[Nfb-editors] North Carolina most recent "News & Views"

[Robert Leslie Newman]

Note: The copy I sent you all yesterday was from November; this one is from
February of this year.

 

Enjoy

 

NEWS AND VIEWS

 

Gary Ray, President                                         Katherine W.
Barr, Editor

18 Sandon Dr.
3326 Sharon Road

Asheville, NC 28804
Charlotte, NC 28211

(828) 505-0299
(704) 364-4808



 

Newsletter of the

National Federation of the Blind

of North Carolina

 

Description: Description: nfblogo


 


FEBRUARY, 2012




Federation Board Members 2011-2012


NFB of NC


(Revised 2/22/12)


 




President

Gary Ray

18 Sanndon Drive

Asheville NC 28804

phone 828-505-0338

cell phone 919-417-2885

NFB of NC line 828-505-0299

e-mail: ghray at charter.net

 

First Vice-President

Tim Jones

76 Silver Lake Pt.

Sanford, NC 27332

cell: 704-491-1486

e-mail: tmjnc2 at gmail.com

 

Second Vice-President

Herman Gruber

116 Argonne Drive

Durham, NC 27704

phone: 919-477-6561

cell: 919-280-5313

e-mail: hermangruber at frontier.com

 

 

 

 

 

Secretary

Sharon Weddington

137 Kristens Court Drive

Mooresville, NC 28115

phone: 704-660-3481

cell: 704-302-7308

e-mail: locagirl at windstream.net

 

Treasurer

Boyce Locklear

P O Box 2633

Lumberton, NC 28359

cell: 910-734-4431

e-mail: blocklear44 at gmail.com

 

Board Members

Lusi Radford

3604 Octavia St

Raleigh NC 27606

phone: 919-851-4817

alternate: 919-341-6526

e-mail: Lusi98 at nc.rr.com

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Parker

105 Old Barn Lane

Rocky Mount NC 27804

phone: 252-977-1960

e-mail: angusparker at suddenlink.net

 

Julius Locklear

2228 Leadenhall Way

Raleigh NC 27603

cell: 910-740-1129

e-mail: jrl006 at bellsouth.net

 

Patricia Tessnear

202 Ridge Rd

Wilson NC 27893

phone: 252-291-3405

e-mail: ptessnear at nc.rr.com

 

Easter Burton

5075 Winster Dr

Apt. 102

Winston-Salem, NC 27106

phone: 336-293-8307

cell: 336-306-4764

e-mail: emm120849 at triad.rr.com

 

 

Sharon Newton

1914 East 7th Street #4

Charlotte, NC 28204

phone: 704-334-8758

e-mail: sharonnewton at bellsouth.net

 

Editor

Katherine Barr

3326 Sharon Rd

Charlotte, NC 28211

phone: 704-364-4808

e-mail: harrysbarr at gmail.com

 

NCABS President

Justin Salisbury

ECU White Hall 309

Greeneville, NC 27858

phone: 860-989-7865

e-mail: salisburyj08 at students.ecu.edu

 

POBC President

Cordelia Fox

5908 Heartwood Ct

Harrisburg, NC 28075

home: 704-707-3984

cell: 704-787-3206

e-mail: foxca01 at gmail.com




 

 

 

 


EDITOR'S NOTE


May 2012 be a healthy and happy one for everyone! We can look forward to an
exciting National Convention in Dallas, Texas and our first State Convention
at Camp Dogwood this year; registration details are included in this
Newsletter. We still hope to hear from each chapter for the June Newsletter.
Deadline is May 30, 2012.

 

The Editor

 

 

 


PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE


By Gary Ray


 

We are just back from the Washington Seminar. There were 15 folks, in total,
who went. You will find an article by my wife Linda elsewhere in the
newsletter. This was her first time at the Seminar. Her article will give
you more details.

The National Convention is going to be in Dallas from June 31 through July
5, at the Hilton Anatole. The room rate is $63, and you may make your
reservations by calling (214) 761-7500. I would like for folks who are
planning to go to let me know so I can try to keep up with everyone while we
are out there.

