DOTRA’S…DotLine…

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

By Chet Andres

DOTRA continues to remain strong continuing with almost 400 members after 16 years. Three new Directors have been elected to our DOTRA Board – Janis Stia, Art Egan and Peter Yull. Janis retired from the Support Services in 1999 and joined DOTRA immediately. Art Egan retired in 2006 after working in a number of Units in the NJDOT including C&M and IS. Peter Yull is a new retiree, retiring in 2007 from Support Services after 23 years. They are willing to assist the Board with its various social events and planning other functions.

A new group of retirees have left the NJDOT. We are working closely with the administrative offices to contact as many as possible and invite them to join DOTRA. As an incentive to join we are inviting them to a new Membership to DOTRA and an invitation to attend our picnic as free guests in September.

Plans are being made for our Holiday Luncheon in December which will be held this year at the new banquet facility at Mercer County’s Mountain View Golf Course in West Trenton. Look for details in the next DOTLINE.

After several years, our Monthly business meetings will be moving from Roman Hall in Trenton to Leonardo’s Restaurant on Route 1 south in Lawrenceville. All are welcome to attend. The luncheon starts at 11:30 with our business meeting following immediately. Thanks to Director Sal Noto for making the arrangements.

SEE YOU AT THE PICNIC !

UPCOMING EVENTS

DOTRA PICNIC Wednesday September 12^th at Mercer County’s Princeton CC –Emmons Drive, West Windsor. Bargain Price- $5

DOTRA Holiday Luncheon at Mountain View Golf Course in West Trenton on Wednesday December 5^th. Save the date!

DOTRA Radio City Bus Trip on Monday December 10^th.

DOTRA BOARD MONTHLY MEETINGS

DOTRA holds its regular Monthly meetings on the first Tuesday of each month.

Tuesday, AUGUST 7, 2007

NEW LOCATION !!!!

At 11:30 AM at LEONARDO’S II

2021 Brunswick Pike-Route 1

Lawrenceville- just south of Whitehead Road

Dutch treat lunch starts at 11:30–12:30

Meeting starts promptly at 12:30 PM

All members of DOTRA are welcome !!!

Schedule for Future Meetings:

Tuesday - August 7, 2007

Tuesday - September 4, 2007

Tuesday - October 2, 2007

Tuesday – November 6, 2007

Tuesday – December 4, 2007

NEW MEMBERS REPORT

We are pleased to introduce a new retiree as a DOTRA Member.

Peter Yull – Trenton NJ- worked in Support Services for more than 23 years. Peter has joined as a LIFE MEMBER

Lucky for DOTRA, Peter wants to be involved and has volunteered to join the DOTRA Board!

DOTRA

PO BOX 77160

WEST TRENTON, NJ 08628

CHAPLAIN’S REPORT

By Jay Johnston

We would like to keep informed of any retiree who is ill, anyone confined to their home, or any retiree who needs help in one form or another.

If you have any information to share about members or retirees, please call or send a note to Jay Johnston at 609-588-0930 -

or e-mail – JRJ0506@verizon.net

or write to Jay at 3 Golden Crest Court, Hamilton Square NJ 08691.

Recent Obituaries:

John A. Gibson 72 DOT

Dorothy Szymanski 82 DOT

Emily Holt 84 DOT

James Carlin 84 DOT

*John “Mike” Hanlon 64 DOT

Frank Lagana Sr. 90 DOT

*James Maul DOT

Emily C. Colgan 89 MVS

Lottie Baran 85 MVS

Leontine Ferrara 93 MVS

*DENOTES DOTRA MEMBERS

DOTRA EXECUTIVE BOARD

AND OFFICERS

PRESIDENT- Chet Andres 609-818-1921

1^st VP- Adrian Lincoln 609-921-3036

2^nd VP- Jay Johnston 609-588-0930

TREASURER- Lou Papp 609-585-7697

ASST.TREAS– Frank Herrera 609-392-0633

REC.SEC- Hazel Rockhill 609-581-3560

CORRES. SEC-Dolores Murphy 609-466-3341

DIRECTORS/ TERM OF OFFICE

Chet Andres (09) Adrian Lincoln (10)

