[Nfbofsc] Positive Note 1552

[David Houck]

May 11, 2016 

Memo To:  Executive Officers, Board Members, Chapter & Division Presidents &
Others

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1552

Greetings Fellow Federationists:

 

              There is slightly less than three weeks remaining to
preregister online for the 2016 NFB National Convention in Orlando Florida.
If you preregister prior to May 31, registration for convention will cost
$25 and a banquet ticket will cost $60.  After May 31, the cost for
convention registration will increase to $30 and the cost of a banquet
ticket will increase to $65.  Save $10 and also skip the need to stand in
line for a long period of time at the convention by purchasing your
convention registration and banquet ticket by the May 31 deadline.  

              Also, if you have not done so already, please make your hotel
reservations for the 2016 NFB National Convention in Orlando Florida.  The
date of this year's national convention will be June 30, to July 5, 2016 and
will be held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort.  The 2016 room rates are
singles and doubles, $83; and triples and quads, $89. In addition to the
room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 12.5 percent. No charge
will be made for children under seventeen in the room with parents as long
as no extra bed is requested. Please note that the hotel is a no-smoking
facility.  For 2016 convention room reservations you can call the hotel at
(866) 996-6338.  You may also write directly to the Rosen Shingle Creek,
9939 Universal Boulevard, Orlando, Florida 32819-9357. The hotel will want a
deposit of $95 for each room and will want a credit card number or a
personal check. If you use a credit card, the deposit will be charged
against your card immediately, just as would be the case with a $95 check.
If a reservation is cancelled before Friday May, 27, 2016, half of the
deposit will be returned. Otherwise refunds will not be made.  

              There are presently eleven individuals who have signed up to
ride the bus to Orlando.  At the April 9, NFB of SC Board of Directors
meeting The Board voted to have May 15, as a deadline for individuals to
sign up for the bus list.  If we do not fill the 47 passenger bus by May 15,
we will be utilizing fifteen passenger vans to transport our members to the
National Convention.  Since May 15, is just a few days away, I am extending
the deadline to sign up for transportation to the National Convention until
May 18.  Transportation will depart from the Federation Center in Columbia
8:00 a.m. Thursday, June 30, and transportation will leave Orlando to return
to the Federation Center 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 6.  You are still
required to pay a reservation fee of $100 to ride the transportation to
Orlando.  Remember, this reservation fee is non-refundable and
non-transferable.  

              This past Friday evening, Shelley and I along with a few other
Federationists attended the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration dinner for the
South Carolina Commission for the Blind.  Approximately 100 individuals were
in attendance for this special occasion.  Two former Commissioners were in
attendance, Dr. Fred Crawford, the first Commissioner of the Commission for
the Blind and Donald Gist, who was Commissioner of the agency during the
1990's.  Ed Bible did an outstanding job as the Master of Ceremonies for the
evening and all those individuals who participated on the program made
excellent presentations.  Dr. Capps and Marshall Tucker did an excellent job
providing the audience with a historical overview and why it was imperative
to establish a separate agency for the blind in 1966.  I spoke to the
audience of the importance of partnerships between the NFB of SC and the
Commission for the Blind during the past fifty years.  I spoke of the
numerous times in the 1990's and 2000's we as an organization partnered
together to maintain the agency's autonomy.  I also spoke of the important
partnership we have with the agency regarding Senior Camp at Rocky Bottom
and the computer classes offered a the Federation Center .  I pointed out to
the audience there was no doubt the blind have benefited a great deal from
the services offered by the Commission for the Blind.  I concluded my
remarks by stating this agency will be embarking on its next fifty years of
service to the blind of this state.  It is imperative that all of us work
together to ensure the South Carolina Commission for the Blind is  an agency
that will develop innovative programs designed to enable the blind to
compete on terms of equality with their sighted counterparts.  It also
imperative that this agency raises the expectations of the blind and that it
empowers the blind with the philosophy: you can live the life you want.  

