I’m running for one of two Obama National Delegate slots at the 10th Congressional District Convention Saturday. I wrote a letter to all the Obama delegates this week and thought I’d also post it here.

Click here to embiggen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wish me luck as “unslated” is a tough row to hoe.

b

Dear BOCS Members,

I support Supervisor Principi’s courageous position to revisit the immigration resolution.  I also support Chief Deane 100% who, in my opinion, is one of the finest public servants I’ve ever known.

The resolution is not about safety but about something else and I’m still trying to figure out what.  The entire board acted on not facts but anecdotal information.  My perspective is to beef you the zoning enforcement and make sure the Jails are fully participating in the 287G program.

Try to hold the Feds feet to the fire on living up to their end of the ICE bargain and do NOT endanger our excellent police department by forcing them to racially profile.  I don’t know how you avoid it by only asking people with brown skin certain questions.  The law suit on this one will also blow a huge hole in the county budget!

Most of all I’m concerned about public safety funding.  Altho there are still fire fighters in the budget the issue has been and will always be the adequate supervision levels of all of these new young fire fighters.  Nothing brings this issue to the fore more that Kyle Wilson’s death.

Prince William is my home and always will be.  I love the community but look what is happening.  Chasing a segment of our population away is causing for one thing a surplus of foreclosed, empty “safe houses” for gang members, and now with the policies you all have forced on our excellent police department the community policing model that was our law enforcement jewel is crumbling, because the very community that could give the cops good Intel on the bad guys is sacred to death every time they see a blue uniform.  Seems like we’ve accomplished exactly the opposite of the intention.

You all have the opportunity to fix the mistakes made in the past and focus on the future.  The future of all who live, work, and visit Prince William can be bright, but continuing down this draconian road will just give us many more dark days.

b

Bruce Roemmelt, EdD

  I drive a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid.  I’ve nearly always driven Fords.  My Dad worked for them forever.  They Race, the company is American, the workers are union, the % Made in America is about 70, it’s green, and the plant that manufactured it is in Kansas City.

The service I get at Battlefield Ford in Manassas is superb, and I even have one share of Ford Stock.  No stockholder’s meetings in Tokyo for me.

A friend sent me this video and I just had to share it.  Troops, Family and Mustangs! 

Actually my Dad was like this kid’s pop.  He drove landing barges in the Coast Guard for several assaults in the South Pacific.  He was wounded three times.  He never talked about it.

He was never impressed with my generation’s Vietnam gestalt.  I protested but still went.  My sense is that he never understood us.

Let’s bring all these kids home and get ‘em Fords and Hugs.

Enjoy the tribute…

b

Tonight Beth and I went to the Sean Connaughton Plaza at the Prince William Government Complex in Eastern Prince William. Not about the Rule of Law, or taxes in Prince William but about a young man who meant a lot to many of us.

Just honoring the memory of a youth who gave all for the citizens of th is county one year ago today. The Virginia Tech shootings got all the media coverage, but the death of young Kyle Wilson still drives a lot of emotion and actions among the active and retired members of the Prince William Department of Fire and Rescue.

Several hundred of Kyle’s friends, coworkers, many with loved ones there as well, gathered to again remember what kind of a person he was and what he meant to us all. Cops and bureaucrats, brothers and sister fire fighter union members from around the metro DC region (including 25 fire fighters on motorcycles from Maryland), radio and breathing apparatus techs and lots of significant others.

Kyle was emblematic of what county government and its employees need to be about. Helping folks in trouble. Never checking for ’status’ or ability to pay. Just helping. Dealing not with the failures of the federal government, but dealing with fellow humans in distress.

Knowing now that the house in which Kyle died was empty is irrelevant. That’s what we do. Answer the call and help. That’s what government should do. Answer the call and help.

It was haunting as everyone held a candle lit first by the crews that were with Kyle in his last moments, and then like a wave carrying and transferring the flame to the person next to you. Tonight in the sometimes stiff breeze on a balmy night folks struggled to keep their flames lit.

A year ago the gale winds that caused the Marsh Overlook house in which Kyle died, to essentially explode had the opposite effect.

