[Les]  The letter from the company notes the change of insurance from MetLife to Prudential.  The phone number to contact Prudential is 1-800-562-9874.  If anyone else has trouble with the non-receipt of this letter I will gladly scan in a copy in a pdf format and email to you as an attachment.  I have no idea of what the drug program certificate encompasses.  Could you send a copy to me.

From Tony Cucurullo

I have just witnessed a poignant, heartrending video tribute to Ladder 25, of the New York firefighters. It was voiced over by Pat Summerall, and John Madden. I got goose bumps and I had a hard time stifling a cry in my voice. My wife cries openly, and unashamedly. But, as Tom Hanks, intoned in a movie "Baseball players don't cry." That's not entirely true. My dad, the toughest man I ever knew, cried, and it seemed appropriate, at the time.

We honor those Firefighters, and Police, and EMT, (Emergency Medical Technicians) and rightfully so. But, I would like to add another group to the list of hero's, that really never comes up for applause or recognition, from society in general. They are a group that the public takes for granted, and assumes, they get paid, or compensated enough for their work. Not, true.
The people of the News gathering fraternity, risk their lives so that we may see the horror of man's inhumanity against man, and too, the superb athletic events that bring us joy, and pride.
Without the courage of the cameramen (and I use that generically) we would be denied the historical significance of the ensuing events.
We lost two technicians during the horror of September 11th, by the treachery of the terrorist. But, the Electronic News Gathers, stayed at their post, recording the images of people fleeing for their lives, and safety. And they could see in their viewfinders the cloud of death, that had the blood of the firefighters and the people that were lost in the buildings, reeling, and swirling, frighteningly, inexorably, towards them. Yet, they held their place, and recorded this for posterity.
We now have a page of history to look back on, as seem through the eyes of the ENG., hero's. And every time I see those scenes of horror, well, yes I fight back a tear, but, my wife lets it all hang out, from her heart.
I am proud to have served with such dedicated people, as they chronicle history, unabated.
Regards,
Tony C.

Try this site, rather amusing
Tony C.

Subject: Please Read for you health!

When you have a few minutes, this is well worth reading.   It's about a simple blood test we should all be aware of ...Please forward  on. Take care of yourselves and have a wonderful day!
---------------------------------------------
Years  ago, Gilda Radner died of ovarian cancer. Her symptoms were inconclusive, and  she was treated for everything under the sun until it was too late. This  blood test finally identified her illness - but too late.

She wrote a  book to heighten awareness. Gene Wilder is her widower.

This is my friend  Kathy's Story:

