Archives
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Spotlight - John (Jack) Phillips December 1, 2008
You may not know that Jack initially was educated in construction as an electrician and due to an economic downswing in the steel industry ended up in the Printing trade for his first career. Now in retirement, he enjoys using his “fixer upper” skills around his and wife, Dottie’s lovely home at Swan Lake in Titusville. He and Dottie have two daughters and grandchildren, who live in the greater Augusta Georgia area. Including his fixer up duties, Jack enjoys fishing off his dock behind his home, and loves digital photography and computer editing of his photos. His favorite subjects are landscapes and wildlife. Jack and Dottie are also charter members of the DC TimeWatchers group. Jack is also on FACEBOOK and a member of the FACEBOOK group DC TimeWatchers as well. If you want to catch up with Jack, you can plan on attending a DC TIMEWATCHER activity, Join FACEBOOK, join the FACEBOOK DC TimeWatcher group or email Jack at jdlakeside@bellsouth.net Jack would love to hear from all his work friends any time. |
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CONGRATULATIONS JESSICA KASPAR,
DEAF ELEMENTARY'S 2009 - 2010
TEACHER OF THE YEAR! 
November 1, 2008 Hey, the DC TimeWatchers sponsored 2nd grade class Teacher, Jessica Kaspar was named Deaf Elementary Teacher of the Year 2009/2010 at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. Of course I am proud of that as Jessica Kaspar is Kathie's & my daughter and a very dedicated teacher of a special group of children. Keith
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Fall Picnic Get2Gether Great Success October 10, 2008 O ur fall GET2GETHER was held on Friday 10/10/08. Please take a few minutes and look at the photo album of the gathering. We had 45 in attendance, while that is a lower number than usual, it was a great time. Our most distant traveler was George Murphy from Georgia, with a great mix of folks from all over Brevard County and a great mix of all department’s retirees. Medical made a great showing, with RN Marge Patt, CMT-C Willie Parlor, Sherman English (yes he was in medical before coming to security) and not forgetting Jim Johnson –who also started in Medical at Brevard and retired as AW from IRCI. Another Administrator retiree was Dave Hemme, Retired Warden. Bill Morrell & John Shearer Sr. from Maintenance, Mike Gooch from Staff Development/Training, Manly Solovicos, Marge Grasso, Steve Russo, Kenny Terrell from education. Security retirees included Richard Puglio, Larry Cruce, John Cummings, Doug Gillis, Keith Kiser, Tom Komon, Richard Lopresto, Larry Reed, Uwe Schwersenski, Tim Scott, Jackie Shearer, E.J. Smith, Allan Spence, Richard Ward, Deputy Bobby Johnson and guests Joan English, Carol Ward, Sharon Loneg & Onnita Reed.
Pete Baillargeon and John Shearer II did a great job on the grill as always, and thanks to the superb organizational skills and financial arm twisting of Lori Girard and Linda Patricks we got everyone logged in those participating in our 50/50 draw along with tons of Retiree Door Prizes. Other still working staff and supporters of our Retiree Group, whom we love to see included, Captain Bernie Elvin, Captain Robert Wilson, Lieutenant Don Tapper-Charlotte CI, Senior Sgt. Amos Lewis, Sgt. Tom Burke, Sgt. Maria Komon, Lieutenant Chuck Mulligan. If you are still working and are interested in helping out our group in our functions or wish to join us for an activity, please just email and let us know and we will add you to our email list and keep you up to date on happenings of the DC TimeWatchers. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! One of the reasons our retiree group enjoys success is the still working folks, who come out and volunteer to help us put our functions on every time we gather. Since 2003, many of you schedule time off, plan on your regular days off or just squeeze us in during your lunch hour to help us out any way you can in supporting our GET2GETHERS. Many of you contribute generously of your time, money or resources for our gatherings. There are over 40 of you who have directly helped us maintain our relationships with our employee family over the last Five (5) Years!!! We deeply appreciate all that you have done without special notice or exceptional recognition. There are probably twice that many folks who cover posts and work the shift to allow you to step up and support our retiree group and to those, we are also grateful. You know who you are and so do we……. Thank you for being there for us!! Also, I want to express our deepest appreciation to Mr. Jorge Hoffman from Edward Jones Investments, who kindly donated 17 beautiful door prize gifts for the function. Jorge is the financial advisor for several retirees from Brevard and is always available to consult with anyone preparing to retire or already retired. He can be reached at 639-8510. Jorge’s office is located at 3819 Murrell Road, Rockledge, Florida. “Thanks Jorge for your generosity and support of our DC TimeWatchers”.
