by George Larson
September, 2001

Our NWAAAE Annual Conference in Anchorage, Alaska is just around the corner. Janelle and the conference committee are "burning the midnight oil" to insure a "first class" affair. Paul Bowers, AAE, and his minions have spent an inordiante amount of time creating fascinating extra activities like the trip to Denali, which hopefully has made conference attendance much more attractive to all of the members, sponsors and exhibitors. Our thanks go to Paul and the entire conference committee as this is sure to be an event that attendees will never forget!!

Gary Green, AAE and his team, along with an extraordinary effort from Janelle and AAAE, hosted a superior Chapter International Airport Facilities Conference in Colorado Springs during the last few days of July. The Colorado Springs Airport gave "above and beyond" to insure an extra-special event. This was the first time that the Chapter Conference Committee including Janelle were saddled with additional conference responsibilities previously handled by the AAAE staff. Obviously, they managed everything beautifully and we all owe them our gratitude and appreciation!

My term as Chapter President will end in Anchorage. It has been a tremendous honor to serve the Northwest Chapter as President and I thank each and every member for their support and tremendous loyalty. During this term it became very clear that our Chapter has the best members, dedication, organization and spirit! It will be a distinct pleasure to pass the gavel to a member, Jim Elwood, AAE, who is especially well qualified to lead our Chapter for the next year-and-a-half. It will be interesting to note the quality of the Jim "Hollywood" Elwood, AAE, picture versus the Jerry Olson, AAE, picture in the next newsletter.

Thank you all for your wonderful support and the opportunity to serve. I'll see you all in Anchorage!!