I would like to take the time to acknowledge
the passing of Albert P. Batastini, truly one of my best
friends that I made during the past 22-years I've been associated
with the Reading Fire Department.
"Batman," as he
was affectionately known, began his career in the Reading
Fire Department as a volunteer in May 1945, under
the leadership of Fire Chief Harry J. Brown. He later had
hopes of becoming an Assistant Chief under Chief Edward C.
Dell, but that wish was quickly dashed away when Dell died
unexpectedly in December of 1953. Though sad, his death opened
the door for Batastini to become an Assistant Chief by 1954.
Throughout his career as both a volunteer
and chief officer in Reading's Bureau of Fire, he saved numerous
lives by finding and pulling potential victims from burning
buildings.
With all the rescues "Batman" performed throughout
the years, in my opinion, his greatest save came on October
20, 1968, when he stumbled over my unconscious father,
Anthony Miccicke, on one of the top floors of O'Brien's
Warehouse, located on the southwest corner of 5th and Laurel
Streets. After determining that my father was not breathing,
Batastini gave him a few quick breaths. With the help of
Earl R. Bansner and Ed Houp, the three career firemen pulled
my dad out of the smoke filled warehouse.
Al also has the distinction
of being the only fireman in the history of our department
to be considered clinically dead after a heart attack, be
revived and return to the department to fight fires. This
happened soon after an ambulance call that he and Career
Firemen Nelson Heim and Jeffery Nein went on. With no warning
at all, Batastini suffered a massive heart attack in the
emergency room of St Joseph's Hospital, 215 North 12th Street.
Fortunately, help was only seconds away. Within a year, Batastini
was back in action, responding to ambulance calls and
fighting fires in a volunteer capacity.
Batastini's rise
in the department began on April 19, 1954 when Reading's
City Council created a deputy chief position. The position
was one step below the chief of the department, and was
above the first (south of Penn) and second (north of Penn)
district chiefs. Appointed to the new position of deputy
chief was Francis G. "Cattie" Drexler.
A special election was held on April 27, 1954 to fill the
vacancy in the south of Penn district. Batastini received
184 votes, carrying the Liberties, his home company, the
Friendships, Washingtons and Unions. Others that were in
the contest for assistant chief were Harry L. Stauffer
of the Reading Hose, who took in 82 votes and carried the
Reading Hose and Keystones, and Anthony Manzolillo of the
Oakbrooks, 168 votes and the support of the Oakbrooks.
Al Batastini continued his duties as assistant chief for
a year and a half, then came a most controversial quadrennial-election
for chief officers. December 5, 1955 was the date to decide
who would be in charge of the department from 1956 until
1960. Fire Chief Russell C. Bowers, Francis G. Drexler
and Russell P. Mogel all ran with no opposition and won.
As for the contest in the first district, Albert Paul Batastini
and Harry L. Stauffer, of the Reading Hose, competed against
each other. When the poles closed and the votes were counted,
Harry L. Stauffer, an ambulance driver for the Reading
Hose, defeated Batastini, carrying four of the seven south
of Penn companies. The voting was as follows: the Reading
Hose, 39 votes for Stauffer to four votes for Batastini;
at the Friendships, 21 votes to 15 favoring Stauffer; the
Keystones, 21 to 16 in favor of Stauffer; and at the Washingtons,
45 votes for Stauffer, 42 for Batastini. Those choosing
Batastini were: Batastini's home company of the Liberties,
72 votes to 0; the Oakbrooks, 32 votes to 27; and at the
Unions, 44 votes to four.
Nothing seemed wrong here. That was until the next day
when Washington driver Wilson W. Drayer presented a notarized
letter to the Firemen's Union declaring that his company's
by-laws were violated by allowing five ineligible members
to cast votes. Without those five votes, the Washington
tally would have been 42 votes for Batastini and 40 for
Stauffer, meaning Batastini would have carried the majority
of south of Penn companies and won his reelection.
