• FWOA Magazine

I am pleased to announce that the proposal to create a magazine for FWOA was endorsed by almost 100% of our members. Paul Dinerman of Brent-Wyatt West publishing will be retained to publish our magazine and solicit sponsorships.

The easy part is now done and the work is just beginning. SA Goessman and I will be contacting a tax attorney and a U.S. Government personnel attorney to research the tax status of FWOA and the legal and ethical issues involved with this project. We will continue to keep all of you up-to-date on our progress through your Regional Representatives.

As we push forward to research all of these issues, I am encouraging each one of you to take time to put your thoughts on paper for future articles in YOUR magazine. As we stressed at the meetings, this project will fly or fall depending on the involvement of the members. Your Board Members and Reps cannot do it all.

This project can easily be the avenue to many successful projects for FWOA. If you are not a writer, put your thoughts down and pass them along to someone who is, and work with them to make your ideas into a great story. Remember, you can also contact established writers to assist FWOA by writing an article for us. We will also need a list of potential sponsors that you would like to have Brent-Wyatt West contact. Please forward articles and potential sponsors through your Rep to the Board, so we can consolidate the information to submit to Brent-Wyatt West.

If we all work together it will be a great success, with only minimal effort by any one of us. I look forward to previewing your articles. If any of you have someone in mind as a potential editor, please pass the name along to the Board. We do anticipate this being a paid position, so if any of the retired Special Agents are interested, please contact me.

• FWOA Scholarship

A ballot is attached to vote on a FWOA scholarship in the amount of $500, which will be available to a son or daughter of a Federal Wildlife Officer Association member who is pursuing an advanced education at either a technical college or a four-year college or university during the upcoming academic year. If approved, FWOA will be accepting applications in January 2005, and a selection will be made by the Board and Regional Reps during In-Service in April 2005 for use during the 2005/2006 academic year. Complete details can be obtained by contacting SA Gary Jogodzinski or SA Mark Webb.

• Commemorative Handgun

We are moving forward with a commemorative handgun for FWOA members. The possible options are a Sig Sauer Model P-226 or P-229 in either .40, .357 Sig or 9MM caliber for $592.54; or a Model P-220 in .45 caliber for $597.71. The gun will be laser engraved with our badge on the top of the slide. The pistol will come with night sights and three law enforcement high capacity magazines. It will be necessary to add appropriate taxes to the above prices. A minimum of 25 pistols must be ordered of each model. SA Dom Domenici is also working with Sig Sauer on other options and prices. As it turned out, Colt handguns were not available until after a two-year wait. We will be advising all of our members of the final selection details in the near future, as we hope to get an order placed soon.

• Retiree Badges/Credentials

I am pleased to announce that the first of the retired badges and credentials were issued to the retired Special Agents who attended their meeting at NCTC the weekend between In-Services. The badges and credentials are very similar to those issued to active duty Special Agents, but do recognize the SAs as being retired. It was decided by the members that FWOA would pay the cost of obtaining these credentials as a sign of appreciation for the years of service to the Office of Law Enforcement by the SAs. If you are one of the members who recently received your credentials and badge, please send your receipt to SA Bill Anderson for reimbursement. And on behalf of all of the active duty members, thanks for a job well done! We will all try our best to continue the strong tradition of wildlife law enforcement that all of you have established.

• New Agents

Nineteen new Special Agents were offered positions with the Office of Law Enforcement and will be starting their training at FLETC in May 2004. We would like to welcome them all aboard and encourage them to continue the great tradition of wildlife law enforcement that has been a standard within this agency for over 100 years. They must remember that they are the voice of all wildlife and the future of many of our wildlife resources rests in their hands.

In closing, I would like to again encourage all of our members to step forward and find a way that you can help support YOUR Association. If any of you have any questions or concerns as you begin writing your articles of the magazine, give any of the Board members a call.

• Name the Magazine

FWOA will be sponsoring a contest to name our new magazine. The winner will receive a free membership to FWOA for a year, a hat, and coffee mug. I encourage all of you to give this issue some thought and submit your ideas for naming the magazine to Secretary/Treasurer Bill Anderson.