              The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is
not the characteristic that defines you or your future.  Every day, we raise
the expectations of blind people because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams.  You can live the life you want:
blindness is not what holds you back.  Joining me for comments in this
Positive Note is the President Emeritus of the NFB of SC.  Here is Dr.
Capps.  

              The 50th anniversary celebration of the Commission for the
Blind was held last Friday evening May 6.  A Banquet was held at the Embassy
Suites in Columbia and was a huge success.  It was well attended with over
100 present to participate in this historic event.  Understandably there was
a large turnout of Commission staff members.  However, there were several
blind persons present including Frank and Shelley Coppel, Marshall and Lois
Tucker, Dr. Fred L. Crawford, Lenora Robertson, Lynn Hornsby, Ed Bible,
Steve and Shannon Cook, David Bundy, Steve and Wanda Sheck, David and
Darlene Houck and no doubt others.  It was good seeing our Rock Hill Chapter
Associate member Winnie Spears whose late husband served as the chapter's
President many years ago.  Frank Coppel did a good job representing the NFB
of SC.  Ed Bible was the Master of Ceremonies and he performed well.  As we
entered the Banquet Hall we were warmly greeted by Commissioner Jim Kirby.
As we were leaving the Banquet Hall Mr. Kirby and I again exchanged best
wishes and agreed that the 50th anniversary celebration was good for the
Commission and the Federation.  The keynote speaker was former state Senator
Maggie Glover who was a longtime friend of the Commission and the blind.
She urged the Commission to build upon its 50th anniversary with the goal of
serving as many blind persons as possible.  Frank Coppel introduced both
Marshall Tucker and myself as we were speakers.  Marshall talked about the
1964 NFB of SC convention where action was taken to authorize the
Legislature to study the necessity of the blind in having their own agency.
I talked about my attending the 1956 NFB convention in San Francisco which
included attending a seminar for state leaders following the convention.  I
was disturbed to learn of the woeful inadequacies of programs for the blind
in South Carolina.  Lois Boltin Tucker also attended the 1956 NFB convention
where she saw a braille PBX switchboard that was on exhibit.  This
experience resulted in Lois wanting to receive switchboard training.  We
asked the Division for the Blind to assist Lois in receiving this training
but was denied on the basis that she was already employed albeit
inadequately.  Thus, it became the responsibility of the NFB of SC to assist
Lois in receiving the training available only in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  In
October 1958 the NFB of SC with personal support for Lois, she traveled to
Minneapolis and successfully completed her training.  Once again the NFB of
SC requested the Division for the Blind/SC Department of Public Welfare to
assist Lois in seeking switchboard employment.  Their rigid position had not
changed as they declined to assist Lois.  It was once again the
responsibility of the NFB of SC to work with Lois in finding employment as a
braille switchboard operator, which incidentally was the first employment of
this kind in the state.  In June 1959 Lois secured a job as a PBX
switchboard operator.  She enjoyed a long career with the Seibels Bruce
Company in Columbia performing admirably as not only the company's
switchboard operator but also as the receptionist.  The failure of the
Division of the Blind to give any assistance whatsoever to Lois would be one
of the reasons the NFB of SC undertook a major step in securing the
introduction of legislation that would create a separate state agency for
the state's blind.  I congratulated the Commission in their work in placing
numerous blind people over the years in gainful employment with assistance
to such superstars as Parnell Diggs and Chris Danielsen.  Parnell was hired
by the NFB in its national office in Baltimore as Director of Governmental
Affairs with Chris Danielsen being employed by our national office as
Director of Public Information.  

              Congratulations to the Upstate Lions handled by our RBRCCB
Advisory Board member Phil Marett on their annual fishing expedition being
hosted last Friday evening at RBRCCB.

 

Final Thought:  History of NFB of SC Legislative Victories:  #1-1958 -
Concurrent Resolution expressing the sense that blind have priority in
vending stand operations in state supported buildings is mandatory rather
than permissive, hence, the "Little Randolph Sheppard Act."

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