Greetings Fellow Emeralds!I hope that this message finds you all well and as excited as I am about celebrating our heritage during the month of March. We have many events planned for the celebration of St Patrick's Day and hopefully you have learned of them through our newsletter ,"The Garda",and our meetings.Our March meeting on 3/5 Wednesday, will feature our special guest speaker, Finbar Hill, Hon. Consul of Ireland and Chief of Protocol of the Los Angeles Consular Corps. It is our honor and an emerging tradition to have Finbar Hill speak at our March meeting as he did last year. Finbar speaks of the current situation in Ireland with great knowledge and eloquence , and last year entertained a lively question and answer session. We welcome him and you to hear his presentation!
Many of you saw the news coverage of the funeral of the first LAPD Swat officer to be killed in the line of duty, Officer Randal Simmons. The entire Emerald Society extends its condolences to the family and friends of Randy Simmons and flowers and a card were sent to express our sympathy.
At the request of the Simmons family our Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drum Band, under the leadership of Pipe Major/LAPD Detective Scott Walton, performed "Amazing Grace" at the cemetery during the burial of Officer Simmons. It was an honor to be allowed to participate in the services for Officer Simmons and our Emerald Society Pipe and Drum Band did us proud. Selected video of the extensive news coverage will be shown at our 3/5 meeting.
Our annual St Patrick's Day Party at Maggies restaurant in Santa Fe Springs, featuring bagpipers, Irish dancers, the band Sligo Rags, door prizes and all the corned beef and cabbage you can eat for 25.00 is this Saturday 3/8. Ticket sales are at a record level but we can still squeeze you in, so contact the LAPES office at 213 747-4743 for last minute ticket purchases. Tickets are not sold at the door.
Volunteers...Volunteers are still need to work the door at Maggies so thank you to those who have stepped up to volunteer and if you haven't , please consider it!
That's all for now! I look forward to seeing you at the meeting, party and upcoming events! There will be more details and HOT NEWS to follow!
LET'S GO IRISH! ERIN GO BRAGH! GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Steve Saletros
President