Mark Webb

FWOA President

SA Ken McCloud Returning to Duty

SA Ken McCloud will be returning to duty as a full time Special Agent with the Office of Law Enforcement. Ken has been off duty for several months recuperating from back surgery due to an injury received during his U/C work with cycads.

It was feared that Ken may be forced to accept a medical retirement due to his injury. With the assistance of many of his friends and supporters, the Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, made the decision to retain SA McCloud as a full time Special Agent, but with restrictions placed on his duties to protect both Ken and the Agency.

Ken is very pleased with the outcome and a very special thank you is in order to SAC Benny Perez and Chief Kevin Adams for making this happen. As Chief Adams relayed, "it was just the right thing to do."

Thanks for supporting one of our own.

Submitted by Mark Webb & Bill Anderson

REGION 10 (RETIRED AGENTS)

Jerry Smith, Acting Rep

WOW! It took almost ten years to accomplish, but it was worth the wait. I am, of course, talking about the Retired Agent Badge and Credentials issue. Many retired agents started talking about the issue quite a few years ago. We tried to get the Service to consider issuing this symbol of respect, but to no avail. We failed to do anymore than plant the seed. We certainly did not make any appreciable headway. Then a few years back, FWOA decided to back the issue and made its plea with the Law Enforcement arm of the Service. This seemed to be the turning point in the process as the rumor of votes being taken by the ARDs surfaced more frequently following FWOA's backing the issue. Still no badge and credentials for retired agents.

Finally, after another round of pleas by retirees and FWOA, another vote was held. I must interject at this point that few of the opposing ARDs finally retired so another vote was considered. However it happened, in 2003 the Law Enforcement managers voted to approve the issuance of Retired Agent Badge and Credentials to eligible retired agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Perseverance again pays off in a big way. On January 31, 2004, Chief's Directive CD-A2 was issued covering Special Agent Retirement Badges and Credentials.

Almost 100 retired agents have applied for this symbol of Respect and Service for their careers protecting this Nation's Wildlife. I know one agent who has been retired for 25 years and still wanted "his badge". At about 8:00 p.m., on Friday, April 2, 2004, Larry Wills finally got it.

At the Retired Agent Get Together held the first weekend of April at the Conservation Training Center near Shepherdstown, WV, those of us in attendance were presented our "Badge and Credentials." The Chief, Office of Law Enforcement, Kevin Adams, made a special trip to the Center to attend our banquet and made the presentation. It was quite an occasion, once again hearing our name called out and being presented a pretty shiny new badge that looks exactly like the one we proudly carried for so many years. The only difference is instead of a number,

THE "FEDERAL WILDLIFE OFFICER ASSOCIATION" MAGAZINE

Doug Goessman, Vice President

First of all, I would like to thank the Branch of Training and Inspection for a great In-Service. I would also like to thank all the agents that turned out for the two FWOA meetings at NCTC. Your interest, concern, and support is absolutely critical to the success and the future of the FWOA.

During both of the FWOA meetings at NCTC, a presentation was given to the attending FWOA members about the FWOA organizing and distributing a magazine. Paul Dinerman of Brent-Wyatt West publishing in Phoenix, AZ, attended the first FWOA meeting at NCTC. Mr. Dinerman answered questions, explained how his company works, and how his company has published magazines for other state wildlife law enforcement and state police organizations. Mark Webb and I gave a follow-up presentation to the second session of the AIS. For those of you who didn't have a chance to hear the presentations, here is a synopsis:

• Brent-Wyatt West currently prints and distributes magazines for the wildlife officer associations in Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas;

• Brent-Wyatt West would print and distribute a magazine for the FWOA. The FWOA would incur no costs for printing and distributing the magazine;

• Brent-Wyatt West would contact advertisers and supporters of the FWOA and solicit these businesses and organizations to pay for placing advertisements in the FWOA magazine. The FWOA or its members would not solicit ads;

• The FWOA would have discretion as to who placed an advertisement in the magazine;

• As Brent-Wyatt West receives money from advertisers, they would then send 25 percent of the gross amount of monies received from advertisers to the FWOA. These funds would be disbursed to the FWOA once each week. The FWOA makes the determination as to how these funds are spent;

