Custodes Pacis Lodge #2085, OSIA

Next Meeting – The next monthly meeting will be held on Monday, February 4, 2008 at 7 p.m. in the FOP Hall, 1336 Spring Garden Street. Food and refreshments will be served. Following our meeting District 3 will conduct their meeting.

Membership Dues – Dues reminders have been mailed. If you have not done so please check your mail and send in your dues. Paying now will reduce the need for the lodge to send out frequent and costly reminder. If you are a retired or active City of Philadelphia Employee, please consider using payroll deduction.

Membership Cards have been mailed.

Good and Welfare
Sincere condolences are extended to the family of Charter Member Anthony Disiro who passed away on December 6, 2007.

Your thoughts and prayers for a speed recovery are requested for longtime member Joann Plummer who is home following a lengthy hospitalization.

Congratulations and a job well done is offered to the following Custodes Pacis member on her Recent Promotion!
Rosanna Filippello – Detective
I apologize for the omission from last month’s newsletter.

Financial Secretary’s Corner – Contact Rita Rastelli, for any problems related to membership. – Please send all address changes to the Financial Secretary at the Lodge address or by e-mail.

DROP Participants: DROP participants and those planning to retire please don’t let your membership with Custodes Pacis lapse; fill out a Retired Pension Payroll Deduction card prior to retiring.

SCHOLARSHIP NEWS
Scholarship applications are now available. Please contact Scholarship Chairwoman Angela Cardamone.

APRIL LOTTERY FUNDRAISER

Tickets for the April 2008 fundraiser are now available. The proceeds from this event go directly to our scholarship fund so your support is essential! If you are interested in buying tickets or if have requested tickets and have not received them please contact Pete Lavini. If each member purchased just one ticket we would have a very successful fundraiser. Your support is appreciated.

THANK YOU
On December 16, 2007 our annual Children’s Christmas Party was held at the FOP Lodge 5 hall. Everyone who attended enjoyed great food and all children under ten years old received a gift from Santa. Pictures of the event are posted on our website.

I would like to thank everyone who attended and the following individuals and their families for their help in making this event a success: Gary and Theresa Cardamone, Ron Peluzzo, Marco and Nancy Giannetta, Rita Rastelli, Joseph DiSpaldo, Ray Saggese, Gerri Spera, Joseph V. Spera and Jim Moore. Special thanks to Natalie Cianfrani providing the music for our event, Immediate Past President Joseph Spera for coordinating the party and much appreciation is extended to Joseph Merenda for taking on the ‘suit’ and entertaining the kids!

I hope to see you there next year!

January Birthdays
Joseph Cifelli, Santo Bocchinfuso, Angelo De Feo, Anthony Di Pietro, James Campana, Mark Palma, Joseph Chilutti, Alfred Moschella, Thomas Mc Kenna III, James Raffaele Jr., Deborah Mattiacci, Ross Carfagno, Melissa Green, Graziano Iezzi, Francis Gagliardi, George Faccenda, Richard Zappile, Stephen Corso, Anthony Audia, Kenneth Hough, Kelly Ann Hopkins, John Pelosi Jr., William Ayres, Albert Minissa, Harry Giordano, John Matsinger, Joseph Spera, Jeffrey Bellino, John Costa, Ralph Diccianni, Thomas Fiorino, John Massi, James Maleno, Victor Gates

FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS
Marie Rotolo, Georgette Gorey, Floyd Gallo, Thomas Bowe Jr., Anthony Buchanico III, William Di Giuseppe, William Rehiel, William Greco Jr., Anthony Mc Fadden, Frank Scafidi, Joseph Cella Jr., Joseph Lombardo, Barbara Deeley, Lawrence Rawle, Mary Bonett, James Lupinetti, Rosemary Di Lacqua, Guerino Busillo, Alphonsus Marino, Anthony Chiarolanza, Michael Mongelluzzo, Daniel Grassi, Anthony DiPatri, Anthony La Rosa, Charles O’Connor Jr., Frank Spatocco, Gary Capuano, Gina Squillace, A. Charles Peruto, Michael Veneziale, Christine Zerweck, Guerino Busillo, Heather Pace, Emil Bucceroni Jr

Upcoming Meetings:
All Meetings start at 7pm and are located at the FOP Lodge 5 Hall, 1336 Spring Garden Street
Monday, February 4, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008

Attend Meetings and Lodge Events. Contribute to our newsletter and our website. We cannot be a success without your help.

A NIGHT AT THE PHILLIES The lodge is working on putting together a couple of group nights with the Phillies!. I am looking to book a night in June and also I will be booking July 12, 2008 – The Phillies will play the Arizona Diamondbacks and this night is being promoted as “Italian Heritage Night” Details on how to order tickets will be announced in the next newsletter.

