[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20657]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          TRIBUTE TO FIRE CHIEF REYNOLD ``RENNY'' SANTONE, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BILL SHUSTER

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 27, 2006

  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Fire Chief Reynold 
``Renny'' Santone, Jr. of the Altoona Fire Department, in Altoona, 
Pennsylvania, who has been named ``Person of the Year'' by the Blair 
Bedford Central Labor Council. The distinguished fire chief was 
nominated for the award by his fellow members of the fire department. 
Chief Santone, marking 41 years of protecting the Altoona Area, was 
recently presented with this distinguished award at the Labor Council's 
annual awards dinner.
  This award honors people like Santone ``who work for a living and who 
are well respected and well-loved'' for their contributions to 
employees, co-workers and the community, said the Blair Bedford Central 
Labor Council's President Robert Kurtz, while delivering remarks at the 
event. President Kurtz commended Fire Chief Santone, saying that he is 
``not a paper chief'' who distances himself from his firefighters, but 
that ``he's out there in the trenches with them.''
  Chief Santone joined ranks with the Altoona Fire Department in 1965, 
and looking back on the day he joined the force, said: ``They hired me 
on April Fool's Day. What I was really waiting for was the red 
International Association of Fire Fighters sticker--to me that means I 
was a real professional firefighter.''
  Chief Santone has certainly proved his abilities as a firefighter in 
the Altoona Area. Fifteen years after joining the department, 
Firefighter Reynold Santone was named fire chief in 1984. Today, he 
leads the department's 4 fire stations and a standing staff of 13 on 
call firefighters. Chief Santone remarked, ``I've always known what 
I've wanted to do and where I wanted to be,'' saying that he expects to 
retire from the same station on Washington Avenue that he joined in 
1965.
  Fire Chief Reynold ``Renny'' Santone, Jr.'s dedication to the 
protection of our local community, and its citizens, is admirable. We 
hope that others will follow in his footsteps and serve our community 
with the same pride and honor as Chief Santone has done for the past 41 
years.

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