THE MERIT SYSTEM.

There should be no actual "fund me" thing or a benefit racket because both take a percentage of the donations to do & waste money....how about above board donations in cash & give Paul a bag full under the radar & let him place the assets in his account as he see's fit ?.......50 days pay lost for standing tall is BS.


 
Chief JK, how about we start our own fund raiser right here. I'm sure there's guys here willing to help.

And not only in the FDNY but any place else also. Whether it's police or fire department, we all depend on these life savers every hour of every day.

Not only that, but why deny some  people who do not need the standard lowered for any reason, the opportunity to get these jobs and replaced by someone who couldn't pass the basic requirements until the final score was adjusted.

I'll gladly be the first to help support this chief for standing up for what I think is not only right for the FDNY but he stood up for what is right for the entire fire service of this country.

As a buff of the FDNY for a long time and a retired firefighter from a small department in Connecticut, I have a good idea of how important it is to uphold the high standards of those who do this kind of work.

Let me know how we can help this chief and I'll be the first in line to send in my part. Our politically correct society is beginning to tarnish what I, no - actually what many, once considered to be the Greatest Fire Department in the World.
 
mikeindabronx said:
http://nypost.com/2015/08/02/firefighter-grilled-over-gofundme-campaign-for-suspended-colleague/
Click to expand...

  Mike, Thanks very much for posting this.

  I don't know this FDNY Firefighter that started this "GoFundMe" campaign. But I sure respect him as well as the Chief who lost the pay for what he did.

  If any one of those two guys need my help, let me know. If any fund raiser is ever needed for such a case, let me know. I have no ties to the FDNY or anybody. I have fully respected the FDNY for decades for the job they do. I now have very good friends who are both active and retired FDNY members. ANY OF THEM have any problem, let me know and I will do whatever I can to help them.

  I'm a retired fire officer from a small city in Connecticut. There are guys who know who I am. You need my help, they can get in touch with me. And let the FDNY leaders try to grill me for helping them. It just ain't gonna happen.

  I'm serious about it. I never told the FDNY they were wrong about anything in my life. But they're wrong about this.

  Your Retired Brother Firefighter,
  Willy D (NFD2004)
 
THANKS WILLY.....it is a real disgrace what is happening.....however it seems the post made this story up to sell more of their rag....the FF who started the gofundmesite was NOT called to HQ.
 
68jk09 said:
THANKS WILLY.....it is a real disgrace what is happening.....however it seems the post made this story up to sell more of their rag....the FF who started the gofundmesite was NOT called to HQ.
Click to expand...

Okay Thanks Chief.

But if the need ever comes, the offer still stands.

You guys were always good to me for about 40 plus years. You always helped me out if I needed it. "I haven't forgotten that". I never will !!!
 
68jk09 said:
THANKS WILLY.....it is a real disgrace what is happening.....however it seems the post made this story up to sell more of their rag....the FF who started the gofundmesite was NOT called to HQ.
Click to expand...

What's That, The NY Post Not Completely Accurate !?!  :eek:
 
Info on the returned donations that Paul declined to accept due to Regulation prohibiting gifts from subordinates (more FD BS).....A great endeavor all the same by FF Anthony Henry ENG*10 .....  This is his memo to all donors ......QUOTE ..I received 660 emails last night letting me know that all donations have been refunded. WePay, the company handling the processing of the funds, has said it may take 2-3 days for it to be processed.

From the time that I originally posted that the donations would be refunded until now many of you had emailed me about applying your donation elsewhere. Ethically, I couldn't fundraiser for one reason and use it for another. Secondly, the logistics of refunding some donations, collecting other and then applying them to the myriad of suggested/requested charities would have been overwhelming for me.

Throughout this campaign I had tried to answer your questions as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, after the news article and subsequent television story I was advised to not say anything to anyone regarding the campaign. As a result I chose to stop all communications with donators. I apologize for cutting you off but it was an undesirable necessity that I hope you can all appreciate and understand.

Be well. Stay safe. Enjoy the rest of you Summer.

