Heroes and Friends

I just came back from North Carolina, teaching a class to a group of "In House" professionals that work for an insurance company. I taught the class with Mel Barth, owner of the National Association of Bail Enforcement Agents, www.Nabea.us .

Funny thing about bail enforcement agents, they are truly a strange breed. In my years in this business, I have met a bunch of them. They come and they go, some achieving minimal success, while others achieve National notoriety. The common denominator for the successful ones is that they are type A personalities, classic over achievers.

If you were to hear or read their respective resumes, you would say that they were liars. No single person could have accomplished the achievements that they claimed. My friends, nothing could be further from the truth. These are exceptional people. Pushing the envelope is their life's passion. They get bored when not challenged.

What happens in the twilight of a storied career is hard to accept. Working from the time when there were little rules and fewer regulations and transitioning to the current climate is very difficult. Further, to be an industry leader in continuing education in the current climate is quite an accomplishment.

Mel Barth grew up hard, losing touch when his brother was adopted out of the orphanage and he wasn't. From there to the Marine Corps and a Field Commission in Vietnam. After that, Mel found himself somewhere south of the US, flying "Projects" for an undisclosed employer with plausible deniability. Mel ran his own airline flying cargo around the world and owned a construction company in NY City. He was the chief fundraiser for a couple of NY Congressmen, one being a woman. Some life already and he hasn't started in the Commercial Bail Industry yet!

Mel Barth did many things between then and Boxer Bail Bonds. He worked in England training people for discreet projects and worked with G. Gordon Liddy in Florida training Personal Protection Specialists. He ended up with the NABEA after buying it out of bankruptcy from an individual that purchased it from it's founder, Bob Burton.

I have worked Bail Enforcement cases with Mel in many states. His professionalism, morals and ethics are exemplary. He truly practices what he preaches.

I am proud to call him my friend.