A Message from the President, Terry Morgan:

Hello everybody,

 

Members within the South Central Regional Chapter are gearing up for the annual conference that will be held in Corpus Christi, Texas this year.  Please extend an invitation to all of the local and state agencies in your area. The conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Emerald Beach Resort & Conference Center located at 1102 S. Shoreline Blvd.

 

The training that has been set up by Randy Andrews, 1st V.P., is outstanding.  He has lined up some classes that will be very beneficial to us all.  As the laws change on dealer tags, we all need to be aware of what should be on cars now.  It is our responsibility to take this knowledge back and educate our local agencies that aren't fortunate enough to attend about what to look for.  Be sure that supervisors learn where you gained the newest knowledge and encourage them to become members and attend yearly.

 

At our last board meeting, it was learned that F-250 and F-350 Fords are still being stolen at an alarming rate and being used to transport aliens and drugs.  It appears that catalytic converter thefts have become a huge problem in many of our larger cities.  Also, it's that time of year when utility trailers and car wash rigs are stolen on a daily basis.

 

With the inflation rate going like it is, our jobs are going to get very busy.  Be sure and talk to all of the patrol officers in your areas and apprise them of what the latest trends are so they can share the information with their fellow officers.

 

Paula Kay and Sean with the City of Corpus Christi Task Force reported that things are on track for the upcoming conference.  They have some really neat after class activities in the works.  I think this will be an outstanding conference to attend.  The conference starts on October 6th and goes through October 10th.  Please make plans to attend and bring new members with you.  Information about the conference is available on this website.  And if you have any information to share, remember to forward it to Michelle Lanham as well as Michelle Snyder.  

TAVTI has recently created a legislative letter of support for ABTPA as the Texas Legislature prepares to enter the 2009 session.  We hope this letter will encourage legislators to continue and/or increase funding available to ABTPA for task forces in the state.  Please feel free to copy and distribute the letter appropriately in your area to assist ABTPA as it prepares to meet funding challenges.

 

Finally, I wish to express my gratitude for the excellent people that make up this organization. There attitudes and goals make my job a dream instead of a nightmare.  I want to assure you that when my term is up in October, you are in very capable hands with Randy Andrews as your next president.  It is very satisfying knowing that he is just a phone call away and that his dreams and goals for TAVTI/SCRC are the type that you would wish for.  My wife, Francis, and I are really looking forward to the IAATI conference in Sydney, Australia in August.  We will do our very best to be a reflection of what you would want us to represent on behalf of TAVTI/SCRC.  We did have to put our globe away so we couldn't think about all of the miles being traveled with nothing but water and no land below us.  Growing up in the Panhandle of Texas with miles and miles of land and very little water will do that to you.