MARINE ENGINEERS' BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION (AFL-CIO)
         "On Watch in Peace and War Since 1875"

MEBA TELEX TIMES       JUNE 04, 2010

The Official Union Newsletter

NUMBER 23

In this issue...
News From the School…Engineer receives mariner award…NOAA expects busy Atlantic hurricane season…

Rooms at this summer’s CAA reunion are being snapped up in the last few weeks before the big CAA M.E.B.A. Reunion. The blow-out event takes place at the Calhoon M.E.B.A. Engineering School from June 25-27. The Harbourtowne Resort in St. Michaels, MD will be the site of the June 25th golf tournament that tees off a weekend of fun-filled events. There are a few more slots for the tournament – but they’re going quickly so act now!

The all-day picnic is set for Saturday, June 26th on the Manor House lawn at the School in Easton. As a reminder, fees forwarded to the CAA as part of this event are tax deductible. Active and retired members and M.E.B.A. friends and families are encouraged to do themselves a favor and come on out! This weekend is for everyone in the M.E.B.A. family, not just graduates of the Calhoon cadet program. There will be wall-to-wall activities, food, fun and plenty of old friends and shipmates. Don’t miss it. All details, event forms, donation forms, etc. can be found on the Alumni page of the School's website at www.mebaschool.org.  Please pass the word along to all friends, shipmates, and classmates (sailing or not). Questions and comments can be forwarded to Mike Fanning at caa2010@mebaschool.org.

Those active and retired members who have not received mailings from Headquarters such as the Marine Officer or other important information may want to log onto our website to clarify their address. Because the M.E.B.A. Plans office in Baltimore and Headquarters databases are NOT linked you must also forward a signed change of address form to the Plans Office if you wish to update your information with them.

USNS WALLY SCHIRRA Second Assistant Engineer Larry Baker has been presented with the 2009 Mariner Award of Excellence from the MSC’s Military Sealift Fleet Support Command. The award recognizes and suitably honors civil service mariners of MSFSC considered the most outstanding in their respective departments during the year. The winners receive a congratulatory letter, an appropriate plaque, and a cash award of $2,500. Citing the reasons for his selection, Phyllis Spano, MSFSC Human Resources and Manpower Department director, lauded Baker during an April 29 ceremony aboard the SCHIRRA. "Mr. Baker was a driving force throughout construction, delivery, fitting out, shakedown, and INSURV portions of USNS WALLY SCHIRRA’s evolution from steel plates and modules to a completed ship," said Spano. "Mr. Baker was instrumental in holding the shipyard’s feet to the fire to ensure a good product was delivered to MSC and this, in turn, provided a huge savings in post-delivery repair costs. His knowledge of the ship’s plant, equipment and supply sources has produced direct cost savings to the government. For his outstanding contributions to the construction and delivery of WALLY SCHIRRA, in the areas of contractor supervision, ship’s technical library, and outfitting of the ship, he is well deserving of this award."

Spano’s citation was echoed by SCHIRRA’s Master, Capt. Richard Cicchetti and the ship’s Chief Engineer, M.E.B.A.’s John Tuite. Both praised Baker’s work ethic and marveled at the level of accomplishment he single-handedly achieved in getting the SCHIRRA afloat. Presenting the award to Baker was MSFSC Deputy Director Fred McKenna who likewise spoke of Baker’s tremendous contribution. "I am keenly aware of the hard work it takes to get a new vessel operational—and I know how hard you worked on this ship," McKenna offered. "You absolutely deserve this award."

The M.E.B.A. By-Laws state, "No member shall be entitled to any benefits of the Union or be considered in good standing unless his [or her] dues are paid up for the full current calendar quarter or paid in accordance with any dues checkoff system under any collective bargaining agreement maintained by the National or this District."

The District-wide nomination period for elected officials’ positions and national representatives begins on Monday, June 7th and runs through July 9, 2010 – the deadline to forward nominations to Headquarters. All nominations must be received at District Headquarters addressed to the Credentials Committee no later than the close of business on that day. Nomination forms are available at M.E.B.A. Union halls. You can also request a nomination form from Headquarters. However, use of the form is not required. You may use your own form provided you meet all the requirements of the National Constitution and District No.1-PCD, M.E.B.A. By-Laws. It is encouraged that statements and photos sent to the Credentials Committee be submitted in electronic format. This is not required but will better ensure the integrity of the statement when it is published in the special election edition of the Marine Officer. Ballots will be mailed to the membership on September 1.

Captain Max Hardberger steals ships—cargo-carrying freighters—for a living. In the murky world of ocean shipping, a small bribe to a local judge in some lawless, third-world country is enough for a craft worth millions of dollars to be "legally seized" from its legitimate owner and held for inflated or fictionalized claims levied against it. And that’s where Max comes in: he is an agent of last resort. When efforts to reclaim the ship through legal means have been exhausted, he puts together a mission-impossible team to steal the ship back, sneaking it out of treacherous waters on a high-stakes assignment—if Max and his crew are caught, they risk imprisonment or death. Seized: A Sea Captain’s Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World’s Most Troubled Waters (Broadway Books; hardcover), takes readers behind the scenes of the multibillion-dollar shipping industry as Max recounts his extraordinary adventures from New Orleans to the Caribbean; from East Germany to the ice-bound docks of Russia; and from Greece to the jungles of Guatemala. Max’s exploits pit him against a rogue’s gallery of antagonists, including Haitian rebels, modern-day Caribbean pirates, and Russian mobsters. Max plans each job with the precision of a military special-ops mission, but often employs less-than-orthodox techniques: he has resorted to using everything from whiskey and prostitutes to distract guards, to bribes and voodoo doctors to divert attention and sail a ship out of a corrupt foreign port, without clearance, under cover of darkness. Seized is an action-packed thrill ride through the criminal underworld of shipping. In the tradition of The Perfect Storm and Into the Wild, this is narrative nonfiction at its best, a compelling exploration of a world few of us know about.

Max Hardberger has been an airplane pilot, a lawyer, a high school teacher, a writer, an adventurer, and a sea captain of commercial freighters. World renowned in his area of expertise, he has been repossessing illegitimately seized freighters for the last twenty years. His adventures have been featured by NPR, the Learning Channel, the Los Angeles Times, and numerous other publications. When not on the high seas, he lives in Louisiana. Visit his website at www.maxhardberger.com.  The Good Pirate, a feature-length motion picture inspired by Seized and Max Hardberger’s ship-recovery adventures, is currently being developed by Lonetree Entertainment and Point Blank Productions.

ASM/Patriot is seeking resumes for Chief Engineers, 1st Assistant Engineer and Port Engineer positions. Members should e-mail their resumes to Baltimore Branch Agent Tom Suneson at tsuneson@mebaunion.org or Tim Gill at tim.gill@asmhq.com.

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