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Now is: 2009-07-04 05:33
 

Choir Practice

in Local 623 Questions and Discussions by rjstack, 17-02-09 09:13
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International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 623
City Council Update PDF Print E-mail
Written by Kreher   
Monday, 29 June 2009 12:09
IBPOThe City Council passed a tax increase today that should effectively end the furloughs in July. 
Last Updated on Monday, 29 June 2009 12:13
 
APD Officer Says Health Claim Was Denied PDF Print E-mail
Written by Leigha Baugham | myfoxatlanta.com   
Saturday, 27 June 2009 08:09
Fox 5ATLANTA (MyFOX ATLANTA) - A police officer who suffered a heart attack while patrolling his northwest Atlanta beat got turned down when he filed a claim for benefits. Sergeant Jack Ludwig said the city's third party provider gave him an "unbelievable" explanation for why he was denied coverage.

Ludwig, a police supervisor, was three hours into his shift and responded to a call. A short time after clearing the call, Ludwig said he started feeling chest pains.

Ludwig said he drove himself to a firehouse. Atlanta firefighters were credited with saving Ludwig's life by giving him medical treatment until he could be transported to the hospital.

Ludwig said when he spoke to a claims representative, he was told the heart attack may have come on before he reported for duty and his claim would be rejected.

At Atlanta City Hall, employee claims are handled by a third party provider called Nova Pro. A phone call to the company to apply for benefits left Sergeant Ludwig in a bad mood.

The company denied Ludwig's claim. Mayor Shirley Franklin said she couldn't discuss individual cases, but this isn't the first time the mayor has heard police officers complain about the third part provider.

Pat Cocciolone, who suffered a catastrophic injury after being shot in the head, is one of five disabled officers who have gone public about being turned down on claims.

A manager at the provider's claims office said privacy rules prevented him from discussing Ludwig's complaint, but he rebutted a common complaint that the company routinely denied claims at the outset as a negotiating tool in order to fashion a compromise settlement later.
 
12TH ANNUAL ATLANTA BRAVES BALLGAME AND COOKOUT PDF Print E-mail
Written by Webmaster   
Friday, 26 June 2009 06:13

WELCOME TO THE 12TH ANNUAL ATLANTA BRAVES BALLGAME AND COOKOUT


SATURDAY, JULY 18TH BRAVES vs N.Y. METS

THE PRICE OF A TICKET IS $40.00 EACH WHICH INCLUDES ADMISSION TO THE BALLGAME, PARKING, FOOD, SOFT DRINKS AND OF COURSE THE EVER-FLOWING BUDWEISER BEER TRUCK

IF ONLY PLANNING TO ATTEND THE COOKOUT, THE COST OF THE TICKET IS $30.00
TO RESERVE TICKETS, CALL JOHN PUCCI @ 404-271-3713
TICKETS MUST BE PAID IN ADVANCE
TICKETS WILL BE PASSED OUT AT THE GAME

MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO MAPES AND MAIL TO JOHN PUCCI 1102 CANVAS BACK DRIVE WOODSTOCK, GA 30188
WE WILL BE IN THE PARKING LOT @ 724 HANK AARON DRIVE, (SAME AS PAST YEARS) ACROSS FROM THE STADIUM

2:30 p.m. Bar will open 5:00 p.m. Chow time 7:00 p.m. “Batter Up”
 

What a great way to spend some quality time with your family


More updated information will follow
Click here to view the Flyer
Last Updated on Friday, 26 June 2009 06:19
 
THE BENEFIT FOR SGT. SCOTT KREHER: A REVIEW PDF Print E-mail
Written by Stephanie Ramage, The Sunday Paper   
Saturday, 13 June 2009 04:15

SPBy Stephanie Ramage, The Sunday Paper

Photographs by Spark St. Jude, The Sunday Paper

June 12, 2009
Poster

No, sadly this is not my review.

Thursday night is when the Sunday Paper goes to press and it's rare that I'm able to attend anything then. Last night was especially difficult. Still jetlagged (when the hell does this finally end?) and apparently cursed by the goddess of return phone calls, I struggled to pull together this weekend's cover story, "Officer Down: How City Hall's neglect of officers disabled in the line of duty affects crimefighting in Atlanta's neighborhoods." And I did so with a feeling of being in the wrong place.