As all of you know, I have Primary Peritoneal Cancer. This  cancer has only recently been identified as its OWN type of cancer; but  it is essentially, Ovarian Cancer. Both types of cancer are diagnosed in  the same way with the "tumor marker" CA-125 blood test, and they are  treated in the same way (surgery to remove the primary tumor and then  chemotherapy with Taxol and Carboplatin.  Having gone through this  ordeal, I want to save others from the same fate. That is why I am  sending this message to you and hope you will print it
and give it or  send it via e-mail to everybody you know. One thing I have learned is  that each of us must take TOTAL responsibility for our own healthcare. I  thought I had done that because I always had an annual physical and PAP  smear, did monthly Self-Breast Exam, went to the dentist at least  twice/year, etc. I even insisted on a sigmoidoscopy and a
bone density  test last year.  When I had a total hysterectomy in 1993, I thought that I  did not have to worry about getting any of the female reproductive organ  cancers. LITTLE
DID I KNOW! I don't have ovaries (and they were HEALTHY  when they were removed),but I have what is essentially ovarian cancer.  Strange, isn't it?
These are just SOME of the things our Doctors never  tell us. ONE out of every 55 women will get OVARIAN or PRIMARY PERITONEAL  CANCER! The "CLASSIC" symptoms are an ABDOMEN that rather SUDDENLY  ENLARGES and CONSTIPATION  and/or DIARRHEA. I had these classic symptoms  and went to the doctor. Because these symptoms seemed to be "abdominal,"  I went to a gastroenterologist. He ran tests that were designed to  determine whether there was a bacterial infection; these tests were  negative, and I was diagnosed with "Irritable Bowel Syndrome." I guess I  would have accepted this diagnosis had it not been for my enlarged  abdomen. I swear to you,
it looked like I was 4-5 months pregnant! I  therefore insisted on more tests.
They took an X-ray of my abdomen; it  was negative. I was again assured that I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and  was encouraged to go on my scheduled month-long trip to Europe I couldn't  wear any of my slacks or shorts because I couldn't get them buttoned, and  I KNEW something was radically wrong.
I INSISTED on more tests,  and they (reluctantly) scheduled me for a CT-Scan (just to shut me up, I  think). This is what I mean by taking charge of our own health care. The  CT-Scan showed a lot of fluid in my abdomen (NOT normal). Needless to  say, I had to cancel my trip and have FIVE POUNDS of fluid drawn off at  the hospital (not a pleasant procedure, I assure you, but NOTHING compared  to what was ahead of me). Tests revealed cancer cells in the  fluid.
Finally, finally, finally, the doctor ran a CA-125 blood test and  I was
properly diagnosed. I HAD THE CLASSIC SYMPTOMS FOR OVARIAN CANCER  AND YET THIS SIMPLE CA-125 BLOOD TEST HAD NEVER BEEN RUN ON ME,  NOT AS  PART OF MY ANNUAL PHYSICAL EXAM AND NOT WHEN I WAS SYMPTOMATIC. THIS IS  AN INEXPENSIVE  AND SIMPLE BLOOD TEST!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, P-L-E-A-S-E TELL  ALL YOUR FEMALE FRIENDS AND RELATIVES TO INSIST ON A CA-125 BLOOD TEST  EVERY YEAR AS PART OF THEIR ANNUAL PHYSICAL EXAMS. BE FOREWARNED THAT  THEIR DOCTORS MIGHT TRY TO TALK THEM OUT OF IT, SAYING "IT ISN'T  NECESSARY." BELIEVE ME, HAD I KNOWN THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW, WE WOULD  HAVE CAUGHT MY CANCER MUCH EARLIER (BEFORE IT WAS A STAGE 3  CANCER)! INSIST ON THE CA-125 BLOOD TEST; DON'T TAKE "NO" FOR AN ANSWER.  THE NORMAL RANGE FOR A CA-125 BLOOD TEST IS BETWEEN ZERO AND 35. MINE WAS  754... (THAT'S RIGHT, 754!) IF THE NUMBER IS SLIGHTLY ABOVE 35, YOU CAN  HAVE ANOTHER ONE DONE IN THREE OR SIX MONTHS AND KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON IT,  JUST LIKE WOMEN DO WHEN THEY HAVE FIBROID TUMORS OR WHEN MEN HAVE A  SLIGHTLY ELEVATED PSA TEST (Prostate SPECIFIC ANTIGENS) THAT HELPS  DIAGNOSE PROSTATE CANCER. HAVING THE CA-125 TEST DONE ANNUALLY CAN ALERT  YOU EARLY, AND THAT'S THE GOAL IN DIAGNOSING ANY TYPE OF CANCER - CATCH  IT EARLY!!!!!
Do YOU know 55 women? If so, at least one of them will have  this VERY AGGRESSIVE cancer-and maybe, just maybe, it will be YOU. I hope  not! Please, go to your doctor THIS WEEK and insist on a CA-125 test and  have one EVERY YEAR for the rest of your life. And forward this message  to every woman you know and tell all of your female family members  and friends. As the Nike ads say, "JUST DO IT!" Please don't think youth will protect you, either. Though the median age for this  cancer is 56 (and, guess what, I'm exactly 56), women as young as 22 have  it. Age is not a factor.

Note from Lisa: Well, after reading this,  I made some calls. I found that the CA-25 test is an ovarian screening  test equivalent to a man's PSA test prostate screening (which Ron's  doctor automatically gives him in his physical each year and insurance  pays for). I called my general practitioner's office about having the  test done. The nurse had never heard of it. She told me that she doubted  that insurance would pay for it. So I called Prudential Insurance Co.,  and got the same response. Never heard of it - it won't be covered. I  explained that it was the same as the PSA test that they had paid for my  husband for years. After conferring with whomever they confer with, she  told me that the CA-125 would be covered. So I am having this blood test  this Friday. For those of you that still have these parts, go have the  test taken. It is $75 in a GP's office and $125 at the GYN's.  This is a  screening test that should be required just like a pap smear (a pap smear  cannot detect problems with your ovaries). And you must insist that your  insurance company pay for it. Gene Wilder and Pierce Brosnan (his wife  had it, too) are lobbying for women's health issues saying that this test should be required in our physicals just like the pap and the mammogram."  Pass this information along to every woman you know. I am  making lots and lots of copies for all the ladies at work. We need to  take care of ourselves.
Penny Brothers &/or Chris Malouf

