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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Hi Justin,<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I was fooled and I am up on the facts of the Bill. What the fake article did is get me mad and confused because I thought how could this be, it hasn’t even been voted on yet. I appreciate your apology and it is a lesson learned that in the future you can say this is what could happen if a bill passes. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>For all the negative people out there try to ignore them. You made a mistake, show me one person who hasn’t. You do more legislative work than anyone else and you don’t even live in CT at the moment. Let’s not forget all the work on sub minimum wage, the blind vendors in state parks and now Insurance Companies paying for guide dogs that don’t cost anything to the handlers!<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I also say keep up the good work and I was so happy to hear the good news about Senator Bartolomeo.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Maryanne Melley<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces@nfbnet.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Justin Salisbury via Ct-nfb<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, April 30, 2015 12:07 PM<br><b>To:</b> 'ct-nfb@nfbnet.org'<br><b>Subject:</b> [Ct-nfb] Futuristic Article<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Federation Family:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I recently posted an article on this list to give everyone a depiction of what can happen if SB 234 passes as written. I did it with the assumption that subscribers to this list were reading and keeping up with messages about the bill. To those who were, it was obvious that the article was hypothetical and futuristic. It appears that I had applied this assumption too broadly, though, and I am sorry to have made this mistake.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For what it may be worth to you, the plan was to give people a concrete depiction of the threat that the current bill poses. I had planned to give people a few days to let that article simmer and then refocus everyone on how that article is not reality yet, using that as a platform for a surge of activism.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Well, anyway, that approach worked very well with some affiliate members and not so well with others. At first, I received messages from people who had been staying on top of the legislation and thanked me for the time and creativity to compose the article. Many of these folks even wrote to their state senators again with new inspiration, which I loved!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Then, I started getting messages from people who had not been on top of the legislative work that we’d been doing. Life gets busy, and unread messages sit in our inboxes; it happens. For these members, it had not been obvious that the article was futuristic and hypothetical. I had posted the article on our Facebook group, as well, which is where I really learned that we had people seeing the article without knowing any background. I am sorry for leaving room for that confusion to occur.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Then, I started receiving a volley of harsh personal attacks. I must admit that I was not prepared for the absolute hatred that I was receiving, sometimes from people I had never even heard of. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I am hoping that my next seven years of participation in our movement can be as full of growth and warmth as the first seven years were and that the acute pain that I have experienced over the past 24 hours will be only a blurred memory. I am sorry for inciting the immense hostility that I have brought upon myself.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Have a good one.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Justin<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Justin Salisbury - Running Thunder Phoenix<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Graduate Student<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Louisiana Tech University<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Email: <a href="mailto:President@Alumni.ECU.edu">President@Alumni.ECU.edu</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Twitter: @SalisburyJustin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>Because I was not a Socialist. <o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><o:p> </o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— <o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>Because I was not a Trade Unionist. <o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><o:p> </o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— <o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>Because I was not a Jew. <o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><o:p> </o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. <o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Martin Niemöller<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>