December 2005
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT - WILLIAM MCVEIGH
As we start another holiday season, it is time to reflect on the past year and how quickly it has passed. What I find enjoy most during the holidays is the time spent with family. After the gifts are opened and the meals eaten, what it comes down to are the people celebrating with us. The Holiday Season, regardless of one's denomination is a celebration of family.
Our prayers and thoughts are with those families whose sons and daughters are serving our country and cannot be with them this year. We pray for their safe return.
The Scholarship Awards dinner is our next function and we are quickly moving towards it. All who want to attend should contact Special Activities Chairperson Michael Cordiello for dinner and brick tickets soon if you have not done so already.
On behalf of the Executive Board and from my family to yours, I want to wish every one a Happy and Healthy holiday season and A New Year that is filled with prosperity and all you hope for.
Please remember that there is no General Meeting during the month of December. Our next meeting will be January 18, 2005 at the New Hyde Park Inn.
Take advantage of the $25 total discount offered for early registration of an exhibit table, vehicle exhibit and/or sponsorship at the 2006 EXPO before January 1. After January 1, our regular rates apply.
We are accepting Bylaw Change Proposals in writing up to and including the March 2006 meeting.
Excerpts from our Constitution and Bylaws:
Article IV
• The Officers of the Society of Fleet Supervisors shall be: President, First Vice President, Second Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.
• The above Officers shall be elected at the May meeting.
• The Executive Committee shall consist of the "Officers" and Chairpersons of the Standing Committees and (2) "two" Past "Presidents" in attendance. (Amended 5/17/95)
• At all Executive Committee meetings, the "Officers" shall have (1) one vote each. The Chairpersons of the standing committees shall have (1) one vote each. The "President" shall have the "deciding" vote in case of a tie. (Amended 5/17/95)
Article V
usiness meetings of the Society and Executive Committee, and other committees shall be held as advised by the Bylaws. There shall be no attempt at Executive Board or regular meetings to solicit, sell or advertise products or services
Please visit the web sites of our newest Associate Members from Hicksville Spring & Auto Lab at http://napaonline.com/ and Factory Direct Bus Sales at http://www.factorydirectbussales.com. Member Bill D’Emic now with Island Ford invites all to visit its web site at http://www.islandford.com.
Congratulations to the following Members who have a perfect attendance record for 2005:
Frank Almona
Frank Carpenter
Richard Chan
Anthony Falconiere
Richard Fevang
Leonard Huffmire
Michael Iannizzi
Robert Lagnese
William McVeigh
Carl Orza
Dennis Roskop
Michael Schuler
Robert Spiotto
Nuno Tardo
Member Robert Spiotto is currently tied for tenth place in the consecutive attendance record.
Our present Membership is comprised of:
Members 120
Life Members 15
Editorial Members 0
Associate Members 4
Honorary Members 3
Original Equipment Manufacturer 3
Apprentice Fleet Supervisors 1
Student Members 14
Total Membership 200
Current CONSECUTIVE attendance records are:
Bill Misita, Retired – 99, 9/92 – 2/05
George Pastor, H. John Davis, Inc. – 70, 5/94 – 5/03
Robert Lagnese, Farmingdale University – 70, 1/97 -
Carl Orza, Advanced Fleet Maintenance – 68, 3/97 -
Nuno Tardo, Universal Ford – 63, 3/89 - 1/97
John Cigna, Retired – 50, 2/94 - 3/00
Pat De Martino, Con Edison – 44, 10/90 - 2/96
John Dozis, Fink Baking Co. – 37, 1/96 - 5/00
Nuno Tardo, Retired – 36, 3/97 – 10/01
Bill Ross, Sprague Energy – 33, 11/95 - 1/00
Robert Spiotto, Frank Siviglia & Co., Inc. – 33, 11/01 -
Attendance at the November meeting:
Members 55
Guests 10
Total 65
The Journal Committee would like to take the opportunity to thank all those Members and vendors that contributed to the 2005 Journal honoring our Member of the Year, Bill McVeigh. Your gracious outpouring of generosity is deeply appreciated. We have once again put together a Journal worthy of our fine Society.