But life goes on and as I told Chief Collins, I was never more proud of my department than when I read the line of Duty Death report that took almost a year to complete. Honest, Painful, Insightful, and Solutions Focused.

Paper that helps heal…

RIP my young brother…

b

I’m really confused by what Corey Stewart’s real agenda is for Prince William, but it looks like his intent is to bankrupt us.  Is the below the real agenda of the Flat Earthers???

b

is not Comcastic!!!

My electronic transition is complete.  I’ve unsubscribed from my Comcast HD Cable and Cable Internet.  The reason is simple - the customer service was essentially the worst I’ve ever experienced.

Living on Bull Run Mountain is a choice.  But with that choice there are issues on the downside.  We’re far away from a lot of stuff.  Restaurants, fuel, shopping, schools, entertainment, and emergency services are not “right around the corner”.  And as a teacher of George Washington University distance learning classes (and avid NASCAR/sports/movies/TV viewer - and the odd political show) there has always been a difference between the signals we get here on the mountain and what’s available in Manassas.  Of course on the upside there is the distance from all the above, the cooler/cleaner air, trees, land, and our beloved home that is NOT like any other.

So when we left Yorkshire in ‘88 we left behind cable TV, and kept the old Erols dial-up.  The antenna reception was ok, but limiting.  Well, we were working long hours and that was no biggie.  The I caved in to the need to have higher Internet speed and got Starband Satellite for the GWU gig.  Worked great with the speed equivalent of today’s entry level DSL up AND down.  But when it rained, or the humidity was over 70% no signal.

Then the day came that we waited for, cable TV came to the mountain.  No more antenna.  This was followed by (in a few years) High Speed Cable Internet.  And after our remodeling of the house last year (and my new large screen plasma TV, High Def.

And boy did the trouble start then.

The High Def had multiple dropouts and pixilations so I called Comcast for “service”.  They showed up, mostly on time, TEN times over a year and it never got fixed.  Lots of attempts, but no success.  The frustration built till I called Dish network and requested a free survey.  The first guy said the trees were too high, but then the boss came out a week later and found the place on the roof for both dishes that would even work when the leaves come out.  Less expensive that Comcast, better picture, more HD channels, and allowed me to cancel my SIRIUS subscription since Dish carries the 10 channels we listen to the most.

So I canceled the Cable TV in January, and they continued to bill me, and I called Comcast and they gave me the “my bad” thing and committed to fixing it.  Then three days later the Cable Internet went out.  You guessed it, the screwed it up and turned everything off.  This was on a Thursday and the quickest they could fix it was the following Tuesday! 

When I got the mail there was the coolest Easter egg from Verizon.  DSL was now available for my house.  I ordered it right then.  The box came in, installed in minutes, and has allowed me to end my Comcast conundrum.  The deal even includes a wireless router and much better customer support.

Consumers really have got to vote with their pocketbooks.  Overall I’m saving about $40 per month with my new techno systems, but the real benefit is that I struck a blow for me.  I FEEL better…

b

Ok.  Election over and as you’re aware, I lost.  Huge support from so many friends but this is a real tough district and the size (largest in the Commonwealth with 85 thousand voters) with an entrenched incumbent.

But life goes on and I am getting around.  Still teaching at GWU, still active as a board member of the Bull Run Mountain Civic Association (and now with the added responsibility of being the Treasurer and still managing the implementation of the FireWise program.)  Still active on the national board of the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society, and very active on the Democratic 10th Congressional District Committee.  Still very involved in politics (supporting actively Feder, Byrne, Deeds, Warner and of course Obama [my vision was of course that the convention deadlocked on the first ballot, and Gore decided to run and won by acclimation - that might be a stretch so I was then an Edwards guy, but regardless, I have announced that I’m in the running to be a delegate to the Democratic nominating convention in Denver… and I’m the new chair of the Gainesville Democratic Committee).  Still active in the Prince William County Professional Fire Fighters and proud to represent them at the Northern Virginia Central Labor Council.

I’m taking a new position as the Library chairperson at the Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church and probably going to be the chair of the Communications Committee.  And then there is our house.  Beth and I have named this the "year of the yard."  Lots to be done and what a great way to lose all those extra pounds that have gathered over the past two years.

