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Our Local Bricklaying Contest was held Saturday, March 20 at our training site in Fresno.
Twenty eight apprentices competed in the competition. The project was a brick pier laid
in running bond and capped with a basket weave paving pattern. The contestants were allowed
four hours to construct the project which consisted of 140 bricks and six 8x8x16 CMU s.
A written test followed the hands-on portion of the contest. The score from the written
test was factored into the judges final score. All of the contestants put forth their best
efforts and did an impressive job on their projects. They competed under sunny skies and
were well tended by some of the apprentices who were not competing this year. We owe much
thanks to our judges, James Jordan, Terry Shell, and Camilo Ramirez who put in a long demanding
day.
A good size crowd of spectators attended the event to offer encouragement and support to their
favorite apprentice. Several members of our apprenticeship committee, Labor trustees, Dave
Jackson, Bob Keeles and Al Knauer were there to help out where needed. Karen Angarano from
the Hayward Unified School District, and Fran Bergman and Vicky Pontius from Central Unified
School District in Fresno also attended. After the contest ended at 1:00 pm we had a nice lunch
prepared and served under the direction of Gary Peifer.
The top three contestants this year were Jason Mower, Nicholas Thompson, and Todd Stephens.
Jason works for John Wait Masonry, Nicholas is with Sullivan Masonry and Restoration, and Todd
is with Gerry Smith Masonry. Congratulations to each of them for their accomplishments and also
to the journeymen that they work with, who are clearly doing an excellent job training our future
craftsmen.
Traveling to Seattle on May 7 to compete in the 2004 Western States Brick and Tile Contest will
be; Jason Mower, Nicholas Thompson, Damond Shortt, William Phillips, Daniel Ensslin, Andrew
Ramirez, Patrick Coyne, and Maiten Tellechea. We wish them each the best of luck.
Congratulations also to every apprentice who competed and put forth their best effort in the
contest. Thanks also to the apprentices, volunteers, and instructors Larry Buranen and Brent
Kirkes, whose efforts contributed to the success of the contest. Thanks again to the judges
who definitely have the toughest task , second only to the competitors.
Next year the Local Contest will be held in Pleasanton.
We are taking applications at the Apprenticeship Office for all of our crafts. A high School
diploma or GED is a requirement to enter our program. If you know anyone inclined toward our
crafts, ask them to contact the apprentice office 510-553-0991 for additional information.
A larger office recently became available in the Labor Temple. We moved in on April 9 and are
slowly but surely getting things in order. The new office, should allow us to operate much more
efficiently.
Our apprenticeship committee recently experienced some changes on the labor side. James Bresnahan
replaces Greg Miranda as a trustee on the JATEC, by virtue of his elected office. President
Bresnahan removed Bob Keeles and Al Knauer from their appointments as trustees. Al has served
since June 1999. Bob served for more than 15 years. Both are men of integrity and known to be
fair minded and even handed in dealing with matters coming before the committee. Their experience
and views of the needs of apprenticeship will be sadly missed. This is an unfortunate casualty of
politics. The newly appointed trustees are Randy Smith and Lenair Chess.
The school year will end May 15. Travel reimbursements will be mailed on June 23.
Recently Certified Journeypersons
PCC
Marble Mason
Marble Finisher
Congratulations to each of you for choosing a respected and rewarding craft.
It has been said that mankind was given a sense of humility to allow the best qualities in people
to surface and be shaped among the human race. I don’t know if I fully believe this statement in
that Webster’s Dictionary defines humility as an absence of pride or self assertion. This
certainly was not the case recently when seven BAC #3 Bricklayer apprentices took charge and
built a split faced block foundation to help a Sacramento family realize their dream of owning
a home. When approached by Habitat for Humanity’s Sacramento program directors for assistance,
JATEC Coordinator, Mike Height, Local #3 Vice Chairman, Peifer and Organizer, Reilly met to review
plans and site conditions in order to submit the project to the JATEC for approval. At about the
same time BAC #3 received a notification from IU of BAC President Flynn recognizing the need and
value of BAC participation in Habitat for Humanity projects nationwide. Aided by this notification
and approval from the JATEC, material and equipment donations were secured and construction
scheduled. The pride and skills of our apprentices and
supervising journeymen produced a quality project and a feeling of accomplishment that is hard
to put into words. I would like to thank the following sponsors for their outstanding effort in
making this project a success. Camblin Steel, Basalite Block, Masonry Design, Habitat
Superintendent, Jim Campo, BAC Local #3 JATEC and staff, journeymen Chris Lagos and Shawn Powers,
and most of all apprentices Joe Porto, Russ Tellechia, Tobie Lee, Pete Perez, Felecion Jones, Dan
Ensslin and Damond Shortt for proving that the future of our craft is in good hands.
In closing I want to remind everyone to remember, America works best when we say Union/Yes.
Fraternally,
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me,
is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money,
than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people say or think or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a
church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we
will embrace that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will
act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the
string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and
90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.
Charles Swindoll
News from the Apprenticeship Office
Jorge Flores
Enrique Velasco
Robert Johnson
Vicente Aranda
Marco Linares
Javier Pena
Grant Schaerer
Apprentices donate labor to Habitat for Humanity
Gary F. Peifer
ViceChairman,
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Attitude