October 2005 - State Firemen's & Fire Marshals'

LETTERS/continued from page 4to all of them. They were particularlymoved by Chaplain Ben Kennedy’scomments during the memorial service.He was amazing. Granted, it was riotthe same without Sean, but theknowledge that so many people cared,made it easier for them. It was good tosee them smile and even laugh, becausethey were with good friends. You andyour organization have had an impacton this family and the thousands ofTexas families served by MDA that willlast the rest of their lives. This feeling isshared by our staff and by me. TheSFFMA is made up by a group of caringand generous individuals.I also wanted to express mysympathy on the loss of your President,Thomas Harwell. As we discussed, it isdifficult to believe that we were havinga great time at our hospitality suite justthe month before and he was in greatspirits. He was truly a wonderful personand this will be a great loss to theSFFMA, the fire service in Texas andMDA. He will be missed. His family isin my thoughts and prayers.Finally, I wanted to thank you, Chris,Sylvia and all of your staff foreverything that you have done andcontinue to do for the fight againstmuscular dystrophy. Over the years,through good times and bad, we’vealways been able to count on theleadership of the SFFMA to help in ourefforts. It is a pleasure to work with eachof you and your great organization. Ilook forward to seeing you all againsoon.SincerelyEd BakerDivisional Field RepresentativeMuscular Dystrophy AssociationPENSION/continued from page 11Administratively, we have substantiallystreamlined our operations.The agency is now using a web-basedsystem for reporting of annual reports,benefit determinations and billings. Wehave moved to a system of quarterlybillings for cities participating in TESRSmaking it a simpler system for both theagency and the end user. We havecross-trained staff who are able to assistin both the statewide volunteer pensionfund program and each of the 123 TexasLocal Firefighter Retirement Actmunicipal programs.My staff and I have traveled the stateto make sure the membership of over26,000 firefighters and their beneficiariesare aware of changes in both agencyoperations and pension fund issues andhave put in many hours above andbeyond general government guidelinesat no additional cost to the state. Yourparticipation and receptiveness to oureducational forums and meetings hasbeen appreciated by all of us.We have come a long way sinceFebruary 2004, and this transformationwould not have been successful withoutthe help of our dedicated staff andthe support of the TESRS Board ofTrustees and the members of theTLFFRA boards’ of trustees. I wouldlike to personally thank each andevery one of the members of theState Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’Association for the diligent work eachof you put in to make these legislativeefforts a reality. I am trying to follow inthe footsteps of my mentor and friend,Helen Johnson, to make this agency,created by you, the fire service, greatonce again. Take care and be safe.A listing of the Texas StatewideEmergency Services Personnel RetirmentBoard of Trustees can be found on page 36.Deputy Director Chris Barron wasfeatured in the taping of a cooking showwith Chef Johnny Carino. Chief Barronand firefighter Carino, a firefighter withManchaca Fire/Rescue, filmed an episodefor Johnny Carino’s cooking show“Break Me Off a Piece of That” that willair this fall in various cities in Texas andthe U.S. The show featured Chef Carinoand Chief Barron making BBQ ribs andPotatoes O’Brien. While filming theshow, Chef and Chief talked about variousfire safety messages that viewerscan practice and implement in their ownhome. The shows are being shown onmany of the PBS stations across Texasand this episode will be shown in thefall.NIGHTCLUB/continued from page 14managers of establishments of managementresponsibilities.Improvements in Texas nightclub,bar and dance hall fire safety can bestbe achieved through a collaborative effortthat involves local and state publicsafety agencies, bar owners/managersand their patrons.130th Annual SFFMATraining Conference & ConventionJune 10 - 14, 2006OCTOBER 2005 TEXAS FIREMEN45