And I’m glad to see my former opponent has come over to my side on BRT to Dulles.  Now if I can just get him to oppose the Dominion Power Line… 

I’ve got lots to write about so let’s get it on, and it looks like my "political activities" are far from over …

b

It’s always good to compare.  A major issue here in the 13th District is the Dominion power line.  This will be my last post for a while until election day but visit my web site [ www.electroemmelt.org ] to get the latest info on my campaign to unseat Bob Marshall.

Below are two perspectives on the powerline, but from the self published copies of our testimony to the State Corporation Commission.

Decide for your self who’s on what side of the issues.  Seems to me that if you are against something you could use word like “Oppose” of “Stop”…

MY TESIMONY

Testimony of Bruce Roemmelt

Delivered to the Commonwealth of Virginia
State Corporation Commission Hearing on August 10, 2007

RE: the Application #PUE-2007-00031 of Dominion Resources
to build a 500 Kilovolt power line

My name is Bruce Roemmelt and I live at 2666 Collins Court, in Prince William County. I’m also on the Board of Directors of the Bull Run Mountain Estates Civic Association.

A reading from Proverbs tells us, “Without vision, the people will perish.”

I am here to oppose Dominion’s power line proposal and talk about how a vision can help us through this. But I want to address my opposition to the proposal based on changing the dialogue from the perspective of impact if it is built, to rethinking the proposed actual need for these impacts to be addressed in the first place.

We should have new purpose – developing and implementing a vision of how we address our energy policies – which will lead to a very important outcome: it will determine how our children will evaluate the actions and decisions made as a result of this process.

We have chosen to be reactive when our energy production, transmission and usage paradigm should be proactive. Perhaps in some small way this entire controversy might finally spark our Commonwealth to lead the way to an energy policy with vision that does not just depend on consume – build, consume - build, consume – build and consume.

Continuing our current paradigm will always find us behind and in real danger of perishing.

The obvious parallel to our lack of energy vision is the growth and transportation mess we have in our area. We have no vision to which we have demonstrated the courage to commit.

We currently have 50 thousand houses that can be built tomorrow in Prince William and Loudoun with no infrastructure improvements.

We need to be developing that vision and then be courageous in our implementation.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, in his famous dissent with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, stated…

“It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.”

We here in the Commonwealth need to summon that courage, especially in light of the tremendous power that Dominion Resources has gained in Richmond by showering thousands of campaign contribution dollars and fancy high-priced Redskins box seats on our politicians.

The issue should not be how we can minimize the proposed power line’s impact on conservation easements, view shed, property rights, health risks, the incredible national parks that can never be replaced, the economic loss to those adjacent to the line, protection from terrorism, whether we can bury such a monstrosity using technology that has not yet been invented, and squandering energy produced from ever diminishing fuel sources, but how can we change our lives, just a little bit, to eliminate the need for this project.

Dominion wants us to focus on the issues that will raise their ugly heads after the line is approved. They and their supporters are playing a classic “whack a mole” game with us. Don’t like proposed route A – ok we’ll change to B (or C or D). Don’t like overhead lines – perhaps we can bury them. It’s the Feds, no, the State, no, local governments that are to blame – oh wait it’s the consumers. And all the while Virginia has nearly the lowest investment in demand management of all the 50 states.

I want to focus on how we can avert the need for this project in the first place by making the most of existing energy saving technology and techniques.

I’m not here to dispute Dominion’s estimated peak energy demand ten years out, but I will accept those reams of figures as one tool with which to work and build my argument against this proposal.

If Dominion states the peak demand is “X” and we reduce “X” by ten to fifteen percentage points in ten years we will have eliminated the need for this power line.

It is also disturbing to note in the 50 megabyte Dominion Application Appendix file on the SCC website, there is a BRIEF analysis of 12 alternatives to the 500 Kilovolt line BUT each one was rejected as a solution individually. There was NO analysis of one or more of these alternatives taken together to avert this environmental, cultural, and economic disaster.

