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Happy Holidays!
The holiday season is just around the corner, and we’re all looking forward to celebrating with our families and friends. I know for many of us this means not only our loved ones at home but also our friends and business associates. Those intrinsic qualities that make our families so special are in many ways why we work together so well as a team. This, in turn, makes our ITE family so special because we can share our successes, failures, difficult problems, experiences and gain insight with our ITE friends and associates.
As I travel to different ITE sections, I see the commitment that all of our members have that makes each section so successful. For example, recently I visited the Central California Section, where Mike Bitner was honored by his colleagues as an outstanding ITE member. It was my pleasure to present to him a Presidential Proclamation proclaiming “Mike Bitner Day” for his 36 years of exceptional dedication to ITE. I also recently visited a recent Intermountain Section meeting in Las Vegas, and had the pleasure of presenting Walt Vodrazka with a similar proclamation for his many hours assisting both the local ITE section and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas student chapter
When you visit the WesternITE Web site, you can see the fine work Jon Pascal does as our webmaster keeping us current with what is going on in our profession. I invite you to visit our excellent web site often. A technical editor is needed to work with managing editor John Kerenyi for our award-winning newsletter, WesternITE. If you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible, since we expect to fill this position at our next mid-year meeting on January 28th in Ontario, California.
Believe it or not, we are already making plans for the 2010 annual meeting which will be held somewhere in California. Two sections have already indicated an interest in hosting the meeting, but it’s not too late to apply. If your section would like to host the 2010 meeting, please send me a letter of interest so the Board can consider all possible options at the Ontario meeting in January. The winning location will be chosen at the 2005 annual meeting.
I am really excited about our next annual meeting that will be at Kalispell, Montana. It’s the perfect family getaway location, with both old-west charm and spectacular scenery. There are outdoor activities for the entire family such as hiking, horseback riding, rafting, and biking.
Kalispell is located in northwest Montana at the north end of Flathead Lake, which is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. The west entrance to Glacier National Park is only a short drive away. Family night will be held at Summit House atop the Big Mountain Ski Resort. Take the gondola ride to the top and enjoy a spectacular view of Flathead and Glacier National Park. You can still submit an abstract for a technical paper too!
Best wishes to all for a fantastic holiday season!!
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