I wanted to be at the benefit for APD Sgt. Scott Kreher and everytime I interviewed a cop who said "Yeah, I'm on my way there now," I scowled at my laptap's empty screen, with all those words still coiled up in the keyboard, and at the clock steadily ticking on, and felt like Cinderella locked in the attic.

There were so many people I wanted to actually meet in person, but it just wasn't happening. The story had to be done. Deadline--which was pushed to as late an hour as my coworkers are ever likely to tolerate--had to be met.

Fortunately, Turner Knapp, a reader who has stepped in before to be somewhere I couldn't be, offered to cover the event in my stead. Here's his account of the evening. -- Steph

 

 

 

 

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 June 2009 05:00
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WHY THE MAYOR NEEDS A PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION: SHIRLEY FRANKLIN’S VERBAL VIOLENCE PDF Print E-mail
Written by Stephanie Ramage, The Sunday Paper   
Thursday, 11 June 2009 03:40
SPBy Stephanie Ramage, The Sunday Paper

June 10, 2009, 8:38 AM


Mayor Shirley Franklin has spent the past few weeks sermonizing about the destructive power of angry words, but she apparently doesn’t listen to her own sermons. From defaming reporters like me who criticize her policies, to saying, when she was running for office, that she would have "been better off to shoot” her ex-husband “than to divorce him," Franklin has raised some disturbing questions: Do her words convey the state of her mental health, as she says is the case for others? Or does she, like narcissists and sociopaths, believe that life is a performance, that words and actions are merely means to an end, and that everyone else, and everything else, exists merely to fulfill her own goals? Is that why she finds it so easy to ignore harrowing reports of crime against the citizens she is supposed to look out for? For her, are words window dressing? And if so, then what is her recent flurry of indignation really about? Paranoia? Insecurity? Guilt?

 
Last Updated on Thursday, 11 June 2009 03:47
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Speaking truth to power PDF Print E-mail
Written by Stephanie Ramage, The Sunday Paper   
Tuesday, 02 June 2009 05:07

spThe other things an Atlanta Police sergeant told City Hall

May 31, 2009

By Stephanie Ramage, The Sunday Paper

By the time you read this, I will be out of the country on vacation, but I am leaving with a heavy heart. The story I worked on about the way Mayor Shirley Franklin’s administration has treated disabled officers, “Badges, Bullets, and Broken Promises,” which The Sunday Paper published on May 17, has haunted me.

Fortunately, officers, disabled and working, have had a champion in Atlanta Police Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers (IBPO). It was on their behalf that he lost his temper on May 20 and let slip a phrase about a baseball bat that at this point doesn’t even bear repeating.

He said a lot of other things that day, too, and since no one has reported them, I’ve decided to publish his talking points here.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 June 2009 05:13
Read more...
 
Mayor Franklin feeling the heat PDF Print E-mail
Written by Kevin Moreau, The Sunday Paper   
Sunday, 31 May 2009 05:57

SPMay 29, 2009 

It’s a balmy 82 degrees as I write this. But wherever Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin is by the time you’re reading it, I imagine she’s feeling a lot more heat than that.

A lot has happened since The Sunday Paper ran a cover story on May 17 about a group of seriously injured Atlanta police officers with complaints about the city’s handling of their medical care—a story that gained momentum as WSB-TV, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other media outlets reported on it in the days that followed.

Last Updated on Sunday, 31 May 2009 06:07
Read more...
 
Union leader says mayor is playing politics with injured officers PDF Print E-mail
Written by MEGAN MATTEUCCI , ERIC STIRGUS, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   
Friday, 29 May 2009 13:00

AJCFranklin asks feds to investigate ‘bat’ comment
Union leader says mayor is playing politics with injured officers

By MEGAN MATTEUCCI , ERIC STIRGUS, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s claims of being intimidated by a union leader are just a political ploy to cover up a broken workers’ compensation system, a national police union president said Thursday.

On Thursday, International Brotherhood of Police Officers’ President David Holway delivered a letter to Franklin, demanding a public hearing for all injured city employees who have filed workers’ compensation claims. Several officers, who were severely injured on duty, have complained of not getting proper medical care or payments from the city.