Anthony M. Henry

UNQUOTE...THANKS ANTHONY.
 
This is a well written letter from this weeks Chief-Leader Newspaper. Nice job, Lt. Leonard!!!.....QUOTE.

Letter to the Editor FDNY Did Mannix Wrong

Monday, August 10, 2015 4:30 pm

I recently read with disgust about a ruling in regard to FDNY Deputy Chief Paul Mannix being disciplined, fined and forced to close down his organization Merit Matters.
I was appalled but not surprised by this ruling, since I have seen this great de?part?ment spiraling backwards for many years. They call it by many names?Diversity, Political Correctness, Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity and so on.
Many things have changed since I was sworn in back in the early 1980s and continued as I went through several ranks. As I studied for promotions and kept my nose clean, I had the opportunity to witness many of these changes take place. Some I agreed with and others I did not.
The areas I worked and pretty much lived in for most of my career (Harlem and the South Bronx) went through several phases of rehabilitation and revitalization, as did other places in the city over several decades. Even the people?s perception of what we do and how we do it has changed dramatically over the years. We went from people liking and appreciating what we do for a living to people being envious and hating us, as is the case today.
I came to the FDNY at an end to an era where landlords, building managers, neighbors and drug-dealers frequently used fire as a weapon to burn one another out, burn down buildings for a profit, get tenants to relocate so as to raise the rent or as an act of revenge. I personally got to see, first-hand and up close, what a fire would and could do when in the wrong hands. I also obtained an understanding OF why the Fire De?part?ment structure was considered quasi-military and regimented. Why we worked together as a team and a unit rather than as individuals, had roll calls and wore uniforms that set us apart from other agencies and citizens.
It was those uniforms and gear that we wore proudly along with our equipment that separated us from everyone else. We never thought of ourselves as special or brave but we did think of ourselves as different. Different because when someone needed help during a fire, emergency or incident, we would answer that call without hesitation or delay. We never really put thought into it as to the time of day, weather conditions, season, climate, environment, color of someone?s skin, age, gender, etc. because we were too busy thinking about what we had to do once we got to the scene, since everyone had a different job and task to perform.
The best times of my life were after a fire when we knew that we did the best we could with what we had with no loss of life and minimal destruction to someone?s home and family. We left them to pick up the pieces and move on after a tragedy without destroying their lives forever.
Most of the time we were never thanked by the people we had just helped, but the sense of satisfaction for a job well done and knowing we did our best and ?the right thing? was thanks enough.
I am compelled to write and let people know that over the last few years and decades, the greatest job in the world (FDNY) was not always doing the ?right thing? by walking on eggshells trying to appease everyone else based on political correctness and all that comes along with it.
We were basically not allowed to talk about or discuss it since we might offend other groups, but everyone knew what we were facing. A change within the job based on several factors beyond our control was taking place. Wom?en wanted to become Firefighters, but since they did not meet the physical requirements that had been in place for so many years before, the Fire De?part?ment had to either water down the requirement for them or just pass them by waiving the agility test altogether because the courts said so. Not taken into account were the dangers of the high-risk, demanding and sometimes life-threatening job.
Then minority members claimed that they weren?t represented enough and felt discriminated against, so again the courts ruled in their favor and then it did not matter anymore how well you trained, prepared, studied or did to rank high and get on the eligible list?it was determined by the color of your skin or your nationality.
At this point, let me say that I am not and never have been envious or against anyone getting on the Fire De?part?ment as long as they work just as hard as I and everyone around me did to get there. This means taking the same test, preparation and training, exams, medicals and physicals that I and everyone else had to take. That is what makes us equal. Nothing more and nothing less.
I was a proud member of, Merit Matters since its inception in 2009. I joined because I felt exactly the same as Deputy Chief Paul Mannix: that the people of New York City deserved only the very best from the FDNY. Therefore, we all believed that the FDNY deserved the most qualified applicants to be firefighters. Many of these firefighters put their heart, soul and sometimes their lives into the job of firefighting, as happened on Sept. 11, 2001, where we lost 343 brothers and continue to lose more as each day, month and year goes by.
