Anti Vehicle Crime Association of Wisconsin, Inc.

Speaking of great things, we’ve got a birthday to talk about. The Anti-Vehicle Crime Association of Wisconsin, Inc. was born on April 7, 1993. We’re 10! I’ve got a copy of the original articles of incorporation in front of me, and I would like to acknowledge those individuals, and their employers at the time, for having the vision and foresight to make this organization happen: From Article 11, Incorporators:

Thomas M. Grim                                                       William Donohue

Sentry Insurance                                                       State Farm Insurance

William J. Lundy                                                      Lyle A. Kelley

American Family Insurance                                   State Farm Insurance

Rick Tillman                                                             Don Werra

Milwaukee Insurance                                              Milwaukee Police Department

Don Gauerke                                                          Tom Roeder

Allstate Insurance                                                   Wisconsin Insurance Plan

This year AVCAW is organizing and sponsoring Motorcycle Theft Units for the Milwaukee Rally event in June, and the 100^th Anniversary celebration of Harley-Davidson Motor Company in August. I would like to thank and acknowledge the fine people at Nextel for their commitment to serve the communication needs of the units. Their help allows our limited financial resources to be available for other facets of this task.

Finally, if you haven’t yet paid your membership renewal for 2003, this will be your last newsletter. If you’re not sure if you are paid up for 2003, send us an email, avcaw@avcaw.org. We’ll be glad to check for you!

Bob Suehring

President

Members present: Sue Cox, Bob Suehring, Brian Bettinger, Kurt Klapperich, Karen Bird, Kelle Taylor, Larry Burzynski, Rich Lesniewski, Don Sebetic, Ron Springer.

SECRETARY’S REPORT:

Secretary Karen Bird had nothing new to report. The reading of last meeting’s minutes was waived. Don Sebetic made a correction to the previous minutes. He noted that is was a Quarterly meeting, not an Annual meeting. The next meeting was to have been April 28^th, not March 11^th.

Don Sebetic made a motion to accept the Secretary’s report, Ron Springer seconded. One opposition.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Sue went over the treasury report and statements.

There has been no activity from last time. $500 was for hotel deposit and $25 spent for raffle license. A big thanks goes out to Steve Starkey for all of the vendor money he brought in. We are doing well on membership, thanks to Don Sebetic. Corporate sponsorships is at $1325.00. There was a refund from Sam’s Club for an overpayment. . Membership expenses include the postage and envelopes. The task force money was spent on a plane ticket for Sgt. Kinney.

Don Sebetic made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report, Ron Springer seconded. Report accepted.

FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT:

Karen Bird states that all membership letters were sent out and we are still waiting for some responses. Karen will check with Fred to see who has received a plaque and who has not, to make sure we are not missing a company. Kurt went over who has contributed so far. A big thank you goes out to Progressive Insurance, Badger Mutual, Secura Insurance, and Rural Insurance, for your timely and generous donations.

Ron Springer made a motion to accept the Finance Report, Don Sebetic seconded.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT: Per Don Sebetic, membership renewals were mailed out in the beginning of February. The second notice will go out with the newsletter, which may include a list of all the people who have renewed to date. We have received 589 memberships so far, including life members and 13 new members. Please email Don with any updated or changed information for the directory.

Ron Springer made a motion to accept the Finance Report, Brian Bettinger seconded.

Ron Springer made a motion to accept the report, seconded by Brian Bettinger.

AWARDS COMMITTEE REPORT: Please contact Fred Haas or Bob by August 1, 2003 if you have any nominations for the Ron Aebly Award of excellence.

NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE: Nothing to Report.

BIKE THEFT TASK FORCE: Email invitations have gone out to people who have expressed interest in participating. They were asked to RSVP. Bob will write up something about this to put in the newsletter. The Milwaukee Police Department has contacted us about coming in on the task force and Bob directed them to the Sheriff’s department for coordination. It will be a good thing to have as many as possible involved. Sgt. Kinney will train 2-3 days prior to the June Rally. 78 people from the Sheriff’s and police department have signed up so far. This training is open to any law enforcement agency. The training was spread by word of mouth from the Sheriff’s office. There will be one team for the June rally and two teams for the August rally. AVCAW’s is paying for Sgt. Kinney’s training.

AVCAW is putting forth the funding and it’s organizational knowledge to assemble bike theft units for the Milwaukee Rally, June 5 through 8, and the 100^th Anniversary celebration of Harley-Davidson during the last week of August.

If your agency, or insurance company has a theft of a cycle and it is recovered at one of these events, the bike theft unit may need to contact you to obtain information or claim file information from you. If you are interested in becoming a contact person for your company or orgainzation and can provide the much needed information in a hurry and at odd hours. Please feel free to contact AVCAW Board Member Bob Feinen, at American Modern Insurance Group, 800-759-9008, ext. 6153. Bob could use your name, and a cell or home # that you can be reached at during the Milwaukee Rally time periods.

AVCAW is now accepting nominations for the 2003 Ron Aebly Award of Excellence.

This award was created in 2001 in memory of our good friend and AVCAW Board of Directors member, NICB Special Agent Ron Aebly, for being instrumental in deterring vehicle related crimes and insurance fraud, being an excellent resource on vehicle identification and providing training at AVCAW seminars. Ron’s recommendations, professional investigations and guidance led to cooperative efforts between law enforcement and the insurance industry to reduce the incidence of vehicle fraud in Wisconsin.

This award is presented annually to an individual or group who have exemplified themselves in the field of vehicle crime and/or insurance fraud investigation.

Please submit a letter of nomination to Bob Suehring or Fred Haas no later than August 1, 2003. This award will be presented at the AVCAW/WIASIU annual seminar in October.

Bob Suehring                                                            Fred Haas

Sentry Insurance                                                       General Casualty Insurance

1800 N. Point Dr.                                                     N57 W24759 Nighthawk Ct.

Stevens Point, WI 54481                                        Sussex, WI 53089

Bob.suehring@sentry.com                                      fred.haas@generalcasualty.com

715-346-6490                                                          262-246-5917

It’s time to get your memberships renewed. A list of names of those renewed was included with the mailed version of this newsletter.. If your name did not appear, you may have forgotten to renew 2003 membership. If you have renewed, call Det. Don Sebetic, Kenosha Sheriff’s Department at 262-605-5102 and we’ll see what the problem is. Included in the paper copy of the newsletter is a 2003 membership renewal form. Fill it out, get it in before the deadline of 06/13/2003.