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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Hello and Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a great holiday season. The first of the year has proven to be a very busy
one as the conference committee is preparing for the upcoming State Conference.
As you know our APCO State Conference has been moved to the Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach.
The Beachside Resort where we held the conference last year was sold and they are making it into condos. The dates of
the conference stayed the same, March 22 - 25, 2004(Monday - Thursday) We are thrilled to be at the Perdido and plans are
moving along quite rapidly now. If you haven't made your reservations yet, please do so as the cut-off date for the
special rates is March 7th. New registration forms and information are being mailed out this week and can also be obtained
from the website by clicking HERE. We will post the education sessions on the website this week, so you can see what is being offered.
We have some really good speakers and fun events planned, so make plans to attend now.
One special event at the conference this year is the "March Live Response" hosted by the National
Terrorism Preparedness Institute of St. Petersburg, Florida. This is a live broadcast via satellite with FEMA on Wednesday
afternoon, March 24th at 1:00 P.M. This event will be a panel discussion involving someone from the federal level, state
level, and a local 911 telecommunicator. The topic will be "Recognizing WMD Incidents Through
Calls for Service, Dispatch Patterns, Signs, and Symptoms." In September 2003, they hosted an event
at the NIJ conference in St. Louis, Missouri. To view this session go to: http://terrorism.spcollege.edu (Choose Archives - September from the menu).
Alabama APCO held its first quarterly training session of 2004 on January 20th and the response was
tremendous. Forty-eight people registered and forty-five people attended the session on "Stress Management" taught by
Susan Simmons. It was one of the best classes I have ever attended on stress. If you missed it, Susan will present a
session at the State Conference called "Bullet Proofing Your Mind." The next training session will be in late April
so look for the announcement via teletype, the website, and e-mail. If you have any ideas or requests for training,
I would love to hear from you.
In regards to Minimum Standards, the Minimum Standards Committee has passed the torch to the Legislative
Committee to help us get the funding mechanism in place and start the legislative process. Once legislation is passed
we will have more work to do in getting the program running. So keep the faith as we are still diligently seeking to
provide minimum standards for the State of Alabama.
Remember the APCO quarterly meeting in Clanton at Helen's Place on Tuesday, Feburary 24th at 10:00.
Lunch will be served. See you there and bring a co-worker with you.
Till then,
May God Bless You Richly,
Jo Tranter
President Alabama APCO
FROM YOUR INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE
As I am writing this article I am preparing for
my trip to Orlando to attend the Executive Council Meetings on January 23 - 26. We have quite a full agenda.
As one of the 4 members of the Management Committee, Friday afternoon we will conduct orientation
for the 7 new Council Members with key staff members and Officers. Saturday we will begin the Informal Meeting.
That agenda will be filled with staff, committee, project, financial, and legal reports. We will also address upcoming
policy and C & B proposed changes. It promises to be lengthy. Sunday we complete any items left from Saturday
and then begin our Formal Meeting. We will complete discussion, changes, and modifications and cast our chapter votes.
We are all looking foward to hearing the Board of Officers recommendation for our new Director, as well as an update on the
new computer system being installed.
I should have plenty of new information to share with all of you at our February Quarterly meeting.
I would like to thank my agency for supporting my trip.
Pat Hall
Intl Executive Council Rep
FROM YOUR 2004 CONFERENCE EXHIBIT CHAIR
March 22nd is just around the corner. We are working hard to make sure that you have the opportunity
to see an assortment of vendors at your conference. If you have anyone you want me to contact or someone you can refer
to me, please do not hesitate to E-Mail or call me. Since we will have more room this year, I would like to expand the number of booths.
Your support would be appreciated.
Pat Hall
2004 Conference Exhibit Chair
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