• Articles for the magazine would be written by the FWOA members or other guest writers. Brent-Wyatt West does not write articles for magazines. Mr. Dinerman estimated the magazine would consist of 50-60 pages of articles and about 100 pages of advertisements;

• The magazine would contain full color ads. Brent-Wyatt West would then enclose the magazine in plastic shrink wrap and distribute the magazine via first class postage to all FWOA members, advertisers, and other organizations and individuals named by the FWOA. Right now the estimate of the number of magazines that would be printed and mailed was 3,000 to 5,000;

• Mr. Dinerman stressed the importance of the magazine being a professional and very high quality publication since the magazine would represent the FWOA and portray our image to a large number of people;

• The two most important people for the magazine to succeed are the magazine editor and the treasurer;

• The only FWOA monetary commitment for the magazine would be to retain an attorney, an editor, and perhaps an accountant.

After the presentations the proposal to enter into a one year contract with Brent-Wyatt West was discussed. It was agreed the magazine would be printed and distributed twice in the 12 month period. At the end of the 12 months, the FWOA membership and Brent-Wyatt West could examine the success, or lack thereof, of the magazine and then determine if the FWOA wanted to continue with the magazine. The motion to enter into a one year contract with the publisher and distribute a magazine was voted on and passed overwhelmingly.

However, before the FWOA enters into a contract, the FWOA must retain an attorney to research federal laws and regulations. This will need to be done in order to determine if there are any restrictions for a nonprofit organization, made up of federal employees, from receiving money from private groups and businesses and then disbursing those funds to charitable and educational causes. President Mark Webb agreed to contact an attorney and have the attorney research this question for the FWOA.

While Mark Webb is having an attorney research the federal statutes and regulations, I would ask that all FWOA members think about the format and content of the magazine, the types of projects the FWOA may want to fund, and who we want the magazine to go to.

If this magazine becomes a reality, it can portray a very positive image of our profession, our purpose, and our association. If anyone has any thoughts, ideas, or questions about the magazine, please contact me or Mark Webb. Thanks.

MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY/TREASURER BILL ANDERSON

Hope everyone arrived home safely from this year's In-Service. It was nice seeing everyone again and I came back with the feeling a lot of good things are going on.

Congratulations to Ellen Kiley as the new Region 5 Representative. Motions at both sessions of In-Service nominating Ellen were unanimously approved.

The magazine proposal that the FWOA enter into a one-year contract with Brent-Wyatt West publishing for two issues a year passed both sessions and Vice President Doug Goessman has an update above.

Different motions were introduced and approved at each session regarding the approval of a scholarship for children of Charter Members of the FWOA.

Motions passed at both sessions stating that the FWOA will pay up to $35 to cover the cost of retired SA credentials/badges for any Charter Member who was a paid up-to-date member for at least five years prior to retiring and is currently a member in good standing. Due to the complexity of the process to issue the credentials it will be up to the retired SA to contact the FWOA Secretary/Treasurer and request reimbursement.

Good news was received regarding the progress of several Charter Members who are recovering from injuries:

• We heard that Bruce Toloski continues to improve and is very close to reapplying for a California driver's license. Way to go Bruce, we are all anticipating the day you're back to full duty status;

• Lisa Nichols continues to get better and we understand that the halo brace will be coming off soon. It's my understanding that the doctors expect Lisa to have a complete recovery. I'm sure Lisa will retain her angelic quality even once her halo is removed!;

• Bonnie Bell (the SA with the mechanical hand) is well on her way to recovery and we still don't know what happened to the other guy. Oh that's right, it was the phantom coyote;

In other news, the Joe Oliveros memorial is near completion. Many thanks go out to Charter Member Kevin Wood and Region 4 SAs for doing much of the leg work to have this memorial for Joe come to fruition. Also thanks to Chief Kevin Adams and WO/LE for funding the granite memorial and plaque to make this a reality.

Charter Member Kevin O'Brien was presented with a plaque recognizing him for his service to the FWOA. Kevin served 12 years as Regional Rep, Secretary/Treasurer, and President. Thanks for everything Kevin, we hope that your upcoming retirement is everything you hope it to be and more!