L. to R.: Outgoing president, Paul Logli, outgoing treasurer Joe Cassilly and NDAA Executive Director Tom Charron

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales addresses the NDAA Summer Conference attendees in Santa Fe, New Mexico

State’s Attorney Sandra O’Connor (Baltimore, MD), Dean Bob Fertitta and his wife, Diane Fertitta

NDAA Welcomes New President; Adopts Resolutions

Highlights from the 2006 NDAA Summer Conference held July 30–August 2 in Santa Fe, New Mexico:

• Prosecuting Attorney Mathias Heck of Dayton, Ohio, became the new president of the association. He listed several concerns for his presidency, among them being loan forgiveness for prosecutors, the creation of initiatives to combat witness intimidation, and the reduction of family violence, child abuse and elder abuse.
  
  
• Outgoing president, Paul Logli, presented President’s Awards to outgoing NDAA treasurer State’s Attorney Joe Cassilly (Bel Air, Maryland) and John G. (Toby) Burke, special assistant to the president, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Cassilly was honored for his extraordinary and diligent service as NDAA’s treasurer. Burke’s award was given in appreciation of his support of NDAA on policy issues and helping to ensure NDAA’s participation in White House meetings.
  
  
• President Heck announced the members of the 2006–2007 executive committee as follows: President-elect and District Attorney Jim Fox (Redwood City, CA), Treasurer and County Attorney Jim Reams (Kingston, NH), Chairman of the Board and State’s Attorney Paul Logli (Rockford, IL), Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch (Clayton, MO), County Attorney John Sarcone (Des Moines, IA), State’s Attorney Richard Devine (Chicago, IL), State Attorney Jerry Blair (Live Oak, FL), District Attorney Dan Conley (Boston, MA), First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Debra Armanini (Dayton, OH), and Mark Nash, director of the Utah Prosecution Council.
  
  
• Featured speakers at the conference were U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. AG Gonzales promoted the administration’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, an effort to stem Internet crimes against children.
  
  
• NDAA bid a fond farewell to Bob Fertitta, who retired after serving for 12 years as dean of the National College of District Attorneys.

Resolutions

The NDAA Board of Directors passed four resolutions. The entire resolutions may be found on NDAA’s Web site. Resolutions adopted were as follows:

• To support a program by the Community of Anti-Drug Coalitions of America to connect community coalitions to national organizations to make communities healthier and safe.
  
  
• While NDAA honors the ethical obligation of prosecutors to provide a defendant with the opportunity to inspect evidence to be used against him, NDAA opposes court-ordered copying and dissemination of child pornography during pre-trial discovery in an effort to minimize the victimization of children.
  
  
• NDAA voted to establish a committee to evaluate the possibility of implementing a program to Protect America’s Children and Elders, the “Keep PACE” program.
  
  
• The board voted to merge the American Prosecutors Research Institute into NDAA. APRI was formerly the research, training and technical assistance affiliate of NDAA.