President's Message
by Charlene Bullock  

For those with children not on a year round schedule, kids are back in school. Hard to believe that 2002 is almost at an end.

Mark your calendars for the September 18, 2002, general membership meeting. The speaker will be Mike Barber, Chief Financial Officer of the Fresno Heart Hospital and Director of Cardiology at Community Hospitals of Central California.

Also, don't forger that on Saturday, September 21, 2002, the American Heart Walk and Lawyers Have Heart Run will take place starting with registration at 7:15 a.m. The event will take place at Cobb's Tree Farm just north of the San Joaquin River this year. There will be a corn maze, bounce house, several well-known characters, and other great things for the kids to enjoy. There will be food, drink, and give-aways. The walk and run are healthy, as is the food. Many of our local vendors will be in attendance as in past years, and a good time is had by al who attend and participate. We only need 5 or 6 volunteers to help with various jobs this year, so if you are coming out to walk or run and want to come early and assist us, please let me know.

As the year draws to a close, we have lost some of our committee chairs and board members along the way this year that has created extra work for some of us, and left us needing some extra help. Teresa Petty, our elected treasurer, was forced to resign due to family matters; Connie Parker, our membership chair, has gone back to school and resigned about July 1; Shawna Fell our program chair and co-chair of the October educational seminar recently resigned due to circumstances which did not leave her with time to complete the year. Fortunately, Georgia Vercoe, a longtime member stepped in to complete the treasurer duties in May. We are, however, in need of someone to take over the membership chair position for the balance of the year. The only remaining general membership meeting will be our Christmas social which I am sure Pam Buchnoff and I can put together. If you are interested in the membership chair position, please give me a call.

Nominations for next year's board members will be coming up soon. Please take time to vote when you get the nominations in the mail, and return them so that the new Board can be introduced at the Christmas social.

Most important of all is the October educational seminar that will take place Saturday, October 19, 2002, at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia. Online registration for the seminar is available this year so that it can be charged to your credit card. Sign up and take advantage of this great benefit which came about s the result of a presentation by Acteva at the CAPA board meeting in June. We can carpool and make it a fun and educational day. MCLE credit is pending (was approved for our October 2001 seminar), and there will be a 2 ½ hour ethics panel which should be outstanding. Please plan to get your registration in early as the time is drawing near.

I hope to see a lot more of you joining in at the meetings, the functions, and the community events, as well as the seminar. This association exists for your benefit. And, we can always use more help from our members. Get involved, give a little of yourself and some time to make our association bigger and better.

Get your reservation in for the September meeting, get those tennis shoes out for the walk/run, and your pens and paper ready for the seminar. Then vote for next year's officers. And socialize at the Christmas party. See you there!