Joe Stoltz's Page

I have not been active on FFN for a while, and for good reason. A discipline problem has made 2009 pretty stressful at times. Due to ongoing legal issues there’s not much more I can say about it now, however the story will be told in a future blog. I will say that as 1st Assistant Chief I have tried to shoulder some of the load borne by the Chief, and help resolve the problem.

But I digress.

My wife and I have taken up gardening, and we are on our second year of tending a modest patch of land… Continue

On Memorial Day we should - and most do - remember and honor those who have given their lives for this great country. We should also remember and thank those who have served our country in wartime or in peace. There are several men that I remember quite often, and not just once a year. I certainly don’t need a reminder from anyone to recall them to my memory. Let me tell you about them.

My great-great grandfather, Ira S. Thurber, was a Lieutenant in the 64th Regiment, New York State Volunteers.… Continue

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On a late summer day in 1949, the members of the Cattaraugus Fire Department are putting their new pumper th… Continue

A while back, Chief Billy Goldfeder wrote a little story in The Secret List urging everyone over 50 to schedule a colonoscopy. He didn’t need to convince me; after my father died of cancer in 2005, I went to the doctor and scheduled a complete physical examination. Doc suggested that I have a colonoscopy, so I resigned myself to the medical profession for the procedure.

I don’t recall that Chief Billy went into details about his experience, so I thought I would share mine for all of you 50+ yea… Continue

On the afternoon of October 5, 1954, hurricane hunter planes found the eye of Hurricane Hazel about 50 miles east of the island of Grenada. The eye was poorly defined, but its highest winds were already near 100 mph. It was the beginning of a storm that was to spread death and destruction from the Caribbean up through the Carolinas, the middle of the Atlantic states and into Canada.

By 11:00 a.m. on October 14, Hazel reached North Carolina, its winds sustained at 150 mph. It was preceded by a s… Continue