The Firemen's Union declared the votes at the Washington
company invalid and held a special election on December
6, 1955, a of tie-breaker contest. Albert P. Batastini
won, 32 votes to Stauffer's 11.
Leroy A. Harner, president of the Reading Hose, hired
John E. Ruth as their attorney. Harner said he wanted
legal advise on several issues. These concerned whether
the Firemen's Union could infringe upon the company's
by-laws, if Washies' driver Wilson W. Drayer acted
on his own or was speaking on behalf of his company,
was the secret ballot illegal in that delegates did
not have instructions from the companies as to how
to vote, and why the Union did not question Drayer
as to the source of his information that was not written
on stationary from his own company.
Officials from the Reading Hose were accompanied by
Attorney John E. Ruth to the December 9 meeting.
After hearing both sides of the story, he said he would
return a decision in the next few days on whether there
was a case or not. Ruth said that if there were legal
grounds, he would file an injunction to keep Batastini
out of office until this was settled.
Attorney John E. Ruth
announced on December 16, 1955 that he would be filing an
equity suit against the Firemen's Union to have Batastini's
election declared invalid. The injunction was filed and given
to President Judge H. Robert Mays, who set a court date set
for December 28, 1955.
Judge Mays heard the case and suggested the Washington
company hold a new election. Carl R. Easslen, past
president of Washies, demanded the election stand.
Current Washington President Adam Garman held a special
meeting on January 3, 1956 and demanded that the
Firemen's Union accept the results.
Two days later, January
5, Paul "Red" Heckman
was fired as a driver in what Heckman believed was
brought about from the fact that he, Drayer and Kenneth
Schuring, instigated the appeal to the Firemen's
Union. He was told he was fired by newly installed trustee
Earl Gensemer, who told Heckman that "...it
was for the good of the company!"
"Red" Heckman said this was in violation of his fire
company's constitution that stated a driver could
only be fired after a hearing. Two other newly installed trustees, Ralph
Boyer and George Slichter, said they knew nothing
about this turn of events.
The Washies rehired Heckman, a driver of 14-years,
back to his $60-a-week position on February 6, 1956.
By mid-March 1956, Heckman won five weeks back pay
due to him for the month of January.
On a trivial note, five months later, Earl Gensemer,
of 1250 Muhlenberg Street, past away.
Judge Mays said the injunction was postponed indefinitely
on February 14, 1956. In the meantime, Attorney Ruth asked Harry
Stauffer if he would reconsider this suit and accept a position
of fire marshal if Ruth could get this position
created. Stauffer refused the offer, stating he wanted
to hold out for the position he was voted in for.
At the April 16, 1956 Firemen's Union meeting,
held at the Junior's Reed and Walnut Street station,
delegates voted 29 to 20, with eleven sustaining,
to reaffirmed the election of Albert P. Batastini.
Hearing this, Reading Hose delegate Edward F. Houser
stood up and announced that his company was, as of
this time, out of the Firemen's Union. He and the
company's four other delegates abruptly left the
meeting.
At the same time, John S. Rhoda, counsel for
the Washies, announced the December 5 vote was not fraudulent.
He pointed out that his company's by-laws stipulated
that, in order to vote, a member had to attend three
meetings a year. Rhoda brought along documents showing
all the members that attended three or more meetings
and included other names that were excused for reasons
of work, sickness or disability. After stating his
case, he announced that this incident had blackened
the company's good name. Then, like those of the
Reading Hose, the Washington delegates walked out.
Both the Washies and the Reading Hose made their
"walk out" of the Union official on May 7, 1956.
The next day, City Solicitor
C. Wilson Austin confirmed the court action on this was still
pending, even though it was thought to have been withdrawn
on April 16, 1956. Mayor Daniel F. McDevitt, a member of
the Washies who was excused from voting December 5 because
of work, said that once the court case was settled,
the city would exercise its right under the Act of
1889, which states that the mayor of the City of
Reading had the power to appoint the chief engineer
(now known as a fire chief) and his assistants. The
last time the Act of 1889 was used was in 1891 when Mayor
Thomas P. Merritt appointed Chief Engineer George W. Miller,
First District Chief Samuel Adams and Second District Chief
John H. Luigard to their jobs. Merritt continued
to appoint fire chiefs until the election of Mayor
William F. Shanaman, who gave the power to elect
back to the Firemen's Union in 1893.