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Allen Spence - What Do You Do When You Retire?
Allen's Big Adventure
October 1, 2008
EVER DREAM OF AN ADVENTURE THAT WOULD TRY YOUR VERY SENSES AND CHALLENGE YOU TO THE MAX?… DC TIMEWATCHER ALLEN SPENCE DID JUST THAT. ALLEN LAUNCHED HIS ADVENTURE FROM EDGEWATER FLORIDA ON JULY 11, 2008 AND FINALLY RETURNED HOME ON AUGUST 22, 2008.
ALLEN PLANNED AND TOOK OFF ON A SOLO MOTORCYCLE RIDE TO THE ALASKAN FRONTIER.
The trip took 40 days and nights. He camped 30 nights on the road in his small bivy tent and only spent 10 days in various hotels along the trip. He logged more than 14,300 miles on his new BMW motorcycle.
His Journey Log included
the first main stop in Gillette Wyoming, which
is a long way from Florida by itself, and attended the BMW
rally held there. From there he began his trek to the far
north. Allen entered Canada on 7/27/08, where Canadian
Mounties confiscated his hand gun until he returned to the
United States. Allen 0-Bears 1, but Allen trekked
on.
7/28/08- Allen broke
down 25 miles south of the end of the Great Alaskan Highway
near Delta Junction Alaska, the tow to Fairbanks cost $625
and the repair took 5 days and $1,000. While in Fairbanks,
Allen took in the sights of Fairbanks and the warm
hospitality of the Alaskan residents. During Allen’s Odyssey,
he visited and recorded on his trusty digital camera the
following truly magnificent sites: Fairbanks, Denali Park, Anchorage, Seward, Homer, Valdez, Delta Junction.
Other
great sites and scenes on the way he photographed include:
Mt. Rushmore, Bad
Lands
SD, Little Big Horn, Devils’ Tower,
and many of the beautiful state and municipal parks all
across the United States where he stayed.
When Allen finally got
back into Florida, Tropical Storm Fay was taking her toll on
us
and it took almost 3 days on the bike to get from South
Georgia to Home. The only little accident he had was in
White Springs Florida on the trip home, when he gently laid
down his bike in a parking lot of a restaurant. Allen made
it home safely, now he has some chores to catch up on.
We really appreciate
Allen sharing his adventure with us… His pictures are great
and his adventure rating is pretty high from us. If you
want to see more picts or ask ALLEN for recommendations for
your adventure trip to the frozen north, email ALLEN at
alslst2004@yahoo.com . I believe Allen is ready to go
again!
October 1, 2008
DC TimeWatcher Richard Puglio, volunteers with the United
States Coast Guard Auxiliary and after Tropic Storm Fay,
with the flooding of the St. Johns and Lake Monroe, the USCG-A
was assigned to patrol and regulate navigation in the danger
zones where restrictions were placed to protect property and
boaters. Richard was gracious enough to share some pictures
of his adventures with the Auxiliary unit on patrol in the
Seminole county waterways.
Read More and View Pictures
Richard enjoys his duties with the Coast Guard
Auxiliary. It requires a great deal of time each month and constant
training and maritime education. Richard enjoys the knowledge and
experiences he receives from his work with the Coast Guard.
Richard will be pleased to tell you how to
become involved if you are interested. Thanks Richard for the pictures. Dctimewatchers.com Bernie
Elvin Helps Establish New DOC Procedure October 1, 2008 We would
like to give a big hand to Bernie Elvin for helping
establish new procedures in Tallahassee that finally
resulted in Officer George Bocook, being added to the
Florida Department of Corrections Memorial to Fallen
Officers. George Bocook suffered a heart attack while on
duty and died on August 21, 1991. He is now the second name
on the list. Bernie began his quest in January 2007, to have
him added to this list of staff that have fallen in the line
of duty. Bernie had to get a signed letter from then
Secretary McDonough approving that Officer Bocook be added to the memorial. Numerous emails were sent back and
forth to Gail Thompson, Chief of Personnel for the Florida Department of
Corrections. Ms. Thompson was a big help and never failed to help or
respond to any questions Bernie had during this entire process. Then the
staff in Tallahassee had to create and write new department policy on
how to add an officer’s name that was overlooked in the past, but later
recognized to have fallen in the line of duty. Once the policy was
created and written and finally approved, they moved forward and added
Officer Bocook and 4 other fallen officers that were overlooked, and
they didn't know how to add to the memorial until this new policy was
created. This policy is a direct result of Bernie’s request on behalf of
Officer Bocook, Procedure 110.009 was written and implemented. So in a
way Officer Bocook helped four other deserving fallen officers get
recognized and get their names on the memorial as well. Bernie stated’ I am
glad and proud to have this task completed and be able to say that
Officer George A. Bocook from Brevard CI does not walk alone and will
always be remembered by the staff here at BCI and the Florida Department
of Corrections.” Here is the link to
see his name proudly displayed............
