FOR THE RECORD

FOR THE RECORD

Emergency Medical Service Lieut. Brendan Pearson received belated recognition April 23 - the second anniversary of his death - when his wife, Laura, was presented with EMS and FDNY Line-of-Duty Death Medals during a ceremony at Fire Department headquarters.

Mr. Pearson, a 24-year veteran who worked out of the combined EMS/firefighter station in the Rossville section of Staten Island, suffered a hernia while lifting heavy equipment at work. While recuperating in the hospital following his operation, he was stricken by a fatal embolism.

Initially the Fire Department declined to classify his death as line of duty, but it relented in February 2006 at the urging of both his wife and his union, Local 3621 of District Council 37.

"It's late recognition, but it's positive for the family," Local 3621 President Tom Eppinger said during a phone interview three days prior to the ceremony.

The union is also pressing the U.S. Department of Justice to grant Mr. Pearson's family a special cash award of roughly $200,000 that is given to FDNY and EMS personnel throughout the country who die in the line of duty. Mr. Eppinger said that recently there has been a moratorium on such presentations but that Staten Island Congressman Vito Fossella is lobbying the Justice Department on behalf of the Pearson family.

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Veteran Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook, new Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd and City Council Finance Committee Chairman David Weprin will be among those honored at the Civil Service Merit Council's Spring Extravaganza June 5.

City Comptroller Bill Thompson Jr. will be the guest speaker at the event, which will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. at Harbour Lights Restaurant in the South Street Seaport.

The watchdog group will also cite Jon Forster, the Civil Service Technical Guild vice president who led that union's fight against the use of palm-scanners as time-keeping devices in agencies like the Department of Design and Construction. Two senior District Council 37 officials, Retirees Association Vice President Bill Dworkin and Public Employee Press Editor Bill Schleicher, are the other honorees.

A memorial award will be presented to the family of Al Engel, the Merit Council's founding president, who died earlier this year.

Tickets for the dinner are $75 each. For further information, call (212) 686-1229.

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In homage to the burgeoning popularity of the Tribeca Film Festival, Local 1180 of the Communications of America, which is based in Tribeca, is adding some labor flavor to the festivities. The union is hosting a reception from 11 a.m. until 12 p.m. and an art exhibit which will be open until 4 p.m. on April 28 at 97 Hudson Street. Also on offer at 1 p.m. will be a free screening of the classic film Norma Rae, which chronicles the brutal struggle to unionize a Southern textile mill.

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There's something about the name "Washington Generals" that isn't conducive to winning. A basketball team of that name for decades has served as the Harlem Globetrotters' prime patsies, and a football version consisting of cops and firefighters from that city was vanquished April 14 by the Sanitation Department's team, New York's Strongest.

Played before a sizable crowd at Bayside High School's field, the game went to overtime, where Daryl "The Animal" Paulk of Queens West 1 District scored the touchdown that won it, 14-8.

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The National Council of Columbia Associations of Civil Service will honor a dozen municipal union officials at its Role Models Award luncheon April 29 at El Caribe Catering in Brooklyn.

Among those it will cite are Detectives' Endowment Association lobbyist Lou Matarazzo, Vincent Tummino of the Fire Department, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association First Vice President John Puglissi, Joseph Siano of the Sanitation Department and Darryl Parente of the Department of Education.

For further information, call (718) 554-6114.