Beginning on Monday afternoon, Marianne Finney began selling, with the assistance of several people, momentos of the Seminar, including the new WSATI Wear featuring the new WSATI Southern Chapter logo.  Also sold were items from the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators and from the 55th Annual IAATI Training Seminar.

After registration, most of Monday afternoon and evening saw participants renewing old acquaintances and meeting new contacts, in other words, networking and intelligence gathering.  LoJack's Ira Beaty and Ted Saraf presided over the information gathering.

Tuesday evening, after classes ended, a Mexican Buffet was provided to the attendees.  This was an opportunity to network with old friends and new friends.  After the buffet, LoJack's Ira Beaty and Ted Saraf presided once again over the information gathering.

Wednesday afternoon, after classes ended, the IAATI Western Regional Chapter held its annual meeting.  2007 IAATI WRC President Gary Labb (Santa Ana PD/OCATT Retired) conducted a chapter meeting and held elections.  2007-2008 IAATI President Bobby Southard (Nassau County NY Police) attended the meeting.  Skip Davidson (Davidson Investigations) was elected the 2008 President, Rick Greenwood (Riverside PD) 1st Vice President, J.D. Hough (Arizona DPS) 2nd Vice President, Jim Kautz (Westminster CO PD) 3rd Vice President, and Frank Graber (Fullerton PD/OCATT Retired) 4th Vice President/Treasurer.  2007 IAATI WRC President Gary Labb then transferred the IAATI WRC Charter to newly elected 2008 President Skip Davidson.  Skip then presented 2007 IAATI WRC President Gary Labb with a "thank you" gift.
 

On Wednesday night, there were no planned activities so attendees had the opportunity to choose their own adventure.  Later that night, the attendees could once again continue their networking and intelligence gathering, with WSATI's Bud Hood and Rick Greenwood presiding over the information gathering.

On Thursday night there was the annual banquet and closing ceremonies.  There were many Southern Chapter Past Presidents in attendance, including Dan Ryan (1990), Skip Davidson (1991), Ted Saraf (1992), Marianne Finney (1993), Terry Cramer (1995), Dennis Frias (1997), Randy Ballin (1999), Gary Labb (2000), Bill Lovold (2001), Lou Koven (2002), Phil Macklin (2004), and Frank Graber (2005).

WSATI Southern Chapter President Bud Hood started the banquet by inviting RCMP/IMPACT Sergeant Ed Boettcher up to the podium.  Ed gave a 7 minute "trailer" video presentation of a 35 minute public awareness video they have produced for educating students in British Columbia about the dangers of stealing vehicles called Stolen Lives.  The video was very well received by those in attendance.

WSATI Southern Chapter President Bud Hood called IAATI Western Regional Chapter President Gary Labb up to the podium to present the annual IAATI WRC Lee S. Cole Award.  Gary spoke of how Lee was one of his mentors and a mentor for many of the "older" investigators/detectives in the audience.  The 2007 recipient's nomination was read and then Gary announced the 2007 Lee S. Cole Award recipient to be Colorado Department of Public Safety Investigator Steve Nowlin.
 

Following the meal, entertainment was provided by the Comedy King of Santa Ana, Rufus Tanksley.  The audience really enjoyed all that Rufus contributed to the night... he did a lot more to assist WSATI than just providing a comedy routine.  Thank you Rufus.

There were numerous door prizes handed out, with Bud Hood brightening the evening with his wit.  Seemed that after Rufus, Bud was trying to keep up with him.  Forrest Folck made the presentation of the Grand Prize, a set of Taylor Made Golf Clubs and Golf Bag that Taylor Made had donated to Forrest for the Seminar.

2007 WSATI Central Chapter Vice President Chris Sullivan spoke about the 2008 Annual WSATI Training Seminar that will be held in Monterey,  California at the Embassy Suites from September 28th to October 1st, 2008. 

Following the banquet, LoJack's Ira Beaty and Ted Saraf once again presided over the networking and intelligence gathering.

On Friday night, WSATI arranged the purchase of baseball tickets to the San Diego Padres vs. the San Francisco Giants game for those who were interested in attending.  At least 40 attendees went to the game after the Seminar ended.

A lot of the credit for the success of the Seminar is due to the following: 

Also assisting at the Seminar were Terry Cramer, Terry Cramer's wife, and Phyllis Graber, Frank Graber's wife.  Thank you for helping "man" the registration/information counter and assisting Marianne Finney.

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