Congratulations!!!
I would like to congratulate Brother Tim Wight for completing the Motor Officer Training School. Tim got some scrapes, bruises and a bump on his left thigh. It is a tough course and he should be proud of himself for passing the course. If you see Tim, congratulate him on a job well done. Also, congratulate Brother John Merrell who also successfully completed the course and is riding his motor on Swing Shift. Brother David Despain also received a transfer to Detectives which took place on November 9^th. Sister Helen Simmonds was transferred to the Central Community Action Team on November 16^th. We wish these Brothers and Sisters or anyone else who I may have missed, good luck in their new assignments. I would also like to congratulate all of the officer trainees who graduated the F.T.O. program and became Mesa Police Officers. Several FOP members reached the 20 year mark recently and we would like to recognize them. Brother Crafton, Brother Farago, Brother G.T. Fowler, Brother Federico, Brother Ricky Fowler and Brother Werner all recieved a gold badge recently. Incidently Brother Farago was promoted to Lieutenant not too long ago and Brothers Lattanzio and Mauser were promoted to Sergeant recently. Congratulations to all of these worthy brothers and Sisters.

Grand Lodge Legislative News
On November 13^th, Grand Lodge President Gil Gallegos and other members of the FOP joined President Clinton at the White House to sign two bills (which were strongly supported by the FOP) into law. Senate Bill S.1525 is the "Police/Fire Emergency Officers Educational Assistance Act." This law extends educational assistance to the dependants of State and Local Police, Fire and Emergency Personnel who were killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. The former law provided assistance to federal officers only. President Clinton also signed into law Senate Bill S.191, which supplies legislation to the Bailey decision in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court’s decision required that a firearm be used or carried in a crime to receive a stiffer sentence. This law had to show that a criminal actively employed the gun in the commission of a crime rather than just merely possessing it. It also put the burden of proof on the prosecution as to the intent of the criminal. The new law requires only that the prosecution show that the criminal was merely armed during the commission of crimes such as drug trafficking. A person who gets convicted of drug trafficking while in possession of a firearm would get TEN years added to their sentence.

"A gun in the hands of a criminal is a danger to all of us whether he uses, carries, possesses or brandishes that weapon because it is the gun that gives the criminal the power to terrorize the nation’s citizens and deal drugs to our children with impunity." says FOP President Gallegos.

In other news....
Monday Night Football continues to be a great success. More and more people are showing up. As the season winds down, the playoff chase starts so the games are getting interesting. Come to the Lodge Hall and support your team while having a good time with fellow FOP Brothers and Sisters. The Lodge Christmas Party is coming up so get your tickets now to reserve your spot. The party is on December 12^th. At the November 14^th meeting we had a large turnout of members. I don’t remember seeing this many members at one of our meetings. I counted almost 60 people at the meeting. Brother Fajardo won the monthly raffle and walked away with thirty two bucks. I hope this is a prediction for 1999 and we keep having these large turnouts of members coming to the meetings. I remember the days when we had just twenty or thirty members show up so this is good. I want to see have many more meetings like this in 1999.

Calibre Press Article
We received a great deal of positive feedback on the article from Arizona D.P.S. Lt. Terry Azbill. This month we have his wife’s perspective. I spoke to Terry Azbill and he is one heck of a nice guy. If any one has any questions or comments on the article, please contact me and I will put him in touch with you to share ideas and thoughts. His story is getting national acclaim and I had the privilege to read some of the mail from the Calibre Press Mailbag in response to his story. I would like to thank Terry, his wife Cynthia and the Calibre Press for giving us the honor of printing their stories in our newsletter.