My belief is that Dominion is probably elated with all of the band aids being proposed to deal with the project when again I state that the question should not be how do we best build the power line, but how can we avoid building the power line?

I am a retired fire fighter from Prince William County and over the 40 plus years I’ve been running into burning buildings and responding to auto accidents and heart attacks one lesson is more obvious that all the rest.

Prevention is the most important key to reducing risk and damage. Preventative health care leads to longer life and reduced time being sick. Fire prevention and automatic sprinklers reduce and often eliminate serious catastrophe.

We need to be courageous and develop a “prevention policy” now and be intrepid in its implementation.

Which brings me to the solutions that I have not invented – but which I fully support – that will take us to where we can live safely and happily in our communities.

The Piedmont Environmental Council has commissioned a study that has already been introduced into evidence at these hearings. The study, called Summit Blue, proposes several initiatives that will address the energy vision that we need to have in the Commonwealth.

Our political leaders need to use this comprehensive analysis and its recommendations as the blueprint for developing a state energy policy that will show dramatic results in two to three years.

Since you all have the entire report I will just hit the high points that will allow us to develop our energy vision and implement it. And the beauty of this proposal is that Dominion will be afforded excellent opportunities to maintain income levels even as power consumption is reduced.

Blue Summit examines at the demand side management alternatives previously dismissed by Dominion in their appendix.

• Residential and Commercial High-Efficiency Lighting Programs
• Residential HVAC Retrofit and Quality Installation Programs
• Residential and Commercial New Construction Programs
• Residential and Commercial High-Efficiency Appliance/Office Equipment Programs
• Commercial Data Center Efficiency Programs

It is also important to realize that each of these programs provides financial incentives and education to end-use customers to participate, AND in light of the re-regulation bills passed in the last General Assembly session, has the following inducements for Dominion:

• Provides incentives for utilities to find renewable forms of energy and establish demand-side management and conservation programs;
• Allows each utility to seek rate adjustment clauses to recover costs of FERC-approved demand response programs and costs of providing incentives for the utility to design and implement demand-side management programs; and
• Directs the SCC to “conduct a proceeding to establish goals for the amount of energy and demand to be reduced by the operation of demand side management, conservation, energy efficiency, and load management programs, and develop a plan for the development and implementation of recommended programs.”

These opportunities, along with the Blue Summit recommendations will allow the Commonwealth to develop and implement an energy policy vision that will not only eliminate the need for this power line, but will put us in the forefront of energy management in the entire country.

It can be done. When my twenty year old heat pump went out I replaced it with an Energy Star certified unit that cut my electric consumption by 30%. I’ve installed several compact fluorescent bulbs and I turn stuff off when it’s not being used. My coffeemaker even brews into a thermal, insulated carafe that requires no electricity whatsoever AND keeps my coffee hot four times longer.

An appropriate application of technology and technique will save us, and when we’re at the top of the nation in energy conservation instead of the bottom, we will have done something significant not only for ourselves, but also for those that will follow us.

We cannot depend on the Federal government to solve these problems. The mess of national energy policy, immigration, health care and OTHER issues calls out to us to build one of Justice Brandeis’ laboratories that “try novel social and economic experiments”.

I implore the SCC to listen to the people.

I urge the SCC to recommend the building of such a laboratory here in the Commonwealth.

I know we can find the courage to prevail.

Just listen to the passion and testimony given here already by my neighbors.

We need a vision for energy and we do not want to perish.

Bruce Roemmelt

MARSHALL TESTIMONY

Testimony, Delegate Bob Marshall, State Corporation Commission, August 09, 2007, Bristow VirginiaLast fall, after I wrote several thousand of my constituents about a public meeting hosted by Virginia Power on the construction of a proposed 550 KV electric power through portions of Prince William and Loudoun Counties, I attended the public information meeting at George Mason University’s Manassas Campus.

There, Dominion officials, specifically an engineer told me that it would not be technically feasible or indeed even technically possible to use existing power line right of ways for this proposed power line. I asked why. I was told that I would have to take it on his word that it was not possible. I sought an explanation, and was given a conclusion.