Read more...
 
National union leader speaks up PDF Print E-mail
Written by Megan Matteucci, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   
Friday, 29 May 2009 12:03

AJCPolice group’s president says Mayor Franklin is playing politics.He demands a public hearing for hurt officers.

By Megan Matteucci, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friday, May 29, 2009

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s claims of being intimidated by a union leader are just a political ploy to cover up a broken workers’ compensation system, a national police union president said Thursday.

Thursday, International Brotherhood of Police Officers’ President David Holway delivered a letter to Franklin, demanding a public hearing for all injured city employees who have filed workers’ compensation claims.

PDF Link

“These heroes suffer again as victims of the city’s workers’ compensation program. They certainly deserve better than this,” Holway told three injured Atlanta police officers Thursday at a news conference. “These heroes answered their call of duty. Now it’s time for the city to do the same.”

Franklin declined to comment.

Last Updated on Friday, 29 May 2009 13:16
Read more...
 
THE POLICE AND CITY HALL PDF Print E-mail
Written by Stephanie Ramage, The Sunday Paper   
Thursday, 28 May 2009 08:50

SPEveryone on the Atlanta City Council is up for reelection. Some of them should be voted out.

By Stephanie Ramage, The Sunday Paper 

Last week, the Atlanta City Council grilled Atlanta Police Department Sgt. Scott Kreher for nearly two hours. Near the end, he brought up the plight of five former police officers who were all seriously injured in the line of duty, mostly by bullets from criminals’ guns—four of them paralyzed, one of them brain-damaged—and how the city has withheld medical care from them (as detailed by The Sunday Paper on May 17), and he lost his temper.

 “And this latest fiasco with the disabled officers,” Kreher told the council, shaking his head, “these five officers were injured in the line of duty … I want to beat her [Mayor Franklin] in the head with a baseball bat sometimes when I think about it...I cannot believe Mayor Franklin’s administration would allow this to happen. This administration should be ashamed of itself.”

Prior to that remark, Kreher, who is president of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, had given a presentation succinctly enumerating the problems with City Hall’s treatment of the police department and outlining some possible solutions.

And yet, when the City Council members, all of whom are up for reelection, were given time to ask questions, the vast majority chose to expend their breath on political grandstanding, as if they had not heard a single word Kreher said.

Read more...
 
A Petition to Reinstate Atlanta Police Sgt. Kreher PDF Print E-mail
Written by Webmaster   
Wednesday, 27 May 2009 03:45

On May 26th a petition was started to reinstate Sgt. Kreher.

The petition is spearheaded by The Sunday Paper and Atlantans Together Against Crime.


Follow this link to read the petition.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reinstatekreher/index.html 

The following is an excerpt from the petition:

 "The purpose of this petition is to signify the support of the undersigned for the acceptance by Mayor Shirley Franklin of the apology offered to her by Sgt. Scott Kreher for his ill-chosen words during the council meeting on May 20, and to demand that she allow Kreher, who has served the City of Atlanta with honor for 17 years, to return to his job in good standing so that he can protect the people of Atlanta during this time of need.  

The undersigned citizens of Atlanta want Sgt. Scott Kreher back on the job, with his pay and benefits fully restored and no adverse impact to his status and standing in the Atlanta Police Department. These citizens want Mayor Franklin to accept Sgt. Kreher's apology and to meet with the above-described injured officers, or to make sure their medical costs are covered in a timely and efficient fashion as described by the city's workers compensation policy.

Please sign and include address and phone number. You do not need to be a resident of Atlanta to sign. If you come into the city for work or play you are also encouraged to sign! "

I
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 May 2009 04:55
Read more...
 
Atlanta's Finest: Claim Denied PDF Print E-mail
Written by IBPO Local 623   
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 18:25
Claim Denied

Five Atlanta Police officers wounded in the line of duty say the city withholds the medical care they desperately need

 

http://ibpolocal623.com/webcontent/library/2009/Atlanta-2009.wmv 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 May 2009 08:06
Read more...
 
What is a Policeman PDF Print E-mail
Written by Paul Harvey   
Wednesday, 06 May 2009 04:09

Paul Harvey

What is a Policeman?