We are going to do something very different this year for our State
Convention. We are going to hold it at Camp Dogwood. We will rent the whole
camp and do our convention and business in grand style. Folks will need to
share rooms like they do during the Dogwood camping, but we believe it will
be a grand change up for our affiliate. Another cool feature is the cost. It
will cost each person, $130 at the door, and $125 if they pre-register
online. This includes the whole ball of wax-registration, room, food, and
banquet. Now, that is a REAL deal. Further info will be on the state
website, but it ain't there yet! As usual, I am behind; but it will be
coming soon. If I am lucky, we will be able to take credit cards on the
website this year. But, again, I hope I can make this work.

I am afraid that this biennial Legislative session will be the worst in
history for the blind of NC. The Governor Morehead School is closing. This
is a heavy blow. They are going to keep a blind residential program on the
Ashe Avenue campus in Raleigh, and this is a good thing; but it will be only
a satellite of the Deaf School in Wilson. This is a far cry from what the
blind of NC need or want.

We are fighting to keep the Division of Services for the Blind from merging
into a new super agency. This will depend on the Legislature and they have
not been good to us so far.

We also need to obtain our Newsline funding from the Legislature again. We
fight the same battle every year. But we will remain strong in all our
efforts down in Raleigh.

I am very happy with the Students Division.  They are doing another Student
Seminar in Raleigh on Saturday, March 17, the same time as the Super
Conference. This is a great opportunity for our students. I am also very
pleased with our reforming Parents group. Cordelia Foxx is doing a great job
of getting it back on its feet again.

 

 

 


CHAPTER NEWS


Iredell Chapter


By Sharon Weddington


 

We are working hard in the South Iredell chapter planning fundraisers and
working on membership. Anthony Houston is our newest member and we are
honored to have him in our chapter. Starting in March we will be meeting in
a new location, which will provide the opportunity for a different style of
meeting and possible opportunities for different fundraisers.

You might ask why we are doing so many fundraisers. It is because we are
hosting the 2012 NFB of NC state convention!! We want this to be the best
convention yet in NC. The convention will be September 6-9 and will be held
at Camp Dogwood. The cost will be $130 at the door and $125 if you register
online. Guess what? This amount includes your registration, banquet ticket,
room for 3 nights, 7 hot meals in the dining room and the opportunity to be
a part of the best convention in NC to date. Wow, what a deal! More details
will be coming soon, but make your plans now to arrive on Thursday and leave
on Sunday, so you won't miss anything. Please do not call the camp to
reserve your room. Call Sharon Weddington at 704-660-3481 to reserve your
room. Any registrations and checks (make all checks payable to the NFB of
NC) must be mailed to Sharon Weddington 137 Kristens Court Drive,
Mooresville, NC 28115. Do not mail any checks or registration forms to the
state treasurer. See you at the convention.

 

 

 

Mecklenburg County Chapter

By Belveia Benzenhafer, Sec.

 

The NFB of Mecklenburg County has a promise of new growth financially, and
in membership. The 2012 Board Members are: Pres. Mary Le O'Daniel;
Vice-Pres. Laverne Gallant; Sec. Belveia Benzenhafer; Treas. Frances Thomas.
New Board Members: Win Brown and Sharon Newton. Existing Board Member:
Shirley McDuffy.

 

In December the meeting was our annual Christmas Party. There were
approximately 10 visitors present, as well as the regular membership.
Laverne's daughter, Camille Godda, who is a professional harpist, furnished
dinner music. It was enjoyed by all. There was lots of good food and
fellowship.

 

Mary Le, our new President, has plans for project meetings throughout the
year with a focus of educating the public on vision loss and NFB. She also
has new fundraising ideas. If we the chapter, work hard and give her our
support, we should do well.

In February the first project meeting was held. Dr. Laurie Hoffman, Low
Vision Optometrist from the Metrolina Association For The Blind, gave a
presentation on vision loss due to diabetes and other eye conditions.

