REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES AND STUDY GROUPS

PLANNING FOR THE 1999 FALL MEETING

PRESIDENT McCORMACK: Thank you very much, Mr. Brennan.

At this time I would like to ask all the members of the Committee in Orlando to come forward. Jim, why don't you bring your team in here.

First, on behalf of the Board, I would like to give a tremendous vote of thanks to Jim Carroll and his group. Not only is it those individuals but also their spouses and friends who are responsible for this great meeting: Jim and Cindy Carroll, Tony and Susan Whitman, Denise and Brad Blocker, Bob and Ruth Brown, Chris and Lisa Carey, Bob and Catherine Clyne, Al and Kathleen Kelley, Bob and Monique McCleskey, Frank and Tracy Neuner, Bob and Forest Parrish, John and Jeanne Schaffer, Charlie Schmidt and Phyllis, Harold Watson and Shari, JoAnne Zawitoski and Guy and, of course, tremendous thanks to our Resort International Group, Jerry Janove and Debbie Jacobs.

They are the reason why we have had this fantastic meeting here this week. On behalf of everybody, I'd like to give them all a big hand of applause.

(Applause)

PRESIDENT McCORMACK: Jim, would you like to take the floor and tell us a little bit about it, now that we're at the end of what we've done here.

MR. CARROLL: First of all, I want thank my Committee. I've never had a group of people work so hard for an organization like this. These guys are great. They never let me down, they didn't let you down, and they're just terrific.

(Applause)

MR. CARROLL: I do want to thank Howard and the officers for letting me have this Committee. I want to thank you all for participating the way you have in the meeting. The CLE the other day was just terrific. I think that all of our venues have been terrific. We tried to get through this meeting without rain but you know that's not possible at an MLA Outport Meeting. So we have the rain today and we'll just try to do the best we can to bear it.

I want to give a special thank to Jerry and Debbie. Step forward. Come up.

(Applause)

MR. CARROLL: This is the first time we've done something like this, having people coordinating for us and doing a lot of work for us. They're going to be doing it in the future too. They have done so much for us. They've saved us so much time without interfering with our activities and they've saved us so much money. Every step of the way anything we needed, we got it. Thank you both very much.

Thank you, Howard.

PRESIDENT McCORMACK. Thank you again.

(Applause)

PRESIDENT McCORMACK: I've been Deputy Chairman of one of these Committees and have been on other Arrangements Committees. We all know the amount of work and effort that goes into a meeting. This is just a culmination of a lot of time and effort put in by these ladies and gentlemen. As you know, they barely get out themselves. There was always somebody at the desk out there. But the fact that this meeting ran so smoothly and ran so well is due entirely to the efforts of that Committee and our Resorts International Group. I'm delighted to say that we are going to continue the relationship with the Resorts International Group for the next meeting. You will hear from Tony Whitman at to where the next meeting will be.

I can tell you, as the President of the Association, that this Committee made my job a lot easier and I'm delighted to be able to say that. As you know, the numbers are down somewhat but I think this has made it a better meeting. We're all out there together and we see each other without difficulty.

My thanks again on behalf of the officers and Board for a great job.

REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES AND STUDY GROUPS

PLANNING FOR THE 2001 FALL MEETING

PRESIDENT McCORMACK: Lest some of you think there was something amiss, Hal Watson was the Chairman of the golf and won the golf and Paul Calvesbert, the Chairman of the sailing, won the sailing. I don't know how we managed to arrange that, but I do commend both of these gentlemen for winning their activities.

I now call upon Tony Whitman to tell us a little bit about what's going to happen two years hence. Tony is the Chair of the Arrangements Committee for that event.

MR. WHITMAN: Thank you again, Mr. President. Although Orlando will be hard to top, we are very excited already about the program for 2001. The next resort meeting will be held the week of October 15 of the year 2001 at the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island across San Diego Bay from the city of San Diego. For those of you who may not have been there, this hotel fronts on a beach on the Pacific Ocean, backs on to San Diego Bay with golfing and tennis and boating right there on San Diego Bay. It is a glorious facility that truly combines Victorian era charm, as it was built in the 1800's, with totally modern amenities.

Your excellent Committee is already hard at work with the assistance of Resort Meetings Consortium to try to ensure that we have as good a meeting in 2001 as we have had here. So I hope you will all go home and put on your calendars the week of October 15, 2001, for the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.

Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT McCORMACK: Thank you very much, Tony.

Before I close the meeting I'd like to give proper thanks to two of our members who have done an outstanding job in our international activities, as you heard something about.

The first one is Alan van Praag who has been working on this Convention on Enforcement and Recognition of Foreign Judgments. Alan was able to go to the Hague on very short notice for us in June as a member of the American delegation. While here, he was on the phone with Washington quite a bit. He's going back to the Hague in about two weeks to deal with this very difficult and at times troublesome issue of the convention. The State Department personnel have looked to Alan to give them input for the maritime issues connected with the Convention.

Alan, while he was here, has been to many of the Committee meetings which are touched by this particular convention and delivered, I wouldn't say a standard talk, but a rather lengthy and excellent discussion. I want to thank Alan publicly for all the time and effort he has put into that and I wish him well on his trip to the Hague.

The other is gentleman is our Immediate Past President, Jim Moseley, who volunteered to go to London and be our delegate to the American delegation, as the advisor to the American delegation because the IMO Legal Committee was set at the same as this meeting. The Coast Guard had concern that they may not have had an MLA advisor. Jim Moseley graciously indicated that he would be more than happy to undertake that task. I've been in touch with him, as I mentioned, and he will give us a report later. I'll be seeing him next week in New York.

I want to give these two gentlemen a public acknowledgment of their activities.