Connie Vaughn

View from the Chair

Reflections...

Wow! These have been some busy, crazy, and rewarding times. As many of you are aware my move to Folsom, California (the Sacramento area) is complete. “Move” really is a four-letter word!

I was in the Bay Area yesterday and I left at dusk. Driving up 680, there is a point at about Milpitas / Fremont where you have an overview of the Bay and the Coastal Mountains. It was clear and the sky was the colors of sunset. Pale pinks, oranges, and blues reflecting off the water brought a tear to my eye. The Bay Area is a beautiful place to live. I thanked God for letting me see the beauty. All Californians are truly blessed to live here AND to be part of this great country.

My children can grow up to be anything they want to be. We can work hard and always have a better life. That isn’t the case in most of the World. Being an American does not mean that we never know hardship. Life is hard. But only in the U.S. can you decide what your future holds. You can have a dream, work toward it, and succeed or fail, know that there are more opportunities, more dreams to be achieved. Only here can you wake up one morning and change your life direction, though friends and family may think you are nuts, the Government, as long as you are not breaking laws, won’t put you in jail or bring charges against you or take away your home or punish your family. Even if you choose to do nothing, this is a country where that is your choice.

The one-year anniversary of 9-11 came and went. No one needs to add the year. This date is burned in our memory and psyche forever. I was scared. America had been attacked in my lifetime! Something I naively thought could never happen. I used to think, hope?, that my children would never know war, but that does not look to be the case. God willing, our freedoms, our liberties, and our way of life will prevail regardless of when (I no longer believe it is “if”) we are pulled into full-blown Military actions with Iraq.

I was in Philadelphia on the anniversary of 9-11. A few of the chapter members had breakfast together and then we went as a group to the General Session to hear General McCaffrey speak. I expected to be moved, what I didn’t expect was a beautiful, heart-felt memorial for our fellow ASIS members lost at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I cried, and I am not ashamed to say it was not the first time that day.

You see I did something the morning of 9-11 that I forget to do more often than I remember to do. I dropped to my knees and prayed to God. I thanked God for all my blessings and I asked God to help those who had lost loved ones get through this day.

The anniversary of the loss of a loved one is always difficult. Some say the pain lessens with time, but I don’t think that is true. I think the pain just changes or becomes a little easier to deal with. Imagine losing a loved one on a day when all Americans grieve with you. For some who lost, that may be even more painful, for others a comfort.

My heart goes out to all. God Bless America.

Humbly,
Connie Vaughn
chair@sfasis.org
SFBAC ASIS Chapter Chair

Vice Views

Fellow members of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter:

I am writing to you this month from the Annual Seminar and Exhibits in Philadelphia, PA. I arrived on Saturday and played in the ASIS Foundation Golf Tournament out at Blue Heron Pines near Atlantic City, NJ. It was a beautiful golf course and beautiful weather as well, but the turnout to the tournament was not so great, only 74 players. Coming on the heels of the SFBA Annual Larry Marshall Golf Tournament, which was a sell-out at 144 players and a complete success, I was a little disappointed. Some good news though, Keith Barna from Barna PI and Security was also at the Foundation tournament, and actually placed third! Keith’s foursome won the SFBA Chapter tournament with an impressive –13 score.

I want to spend a few lines this month and talk about the Security Officer Appreciation event coming up in October.

Criteria for selecting an outstanding security officer to be recognized at the event has been revised, and is now posted on the web page. What we are looking for is for In-House Security Managers and Contract Security Managers to use this event as a way to recognize and reward their star performers. Star Performers, in my opinion, are not those who do one good thing a year, only because an incident happened while they were on duty. Star Performers are those who strive to do an outstanding job, day in and day out. They are the ones who take care of the issues so their supervisors or managers don’t have to, and they are the ones that learn about your company or site, and strive to be the best they can be. They are the ones working to be professionals.

As security practitioners, we all know that a security officer’s performance can either can either make us look really good, and they can also make us look really bad. We often are the first people to point out when they screw up, but many times do not mention or even overlook when security officers do a great job. Plus, those officers who are consistent performers, show up to work on time every day, do their jobs well, and nothing happens, so nobody notices. This is your opportunity to recognize and reward them.

We have an outstanding event scheduled, with an outstanding speaker. We need everyone to pull their officers together and bring them to the event. I will be there with mine, and look forward to seeing you there with yours.

As always, your feedback and comments are appreciated.

Sincerely,
Brad Minnis CPP
Vice Chair SFBA Chapter
vicechair@sfasis.org
  

Internet Interests

ASIS International Takes Up the Internet

The seeds have been sown. Last month I told you about the new ASIS International Policies and Procedures on Chapter Website Development that were going to be presented at the 2002 ASIS International Seminar & Exhibits. This month, I am pleased to report that the news was enthusiastically accepted.

After a little mix-up with the timing of a PowerPoint Presentation and my speaking presentation to the Chapter Officers Training Session on September 8th, the rest of the session went very smoothly. The attending Chapter Officers and RVPs learned about the new website policies and procedures. One of ten free copies of Microsoft® FrontPage 2002 web development software was given away to Dirk Xavier of the Cape Town, South Africa Chapter to begin building their own ASIS Chapter website with.

The next day, the first day issue of the Philadelphia Flyer (the daily ASIS seminar hardcopy newsletter) presented the following article on page 37:

Web Advice for Chapters

For those chapter volunteer leaders who are interested in getting their chapter’s information online, the ASIS 48th Annual Seminar and Exhibits offers a valuable resource.

Alan Wick, CPP, senior regional vice president for chapter Internet development, will be hosting a booth (located in the hallway across from rooms 105A-111A in the convention center) where volunteer leaders can learn more about the Internet and setting up a Web site.

Wick chaired the ASIS Internet Development Committee and was tasked by the Society to develop information on Web sites. The work of the committee has devised 10 different documents on various aspects of the Internet service provider, devising content, posting newsletters, and garnering advertising. The information is on a CD-ROM that is available at the booth.

At the booth, chapter leaders can also register to win one of 10 copies of MS FrontPage, provided by Microsoft. The Web site design software will be raffled off during the seminar and exhibits.

Steve Duell, an Internet consultant from A-FIRST Website Designs of Clackamas, Oregon, will be at the booth to offer expert advice on Web design.

The response to this article was terrific. Of the 70 CD-ROMs that were available, 67 of them were gone by the end of the first day. Twelve Chapters from different countries stopped by the booth and by the time they left, they were all looking forward to having their websites ready to go in time for next year’s seminar. During the course of the event, representatives from at least half of all our ASIS Chapters ended dropping by to learn more about ASIS Chapter websites.

Plans are already being made for the goals for next year’s Internet Development Committee, of which I will be a member again. There are still issues that we have not yet addressed and we look forward to streamlining our Internet Development processes even further next year.

I would like to thank your ASIS SFBAC officers, Connie Vaughn, Brad Minnis CPP, Ken Fauth CPP, and Patrick Sharkey CPP for their support and assistance with the booth and with spreading the message about what a helpful website our local members have. Your SFBA Chapter website is an inspiration for the rest of ASIS International Chapters.

Respectfully submitted by Steve Duell
SFBA Chapter Webmaster
Send replies to webmaster@sfasis.org

ASIS International
San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Treasurer's Report

August 2002

Respectfully submitted by:
Patrick Sharkey CPP
Chapter Treasurer