 

>From the Health Corner: Laurancene Murphy had hip replacement surgery on
January 23 and is recuperating nicely. She says she is looking forward to
going dancing again. Charles Helms had a slight heart attack on Valentine's
Day. Following, he had surgery receiving 5 stents. On February 20 he had a
slight stroke. He will be going to rehab for a while. Hazel Staley, one of
our most valued NFB members, now age 95, has been moved to assisted living
at Wilora Lake Lodge where she has been a resident. She would love to hear
from her NFB family. Her phone number is 704-536-4256.

 

Until next time, take care.

 

 

 

Wilson County Chapter

Submitted by

Patricia Tessnear, Pres.

 

Happy New Year to each of you. The NFB of Wilson is looking forward to a
wonderful New Year. In November we elected two new board members. Our
current officers and board members are: Pres. Patricia Tessnear; Vice-Pres.
Clarence Collie; Sec. Treas. Judy Watson; board members: Rosa Williams,
Geraldine Murrill, Tracy McLaurin, and Frances Shaw. We wish to thank our
outgoing board members, Shirley Felton, David Edwards and Patricia Davis for
their valuable service to us.

 

In November, our Meet the Blind project was our participation in the
WhirleyGig festival, which is a two-day street festival in Wilson. We handed
out NFB literature, wrote names in Braille, and sold tickets for our annual
drawing of three prizes. This is our major fundraiser. We also participated
in the Belk's charity day sale in November. Thanks to Del and Patty
Penniwell for taking charge of that project.

 

In December we had a lovely Christmas party at Something Different
restaurant. The food was delicious and we were entertained with Christmas
music by Patricia Tessnear who is a violinist. David Edwards wrote a crazy
story about members of our chapter which he read to us with his usual flair.
Each year we honor a Federationist of the year who has gone beyond the call
of duty that year with work for our federation chapter. This year we honored
Del and Patty Penniwell for their extraordinary handling of our Belk's
Charity Day fundraiser.

 

We are mourning the loss of one of our very faithful members, James Felton,
who died on December 18. Mr. Felton and three other family members, Shirley,
Jyron and Cleon Felton have been dedicated and hardworking members of our
chapter for years.

 

We are planning to visit the vendor hall on the GMS campus sponsored by the
student division. Thus far we have around thirty of our members who plan to
attend this event. We hope to see some of you there.

 

We have collected hundreds of signatures on the petition which will be
presented to the governor regarding the merger issue. We are planning for
Senator Buck Newton to attend our February meeting to discuss this issue and
other issues affecting the blind.

In closing, we hope this will be a joyful new year for all of you.

 

 

NEWS FLASH!

Washington Seminar 2012

By Linda Ray

 

Overall, the North Carolina delegation left Washington this year with
positive input and opportunities for follow-up with our National
representatives. "I give the entire program about a seven or eight out of
10," said Julius Locklear from Wake County. Out of 15 appointments, we met
personally with four representatives Brad Miller, Patrick McHenry, Mike
McIntyre and David Price. The response to our three agenda items was
generally favorable. Wake County already has the support of Brad Miller as a
co-sponsor of HR 3086. This marked a good year, since there have been times
when we've met only with aides. Though we didn't talk to him personally,
G.K. Butterfield's senior aide requested additional information from our
national office about the federal wages bill and showed interest in both the
business opportunity and home appliance accessibility agendas. It's not a
stretch this year, since the three agenda items are very bi-partisan.

The Wake County chapter made a wise and helpful move this year by inviting
Brad Miller to one of their regular chapter meetings to speak to the group
about Washington politics. The attention and interest helps our delegates
get to know us and provides them with the incentive to sign on to our
causes.

The delegation making the pitches this year consisted of Federationists from
Wake, Guilford, Buncombe, Forsythe, and Cumberland counties.

Our three issues were doing away with sub-minimum wages for all persons with
disabilities, making home appliances accessible, and getting persons who are
blind listed as a disadvantaged class so they can go after more federal
contracts and loans. We do this every year and it is part of our political
process that keeps us in the National eye.