Now, we see that it is the existing power line right of way that is the alleged preferred route for the new power line expansion. So what was technically impossible last Fall, is eminently feasible in August, 2007. I am not an engineer, but it is because of responses like this have raised considerable concern among the hundreds of constituents who have communicated their concerns to me over this proposal.

As a state representative I am asking you to go back and examine the public needs statements made by Dominion when the initial announcements came out for this proposal with the statements made today by Dominion.

As a state representative, I am asking you, the State Corporation Commission to thoroughly and if necessary independently examine or seek outside competent technical expertise and have them examine the assumptions the assumptions operative with the initial Dominion proposal before their filing with the SCC, and those that are now prevalent in the current application.

Some of these would include the alleged factual situation and assumption then as well as statements by Dominion then and now that Dominion:

(1) didn’t want to use a longer route because of expense, but that’s what is now proposed;

(2) didn’t want a longer route because of energy losses, but again that’s what is proposed;

(3) had a number of viable alternate routes, but now has only 1 alternative that must be negotiated with VDOT;

(4) has a good conservation and demand reduction program, but nearly 3 months after submitting the application announces formation of an energy conservation group within the company to encourage renewed customer interest in energy efficiency and to explore pilot programs;

(5) would use the state process to gain approval of its application and did not intend to make use of the new Federal backstop authority, and now won’t comment on what might happen if the application is denied.

It took the General Assembly two years to develop an approach to equitable addressing the eminent domain concerns raised by the Kelo Decision of the US Supreme Court. Under newly passed Virginia law this year any public utility has a high burden of proof that any taking of private real property is really necessary for the construction of high voltage power lines. Here is the new law language:
“The right to private property being a fundamental right … No more private property may be taken than that which is necessary to achieve the stated public use … During condemnation proceedings, the property owner may challenge whether the taking or damaging is for a public use, the stated public use is a pretext for an unauthorized use … Nothing in this section shall be construed as abrogating any defenses or rights otherwise available to the property owner independently of this section. (See HB 2954)

If the SCC approves a route that involves any considerable new takings of property, I am suggesting to you that unless Dominion can prove that there were no viable alternatives to erecting a new massive 550 KV power line such as energy conservation, smaller power generating stations nearer to Northern Virginia Consumers, and similar concerns that any such route selection will be subject to profound eminent domain litigation on the need for the takings.

Lastly, there is the statute I authored this year which gives local governments the right to assign power line corridors for 150+ KV power lines. My statute provides that:
“If the local comprehensive plan of an affected county or municipality designates corridors or routes for electric transmission lines and the line is proposed to be constructed outside such corridors or routes, in any hearing the county or municipality may provide adequate evidence that the existing planned corridors or routes designated in the plan can adequately serve the needs of the company. Additionally, the Commission shall consider, upon the request of the governing body of any county or municipality in which the line is proposed to be constructed, (i) the costs and economic benefits likely to result from requiring the underground placement of the line and (ii) any potential impediments to timely construction of the line. (HB 3031)

This wording received the agreement of Dominion Power, Allegheny Power and local governments across Virginia. The words, “any potential impediments to timely construction of the line” includes likely litigation resulting from route selection,
which is more or less likely depending on the route selected.

You have a job cut out for you, but the Citizens of Virginia have through their legislature, placed their confidence in you to exercise thorough and responsible oversight regarding this most important matter. Thank you.

 

_________________________________________________________

choose wisely on November 6th!

b

 

 

Perhaps I’m a bit sensitive lately, but I gotta tell you I think it’s time for a big change in the country.  The image of President Bush on “the pile” a few days after 9/11 shouting through a bull horn, “the nation send its love and compassion” burns in my mind.  Are you part of that nation Mr. President?  Does this attorney general actually work for you???

I’ll never forget (nor forgive) the EPA “cooking the books” about the toxicity of the air at ground zero.  And now this…

-International Association of Fire Chiefs
-Congressional Fire Services Institute
-International Association of Fire Fighters
-National Volunteer Fire Council
-International Association of Arson Investigators
-National Fallen Firefighters Foundation

April 20, 2007

TO:

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

In 2003, Congress passed the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act, which you signed into law. The purpose of this act was to ensure that the families of public safety officers who died in the line of duty due to a heart attack or stroke would receive benefits under the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) program. We are concerned that the DOJ is not implementing this legislation properly, and request that you examine the PSOB program to ensure that the families of America’s fallen firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and police officers are receiving the benefits mandated by law.

The Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act (P.L. 108-182) states that:

“if a public safety officer dies as the direct and proximate result of a heart attack or stroke, that officer shall be presumed to have died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty, if -

(1) that officer, while on duty -

(A) engaged in a situation, and such engagement involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical law enforcement, fire suppression, rescue, hazardous material response, emergency medical services, prison security, disaster relief, or other emergency response activity; or

(B) participated in a training exercise…. (42 U.S.C. § 3796 (k))”
The presumption of death is clearly defined in the law, the accompanying floor statements, and other legislative history.

Recent press reports have indicated that 38 of the first batch of PSOB claims considered under the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act have been rejected and only two have been approved. Another 200 cases remain undecided. The families of these fallen public safety officers have contacted us and questioned whether the DOJ is truly granting a presumption that public safety officers who died in the line of duty met the requirements for the PSOB program. We have specific concerns that DOJ’s interpretation of what constitutes “nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical” activity is preventing public safety officers who die of stroke or heart attack within 24 hours of engaging in emergency response activities from qualifying for these benefits.

Knowing of your concern for America’s first responders, we ask that you review this program to ensure that it is being implemented in accordance with the law that you signed. It is important to
our organizations that the families of these fallen heroes receive the benefits that they have been granted by law and their families so desperately need.

Sincerely,

Chief James B. Harmes, CFO-President-International Association of Fire Chiefs
Dr. William F. Jenaway-President-Congressional Fire Services Institute
Harold A. Schaitberger-General President - International Association of Fire Fighters
Philip C. Stittleburg-Chairman-National Volunteer Fire Council
Hal Bruno-Chairman of the Board-National Fallen Firefighters Foundation
Thomas J. Fee-President-International Association of Arson Investigators

CC:

The Honorable Alberto Gonzales, U.S. Attorney General
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable Arlen Specter, Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives Committee
on the Judiciary
The Honorable Lamar S. Smith, Ranking Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on the Judiciary

Link to letter at:

http://www.iafc.org/displaycomm</WBR title=http://www.iafc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=751>on.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=751

I’m a bit distracted right now working on my campaign, but I will be thinking about this (and veterans issues as well) when I start working on the next campaign starting November 7th, 2007.

b

Yesterday was one that was both extremely painful and one that made me feel an immense amount of pride.  Kyle’s memorial was stunning.  Three thousand people at Nissan and the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue family of over 700 active, retired, and significant others paying tribute, each in their own way.

The most difficult moment for me was when Kyle’s crew solemnly placed his boots, coat and helmet in front of the casket - and then saluted.  In 40 years in the fire department it was, in the end, always about the crew for me.  As Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain said, “in the end, we do it for each other.”

Like so many of my brothers and sisters I am drained, but I also know that now our job is to take care of each other.

I’ve said it hundreds of times, don’t give me any this Gen X/Y crap.  My department is in the best of hands.  At 60 I can say this, these kids make me so proud.

The Potomac News/Journal Messenger has a numbing pictorial tribute up at:

http://media.gatewayva.com/wpn/2007/0dip/index.html

My final thoughts after this terrible week?

Sometimes hate leads to death, and sometimes it’s love…

b

 

FIREFIGHTER POEM

Brother when you weep for me

Remember that it was meant to be

Lay me down and when you leave

Remember I’ll be at your sleeve

In every dark and choking hall

I’ll be there as you slowly crawl

On every roof in driving snow

I’ll hold your coat and you will know

In cellars hot with searing heat

At windows where a gate you meet

In closets where young children hide

You know I’ll be there at your side

The House from which I now respond

Is overstaffed with heroes gone

Men who answered one last bell

Did the job and did it well

As firemen we understand

Author — Unknown

I will be honored to sit with my brothers and sisters of the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue and my IAFF family at the memorial.  “Retired members are still members.” 

b