American Legion News

American Legion National Commander Daniel M. Dellinger expressed relief after a 16-day partial shutdown of the U.S. government came to an end at midnight. The shutdown had idled thousands of Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Offices throughout the country and threatened to suspend disability payments to veterans at the end of this month. “On behalf of our nation’s veterans, I am thankful that the U.S. government has reopened,” Dellinger said. “The American Legion and all veterans were certainly difference-makers in this temporary resolution. Veterans, members of the U.S.

New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall outlined several interim initiatives designed to enhance safety at the Staten Island Ferry. The Commissioner said "we are continuing to cooperate with the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation. While many questions remain unanswered, we must act now to improve safety. The riders of the Staten Island Ferry deserve no less." Commissioner Weinshall outlined initiatives that were developed in consultation with the United States Coast Guard. • Ensure a permanent presence in pilot house. Effective immediately, a deckhand assigned to the operational (inshore) pilot house will be positioned in that pilot house at all times.

The Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey sponsored a tribute to Malcolm P. McLean, founder of Container Shipping and George F. Lowman, chairman and chief executive officer, Farrell Lines at the International Hall of Fame Awards Dinner on the evening of May 12, 1999. Held in the Delegates Dining Room of the United Nations, the gala event honored McLean, who is the founder of Container Shipping as Man of the Century and Lowman, who received the Hall of Fame's premiere Humanitarian Award. Described by Forbes Magazine as "one of the few men who changed the world," McLean founded the trucking company that bears his name in 1934 - which later became one of the largest trucking firms in the U.S.

Alfred R. (Ted) Ruhly, retired chairman of Maersk Inc.; Michael J. Sacco, who heads the Seafarers International Union (SIU), and Distinguished Alumnus Commodore Leroy J. Alexanderson will all be honored by the Maritime College at Fort Schuyler Foundation on March 31, 2001 at the New York Hilton. Ruhly began his transportation career in the trucking industry in 1950. After 22 years he joined Maersk Inc. as vice president of Marketing and Sales. In 1974 he was named executive vice president and two years later, president. In 1993, Ruhly was named chairman of the Board of Maersk Inc., a position he held until 1999. He also served as chairman of the Board of Maersk Line Ltd. from 1983 to 1997.

When the forthcoming new trio of Staten Island Ferryboats was announced about a year ago, they were described as being "Kennedy class," a description whose significance was more symbolic than factual. According to the conceptual drawings, they do indeed bear a passing resemblance to the Kennedy fleet - perhaps as much as the Merrill fleet did before it. But everyone who knows the Staten Island Ferry knows both the Kennedy class and its successor, the Barberi class, too. And when it comes to thinking about the next 35 years of crossings (the typical lifetime of a ferryboat), most regulars would probably prefer every reassurance that the newest boats would be more like the oldest (John F. Kennedy, American Legion, and Gov. Herbert H. Lehman).