 

 

 

Audio Version of Braille Monitor Starting in January 2012

 

FROM OCTOBER BRAILLE MONITOR

 

Attention Cassette Edition Subscribers:

At the convention and in the August/September Braille Monitor we announced
that the December issue 2011 will be the last one produced on cassette.
There are, of course, optional ways for cassette readers to continue to get
the Monitor. If you have access to the Internet, the Monitor can be read or
downloaded in Microsoft Word, as an audio MP3 file, or as a Daisy recording,
meaning that it can be easily navigated by article. If you want to read the
magazine in print or Braille, we continue to provide it in these formats.

Starting with the January issue, however, the Monitor will also be available
on NFB-NEWSLINER. Just access NEWSLINE using any of the options available,
and the Monitor will appear in the magazines section.

If you prefer reading by listening to high-quality human narration, we can
still ship the Monitor to you by mail, but instead of a cassette tape, you
will receive a USB drive. These are sometimes called thumb drives or memory
sticks. The digital player provided by the National Library Service has two
slots for playing recorded material. The most familiar one is on the front
of the unit. It accepts the special cartridge used by the Library. The
second slot is found on the right side of the unit near the headphone jack,
and, unless you have removed it or it has become dislodged, the slot is
covered by a protective rubber pad.

Removing this pad reveals an indentation in the unit where the USB drive is
inserted. It will go into the unit in only one direction, so, if you
encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try inserting it again. The
main cartridge slot used to play books from the Library must be empty before
you insert the memory stick in the right side of the player. If the main
slot has a cartridge in it, the digital player will ignore the USB drive.

Once the USB drive has been inserted, the player should function just as it
does when you are reading a book. Pressing the rewind or advance keys moves
back or ahead by five seconds. Pressing the previous element or next element
keys moves from article to article or, in some cases, moves to the next
section in an article in which divisions are present. If you remove the USB
drive to use the player for other material, when you again insert it,
reading should resume from the place you stopped reading.

The USB drive will be every bit as functional as the cassettes we have been
providing. The audio quality should be improved, along with the navigation,
and the drive should last many years. If you think you will want to refer to
an issue again, you are welcome to keep the drive but, because they cost
more than cassettes and can be used hundreds of times, readers willing to
return the USB drives are requested to use the return address label that
will be sent along with your drive. This will save money that we can use for
other programs.

Current cassette readers who wish to continue receiving the Monitor after
December must contact Marsha Dyer. She can handle subscription requests for
print, Braille, email, or USB drive. Call her at (410) 659-9314, ext. 2344.
If you do not reach her directly, please leave your information on the
Publications line voicemail. Please be assured that all voicemail messages
will be received, and your information will be updated prior to each month's
issue being mailed out. She can also receive your request by email when you
write her at <mdyer at nfb.org> or by postal mail at 200 East Wells Street at
Jernigan Place, Baltimore, MD 21230. Be sure Marsha has your first and last
name (if leaving her a voicemail, please spell both), your address, and the
format in which you want to receive the Monitor. If you currently receive
the Monitor in another format, you need do nothing; your subscription will
continue. But please understand that, if you are currently a cassette
reader, doing nothing will mean you will stop receiving the Monitor. So
please think about the new options and let us know how to keep you informed.

 

 

 

LET'S LAUGH!!!

By Dr. Dennis Foust

 

Two friends who have both been recently elected as deacons in their church
are out fly-fishing on a Sunday morning. Bill says, "You know, this is
really pleasant, but I feel a bit guilty. We really should be at church
setting a good example." Henry replies, "You're probably right, Bill. But I
couldn't have gone to church today. My wife is still quite sick with that
flu that's going around."

 

 

 

Robert Leslie Newman

Personal Website-

Adjustment To Blindness And Visual impairment

http//www.thoughtprovoker.info

NFB Writers' Division, president

http://www.nfb-writers-division.net 

Chair of the NFB Communications Committee   

 

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