President's Message by Don Holt
It's a Wrap!

For those NTA members that missed our annual convention in Huntsville, Alabama in April, you really missed a good convention. We had 73 exhibitors, 1000+ in attendance, with 364 attending our Saturday night banquet.

Our auctions this year brought in an unprecedented $21,000.00 in revenues of which $15,000.00 goes to the NTA Wildlife Conservation Fund. We also had the honor of having a celebrity speaker on Saturday night. For those of you who recall the Leave it to Beaver sitcom, Jerry "The Beaver" Mathers gave an exceptional talk and was signing autographs for over two hours! Since he spoke at our convention it has shed a new light on the association and made us more recognizable in our ability to obtain guest speakers for the future. I've been working on our guest speaker for Billings, Montana and I'm sure you won't want to risk missing this one.

The Huntsville convention would not have been the success it was without the help of Shane Smith and the Alabama Association. And as always, Mike Orthober, Dave Blank, and Bobby Lofton did a fantastic job. Without their dedication it would have been an impossible task. Thank you!

Your vice president Mike Kirkhart and board members Skip Skidmore and Joe Walters, along with your NTA points keeper Wesley Touchstone, again proved their importance to the NTA. Their hard work of entering the competition pieces, helping the judges, hanging ribbons, returning the score sheets, and competition pieces is a tough job.

Frankie Thompson has been a great addition to the board. When he took over as chairman for the seminars, he did it with an incredible amount of enthusiasm. (If you attended the banquet you saw his enthusiasm as he handed out the appreciation plaques to the instructors). Frankie put together an outstanding lineup of seminars, the most we have ever had, and kept everything running on time during the show. He was definitely on his toes making sure everyone had everything that they needed and then some.

Board member Al Holmes set another association record in soliciting over 30 hunts for our auction this year. If anyone has ever tried to obtain donations for auctions you will understand how tough that job can be. Part of the success of our show is because of his hard work. Thank you!

I want to thank all of our board members that participated and worked very hard during this convention. A special thank you goes to this years recipient of Director of the Year, Larry Blomquist. There are very few in the association that I believe has ever worked as hard as Larry has for the betterment of our NTA. He is a class act.

The President's Award went to an individual, who over the years has been involved in just about every aspect of the NTA. He has filled in at the last minute judging our shows and providing informational and hands-on seminars. It seemed when things went haywire or we had an emergency -- call Joe. I took great honor in giving this award to Joe Coombs, a friend and a valuable asset to this association.

During the board meeting your board was to appoint an executive director. There were presentations made to the board by Greg Grain and Tim Kelly. Both individuals being qualified for the position, your board voted by a two-thirds majority to retain Greg Grain.

Our board meetings went well with some great things shaping up for the future of the NTA. One real important item that is in the works is the NTA Hall of Fame. Your board voted to establish a committee and begin our Hall of Fame as an NTA entity. This will be separate from the current NT Hall of Fame. As more information becomes available on this exciting endeavor, I will bring it to your attention.

In closing, I encourage all to mark your calendar for our 1999 NTA Convention in Billings, Montana on July 15th through the 17th. This is a beautiful area with lots of sight seeing for the entire family. Plan your vacation now and don't risk missing the greatest show in the west!

Huntsville, Alabama in 1998...it's a wrap!

Your president,
Don Holt

P.S. Thanks to Stacie Wolk, my little helper and fellow taxidermist, for helping me during the convention by drawing names on Friday and Saturday night. And congratulations on your blue ribbon in competition. It just doesn't get any better!