Wishing everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving and a most joyous and Merry Christmas, the Journal Committee looks forward to welcoming everyone to our gala on Saturday, January 14th at Leonard’s of Great Neck.
LEGISLATIVE ? WILLIAM SCHNEIDER
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Healthy and Happy Holiday season.
Legislation has been reintroduced in the U.S. congress to address growing concerns from the transportation repair industry that manufacturers are not providing timely access to necessary repair tools and information.
The Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act of 2005 (S. 2138, H.R. 2048) requires a manufacturer to disclose to the vehicle owner (or to a repair facility of the vehicle owner's choosing) the necessary information to diagnose, service, or repair the vehicle. This information and equipment is necessary to ensure vehicle safety, performance, and environmental compliance. Vehicle manufacturers are making access to such vital information increasingly difficult and costly to obtain for the independent aftermarket and its customers. Without access to critical information and tools, motorists are forced to patronize the dealership, which may not be convenient, accessible or otherwise desirable to the owner.
The Motor Vehicle Owners Right to Repair Act prevents vehicle manufacturers and others from unfairly restricting access to the information and tools necessary to accurately diagnose, repair, re-program or install replacement parts. The Act would require the Federal Trade Commission to promulgate and enforce regulations that ensure competition in the vehicle repair business. In addition, the bill would permit the FTC, vehicle owners and independent repair facilities to take legal action to ensure all information and tools are available and affordable. The Right to Repair Act does not affect the dealer’s right to perform any services, including warranty work and does not unconstitutionally take the manufacturer’s intellectual property or require them to disclose trade secrets.
On August 10, 2005, President Bush signed into law the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users” (SAFETEA-LU). Section 4132 of this legislation exempts the operators of utility service vehicles from all FMCSA hours-of-service (HOS) regulations.
For the purpose of this HOS exemption, the term utility service vehicle “means any commercial motor vehicle: (A) used in the furtherance of repairing, maintaining, or operating any structures or any other physical facilities necessary for the delivery of public utility services, including the furnishing of electric, gas, water, sanitary sewer, telephone, and television cable or community antenna service; (B) while engaged in any activity necessarily related to the ultimate delivery of such public utility services to consumers, including travel or movement to, from, upon, or between activity sites (including occasional travel or movement outside the service area necessitated by any utility emergency as determined by the utility provider); and (C) except for any occasional emergency use, operated primarily within the service area of a utility’s subscribers or consumers, without regard to whether the vehicle is owned, leased, or rented by the utility.”
MEETING HIGHLIGHTS ? ROBERT LAGNESE
OEM Member Peter Plate presented a very informative program on mirror and camera technology and mirror legislation. We thank Rosco, Inc. for sponsoring the cocktail hour.
The winner of the Big Draw of $50.00 was Member Bill McVeigh who donated his proceeds to the Kiddy Picnic.
Thanks to all of our Members, our membership is growing! We are at the half way mark of our goal as I would like to get at least 20 new members in by June 2006. Please talk to as many people as possible! Thanks
Inducted at the October meeting:
John Donato, Service Manager for Ryder Transportation Services of Farmingdale, NY as a Member. John is responsible for the financial and operation success of two locations for the truck leasing and rental fleet. He has 650 vehicles under his supervision.
Christopher Braceros, Vice President of Sales for Factory Direct Bus Sales of Fresh Meadows, NY as an Associate Member. Chris oversees the sales for the Nassau, Suffolk and five boroughs area.
Members on the move:
Member Bill D’Emic is now with Island Ford of Staten Island, NY as a Sales and Leasing Consultant.