 

Last Updated on Wednesday, 06 May 2009 04:19
 
Atlanta spent thousands to fight claims by 5 injured cops PDF Print E-mail
Written by Bill Torpy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   
Thursday, 11 June 2009 03:49

AJCSeverely injured officers say city systematically challenges their claims to services, treatment

By Bill Torpy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Atlanta legal records show the city has spent more than $171,100 in the past five years fighting the medical claims of five severely injured police officers, claims that were almost always ultimately paid.

The officers — four in wheelchairs, one brain-damaged — say the city has systematically challenged and delayed services and treatments they need to survive, especially over the past two years.

“When they decide to fight something, the cost is irrelevant,” said Ryan Phinney, a 43-year-old paraplegic who was injured when his squad car was T-boned in 1989.

The officers have complained that the city — through the workers’ compensation administrator it has hired — fights and delays claims until just before the two sides are to appear in workers’ compensation court. Then they are settled.

Phinney said this occurred again this week when the city agreed to pay about $44,000 to make his home handicapped accessible and $6,000 in home health-care costs. The case was due to go to court Tuesday, but the city agreed Monday to pay, he and his attorney said.

Records show the city spent $69,608 on legal fees since March 2007 fighting claims made by Phinney. He said three years of legal bills going back to 2004 were missing. Those records were not made available by the city. It is not clear what is the monetary total of the officers’ claims.
Read more...
 
Report lists Atlanta second least safe city in U.S. PDF Print E-mail
Written by CHRISTIAN BOONE, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   
Tuesday, 09 June 2009 04:06
AJCBy CHRISTIAN BOONE, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Atlanta is the nation’s second least safe city, according to an independent analysis of FBI crime statistics that’s been disputed by some experts.

The ranking, compiled by the Web site Real Clear Politics, was derived by dividing the total crimes detailed in the FBI’s report by city population. Atlanta’s per-capita crime rate measured at 16 percent.

“Determining whether a city is safe or not is not as easy as that,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which has representatives from law enforcement agencies nationwide.
Read more...
 
Police union grievances go back a long way PDF Print E-mail
Written by Bill Torpy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   
Monday, 01 June 2009 04:01

AJCBy Bill Torpy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Much has been made about Atlanta police union head Sgt. Scott Kreher saying he’d like to hit Mayor Shirley Franklin with a baseball bat.

Kreher was speaking at a City Council meeting detailing grievances about the city’s treatment of five severely disabled officers and has said his frustration got the best of him. He apologized but was suspended.

Franklin, who called the comments “reprehensible,” is now trying to make it a federal case, asking state and U.S. prosecutors to investigate the matter.

But aside from the pro-wrestling style hyperbole, the exchange between the two was nothing new. They have been sniping at each other for some time now, just as their respective predecessors have done over the years.

Read more...
 
Injured APD officer defends angry sergeant PDF Print E-mail
Written by Alexis Stevens, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   
Friday, 29 May 2009 13:17

AJCCop said he’d like to hit mayor with a baseball bat

By Alexis Stevens, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Former Atlanta police officer Mike McCain suffered a career-ending back injury when he came to the aid of two fellow officers in 1997.

Part of McCain’s medical care includes weekly injections. But by Sunday, he’ll be out of a the drug he needs. And he says the company that handles the city’s workman’s compensation claims — NovaPro Risk Solutions — is to blame.


“I’ve been waiting for more than a month for them to pay for a drug,” said McCain, who now lives in Austell. “All of a sudden, they won’t approve it.”

NovaPro had no comment.

Read more...
 
Disabled Officers Call on Mayor for Help PDF Print E-mail
Written by Leigha Baugham, myfoxatlanta.com   
Friday, 29 May 2009 12:39

MY FOX AtlantaBy: Leigha Baugham, myfoxatlanta.com

ATLANTA (MyFOX ATLANTA) - The verbal sparring between Mayor Shirley Franklin and a contingent of Atlanta police officers appeared to heating up again Thursday. The head of a national police organization said Franklin may be playing politics with the lives of disabled police officers.

