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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'>September 28, 2016 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'>Memo To: Executive Officers, Board Members, Chapter &Division Presidents & Others<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'>From: Frank Coppel, President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'>Positive Note 1572<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'>Greetings Fellow Federationists: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'> 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! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#006600'>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<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>