[Nfbofsc] Positive Note 1572

[David Houck]

September 28, 2016 

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

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1572

Greetings Fellow Federationists: 

 

            Only a month remains until the 2016 NFB of SC State Convention
begins!  The convention will be held the weekend of October 28-30 at the
Sands Resort/Ocean Dunes Hotel in Myrtle Beach.  It is not too late to make
hotel reservations for the state convention.  However, I strongly suggest
you go ahead and make your reservations immediately by calling the Sands
Resort Central Reservations at 1-800-599-9872 and inform the reservationist
you are reserving a room for the National Federation of the Blind of South
Carolina state convention.  All reservations must be guaranteed by check or
credit card and received within 5 days of reservation date. Advance deposits
will be credited to the last night's stay as indicated by individual
reservation request.  Room rates for this year's convention are very
affordable.  I am being told by the hotel that there are plenty of ocean
view rooms for $87 per night including tax, however, ocean front rooms for
$99 per night including tax are becoming limited at this time.  

            As I wrote in the Positive Note last week, we are extending the
deadline to receive the $70 preregistration for the State Convention until
October 14.  The $70 preregistration for the convention will cover the
Friday evening reception, the Saturday luncheon and the Saturday evening
banquet as well as a continental breakfast Saturday and Sunday morning.
After October 14, the registration will increase to $85.  The 2016 State
Convention will be historic as this is our sixtieth annual convention and
the first time this event is being held at Myrtle Beach.  With many exciting
activities being planned for the convention, chapter presidents need to
continue to encourage their members to come and participate in this
convention which promises to be one of the best ever!  

            With October 1, just around the corner, I hope many of our
chapters are planning to have Meet the Blind Month activities in their
community.  Loretta Green, President of our Upper Dorchester Chapter
reports, "On Saturday, October 8, 2016 the Upper Dorchester chapter will
sponsor their third annual walk-a-thon  at Woodland high school track and
football field 4128 Highway 78, Dorchester, SC 29437  from 9 AM until 1 PM.
Registration  will be for ages 15 to adults $25, ages 14 and below, $10. 

            For more information contact Loretta Green, chapter president at
843-276-9649. Thank you in advance." As I reported last week in the Positive
Note, the Anderson Chapter and Columbia Chapter are also holding Meet the
Blind Month activities on October 8.  Again, let me know if your chapter
will be having a Meet the Blind Month event and I will be glad to report
this in the Positive Note.  

            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.  

            We are grateful to the senior blind during their week at Rocky
Bottom donating a generous contribution of $414 to the mattress fund.  In
the past the senior blind made several contributions to the mattress fund
and the amount in this program is $3,000.  This comes to about 50 percent of
the cost of the mattresses.  The Ellenburg Lodge is very popular and is used
extensively and, therefore, the mattresses get more use.  We have a number
of chapters across the state which are able to match the senior citizen's
generosity.  Only our Belvedere Chapter has made a contribution to the
mattress fund.  This is a worthy cause and we appeal to chapters to support
this program.

            Last week, September 21, I traveled to Mullins to visit my
ailing sister and to be with her in celebration of her 90th birthday.  My
sister Loretta and I are the only two members of our family out of eleven
children who are still living.  I grew up in Mullins but I left 70 years
ago, graduating in 1946 and moving to Columbia.  While in Mullins last week
we visited different areas of the town.  Many of the businesses I knew in
the 1940's have disappeared.  Many of the houses have been abandoned.
Mullins was the tobacco capital in the 1940's but no longer.  There is no
industry in Mullins today.  When I was ten years old in February of 1939 and
was in the fifth grade, I enrolled the SC School for the Blind.  During my
sophomore year at the School, I reached my 15th birthday and told my fellow
blind I was not coming back to the School but will be entering Mullins High
School.  My fellow students laughed at me and stated I would be back for my
junior year.  Incidentally, during my last year at the School for the Blind,
many of my classmates are still alive including Lois Boltin Tucker and Tommy
Ingle.  Determined to enroll in public school, I visited with the school
principal.  Remember, I was only 15 then and there were no programs of
special education and there was no mainstreaming.  I was able to convince
the school principal and got along just fine in my junior and senior years.
In April of 1945 President Franklin Roosevelt died.  I remember hundreds of
us lined up and down the railroad tracks to see the train carrying President
Roosevelt's body.  Mullins has a tobacco museum which is a tourist
attraction.  Boxing fans will remember that world champion Sugar Ray
Robinson is a native of Mullins.  While the town has gone downhill from the
time I lived there, I still have fond memories of the town.  While in
Mullins we visited two places I lived in the town.  Both of these houses are
still occupied.   I lived across the street in 1949 where Betty and I were
married.  

            You will agree I was disturbed to get the bad news an individual
under the influence ran into our Center at 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning,
September 24.  It is the second time in three years someone has crashed into
the Center.  Hopefully we will be able to get the Center repaired rapidly as
it is the hub of NFB of SC and RBRCCB activity.  I hope that David Houck
will not be significantly inconvenienced.

 

Final Thought:  History of NFB of SC Legislative Victories:  #26:
1993 - Successfully fought restructuring the Commission for the Blind on a
vote of 95 to 11.  #36:  2002 - Proviso 14, Amendment 86 - Reversing the
abolishment of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind.  #38:    2003
Commission for the Blind excluded from restructuring efforts H.3370.  #40:
2004 Commission for the Blind and School for the Deaf and the Blind removed
from restructuring efforts. S.841

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