Like any major corporation, small business, employment or job that is looking to hire, it is always in the best interest of those companies to be looking and searching for the most-experienced, reliable, smartest, educated, capable and able person or group of applicants to work for them. It can only increase morale within rather than breed resentment.
Why should the Fire De?part?ment be any different?
In the past, the hiring practice of the FDNY was supposed to be an open enrollment and competitive civil-service examination from which everyone had an equal chance of being hired right from the start. Most, if not all, the questions and answers are basic common sense, reasoning and logic.
What has happened is that many de?part?ments in the nation have bent over backwards, caved in and watered down many aspects of the civil-service testing procedure to accommodate those who have failed to live up to par. No one ever said that the test procedures were easy, but then no one ever said fighting a fire was easy either. It is often a matter of life and death, and it can also mean the difference between devastation and total destruction.
I was the first firefighter in my family, after coming from a long list of police officers. So I certainly did not have the advantage of knowing anything about the job other than to keep my eyes and ears open and my mouth shut. No father-son hand-downs, no quick pointers, no nepotism or political favors were done in my name.
All I know is that I passed the hardest process of my life preparing to enter the greatest Fire De?part?ment in the world. All that working out, joining and going to a gym, studying, taking and passing the exam to be placed on a possible hiring list. But my list was placed on hold almost immediately while the courts questioned why the women all failed the physical that I just took and passed. I was told that over 54,000 people originally applied to take the written test and only about 3,000 made the final list. If the women were found to have been discriminated against, then it would appear that the other 51,000 applicants who failed to be hired were all discriminated against as well, but that is another story.
Over the years there have been many changes instituted in this job, like not allowing two women to work in the same unit on the same day or tour, with the possible exception of one of them being engine-company chauffeur. I believe this in itself speaks volumes, but it falls upon deaf ears and everyone turns a blind eye because no one wants to be the scapegoat or sacrificial lamb. I sure as hell did not want to rock the boat and be penalized for speaking the truth.
We had a Deputy Chief who believed in the same things that we all did. A Chief who had the guts to say and do something about it, only to be knocked down, shunned and humiliated by the same de?part?ment. Chief Paul Mannix, like myself, only wanted to see the Fire De?part?ment grow and prosper the right way while maintaining the high standards and tradition that this de?part?ment was known for. Keep in mind that it was the citizens of New York City that gave us the name ?The Bravest? and we have continued to live up to that name ever since.
The Merit Matters membership was open to all members of the De?part?ment and included many blacks, Hispanics, females, white firefighters and officers who felt the same way about themselves, their brothers and sisters, co-work?ers, and the direction in which the job and Fire De?part?ment was going.
I have had the privilege to work with and know Deputy Chief Mannix for many years. I am equally proud to call him my friends, boss and brother. I will always stand with, alongside of and support him 100 percent in his quest to keep this de?part?ment shining bright, standing tall and proud.
Not a day goes by that I don?t miss the job or the men and women that make and made it memorable.
JOHN LEONARD
Lieutenant (Retired) Engine Co. 60

UNQUOTE...EXCELLENT.
 
Well said lieutenant. It doesn't matter what race or gender you are. Only the best and most qualified should get the job. 
 
    Just a thought, if these girl "firemen" were truly qualified as Judge SIFTON and all the rest of the PC crowd contend, then it should be possible to staff an Engine Co. and Ladder Co. with an all girl crew (including the officer) see them respond first due to a 4th. floor fire in an OMD and see the Engine get a line stretched and in operation on the fire floor and the Truck force entry to the fire apartment, conduct a primary, with Roofman & Outside Ventman duties conducted in a coordinated manner, and in the normal amount of time.  I think the policy of having only one girl "fireman" on duty in a Company per tour has been implemented to hide her lack of ability to perform a firefighter's job.  It goes tough on the rest of the Brothers who have to pick up her slack.  I know in the Bronx when they first came on the job, if a Company had one riding that tour, the word was passed throughout the Battalion of that fact, so that everyone knew  Engine Co. X may not be 100% that tour should there be a "job".
 
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