http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/memorial.html October Breakfast
Heading back to the US
(retrieving his trusty pistol at the US/CANADIAN border….on
8/13 from the Mounties. (Allen only saw about 6 bears on
the trip – I reminded him it is always the ones you don’t
see that eats you)- Poor bears, Lucky Allen.
If you are interested in volunteer opportunities
with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, please don’t hesitate to ask Richard,
his email is
mlfrjp@cfl.rr.com.
If you missed the September Breakfast, you didn't get a present!!!
If you missed it, you missed a great breakfast gathering at Whistle Stop in Titusville on September 6, 2008. You also missed a free gift… Yes it will remain a mystery until you come and join us for breakfast. It is always nice to visit with friends and “family”.
Those in attendance included, Larry Cruce, George and Ruth Merklinger, Keith Kiser, Amos Lewis and wife Linda.
Remember, all you have to do is check-out the upper right hand corner of the website,
www.dctimewatchers.com and click on breakfast to see the date, place and time. We meet the first Saturday of each month, with very few exceptions, but the most up to date information is on the website for location and times.|
Spotlight - Dave Hemme October 1, 2008
DAVE HEMME JOINED THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AS A Part time Teacher at Pompano Road Prison #39 IN 1968, to supplement a counselor’s salary with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. The Division of Vocational Rehab sent Dave a letter ordering him and another DVR part time teacher to resign and quit working at the prison. Then Director of Corrections, Louie Wainwright stepped to the plate and supported Dave and his coworker to no avail. So instead of resigning from the prison, Dave resigned from DVR and accepted a full time teacher position at Glades Correctional Institution in the fall of 1968. In 1970 Dave was promoted to Education Supervisor at DeSoto CI., which was just starting out as a Youthful Offender facility. Dave’s warden at DCI was Jim Brown Godwin. In 1972, Dave was promoted to Assistant Superintendent at FCI working for Annabell Mitchell, Superintendent. By 1973, The Department was realizing the need to develop and train staff, specifically Correctional Officers . So in the spring of 1973, Dave was asked to accept an assignment at Raiford to start a 160 hour staff training program. The program was given the old Admin building of FSP, which later became UCI. Dave stayed as the Director of the Department’s Staff Training Institute for twelve years. In 1985, Dave was appointed Superintendent of Indian River CI. Dave moved to Mayo CI in 1992 and then to Brevard in 1993, where he remained until he retired in 1998 completing a 30 year correctional career, which followed a 10 year teaching career in the public school systems, primarily in his home state of New York. As a Superintendent, Dave led by example. He was always approachable and concerned. He always looked at a positive perspective and valued loyalty and hard working staff. Dave is an innovative thinker and while at Brevard, he developed relationships with local agencies, community action groups, expanded our footprint to positively impact our community. Dave’s efforts introduced many of us to the concept of community involvement for the very first time, as an employee family. Since retiring, Dave and Barbara, spend their time bowling, twice a week, golf once a week, attending movies and some travel including Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Jamaica along with a few cruises. Dave has remained active in his volunteer work at Crosswinds Youth Services until June 30, 2008, when he retired from the Board of Directors, however still remains somewhat active with the organization. Dave is an active member (for over 20 years) of the Asbury United Methodist Church of Vero Beach. Dave and Barbara were married at the Asbury UMC in November 1991. If you wish to catch up with Dave, plan on attending one of our GET2GETHERS as he is Charter member of the organization. He can be found at our gatherings when at all possible. We truly appreciate the support and participation that Dave brings to our group and value his service and experience. When reflecting on his career, Dave shares, “I am very, very, grateful for all the opportunities the Department extended to me during my career. I was always amazed at how well they treated this old yankee. I never had a bad assignment or one that I disliked. It was fun.”