Jay Johnston (10) Jim Dixon (09)

Dot Andres (09) Dolores Murphy (08)

Lou Papp (10) Phil Vecere (10)

Joe Bodnar (08) Hazel Rockhill (09)

Walt Gable-Emeritus Jim Springstead (08)

Al Gallo (08) Bruce Strickland (10)

Frank Herrera (08) Richard Hobson (08)

Sal Noto (09) Don Hutchinson (10)

NEW DIRECTORS

Art Egan Janis Stia Peter Yull

VACANT 0

COMMITTEES

CHAPLAIN – Jay Johnston 609-588-0930

MEMBERSHIP – Dot Andres 609-818-1921

BY-LAWS – VACANT

HISTORIAN – VACANT

ACTIVITIES – Jim Springstead 609-392-0848

DOTLINE – Dot Andres & 609-818-1921

Bruce Strickland 609-538-8189

DATABASE - John Waldner

WEBSITE - Bruce Strickland 609-538-8189

DOTRA’S ON THE INTERNET

Log onto DOTRA’s own Web Site at:

http:/www. dotra.org

Bruce Strickland is our Web Site Manager.

There are new photos of DOTRA events on the Web Site. Take a look and leave a note.

_________________________________

HELP KEEP OUR ORGANIZATION GOING !

JOIN in our Activities - We work hard for you!

DOTRA PICNIC ON SEPTEMBER 12th

Note that our Annual picnic location has changed! We will hold it at the Mercer County Park at Princeton Golf Course in West Windsor, just off Route 1. The price is right - $5 per person , reservations in advance. Phil Vecere and Crew promise another big success!

HOLIDAY LUNCHEON DECEMBER 5th

PUT THE DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR NOW. PLAN TO ATTEND ! –

DOTRA will be having its Holiday Luncheon at the new Mercer County Golf Course at Mountain View Golf Course in West Trenton. Catering will be done by the same great group as our previous Holiday Luncheons. Space is limited to 120 people. Save the date as we expect to sell this out.

DOTRA TRIP INFORMATION

By Jay Johnston

HOLIDAY TRIP TO RADIO CITY

Thanks to Jay Johnston, DOTRA will be traveling by luxury bus to New York City to see the popular Radio City Christmas Spectacular on Monday December 10, 2007.

Tickets are $75.00 per person, bus leaves from Suburban Plaza-Nottingham Way in Hamilton Twp at 9 AM and returns at approximately 6 PM.

The Radio City performance starts at 2 PM and are in the first mezzanine. Upon arrival you will be free to have lunch on your own, walk to St. Patrick’s and Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas Tree.

Tickets are limited so contact Jay at 609-588-0930 immediately to reserve your seat.

See the attached Flyer for details !!

TRAVELS BY DOTRA MEMBERS

KATRINA TRIP II

By Jim Dixon

My wife Lois and I went on a mission trip to Gautier Mississippi in August 2006 with a group of ten other volunteers from the United Presbyterian Church in Yardville NJ as part of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Program.

Our group drove down in two vans, a distance of 1200 miles. We made it in two days, stopping overnight at a Presbyterian church in Kingsport, TN.

The camp in Gautier, MS was very rustic. We slept in what they called pods. They were tent size buildings made out of plastic coated cardboard that the mail carriers’ baskets are made of. Each pod has two cots for sleeping and a third cot to put your things on because the floors got wet when it rained. There was a trailer with showers and sinks, port-a-johns, and a large tent that was the kitchen and dining hall. The accommodations really weren’t bad when the weather was dry,but when it rained the camp got flooded. One day we had a heavy rainstorm and had water around our pods almost up to our knees. We had to be evacuated overnight to the Gautier Presbyterian Church. The other problems we encountered were that it was so humid and hot ( upper 90’s to 100 degrees) and that the bugs were big and plentiful. There were lots of mosquitoes, toads, fiddler crabs, huge roaches, black widow spiders, locusts, crickets, crawfish and fire ants just to mention a few.

