President of Washington Business and Technology Institute (WBTI), Dr. Tony T. Lei received Proclaimation from Las Vegas Mayor Goodman presented by Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald on September 16, 1999 at the Charleston Height Arts Center, Las Vegas. The Proclamation from the Office of the Mayor, City of Las Vegas stated by the Mayor of City of Las Vegas, Oscar B. Goodman that, "By virtue of the authority given to me by the laws of the State of Nevada and by the Charter of the City of Las Vegas, I, Oscar B. Goodman, Mayor of the City of Las Vegas do hereby recognize Tony Lei, EdD in the City of Las Vegas and I ask all citizens to acknowledge his contribution to the Thai Cultural Arts Association of Las Vegas. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I hereunto have set my hand and caused the seal of the City of Las Vegas to be affixed this 14th day of September, 1999."
Dr. Lei received M.B.A. and Ed. D. in Institutional Management degrees from Pepperdine University, Malibu, California. Besides his professional endevor as a professor of management in academic reseach and book writing, he has been appointed Member of Las Vegas Senior Citizens' Advisory Board by City of Las Vegas, and has been elected Director of South Shores Community Association for more than five years with concrete contributions to our community.
On August 23, 1999, the President of Thai Cultural Arts Association of Las Vegas gave a formal letter to President of Washington Business and Technology Institute (WBTI), Dr. Tony T. Lei, which stated that "This year you will be recognized and saluted by our local elected officials and a special presentation will be awarded for your past and present support of Thai and Asian cultures. With the helpf from you who is proud to be an Asian like yourself, the Thai Cultural Arts Association is here today, and further assisting Asian unity, and preservation of the Thai Heritage."
The City of Las Vegas and Thai Cultural Arts Association (TCAALV) presented Thai Performaing Arts--Appreciatin Day 1999 at CharlestonHeight Arts center on September 16, 1999. It was co-sponsored by Kids For a Better society - Mr. Jehry P. Smyth, Thai Airway International - Mr. Nuthaporn Khomapat, Heart Specialists - Dr. Raj Chanderraj, Mrs. Nadia Jerani, Mr. Charlie Lee, Washington Business and Technology Institute - Dr. Tony T. Lei, Dr. R. D. Prabhu, Tonie Sison & Associates - Mr. Tonie Sison, Family Health Care Clinic - Dr. J. A. Villaflor, Arcata Associates - Mr. Buck Wong, Dr. Peter Lok and Asian friends.
Dr. Tony Lei was invited to give a short welcome speech to all the presenters of the Event. He showed that, "Its a great honor for the sponsor and co-sponsors to have so manygovernment officials, organizational leaders, business owners and executives, among others as our honorable guests. All of us share a sense of cooperation for the supporting of cultural richness. This is a signicant milestone of the contribution for mutual cooperation of cultural and social services between American and Asian communities. It is our pleasure to welcome you to this Performing Arts Appreciation Day 1999. We wish you enjoy our food and performances. We appreciated you for your presences and supports."
The ten Awardees for their contributions to Thai and Las Vegas cultures, whom honored by TCAALV, were Dr. Raj Chanderraj, Dr. R. D. Prabhu, Dr. Joey Villaflor, Mr. Tonie Sison, Dr. Tony Lei, Dr. Bashir Chowdhry, Mr. Nadia Jurani, Ms. Dolly de Leon, Mr. Buck Wong, and Mr. Charlie Lee.
The features of the event were: (1)Non-host cocktails. (2)Thai food dinner-buffet. (3)Young Miss Thailand-LV 1999 Pageant. (4)9 numbers of Thai classical and folk dances, performed by the local Thai & American students and their trainers. (5)Presentation of the Awards. (6)Door prize of free trip to Thailand. (7)Contest of pretty ladies in Thai costume. The Chair was Ms. Supatra Chemprachum. Dr. Peter Lok was the Coordinator. Mr. Jehry P. Smyth was Vice-Chair and MC.
