WELCOME
TO BREA
BNL
RETIRED EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATION
The purpose of the BROOKHAVEN RETIRED EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATION
(BREA) is to
further
retiree interests and benefits; to build closer community ties between
Brookhaven
National Laboratory and its neighbors; to publish a newsletter
providing
communication
with retired employees and to encourage
activities for social interaction in
the
retirement community.
It is with great sorrow the we note the passing of Graham Campbell
on June 16, 2009. He was served the laboratory with distinction
as a scientist and manager. After retirement he was a founding
member of BREA. BREA President Arnie Peskin writes of his
great contribution the Lab and the community in an article in the
latest Newsletter.
Revised Constitution
On July 8, 2008 the BREA Board approved an updated Constitution and
By-Laws. This new version can be found here.
One significant change is an expansion of the Secretary's duties to
include all aspects of communications.
Dues up to date?
Information and application form can be found here.
KEEP UP TO
DATE! GET THE LATEST NEWS!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!
Get
the Bulletin
on
line. Our long standing information source - right to your
computer:
timely and with color photos.
Subscribe
to the BREA Mailing List.
EMail communications aimed at the BNL retiree community.
Subscribe
to the BNL
Director's Monday Memo. The "official" word on BNL doings
via EMail.
For more
information click here!
Surf to "OTHER SITES": links to BNL
information, Government sites, retiree organizations at other labs, and
other
resources of interest to BREA members.
Minutes of BREA
Business meetings.
BREA Newsletters.
Comments on this Web site are welcome! Just send an email.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
There are several upcoming events:
NORTH FORK TOUR
On September 10th a visit to Light Houses and other historical sites on
Long Island. More details coming soon, see recent Newsletter.
Senior Net
Meeting between a SeniorNet organization and BREA, more details soon,
in the meantime see recent Newsletter.
ANNUAL
GET-TOGETHER LUNCHEON - JUNE 4, 2009
BREA's annual major event was at the Bellport Country Club at noon
on the first Thursday in June.
A set of photographs by Joseph Rubino can be seen by clicking here!
Until more information is presented here one can read the recent BREA Newsletter.
ENVOY
PROGRAM
BNL has an "ENVOY PROGRAM" which has the primary purpose of sharing
information about Lab's accomplishments and activities. Employees
(and retirees) are recruited to be "ambassadors" who become well
informed about Lab affairs so that the can talk to family, friends and
neighbors about BNL's main research goals and upcoming events.
The program has been successful and the Lab is seeking employees and
retirees to join Envoy team. More information can be found in the
Bulletin
article published April 3rd. 2009; headlined "Getting the 'Scoop on Lab Happenings".
A scanned pdf copy of the article and
and the text as a word document
are "attached" to this posting. More information may be obtained
from Nora Detweiller, Ext 4458.
(The Bulletin article was the source of the information in
this posting.)
REBID of BNL CONTRACT
The
Department of Energy has announced that he contract to operate BNL will
be "rebid". A letter to DOE expressing some concerns that
retirees have is reprinted in the January
2009 BREA News.
Official information is posted at the DOE's RFP
web site.
RETIREES
IN A VOLATILE MARKET -
Thomas Kelly of TIAA-CREF spoke on "Retirees Staying on the Track
in a Volatile Market" on April 8th. Mr. Kelly is a "Senior
Consultant" assigned to BNL. He can be reached at
tkelly@tiaa-cref.org or by telephone at 866.842.2053 x264008.
FORMER
WORKER MEDICAL SCREENING PROGRAM
BNL management has informed BREA of a
medical screening
program which has as its stated goal is to “provide
a free medical screening to construction workers who helped to build
our
nation's nuclear defense sites”. Click
here for more information .
Analysis of "WELCOME TO SHIRLEY ..."
At the July 8, 2008 meeting the Board endorsed a letter written by
Dave Cox to the Long Island Advance concerning a review of the book
"Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town". It can be seen here. An analysis by the
BNL Community Relations group can be seen here.
The SSA web site now includes a "The
Retirement Estimator", which produces estimates that are
based on your actual Social Security earnings record. You can use the estimator if:
- You are not currently receiving benefits on
your own Social Security record;
- You are not a Medicare beneficiary;
- You have enough Social Security credits at this time to qualify
for benefits; and
- You are not eligible for a Pension Based on
Work Not Covered By Social Security.
ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT STUDY GROUP
A group of BREA members have formed a group to study energy and
environment problems - the primary area of concern is Global Climate
Change and Energy usage problems. For further information
contact Myron Strongin.
ENGINEERING
AMERICA’S
ENERGY FUTURE- Eric Forsyth
In recent discussion meetings Eric Forsyth presented his ideas on
energy utilization.
The most recent paper reviews the current energy production situation
and proposes
a National Alternative Energy Program. It is posted here
(in pdf format) - Eric invites comments. Email him at Eforsyth1
@ aol.com.
GET-TOGETHER
LUNCHEON June 4th, 2008 , THREE VILLAGE INN
OFFICERS 
BREA officers were elected at the BREA meeting on January 8, 2008.
President:
Arnie
Peskin
Vice President: Bob Marr
Secretary: Dave Cox
Treasurer: Ken
Morhing.
Click here for contact information.
"Minimum
Required Distribution" - Will we out live it?
That
is the leading question on the front page of the October 8, 2007 BREA Newsletter.
Elliot
Auerbach addressed this question at the request of the BREA Board; in
addition
to the article he has provided an Excel
spread sheet which can be downloaded, allowing one to modify the
computation using differing assumptions about earnings, future
inflation
rates, etc. As an alternative to the spread sheet one can access
a table of results that has
been provided
by Joyce Tichler using Elliot's spreadsheet.
PAST
EVENTS:
LUNCH
TIME SEMINAR - January 17, 2008
Suffolk
County Legislator Steven Stern, who is also Chairman of the
Veterans
and Senior Committee spoke on the work of "The Suffolk
County-Wide
Senior Citizen Task Force". Stern's Task Force is addressing issues
important to Seniors, including affordable housing, accessible
transportation and the increasing needs for long-term care.
Business
Meetings 
The
BREA Executive Board convenes monthly meetings to develop BREA plans
and
policies. Minutes of these meetings
are
published on this web site (in pdf format). The meetings are open to
any
members wishing to attend. The President should be told if you
are
planning to attend and if you have any particular issue that you would
like to
raise in order to reserve space on the agenda and at the table.
The
meeting place is usually in a Berkner Hall conference room, (usually
room D) or
in the Research Support Building, at noon.
Scheduled Dates: (second Tuesday or Wednesday
-unless noted)
...
SEMINARS AND
LECTURES 
Please
check Bulletin for on site events.
Be sure to check the BERA EVENTS
page for
special events and activities.
BREA and BNL
NEWS: 
For
recent BREA news, as well as an "historical record", Minutes of BREA Business meetings and Newsletters are posted on this web
site. These files are in "pdf" format, Adobe's Acrobat Reader
for pdf files can be obtained free by using this link.
Notes on a
selection of past events can be seen below or by clicking
here.
MEDICARE
PRESCRIPTION DRUG PROGRAM 
Many
people have been confused about the new Medicare Part D Prescription
Drug plan
and their current coverage from BSA/BNL. Human Resources (aka
Personnel)
strongly recommends that retirees NOT enroll in a Part D plan. An
ad-hoc
committee from BREA, consisting of Graham Campbell, Barney MacAlary,
and Eliott
Auerbach has been looking into this and agree with HR.
Click here for
the
BREA
Report and here
for
Benefits office communication. (Both documents in "pdf" format.)
Please note that the Benefits Office states that recipients should save
this
notice as it might be needed if you change plans. It is intended
to
retain a copy on this web site.
NEWS LINKS 
BREA
Organizational Information and News
HEALTH BENEFITS CHANGES ANNOUNCED
October
25, 2004
LINKS TO BREA NEWSLETTERS CAN BE FOUND
HERE!
RECENT BREA EVENTS
BNL and BREA Information Sources and
Mailing
Lists
WEB Sites of Interest to BREA Members
CONTRIBUTIONS and
COMMENTS WELCOME: 
Any
BREA member who wishes to may contribute comments,
articles, pictures, etc. Please contact the acting Web
Caretaker,
anything in computer compatible form, or close to it, and in reasonably
good
taste will be accepted.
The
careful reader will note that many documents available on this, and
other, web
sites are in Adobe's "Portable Document Format", pdf. Adobe's
Acrobat Reader for pdf files can be obtained free by using this link
,
further information can be obtained from the Adobe web
site.
Privacy
and Security
Notice
July 9, 2009 (1a)