Grapevine - June, 1999

President's Message Membership Update by Tom Dowling LAFRA President and General Manager (1999)

In the January 1999 issue of Grapevine, some photographs were mistakenly mixed with the LAFRA Holiday Party photographs. Due to this error, a few events were not properly acknowledged. I would like to take this oppurtunity to describe one of the event that did not recieve the proper recognition it deserves.

In 1997, Ron Price composed a poem called "The Badge," about new recruits in the LAFD. After the tragedies of the fallen four last year, Ron decided to dedicate the poem in the memory of his fallen brothers. In the 1998 April issue of Grapevine, "The Badge" was featured on the back cover of the magazine. This exposure of the poem generated great enthusiasm, and in July Dennis Waters helped Ron put it into the format of a poster. To Ron's surprise, some guys started bidding on the single poster.

Inspired by the positive response, Ron decided to take a disc to a lithographer's office and have them print off a larger quantity to sell. First charging $4, then $5, then $6 per poster, Ron set a goal for himself to raise $1,000 for the Widows and Orphans Fund. He took a month off of work and drove from station to station selling "The Badge" in poster format. By December 20, 1998, Ron had managed to raise $1,020 for the Fund.

On December 21, 1998, Ron Price presented LAFRA's President Tom Dowling with a check for $1,020 for the Widows and Orphans Fund.

Although Ron is the author of "The Badge," it is the members of the LAFD and thier support of his project that made his success a reality.

###

See "The Badge" poster
Back to the previous page