"FIRED UP AND READY TO GO"

October 20, 2009

The 2009 Bail USA convention in Orlando Florida was a success! I believed the goal of getting everyone "Fired Up and Ready to Go" back into their home town and fight for our continued existence was a success. Our convention opened with a dinner buffet and a Polynesian Fire Dancers Show and Luau.

Judge Nancy Russo of Cleveland Ohio spoke to us about her goal to get a new product for bail agents, a post conviction bond. As a re-entry court Judge she feels that more Judges would be less apprehensive to let an inmate leave jail early if the Judges could set a bond. The bond would only be for the appearance of the defendant and would not be forfeited due to violations of conditions. We love you Judge!

Dennis Williams spoke to our group about pre-trial release. This group's sole purpose is to put the surety bail agents out of business. Pre-trial release has made an alliance with the Association of County Commissioners. Bottom line is to know your county commissioners, let them know what a great job you are doing, stay in touch at the grass roots level. In short know and understand the political climate of your county.

There were other interesting and informative speakers but the convention in its entirety consisted of a lot of laughter, stories and renewed friendships. Tuesday evening we drew the prizes for the forfeiture contest.

THE WINNERS ARE…

• John Arroyo won the largest percentage of forfeitures exonerated – 3550%
• Adam Fisher exonerated the largest dollar amount of forfeitures
• Armando Espinoza exonerated the second largest dollar amount of forfeitures
• Andrew Marocchini exonerated the third largest dollar amount of forfeitures

We need your help for next year's convention. We want ideas from you as to what subject matter you want to hear about. We have already collected some of your ideas but we need more. One interesting subject that was requested had to do with how you achieve a top listing on the computer when you "Google" bail in a certain city. We need your input: what topics do you want to learn about and do you have interesting speakers that you have heard from at a convention or continuing education class that you would like to share with our group. Let us know by emailing me or Bridget Thomas at bthomas@bailusa.net.

The last item of interest that I want to share with you is the fact that I am going to be emailing all of you on a regular basis updates in the bail bond world. If something happens in your area that you want to share with your brothers and sisters within this organization please send the information to me or to Bridget Thomas as bthomas@bailusa.net.

Please remember that if you want to get these emails we need your email address. Call Jill and have her verify that we have your email address on file. You don't want to miss anything as we are…

"FIRED UP AND READY TO GO"