<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dear Members:<br>
<br>
As you may have heard, the governor of the commonwealth has issued a state of
emergency in response to a demonstration/rally planned for Monday morning.
Naturally, our first concern is your safety. After careful research and
communications with the Delta Hotel manager and members of the general
Assembly, we have decided to move forward with the Sunday Chapter Leadership
Institute (CLI) winter meeting, the Monday board of directors meeting, as well
as the legislative appointments on Tuesday.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Please know that participation is your decision to make and
we respect your decision. However, we want to provide some additional
information to provide insights you will not hear from the news media.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scott Jones, General Manager of the Delta Hotel, is the head
of the Richmond Hotel Association, a leader in the downtown Richmond business
community, a member of the Richmond Security Committee, and a board member for
the DBVI Business Opportunities for the Blind program.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Today, I talked with Scott along with some legislators.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Before any of the events related to the “rally,” this
weekend was an incredibly busy weekend in Richmond due to the 20,000+ students’
parents, and college recruiters attending a premier Volleyball tournament held
each year in Richmond. The tournament finals will be held on Monday. Almost all
the hotel guests on Sunday night across all the hotel properties in the city
are related to this tournament.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The rally is scheduled for Monday morning and events are
expected to break up by early afternoon. Rally participants are expected to be
arriving mostly via bus on Monday morning and are expected to depart on Monday
afternoon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At present, the rally is confined to the area around the
Governor’s mansion and around the General Assembly offices, 9 blocks to the East
of the Delta Hotel property. As of today, a parade permit has not been issued
to allow demonstrators to depart this area.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Delta Hotel is located between the US Federal Reserve
Bank and the Dominion Power headquarters. Given security around these landmarks
of Richmond, Scott doesn’t believe there is any possibility that demonstrators
will be allowed anywhere near the hotel property. On my request, Scott
connected with the heads of security at both landmark properties and they
agreed that they didn’t have additional information to contradict Scott’s
assessment.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The hotel is also located just off the expressway so the
route to the hotel should be open even if some streets in Richmond downtown are
closed.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Our Monday afternoon Board of Directors meeting is located
at the Library and Resource Center on DBVI’s Campus in the outskirts of
Richmond. This is 8 miles from the Capitol. When the meeting is concluded at
4:00 PM, we will assess the situation and determine if there are any concerns
with going downtown to the Delta Hotel. We recognize that we need to be aware
of the situation and plan accordingly.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After talking with staff of General Assembly leaders, we are
told that the legislators fully expect business as usual on Tuesday morning,
that legislators and their staff will be working on Tuesday morning, and that
we should expect some additional security at the Pocahontas Building. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We are certainly advising people to avoid the area near the
General Assembly offices on Monday during the morning and afternoon. Our
Chapter Leadership Institute events will be held within the hotel property or
at DBVI’s campus. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br>
The Delta Hotel will be completely booked, as we forewarned in the<br>
weeks leading up to our reservation’s deadline. There is a waiting list of 50 parents
requesting rooms at the hotel so any reservations that become available will be
provided to tournament related families.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Tournament officials are already arriving at the Delta Hotel
and the tournament will likewise continue as planned. For any parents who may
feel uncertain about the<br>
safety of their children, we would be glad to facilitate a chat with<br>
the manager to help field your concerns.<br>
<br>
If anyone chooses to withdraw who has a pending reservation at the<br>
hotel, please communicate this to Joe Orozco no later than Friday at<br>
12 PM. Please email him at: <a href="mailto:jsorozco@gmail.com" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">jsorozco@gmail.com</a>.<br>
<br>
We look forward to visiting Richmond and communicating our legislative<br>
priorities to our state delegates and senators. We have several key<br>
issues we need the legislature to act upon. We respect the freedom of<br>
other groups to demonstrate their rights. As the leading blindness<br>
organization in Virginia, we remain committed to descending upon the<br>
capital and advocating for ours.<br>
<br>
Yours in service,<br>
<br>
Tracy Soforenko</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">President, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:105%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">202 285-4595</p>
<span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:105%;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><a href="mailto:Tracy.soforenko@gmail.com" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">Tracy.soforenko@gmail.com</a></span> <br></div>