The Voice

UUPer Mike Whitlock didn’t bat an eyelash at the request.

This time, the New York Jets needed a helicopter.

The team, which held its first-ever summer training camp at SUNY Cortland, wanted the chopper to hover over and dry out their rain-soaked sod playing field, which the team spent weeks building on campus behind Cortland Stadium. Welcome to Day 3 of training camp.

“I told them ‘I’ll get a helicopter,’” said Whitlock matter-of-factly.

Two newsletters produced by UUP members earned a total of five awards for outstanding writing and design.

The Active Retiree and the Farmingdale Unifier were feted at the annual NYSUT journalism awards luncheon at the 2009 RA in Buffalo. The competition is sponsored by New York Teacher.

The Active Retiree won Awards of Merit for general excellence and best editorial, and an honorable mention for best news story.

“This well-designed, well-written and well-edited newsletter sends a clear message: Retirees as activists and difference-makers,” is how the judges described the newsletter, which is published for the more than 3,300 retiree members of UUP.

The editorial “Health care should be a priority in this election,” by Judith Wishnia of SUNY Stony Brook, also earned high marks from the judges. “This editorial is not just well-written and well-organized, it does an excellent job of backing up its point with a number of factual references.”

In January, four UUPers and a local businessman met with Republican state Sen. James Seward to highlight the union’s legislative agenda. They stressed that SUNY cannot weather any further budget cuts without jeopardizing student access and the high-quality public education New Yorkers rely on.

Nagel

Porter Lewis