Several permanently disabled former Atlanta police officers gathered to call on Mayor Shirley Franklin to address the issue of the workman's compensation benefits. The issue has taken center stage after the Atlanta police union boss, Sergeant Scott Kreher came under remarks he made during a budget meeting.

Sergeant Kreher's remarks regarding officers' workers compensation coverage got the officer in hot water with the mayor.

"I can't believe Shirley Franklin would even mention in a breath that she supports the Atlanta police department, to be shot down in the line of duty, and be treated the way they are now is unconscionable I want to beat her in the head with a baseball bat when I think about it," Kreher said in the meeting.

Mayor Franklin fired back at the comments saying, "When someone says they want to take a bat and hit you in the head, in my experience, they want to kill you."

Atlanta's Mayor Shirley Franklin took her complaint against the officer to the Fulton County district attorney Tuesday. Franklin confirmed that she asked District Attorney Paul Howard to review a controversial statement by a police sergeant during a budget meeting.

Franklin said she will file a complaint against Kreher with federal, state and local authorities.

Mayor Franklin said the compensation issue will be addressed

(go to MYFOXAtlanta.com to see the video)

Last Updated on Sunday, 31 May 2009 06:07
 
Injured cops video Shirley Franklin probably doesn’t want you to watch PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andisheh Nouraee, Creative Loafing   
Thursday, 28 May 2009 08:59

Creative LoafingAJC Political Insider Jim Galloway posted a video this morning I suspect Mayor Shirley Franklin doesn’t want you to watch.


The video shows five men and women severely wounded while on duty as Atlanta police officers. Each claims the city is denying them medical benefits they need, and to which they are entitled.

Why do I assume Mayor Franklin doesn’t want you to watch it?

Simple.

Because she’s spent the last week dodging questions about the video’s subject matter.

Read more...
 
Atlantans debate officer’s baseball bat remark PDF Print E-mail
Written by CHRISTIAN BOONE, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   
Thursday, 28 May 2009 05:48

AJCBy CHRISTIAN BOONE, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

In the wake of controversial remarks by the head of Atlanta’s police union about Mayor Shirley Franklin, a debate is unfolding:

Is the mayor the victim or the victimizer?

The question is likely to come up Thursday afternoon when Sgt. Scott Kreher’s boss holds a press conference in Atlanta regarding the city’s treatment of cops injured on the job.

That issue started this latest dust-up between Franklin and one of her most vocal critics, Kreher, who last week told the city council: “I want to beat [Franklin] in the head with a baseball bat sometimes when I think about [the delayed workers compensation claims].”

Kreher was placed on paid administrative leave and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation, the results of which have not been made public.

Read more...
 
Apology to Mayor Franklin PDF Print E-mail
Written by Sergeant M. Scott Kreher   
Saturday, 23 May 2009 10:01

IBPOI wanted to express my sincere regret for the comments I made about you in our recent presentation to the City Council over the 2009/10 proposed budget on May 20th, 2009.  My actions were inexcusable and certainly not what our officers and City expect from a leader in our department. 

 

Link to Apology Letter to Mayor Franklin
 Apology to Mayor Franklin

 

Sgt. Scott Kreher
National Vice President IBPO/NAGE
President, IBPO Local 623

 
Obama Administrations proposed cuts PDF Print E-mail
Written by Sergeant M. Scott Kreher   
Tuesday, 12 May 2009 04:46

IBPOThere has been a lot of discussion about the Obama Administrations proposed cuts in the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit Act (42 USC 3796).  This is the Federal law that provides death and disability benefits as well as educational assistance to officers or their families in the event the officer is killed or disabled in the line of duty.  These benefits are statutory requirements and each and every approved claim will be paid in full, regardless of how much is budgeted by the current for future administration.  The budget cuts will not have any effect on any officer receiving the benefit, this is strictly a result of less officers being killed or disabled in the line of duty last year.  The budget for this act is formed based on the previous year’s total number of officer claims. 

Sergeant M. Scott Kreher
Atlanta Police Department
National Vice President, IBPO/NAGE
President, IBPO Local 623

 
Atlanta Unprotected PDF Print E-mail
Written by Webmaster   
Sunday, 31 August 2008 06:55

ibpo videoAtlanta Unprotected

 

Last Updated on Sunday, 10 May 2009 05:18
 
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