Dear Mike,
I am doing well and enjoying my retirement in Florida. I do nothing all day but sit and watch the grass grow and couldn’t be happier. It was good to receive a letter from you and to hear that you are also doing well. I hope that you enjoyed your vacation in Puerto Rico, I spent two weeks there in August and I had a great time.
It has been some time since we have spoke and in addition to my granddaughter, I now have two more granddaughters. Their ages are 10, 5 and 4. They live five minutes from me and count the days to the weekend so they can spend it at my house. By the first night I am ready to throw them out but I never learn my lesson because the next weekend, they are in my house again. I guess grandchildren will do that to you.
Well, it was great to hear from you, keep in touch and stay well.
Ismael Acevedo
Dear Mike,
I was surprised to hear from you and it felt like old times. The news from Florida is we were hit by hurricane Wilma but we came out fairly well. We lost lots of roof shingles, tree and shrubs in the extra high winds. The strong winds took what was in its way. Other than that, things aren’t bad, the weather makes you forget.
Special regards to all and keep healthy,
Ralph and Ann Provisiero
Hello Michael,
I received your letter and I was very happy to hear from you. I’m happy to hear everything is going well for you and Ann Marie.
As for me, we just got back from Las Vegas. We had a wonderful time, weather was beautiful, the slots and roulette tables were good, and we stayed at Caesar’s. We will be leaving for Florida January 27 and we will be back March 7. We are cruising to Paradise Island and Disney. Joan’s daughter moved to Cape Coral on the west coast so we will be with them for a week. We will also be in Laudal by the Sea for my Boys Club reunion as I am the chairman of the board. Carl is familiar with it.
I didn’t make a meeting this year but I hope to make the meeting this May.
Mike, say hello to everyone, have a happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year to all.
I became a great grandfather of a six and half pound baby girl, Isabella, on October 10.
Joe Valenti
I have been contacting our retired Members and received following the following letters:
We are no longer accepting applications for the Society of Fleet Supervisors, Inc. Scholarship and we are now entering the eligibility review process. These scholarships will be awarded at the Scholarships Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 14, 2006.
I’d like to thank the following donors for their contributions to the Society of Fleet Supervisors, Inc. Scholarship fund:
John Logerfo - $100.00
Mondial Automotive - $200.00
Prime Lube - $100.00
WELFARE & EMPLOYMENT - JOHN COSTANTIN
Congratulations to Member George Ferraro on the marriage of his daughter, Danielle and Brian Glacken, a detective with the NYPD ESU, on 10/28/05.
Get well and speedy recovery wishes go out to Member Steve Milack who had two stent implants at the end of October.
Get well and speedy recovery wishes go out to Member Dennis Madden who had abdominal surgery at the end of November. Dennis will go back to the hospital once again in mid December for knee surgery.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes for our following Members and their spouses:
1/1 Deborah Blakley (Samuel)
1/1 Michael Calise
1/2 Martin Mandel
1/2 Edward Williams
1/3 Valentina Thomaidis
1/7 Rose Lee Calise (Michael)
1/7 John Logerfo
1/9 Lillian Atkins (James)
1/12 Peter Domante
1/12 Mark Kodner
1/12 Carol Mirabella (William)
1/20 Jeanne Bald (Norman)
1/20 Henry Consiglio
1/20 Robert Fauci
1/21 Margaret Rogers (Michael)
1/22 John Collura
1/23 John Davis
1/24 Marie Collura (John)
1/24 Edward Sauchelli
1/25 Julia Macaluso (Salvatore)
1/26 Norman Bald
1/26 Patricia Davis (John)
1/28 Patricia Dejana (James)
1/28 Pasquale Taddeo
1/29 Carl Orza
1/30 Robert Crandall
Meetings
Wednesday, Sept 15th 2010
Immaculate Conception Center
7200 Douglaston Parkway
Douglaston, NY 11362
For directions, click here.
Cocktail Hour at 6 PM - 7 PM
Dinner and Meeting at 7 PM
Members - $35 Guests - $45
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