National NENA Conference keynote Speaker, Aron Ralston and Tim Webb, Winston County AL 9-1-1 Director.

Aron is the climber who amputated his own arm to save his life while canyoneering in Utah in 2003. Ralston documented the life-altering experience and his remarkable will to survive in his New York Times best-selling book,Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

His story has been adapted into a movie by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle. The film,127 Hours, was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture. Thanks to the movie's success, the book returned to the Best Seller's list for another six weeks in 2010-11.

Aron was member of the Highpointers Club at that time and was the 137th person to complete the 50 state highpoints on April 20, 2005.  He completed the contiguous 48 states in Alabama on April 9, 2005 on Cheaha Mountain. Tim is the Director of the Winston County E 9-1-1 Communications District in Winston County Alabama and currently is on his second stint as President of the Highpointers Club. The city of Haleyville, located in Webb's 9-1-1 District, is home to the first 9-1-1 call made in the United States on February 16, 1968.

The Highpointers Club is comprised of over three thousand members whose goal is to hike or climb to the highest geographical point in each of the fifty states. To date Webb has climbed forty six of the fifty state highpoints. More on the Highpointers Club may be found at www.highpointers.org.

During the NENA2011 Conference two members of ALNENA were recognized for their work for NENA during the previous year.

Both received the "Presidential Award" from President Steve O'Conor.

O'Conor with Humphrey  Award was for Roger's work on the Finance Committee	O'Conor with Ellison Award was for John's work on the website

Mark J. Fletcher, ENP is Product Manager for Emergency Services at Avaya. Fletch has over 26 years of experience, and was a key author of the NENA MLTS Model Legislation. His blog is on Avaya's site and this week he featured the story of the nation's first 9-1-1. call
 
You can read the blog and/or listen to the podcast.
 

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"The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced more than $40 million in grants to help 911 call centers across the country improve the ability to locate people calling from wireless and internet connected telephones."

Use the read more link to see the amounts awarded per state.

Alabama Next Generation Emergency Network

The Alabama Chapter of NENA (ALNENA) and the Alabama Association of Nine-One-One Districts (AAND) formed a joint Committee tasked with developing a state 9-1-1 plan and submitting a grant request to the DOT/DOC. The plan was drafted and approved and the grant request was submitted by the Alabama Department of Homeland Security since we do not have a state 9-1-1 agency.