[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO THE ROCKLAND COUNTY SHIELDS

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                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Rockland 
County Shields, which are currently celebrating their 30th anniversary.
  The Rockland County Shields are dedicated to providing a fraternal 
and social organization for all active and retired police officers who 
either worked or lived in Rockland County. The organization has 
fostered the fact that officers, be they Federal, State, city or local 
are all brothers. This ideal has been maintained for the last 30 years, 
and today the Shields have over 1,600 members.
  The organization offers benefits not only to police officers, but to 
the citizens of Rockland County. Moreover, the Shields maintain an 
emergency fund to aid the community, award eight scholarships annually, 
and provide monies for United Hospice, local school functions, and 
scout troops for eagle scout projects. They have an annual Saint 
Patrick's Day party and march in the Rockland parade, which is the 
second largest in the country. They also have summer picnics, fishing 
trips, and dances.
  Since the Rockland County Shields were started in 1966, similar 
fraternal police groups have been formed in Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, 
Delaware, and Westchester counties.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join in congratulating the 
Rockland County Shields for their 30 years of invaluable community 
service and wish them for future success in both their service and 
fraternal brotherhood.

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