THe following article written by Maureen Faulkner appeared in the New York Post on December 21, 2007.

THE LIFE PENALTY

December 21, 2007 — TWENTY-SIX years and counting: That’s how long my family, my friends and I have been tormented by Mumia Abu-Jamal – the man who murdered my husband, Police Officer Danny Faulkner, by shooting him in the back as he lay wounded and helpless on the pavement.

He then put a gun to Danny’s forehead and squeezed off a final shot.

The same rare ammo that killed my husband was found in Abu-Jamal’s gun, which was registered in his name and recovered by police at his side, just 70 seconds after the fatal shot was fired.

Twenty-six years and counting: That’s how long I’ve had to listen to the lies and distortions of those who find the facts and trial testimony irrelevant. Everything from stories of a phantom killer whom none of the five eyewitnesses saw, to a man who said he spoke to my husband after he was shot even though he died instantly, to a supposed hit man hired by the Mafia to kill my husband.

Everything and anything to cloud the waters, stall the legal process and garner misguided support for a guilty killer.

Twenty-six years and counting: That’s how long I’ve had to hear my dead husband portrayed as a vicious, racist cop by people trying to gain sympathy for a guilty murderer. While his remorseless killer is portrayed by left-wing loons, anti-death penalty groups like Amnesty International, know-nothing celebrities, professors, students, communists and the French as a “political prisoner” or “a wrongly convicted intellectual.”

Twenty-six years and counting: That’s how long we’ve had to listen to the voice of my husband’s murderer on the radio “Live From Death Row” and hear his friends comment about his supposed eloquence, talent and “soulful humanity.”

Twenty-six years and counting: That’s how long the family and friends of murder victims may have to wait, minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, for justice and closure.

To the average citizen, that’s absurd; to the average survivor, obscene. But it’s just what the average defense attorney and death-penalty opponent wants.

The longer the appellate process can be clogged with nonsense, the easier it is to argue that it takes too long to execute people – so we should abolish the death penalty.

They’d like you to believe that the process is far too drawn-out to represent anything akin to punishment. But remember, virtually every time, it’s the defendant and his attorneys that stall the process, not the prosecution. The anti-death-penalty crowd creates one of their main grievances about the death penalty. Very slick.

Twenty-six years and counting: That’s how long my family and I have had to pause, take a deep breath and swallow hard every time the phone rings because it just might be someone from the Philadelphia DA’s Office calling to tell us that Mumia Abu-Jamal has escaped justice on a technicality.

They might call to tell us that some judge has ruled that the prosecutor in the original trial was somehow a racist – even though he accepted four blacks to the jury. Or that the courts have decided that the jury was confused by the wording on a form – even though the jury never said they were confused. Or that the trial judge, who was forced to constantly control a seething and disruptive defendant, displayed sufficient evidence of legal bias to warrant a new trial.

While Mumia Abu-Jamal sits safe and sound on death row – writing books and recording radio commentaries – we live in fear. Imagine, just for a moment, what it’s like to live in constant grinding fear for 26 years . . . and counting.

Twenty-six years since I last spent Christmas with my beloved husband, since he held me in his arms, since we were able to tell each other how much in love we were. That’s the sad reality of my situation.

But I’m not alone. The families of murder victims across the country live with similar grim realities. It’s wrong and it has to change. That’s why I wrote my book – to shed light on an unjust system.

I have the book to show for my life over the last quarter century, and I have a candle to light for Danny – who would have celebrated his 52nd birthday today.

Maureen Faulkner is the widow of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, murdered in the line of duty by Abu-Jamal on Dec. 9, 1981. Her new book (with Michael Smerconish) is “Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice authors’ proceeds go to fund grants for children who have lost a parent to murder.

The following message was received from FOP Lodge 5 President John McNesby and is being posted here for the benefit of our members:

The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police is extremely upset with
Mayor-Elect Nutter’s appointment for Deputy Mayor of Public Safety.

This man recently represented the KILLER of Police Officer Gary
Skerski.

We feel that the friends, co-workers, and more importantly the family
of Gary should not have to attend any future memorial events standing
with this Deputy Mayor of Public Safety.

We believe this appointment sends the wrong message to the citizens
of this city, especially in the climate that exists today, that our
Police Officers witness first hand on a daily basis.

The Fraternal Order of Police on behalf of every Philadelphia Police
Officer condemns this appointment, and would ask the Mayor-Elect to
reconsider.

Fraternally Yours,

John J. McNesby, President

Michael G. Lutz Lodge #5 Philadelphia

Fraternal Order of Police