A huge thank you to Carl Halcro and Joe Benski and the Great Falls area and another gigantic thank you to our president, Jim Dusenberry, for putting on a great show this year. MTTA made a profit of $4290.50. MTTA would also like to thank Lt. Col. Shawn Driscoll and Captain Bob Hammel of the Montana Highway Patrol for taking the time to attend the convention. A special thank you to Tom Downey for attending. And thanks to all the vendors as well as out-of-state towers who help make MTTA conventions a success. A special thank you to our emcee for the evening, Gary Johnston. Thank you to all those who made donations to the convention. We missed seeing Bob Gilbert.

     MTTA instituted a Hall of Fame this year. There was no question as to whom the first member should be. Milo Casagrande, the backbone and steadfast supporter of MTTA was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the dinner Saturday night. He was presented with a Hall of Fame plaque and there will also be a traveling plaque for Hall of Fame members. Mickey Nazer presented Milo with his military medals and Jim Dusenberry honored Milo with a few words of tribute. Milo was also honored by the Montana Highway Patrol for his dedication to "keeping the peace" between towers and law enforcement. A plaque and dedication to Milo were presented by Shawn Driscoll as Bert Obert was unable to attend.

     It was noted that we had been successful in legislature this year in passing a bill for additional funding for the abandoned vehicle bill. MTTA negotiated with the DEQ bill authored by Swanson. Other bills affecting towers that were passed include the Driver Privacy Protection and Vehicle Approach Act. The Highway Patrol will be distributing cards/brochures showing how they want drivers to move over when alerted to approaching emergency vehicles. An ad campaign on radio and television is also planned.

     MTTA purchased videos and laminated illustrated cards from TRAA for the use of law enforcement in the identification of what size tow truck to request. The videos and cards have been given to Colonel Obert who will get them into the hands of law enforcement.

     Election of officers was uneventful. The officers for the next two years will remain the same. Thank you, Jim, for condescending to rule for another term and thank you for doing such a wonderful job the last two years. LeRoy, this could come as news to you, but you're still vice-president. That's what you get for not showing up-no means of defending yourself.

     There was again discussion concerning a regional or alternating tow convention. No decisive action has been taken and the issue will be considered by the board with member participation encouraged.

     At the time of the meeting, administrative rules were still being written for the resolution complaint committee. It was noted that MTTA is now a member of TRAA.

     In the next legislature, the rules and definitions for the Montana Professional Tow Truck Act will be opened, clarified, and revised.

     The issue of driver certification was again raised. Should MTTA provide its own system of certification for towers or should it be an individual company's undertaking or should MTTA bring in classes for certification? These are questions that need to be answered.

     The Highway Patrol would like to remind towers that if they have doubts or questions as to whether signs should be put out, put the signs out. Better to be safe than sorry even if takes extra time.