George retired from the Department of Corrections on April 24, 1995 and he and Margaret moved to Palm Bay, where they currently reside. George is enjoying his much deserved second retirement. George is a volunteer at the “Seniors at Lunch” program in his community and enjoys his involvement in this organization. George faithfully attends all Get2Gethers if at all possible and as always is there to support the DC TimeWatchers’ group. George was a mentor for many of us and we value him as one of our charter DC TimeWatcher members. Remember, if you want to catch up with George, mark October 10, 2008 on your calendar and plan to be at our FALL GET2GETHER PICNIC at Tom Statham County Park located on the riverside of US1 just south of Titusville across US1 from the entrance of Space Coast Executive Airport (old Tico entrance) It begins at about 11:30am (don’t forget to bring your lawn chair). George doesn’t do the computer, however, he loves to hear from DC TimeWatcher friends and invites calls as his number can be found on the web on AnyWho.com or in the phone directory under Margaret’s name.
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DAVE HEMME was born and grew up in the New York City area.
After a stint in the Marine Corp, Dave received his
bachelor’s degree from the University of New York and his
Master’s in Education from the University of Illinois. Dave
taught in public schools in the Rochester area and at
Brentwood Public Schools in Long Island, New York. In 1967,
Dave, his wife Ann and their sons, Bill, Bob & Paul moved to
Pompano Beach Florida to pursue a position in education in
the Sunshine state. 
In
1999, the Department restructured and Joyce was appointed as a regional
Senior Personnel Manager serving all facilities in Region III.
Joyce handled payroll and benefits. Joyce was always available to
help those of us who had questions or needed guidance during career
events and it was always like calling a friend. 
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Spotlight -
Jim Johnson
July 1, 2008
Jim served as a Med Tech from 1976 till 1980. In 1980 Jim was promoted to Vocational Placement Counselor at Cocoa CCC and in 1982 was promoted to Classification Officer returning to Brevard Main Unit. Jim remained at Brevard where in 1987 he was promoted to Classification Specialist II and in 1989 Jim took the reigns as Classification Supervisor. In 1995 Jim was selected as the Assistant Warden at Indian River Correctional Institution where he served until he retired. Since retiring, Jim has at least one strict rule, GOLF at least twice a week. That’s it. Jim remains very involved with VFW POST 8116, where he has been past Post Commander three previous times and having been recipient of several honors during his involvement in the VFW. Jim is also on the Board of Directors of the Brevard Community College Legacy Project, along with other community projects he has supported through his years in the community. Jim lives in Merritt Island with his wife, Thelma and 2 sons. He is enjoying his retirement. Jim would love to hear from any of his old friends so please don’t hesitate to drop him an email at jjohnson109@cfl.rr.com. Of course if you want to catch up with Jim plan to attend one of our GET2GETHERS, as he attends them faithfully. |
- Did you know......
Many of you don’t know, but the DC TimeWatchers also are classroom “grandparents” to the elementary program (2nd grade) at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. Our little friends of the 2nd grade named the last litter of Bloodhounds born at Brevard CI last year and we hope to soon have the photos of the class working on that project in our photo albums section. Although, the parents and school administrators provide well for all classes, sometimes a little tlc care package(s) arrive to sweeten up a seasonal party or provide reward gifts for their “store”. Whatever the need, we are a part of their class activities as needed. If you want to be more involved in support of this activity, please email us at dctimewatchers@yahoo.com and let us know. We will include you in any needs that we are working on for the class in the future. If you want to check out current events in the 2nd grade classroom, visit the website at : http://teachers.fsdb.k12.fl.us/%7Ekasparj/
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June Breakfast June7, 2008
We had nineteen (19) in attendance, including John & Jackie Shearer, Ruth & George Merklinger from Lake County, John Cummings, George Murphy from Ga., Maria & Tom Komon & Alex, Uwe Schwersensky, Bernie Elvin, Bob Cope from New Zealand, Richard Puglio, Larry Cruce, Keith & Kathie Kiser, Jack & Dottie Phillips. What a nice time we had. Bob Cope will be stateside taking care of some personal business and visiting family through this month and then head back to New Zealand where he currently lives. I believe I have talked Bob into contributing to our newsletter with information about living "down under" and the adventures it offers, just in case anyone wants to take a plunge at adventure, New Zealand style. |
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This spotlight is on Richard J.
Puglio, who served Brevard CI from 1978 till his retirement in 2000,
serving the Department of Corrections for 22 years. Richard retired
as a Lieutenant assigned to the Work Camp, but spending about as
much time as OIC at the Main Unit. Richard is also a proud retired
member of the UNITED STATES ARMY retiring
as a citizen soldier after his last combat assignment during the
first Persian Gulf War. Richard retired as a Staff Sergeant in the
reserve in 1993 after returning from the middle-east. |
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