accept Gale and Tinney back into the WOAA. Trustee Jim O’Meara seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Charles Gale and Dan Tinney are once again members in good standing. The WOAA will present the membership to the 259th Recruit Class in May of 2018, and to the 260th Recruit Class in September of 2018.
Communications and Bills: Treasurer Taylor presented our monthly bills which include the purchase of a phone and a computer scanner, and beneficiary payments for passed members. Trustee Jim O’Meara made a motion to pay the bills. Trustee Rob Forneris seconded the motion. The motion passed without objection.
Report of Visiting Committee: No report this month.
Report of Trustees: We received the sad news of the passing of two WOAA Members:
Gary Frederick, age 74: Gary Clark Frederick was born on December 12, 1943 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gary worked as a “Machine Helper” prior to entering law enforcement. Gary entered the San Francisco Police Department on February 16, 1967 and was assigned to Star #570. Gary worked the following assignments in his 30 year career: Richmond Police Station (May 15, 1967), Potrero Police Station (October 28, 1968), CPHC (February 28, 1971), P7T DP (July 6, 1977), Muni (September 8, 1980), Park Police Station (promoted to the rank of Q-50 Sergeant and transferred on October 8, 1980),”S” Squad (November 19, 1980), Internal Affairs (May 3, 1981), Gary was promoted to Q-35 Police Inspector on November 16, 1982, Hit & Run Detail (January 22, 1984), and to the Robbery Detail (January 19, 1991). Gary retired with a Service Pension on January 10, 1997. During his career, Gary was awarded with a Police Commission Commendation for services rendered in June of 1971, and two Bronze Medals of Valor for services rendered on May 24, 1972, and December 30, 1972.
Robert Red Sr., age 69: Robert L. Red Sr. was born on August 31, 1947. Robert, after playing a few years of professional football in the National Football League (NFL), entered the San Francisco Police Department on February 2, 1981. Robert worked the following assignments during his career: Richmond Police Station (September 27, 1981), Vice Crimes/Narcotics (March 24, 1982), Richmond Police Station (April 25, 1982), Communications (February 24, 1986), Richmond Police Station (April 29, 1986), FOB Candlestick (March 22, 1997), Richmond Police Station (October 4, 1997), Support Services (August 11, 2004), Richmond Police Station (October 3, 2004). Robert retired with a Service Pension on December 30, 2004. Robert was awarded a Bronze Medal of Valor for services rendered on Thursday April 25, 1985 at 330 10th Avenue. Robert and Officers Lorie Collins, Rick Galande, Peter Ionin, Ivan Jackson, and Glen Melanson entered a smoke-filled residential fire. Robert and the Officers responded to three floors, forced open stuck doors, and led 17 occupants to safety. The Officers risk their own personal safety as they ingested toxic smoke, to save the lives of the building occupants prior to the arrival of the San Francisco Police Department. Robert, and his partner Ivan Jackson were awarded a Police Commission Commendation for a body of work from June 15, 1985 through December 15, 1986. Robert and Ivan took ownership of their assigned area at Ocean Beach. The Officers were aware of residents and business owners complaining about a criminal element in the area. The Officers enforced codes and laws, and maintained an active presence in the area to reduce the number of drug and alcohol abusers, and any other criminal problems that were prevalent during that time.
Report of Special Committee: See Unfinished Business (Below).
Unfinished Business: The rewrite project for our WOAA Constitution and By-Laws remains in progress as Sally Foster is gathering the correct mailing address of our active members. Once the addresses are collected and entered into our data base, we will mail out the proposals for a membership vote.
New Business: No report this month.
Good of the Order: Past President Sally Foster has been working non-stop since stepping in as our Bookkeeper. Sally, with assistance from Treasurer Dean Taylor and Secretary Mark McDonough, has organized our membership roster. All retired members in the past few years who are off payroll have been notified and billed accordingly. All active and retired members are separated by classification on our data base. A handful of deceased members were correctly categorized on our data base rosters to eliminate unnecessary billing. Sally has been in contact with Shallon Yuen of City Payroll regarding membership issues. These issues have been resolved regarding dues and billing. Active members should not be billed as they pay by automatic payment through their city payroll check each January. Sally, Dean and Mark have worked in conjunction to identify member’s correct addresses when our mail is returned to us. In addition, since accepting the position in December, Sally has also completed the mail-out billing for Retirees who do not use an automatic payment system (approximately 700 members). A great deal of work has been completed in a short period of time.
Adjournment: President Leroy Lindo led the WOAA Board in a moment of silence for all our fallen members. President Lindo adjourned the meeting and scheduled our next meeting for Tuesday March 13, 2018 at 12:30pm. The meeting will be held at the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant Street in San Francisco, room 125.
To All Members: Please visit our website at sfwidowsandorphans.org. Beneficiary forms can be accessed by clicking on the Resources box on the upper right side of the face page. New beneficiary forms require a signature by a Notary, or by a current WOAA Board Member. The new beneficiary forms can, and should, be used for any address or contact number changes. Lack of current updates by members has resulted in the member being Suspended and Dropped from our membership roll due to failed attempts to contact or locate the member. Please mail the completed forms to WOAA, P.O. Box 4247, San Rafael, CA 94913-4247. The former P.O. Box 880034 has been discontinued. I can be contacted by cellphone at 415 681-3660, and by email at markmac825@comcast.net.
The 2017 Summary Annual Report will be completed in the next 7-10 days. The report will be POSTED on our website. I will mail copies to ANY MEMBER who requests the Report. If a member does not, or cannot operate a computer to view the Summary Annual Report, or wishes to have the report mailed, please contact me at the above listed contact number or email, to request a copy.
Each month we continue to give our thanks to the following people who assist our efforts: Retired S.F.P.D. Captain Paul Chignell who is the Defense Administrator of the POA, David Ng of Personnel, Sgt. Rachael Kilshaw and Risa Tom of the Police Commission Office, Retired S.F.P.D. Sergeant and long standing Editor of the POA Journal, Ray Shine, Retired S.F.P.D. Lieutenant Rene LaPrevotte who is the host of the Gold Country Reaper website, and finally to the S.F.P.D. Traffic Command and assigned Officers who graciously afford us a space for our files and our meetings.