The highlight of the event was Awards presented through Councilwoman Lynette McDonald for City Mayor Goodman to Dr. Tony T. Lei, Dr. Bashir Chowdhry, Mrs. Nadia Jurani, and Ms. Dolly de Leon , and for Attorney General Del Papa to Mr. Charlie Lee.
Four judges for the Young Miss Thailand - LV 1999 Pageant were coordinated by Mrs. Judy Lei. The team was led by Councilwoman Lynette McDonald with Lillian Wallace, Dolly de Leon (represented by Nancy Diaz), and Judy Lei. Young Miss Thailand, LV 1999 is Miss Kimberly Smith with First Runner-up Miss Coystal Thompson and 2nd Runner-up Miss Christina Smith. Miss Kimberly Smith was crowned by Councilwoman McDonald.
More than 430 people attended the event. The party was full of many high rank government officials, business owners, organizational leaders, and professionsl individuals. Lynette McDonald, Judy Vandever, Dr. Xin Li, Dr. and Mrs. Yiming Sun, Lana Reich, Lillian and Julian Wallace, Denis Brodsky for Erin Kenny, Dr. Bashir Chowdhry, Lisa Surber, Benjamin Kim, Dolly de Leon, Rita Vaswani, Edward Lu, Alan and Julian Poon, Dr. Sean Ameli, Dr. Berge Dadourian, Dr. Suhattai Gamneerdsiri, Fernando Romero, Anthony and Josephine Mendez, Yul Ventura, Nadia Contreras, Paulo Abesamis, Virginia Floirendo, Paul Burr, William Lackey, Bobby Standridge, Richard Denison, Stella Brown, Maria Manning, Henry and Mae Kipnis, Dale and Doris Balducci, Doris Cornwell, Atty. Betsy Kolkoski, Gail Imazaki, Torben Cohrs, Pastor and Mrs. Yuan Kuang Chen, Lin Sok Lee, Iris Zhang, Betty and James Matthews, Helen Ku, among others were present. Most of them were invited by Dr. Tony Lei, who invited fifty honorable guests to the event.
A book named 6 Year of Thai Cultures in Las Vegas, Nevada was published by TCAALV. The features covered the following two pages: (1)A letter from Member of Las Vegas Senior Citizens' Advisory Board, Dr. Tony T. Lei to the Chair/President of TCAALV, stating that " Dear Sapatra:
"I am pleased once again to express my congratulations and support on you and the Thai cultural Arts Association of Las Vegas (TCAALV) for the 6th Thai Performing Arts- appreciation Day 1999.
"Because of your achievements in cultural events, it was my pleasure to recommend you to receive the prestigious Senior of The Quarter award in 1998. In recognition of you and your Association's 5th anniversary and contribution to the cultural arts of Las Vegas, it was also my pleasure to recommend TCAALV to receive the Certificate of Commendation froom U.S. Senator Harry Reid on September 17, 1998.
Your efforts in promoting the local Thai and Asian cultures are unprecedented. Through our recommendation, you had been proclaimed further for June 11, 1998 as Sapatra Chemprachum Day by the Mayor and City Council of Las Vegas. We join in thanking an outstanding individual like you for your volunteerism and commitment to make effort for better quality and improvement of our community."
On the other page is a big picture of Dr. Tony Lei and Dolly de Leon and stating that, Dr. Lei and Dolly were two of the 14 recipients of Salutation Awards from Thai Cultural Arts Associations of Las Vegas on the 5th anniversary celebration -- September 17, 1988. The other Honorees were Dr. Raj Chanderraj, Mr. James Chen, Mr. Steve Kwon, Benson Lee, Esq., Mr. Charlie Lee, Dr. R. D. Prabhu, Mr. Tonie Sison, Dr. J. A. Villaflor, Mr. Buck Wong, Dr. Roddy Wong, Mr. Tim Wong, and Sgt. Benjamin Kim.