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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>May 23, 2018 <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Memo To: Executive Officers, Board Members, Chapter & Division Presidents & Others<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>From: Frank Coppel, President<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Positive Note 1658<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Greetings Fellow Federationists:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> If you have not done so already, I would strongly encourage you to go ahead and make your hotel reservations for the 2018 NFB of SC State Convention which will be held at the Marriott Hotel in Columbia August 10-12. Room rates are very affordable. Rates for this year’s convention are $109 per night for up to four in a room. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at present is 14 percent. The deadline to make reservations will be July 15, 2018. There will also be a limited number of rooms available for the $109 rate Thursday, August 9, for those individuals wanting to arrive to the hotel a day prior to the official start of the convention. You can make your room reservations by calling the Marriott toll free reservation telephone number (800)593-6465 or (803)771-7000 and inform the reservationist you are reserving a room for the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina state convention. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> We are also accepting your $80 preregistration fee for this year’s State Convention. Please send your $80 preregistration fee to the Federation Center of the Blind, 119 S. Kilbourne Rd. Columbia, SC 29205. As we did last year, we are offering a discount for families with children regarding the preregistration fee. Parents will pay the $80 preregistration fee and each child eight teen years of age or younger will pay $20. We are also offering a discount to college students in the amount of $50 during the preregistration period. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> All preregistration fees are nonrefundable and nontransferable. As in past years, the $80 preregistration fee will cover the reception on Friday evening, continental breakfast Saturday morning, the luncheon, banquet on Saturday and a continental breakfast Sunday morning. The deadline to accept your $80 preregistration fee is August 3. If you wait until after the deadline of August 3, the registration will increase to $100. Save $20 and preregister early! <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> There is only eight days remaining to preregister for the 2018 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 $65. After May 31, the cost for convention registration will increase to $30 and the cost of a banquet ticket will increase to $70. 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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It is not too late to make your hotel reservations for the 2018 NFB National Convention in Orlando Florida. The date of this year’s national convention will be July 3, to July 8, 2018 and will be held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort. The 2018 room rates are singles and doubles, $88; and triples and quads, $93. 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 2018 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 $100 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 $100 check. If a reservation is cancelled before Friday June, 1, 2018, half of the deposit will be returned. Otherwise refunds will not be made. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> We have an announcement from Shelley Coppel, president of the Seniors division. “Greetings from the Senior Division, “I would like to encourage all seniors and interested people to join in this Thursday, May 24, at 4 p.m. eastern time…To a conference call sponsored by the National Senior division. The topic: The staff from the Louisiana Center for the Blind is having a discussion about how they conduct training for blind seniors. The phone number to call is: 1-515-603-3166; the access number is: 759633 pound.” <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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></p><p class=MsoNormal> The decade of the 60’s was very difficult as it was, among other things, intimidating and there were other challenges. The NFB had problems with some agencies which intimidated blind persons who wanted to join the federation. In 1960 I wrote to President John F. Kennedy (a US Senator at that time) concerning the right of blind people to organize without harassment or intimidation by some agencies. I received a letter from President Kennedy stating that he would support federal legislation preventing such future occurrences from happening. In 1861 the Columbia Chapter headed up the erection of the Federation Center of the Blind. The Center has tremendously progressed in serving blind South Carolinians for more than 50 years. In 1962 the first group of blind persons spent the weekend at Rocky Bottom. This activity had its origin in 1958 because of a grateful Colonial Life policyholder we had paid a claim on even though technically we could have denied the claim. He arranged for us to use his mountain cottage in May of 1958. At that time I got to know Mr. and Mrs. Gus Ross who were residents of Rocky Bottom and they were helpful in our first 1962 visit. In 1964 the state convention was held in Charleston. Although a relatively small state organization, the blind voted to establish a separate state agency serving the blind. After two years of hard fought battles, in May of 1966, Gov. Robert E. McNair signed the Commission Bill into law. This has proved to be a very wise decision as the Commission has been providing outstanding service since that time. The NFB of SC appreciates its relationship with the Commission, School and the Library for the Blind. At the 1968 convention of the NFB we were successful in having the convention to vote for the 1969 national convention to be held in Columbia, South Carolina. In July 1969 the NFB of SC hosted the national convention. It was held in the Wade Hampton Hotel with the overflow being accommodated by the Columbia Hotel and USC. During the outstanding 1969 convention the Governor hosted the Reception in the Governor’s Mansion. South Carolina Governor Robert McNair stood by the then NFB President Dr. Kenneth Jernigan as they greeted the delegates from throughout the nation. To the best of our knowledge this was the only national convention reception to be held at a Governor’s Mansion. There were many other federation successes during the decade of the 60’s but we’re glad to furnish you these activities as described herein.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Final Thought: “The right path is not always the easy path – It is harder to give someone a hand up than to pull someone down.”<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>