The third company to
take the Washington and Reading Hose side was the Friendships,
who on May 11, 1956, also withdrew from the Firemen's Union.
Councilman Charles A. Hofses, director of public
safety, looked into the possibility of not giving
the Reading Hose, Washington and Friendship companies
their gratuity checks because of their leaving the
Firemen's Union. He announced on May 31, 1956 that
the three companies could not leave the Union and
were only denying themselves.
Albert P. Batastini was notified August 29,
1956 that City Council was going to appoint him to the
position of Assistant Chief. This came only a few
days after Harry Stauffer announced he was withdrawing
from the tainted election.
As a result of this announcement, the court case
was dropped.
On September 12, 1956, Batastini was reappointed
by City Council to his job as assistant chief.
As for the Washington, Reading Hose and Friendships
status with the Firemen's Union, they all rejoined
within a month. The Washies announced this on September
4, 1956, the Friendships on September 17, 1956, and
the Reading Hose on October 15, 1956.
Batastini continued his tenure as chief and
won the December 7, 1959 election with 290 votes from the
Keystones, Reading Hose, Washingtons, Liberties,
Unions and Oakbrooks, losing only to the Friendships
who cast 41 votes for their candidate, Paul L. Northheimer.
On February 17, 1965, City Council appointed
Francis G. "Cattie" Drexler
to the newly created position of Fire
Marshal, leaving a vacancy in the deputy chief slot. To fill
the post, an election between the first and
second district chiefs, Batastini and Russ Mogel respectively,
was held on March 15, 1965. Albert P. Batastini
won with 35 votes to Mogel's 30, and thus, on April 15,
1965, Batastini began working his new job.
Drexler lasted only a year and a half as the city's first
fire marshal as on December 25, 1966, the 69-year-old passed
away inside his Perkiomen Avenue home.
Russell P. Mogel was elevated to the position
of deputy chief on March 25, 1966, giving the
Reading Fire Department five fire chiefs. Merle A. Gerlach
became the fifth on May 1, 1966 when he defeated
Joseph Gallagher, a member of the Schuylkills
and current fire chief William H. Rehr III's father-in-law,
Florin "Tiny" Monasmith, Marions,
Lester W. Hatt, Rainbows, and John A. Weinhold,
Hampdens.
A sixth fire chief was added to the
list on February 5, 1969 when John A. Weinhold
beat out hopefuls James A. Pollock, of the
Neversinks, Lester W. Hatt, Rainbows, Daniel
Giandomenico, Schuylkills, Dewey Casantini,
Oakbrooks, James Hooyman, Juniors, Charles
W. Schaeffer Jr, Reading Hose, John T. Feicht,
Marions, Richard G. Noll, Washingtons, and
Elwood V. Schwartz, Friendships.
Albert P. Batastini's discontent with the
operations of the fire department came to a head on
February 17, 1971 as Russell P. Mogel was appointed
Chief of the department, replacing the retiring Russell
Charles Bowers. Batastini felt the honor
of heading the department should have been his because he
was second in line after Bowers, but that was not
to be due to a June 16, 1970 decision made by
Director of Public Safety Earl Patterson's suggestion
of a seniority system to protect the tenure of Fire Chiefs
and their assistants. This meant that Batastini
was second in line for the position, behind Russell
P. Mogel, who had four months more seniority that
Batastini. Mogel was elected an Assistant Chief
on December 22, 1953 and was sworn in on Christmas Eve day.
On October 24, 1974, Albert P. "Batman" Batastini
retired.
To Al Batastini, an all around great person, thanks for
all the stories, all the pictures, and for being a good friend.
You will be greatly missed!!!
Tony Miccicke
