New York man sentenced for possessing fraudulent credit cards found during traffic stop in Luzerne County

web1_TTL091215bgwings.jpg

Best winds fundraiser helps Boys & Girls Clubs

<p>EDWARDSVILLE &#8212; Admitting he is &#8220;not as sure&#8221; on his feet as he once was, Ray King has retired as chief of the Edwardsville Fire Department after more than 50 years of service.</p><p>King started his tenure with the department way back in March 1964. He was elected by volunteers in January 1975 as assistant chief, and then appointed as deputy chief by borough council members at the time in 1976.</p><p>He was then appointed by borough council members as chief in 1988.</p><p>King submitted his letter of resignation to the borough at the last borough council meeting. The decision to retire, he said, was not an easy one to make.</p><p>&#8220;It was just building in me all this year,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I probably stayed too long, but it&#8217;s been part of my life, and I just wanted to never give it up.&#8221;</p><p>He added his 38-year career as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service also took its toll on him.</p><p>&#8220;My legs are starting to fail me now from all that walking over those years,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s just time. You just can&#8217;t stay in a job like this until you&#8217;re 80 or 90 years old. It&#8217;s not fair to the people you&#8217;re commanding.&#8221;</p><p>King noted he was only one of two fire chiefs to serve the borough during the past 60 years &#8212; the previous chief, Hugh Jones, retired after serving for over 30 years.</p><p>Acting chief Frank Slymock, 55, served as deputy chief for about 14 years under King. He said he will always look up to King, and hopes to carry on a similar legacy moving forward.</p><p>&#8220;It is impressive to see someone go that long,&#8221; Slymock said. &#8220;Ray&#8217;s done a lot for fire service in Edwardsville.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Over the years</strong></p><p>King has seen things change over time during his career &#8212; the largest, however, came following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.</p><p>&#8220;It opened up a whole new era for fire departments because the country realized that we were underfunded, had poor equipment and weren&#8217;t prepared for something like that,&#8221; King said.</p><p>That realization prompted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to pass the Homeland Security Act, which helped to better prepare for disasters. Fire companies can now apply for grants through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, which aims to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and non-affiliated emergency medical service organizations.</p><p>&#8220;Anybody worth their salt applied for it, because it was good money,&#8221; King said. &#8220;We were one of the departments that was pitifully undermanned with apparatus, the stuff was old.&#8221;</p><p>King explained the department&#8217;s fire apparatus at the time dated back to the 1950s and 1960s and, while it was still in good shape, the department needed more up-to-date equipment.</p><p>King applied for grants over a 10-year period, which resulted in the department receiving almost $1 million in grants between the state, FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Agriculture.</p><p>As a result of the funds, King said the department has &#8220;all-new&#8221; apparatus at the fire station, as well as new equipment on the apparatus. He called the funding a &#8220;blessing.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I guess it shows how much we needed, because they certainly gifted us with a lot of awards,&#8221; he said.</p><p>King is also proud of initiating a shared-services agreement with the Kingston/Forty Fort Fire Department in 2009.</p><p>&#8220;They send us an engine on all structure boxes with two paid people on it, and any volunteers that are available,&#8221; King said. &#8220;We send our ladder quint, which is a ladder truck with a pump on it too, and water, to their alarms, especially high-risk alarms, their nursing homes.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Enjoying retirement</strong></p><p>Although King has more leisure time on his hands now, he already misses his job.</p><p>He plans to help his children, Ray Jr. and Karen Mullery, with projects around their households, as well as tackle some projects around his own home.</p><p>As for the future of the fire department, King is optimistic that the department is in good hands under Slymock.</p><p>&#8220;The leadership is there with Frank,&#8221; King said.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TTL091515chief1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Ray King, who recently retired as chief of the Edwardsville Fire Department, is shown here with some of the fire memorabilia he has collected or was given over the years. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TTL091515chief1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ray King, who recently retired as chief of the Edwardsville Fire Department, is shown here with some of the fire memorabilia he has collected or was given over the years. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Longtime Edwardsville chief retires</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Resignation surprised borough council</strong></p><p>Borough Council members are now tasked with finding a new fire for the Edwardsville Fire Department.</p><p>Borough manager Cathy Soprano said former chief Ray King&#8217;s retirement was an unexpected announcement at Thursday&#8217;s council meeting.</p><p>&#8220;It happened rather quickly,&#8221; Soprano said. &#8220;Nobody on council was actually prepared for that letter.&#8221;</p><p>Frank Slymock was named acting chief of the department at the meeting. Soprano said council members will want to sit down with Slymock to discuss how the selection process will work.</p><p>Soprano added &#8220;there certainly is a possibility&#8221; that Slymock could be named chief.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Former Edwardsville fire chief recalls his lengthy career