Another Great Year

Greetings to all of you from Huron!   It doesn’t seem like three years ago that I was handed what was called “the empty briefcase” after being elected as 3^rd Vice President. Now I have the honor to serve as president of this fine organization.  The briefcase has gotten fuller each year, but if I understand past presidents correctly, next year I will come full circle and get another “empty briefcase.” 

As I write this, your Board of Directors is less than a week away from our fall meeting in Sioux Falls.  At that meeting we review activities of the past year, including the 2010 Seminar, and begin to plan for next year. 

We were very fortunate to again have excellent training for this year’s seminar.  Your association has worked very hard to provide great, relevant training and to make it available to all law enforcement officers in South Dakota.  This year was no different.  We featured Joe Schillaci from the Miami Police Department, a featured detective on A&E’s “The First 48” and Phil Chalmers who gave us an insight into teen killers.  I was very happy to see a full room for both presentations. The Board will make every effort to continue booking speakers of this caliber.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Jim Hornby to the Board of Directors.  Jim was elected 3rd Vice President at the seminar.  He and his wife, Doris, have been long-time members of the association and auxiliary.  The other Board members and I look forward to working with Jim in the coming year. 

I also have to address the issue of the downturn in our economy.  Many businesses and organizations have suffered over the past two or more years and, unfortunately, ours was no different.  The Association was forced to make cuts in donations to some long standing charities and benefits that we have supported for many years.  We did not, however, eliminate any programs that we have contributed to, as we did not feel we wanted to turn our backs on any of the great organizations we have assisted with.  This decision was discussed during the business meeting at great lengths.  No one feels good about having to make these cuts, but we hope this is a minor downturn.  As the economy continues to recover and revenues come back up, I believe we will be able to restore our donations and support these charities at our previous levels. 

I would encourage any of you who have the interest and can make the time, to think about spending some time in the Association’s booth at the South Dakota State Fair.  We have had a booth the past two years in the Expo building, which is air-conditioned by the way, and have gotten a lot of good comments and visited with some great people.  We display some photos of our activities and the charities we assist with.  It really is amazing to see people walk up, read the Association name on the banner and exclaim, “I get calls from you people!”  Then we get the chance to explain that we really are a legitimate organization and show them what their contributions go toward. The Association could use your help and time for this worthwhile endeavor and it’s a great way to get to see the State Fair.   So if you can spare a few hours of your time, please contact Connie for more details. 

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