From Tony Cucurullo

I don't know about you but,.........I am a little pissed off at the morality of this country's upwardly mobile, "Corporate Terrorists."
They firmly believe that there are two standards in this country, one that says, I am entitled to make absolutely every penny that I can. And, in that endeavor I am perfectly within my rights to use any means to achieve that goal,...which is almost short of using weapons to reach it. And all those others that are not in the rarefied atmosphere, that I orbit in, well, caveat emptor, to them.

If they are not privy to the same information that I have at my disposal, as I said, "Buyer beware." I am under no fiduciary  umbrella with the responsibility to inform you that I mismanaged this firm. If you live under the impression that I must tell you that we have padded the financial statements to read as an Aesopian fable. Then you don't deserve my sympathy.

After all I was born to the purple, and I have certain class distinctions to maintain. Unlike your crime families which ply their trade out in the open for all to disdain, I use subterfuge and corporate terrorism's to acquire my wealth. So, you with your sniveling and whimpering, maudlin cries that you trusted me and I violated the laws of this country. The laws, booby, as it applies to you were meant to be obfuscated, by corporate piranha like me.

We, the seniors of this country have been preconditioned by the era's we traveled through. We learned to obey and be thankful for a few crumbs pushed off the corporate tables. We, know not to make waves, and offend the barracudas, (the out in the open gangsters, or the insidious snakes the govern under guise of respectability).
Enron, deserves our enmity, and that goes too, for all the other companies that are yet to exposed.
My fund, "The Alliance group" has a board member that sits on the Enron board. In October 2001, He purchased (9 million shares of Enron, and 3 million shares of TYCO.
I STRONGLY URGE EACH OF YOU, to read that boring pamphlet that comes to you each quarter, and look at the names of the companies that make up your portfolio.
My broker said to me, "Don't worry the market will bounce back." I am 74, I'd make a pact with the devil, just so I could live long enough to see that recovery. The market is like the West Side Highway, No one will live long enough to see it finished.
We fools, let these thieves, leave the companies with parachutes that are unconscionable high. And if they do jail time it's is considered a white collar crime. The Enron thieves belong in jail with, John Gotti, and all the others that live off the honest working people, and also the seniors that put their trust in the hands of the "white collar crooks."

Call your boker today and ask him if the Enron, scandal will have an effect on you portfolio?

Stay healthy, stay alert, and don't believe, any salesman, they all sell snake oil.

Regards,
Tony C.

Les;

   Any retiree interested in information on Putnam College fund for grandchildren--  this is tax deferred & tax exempt  --A true gift for grandchildren--  e-mail me for literature & video--

  Les  please post this on our web-site

    thanks   tony  Ancona   pars3210@aol.com

[Les] Hopefully this is a non profit thing.  We wish to refrain from doing ads

Again I wish to state that the CBS Retiree Master list is in the process of updating.  I know that some of you out there have had area code changes to your phones.  Please take a few minutes to send the changes to either myself, Ted Perzeszty or Tony Casola.  I know for certain that changes have been made to the 407 area and the 717 area.  Hell, we are only doing this for you;  time to exercise your fingers and get the information out.

From Harold Schutzman

Hi Les

Joe Teir is in a nursing home. I used to be in touch, but not now.

My  tel # is 201 797-6991   still in N.J> I should be going in for Bi-pass surgery within the week.

[Les] Wishing you much success in your operation.  I had spoken to Joe 11 yrs ago and he was moving to the Wilkes-Barre, Pa area at that time; is he in that area?

Received From Bob Vernum, 2/10/02:

The B-25 is finished and will fly at castle airport atwater ca(near merced) at the west coast festival on memorial day weekend.Much of my time is split between alameda and green valley arizona-just returned last night after three weeks.

we have an event in tucson easter weekend,I plan on attending with a small plane(ercoupe).Hope you get this attachment and also hope all is well with you.
[See photos #411 and #412]

bob v

Received Feb. 13-24, 2002:

From Jerry Colet