Every morning after we prepared and cleaned up our breakfast, we fixed our bag lunches: cleaned the showers, sinks and pot-o-johns: we went to the work sites. Our group was divided into two work teams, each team being assigned to a different job. These jobs included: removing debris from inside condemned homes, installing a door on a trailer home, building a 10x14 foot metal storage she, setting up a 20x20 foot tent for storage, filling potholes in a warehouse access road, and insulating and wall boarding an entire home.

The trip to Mississippi was a wonderful experience for us. In addition to feeling like we did help the Katrina victims, we got to know the members of our group better and discovered what good people they are. We especially came to realize that there are a lot of wonderful youth in the world even though we usually only hear about the troublemakers. Also, we felt a connection as Americans. There were volunteers coming from all over the U.S. to help fellow Americans, the Katrina victims. Lastly, we discovered that you don’t have to be young, strong, or talented for God to use you in His service. God will use anyone – you just have to be willing!

ANNUAL Meeting Report

June Luncheon 2007

The June Luncheon was held at the Cranbury Inn on June 6^th. A smaller group than usual, all enjoyed the wonderful dinner at this historic inn arranged by Adrian Lincoln (ROW), and the great music by Dick Koreyva.

Jay Johnston introduced the slate of Candidates for DOTRA Board Director positions - renewals as Directors for another 3 year term are - Jay Johnston - (Budget/ Program Analysis), Lou Papp -(C&M), Bruce Strickland (Information Technology) ,Adrian Lincoln (ROW), Phil Vecere (Support Services), Don Hutchinson (Design).

Walter Gable (ROW) one of our earliest Directors has been elected as a Director Emeritus. New Directors elected to the Board are Art Egan (lS), Janet Stia (Support Services) and Peter Yull (Support Services).

HERE AND THERE

By Dot Andres

Carl and Mary Breccia (C&M) celebrated their 50^th Wedding Anniversary on May 11^th. They celebrated with a cruise in the eastern Caribbean on the “Caribbean Princess” with their children and grandchildren. A separate celebration at home was given by their children.

Nice to see a number of folks again at the June Luncheon- Peg and George Wieger (C&M), Kristine Kaye (ROW) Rita Cunningham and Mary Thompson (Traffic Engineering), Ann and Fergie Reeves (Procurement), Nellie Hoffman (MVS), John Troiani (Support Services), Gary Gronoss (Field Survey), Seth Barton Local Aid), Alan Samour (Design), Helen Rose (Support Services), Frank Scarpati (C&M), Joe Notaro (Design) and the rest of the Phil Vecere picnic gang.

Marion Bodnar was there, but without Joe (Traffic Engrg) who is mending well from heart surgery and is back in the swing. Andy Cella (ROW) recently has moved to Crestwood Village in Whiting, NJ.

The Herrera family (EQT) was well represented as usual and won many prizes- including 4 bottles of wine, and a Brunch for 2 at the Cranbury Inn. Lucky Ken Hey (Eqt) won the 50:50.

Bruce Strickland (Info Tech) just got back from a trip to New Mexico- the Land of Enchantment. Bruce will be buying some land out there and serious enough to be talking to a builder. Any interest in this southwestern paradise, visit http://www.dcpreserve.com/

Bruce reports some other news of our NJDOT retirees, Bob Swain (Info Tech) is living the life in Citrus County, FL and working with Habitat for Humanity, picking up donated furniture. Nice work with that heat and humidity.

John Jones (Planning) is completing his retirement move to Georgetown ,Maine. Understand there’s no cable up there.

Heard briefly from Mike Immordino ( Geo Tech) who is now living in Dillon Colorado. Also, a phone call arrives often from Daytona Florida from Nick Nicu (Geo Tech) who wishes to be remembered to his former co-workers.

Put Tuesday February 12th 2008 on your calendar for the Annual Florida Reunion at the Clewiston Inn in Clewiston Florida. This is on the southwest shore of Lake Okeechobee in south central Florida-reachable from I-95 and I-75. More details in the November issue.

Contact Frank Wegel at 772-388-3991 or write 8060 142^nd St. Sebastian FL32958. EMAIL- fwegel@bellsouth.com

ISSUE NO. 60 AUGUST 2007

NEW MEMBERS REPORT

We are pleased to introduce a new retiree as a DOTRA Member.