Toms River Local 137’ s member death fuels team strength for a winning plane pull
Stories by Amber Ramundo Photos by Ed Carattini, Jr.
Stronger together
n BY AMBER RAMUNDO
Toms River Local 137’ s member death fuels team strength for a winning plane pull
Sergeant Gene Bachonski took hold of the tightly woven nylon rope on the tarmac at Newark International Airport. From his position, he gazed ahead beyond the nine Toms River Local 137 teammates lined up in front of him. His eyes settled on the 93,000-pound United 737 Aircraft that stared, nose forward, back at him. Bachonski’ s competitive nature could practically hear the voice of challenge whisper in the wind:“ Go ahead, give it a pull.” But for the Local 137 team of 20 trained and conditioned officers, there was no doubt that they would get those wheels rolling the 12-foot distance to the finish line in the 21st Annual Special Olympics New Jersey( SONJ) Plane Pull on Sept. 30. Their pull of confidence derived from three very motivating factors at the focal point of their efforts: to support a noteworthy cause, to honor a blue brother and, well, quite frankly, to win.
“ It’ s a charity plane pull and it’ s all for raising money … but we want to represent well and try as hard as we can,” Bachonski stated.“ We’ re very competitive with everything we do.”
If there’ s a competition involved, Local 137 members are going to take it seriously. That’ s why when team captain and State Delegate Jesse Robertazzi decided to put together a team of officers in 2016 to participate in the SONJ Plane Pull for the first time, they did their research.
For weeks, Bachonski’ s Google search history showed nothing but tug-of-war strategy and plane pull information. Bachonski was surprised that even after two decades of the annual SONJ Plane Pull, there was little information out there about plane pull strategy. That is, until through the glow of his computer screen, he discovered the plane pull jackpot.
“ I came across the Chesapeake Sheriff’ s Office in Virginia,” Bachonski shared.“ They had won the Dulles Day Plane Pull for Special Olympics 10 years in a row.”
Figuring he had nothing to lose, Bachonski picked up the phone and dialed the number for the Virginia department in hopes of getting the pull disclosure from the 10-year Virginia champs. To his surprise, members of the department led him straight to Lieutenant Chris Pascal, the Chesapeake Sheriff’ s Office plane pull captain, whose competitive nature matched Bachonski’ s hunger to win. For the next 20 minutes, they talked strategy of the pull. Bachonski took notes, eager to share his new tips with the team.
“ That’ s what’ s great about this profession we’ re in,” Robertazzi noted.“ We’ re all brothers and sisters, so if we can help somebody in a different state with just a simple phone call, that’ s what we do.”
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Weehawken Local 15....................................................... Page 32 Monroe Township Local 255............................................ Page 33 Freehold Local 209........................................................... Page 33 Essex County Sheriff’ s Officers Local 183....................... Page 34 Monmouth County Corrections Local 240..................... Page 34 Team Photos................................................................ Page 35-37
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