[Njagdu] NJ Association of Guide Dog Users Senate Letter Next Step for "Dusty's Law"

Thu Jul 26 19:42:35 UTC 2012

>From the desk of Vincent G Chaney Jr, President, New Jersey Association of
Guide Dog Users (NJAGDU):

We, the New Jersey Association of Guide Dog Users, support Senate, S1907,
designated as "Dusty's Law". We request all NFBNJ members, family, friends
and New Jersey citizens to advocate for this bill to become law by
contacting their Senator today and two Assembly-persons when a follow-up
message is forwarded with theAssembly instructions. This requires us to
contact each New Jersey State Legislature (Senate and Assembly) to have the
"Dusty's Law" bill become law for Guide Dog users today and in the future.

Please let your Senator know you support the bill, Senate, No. 1907, and you
are asking them to become a sponsor or co-sponsor. Please share this message
with anyone without email to open this call to family, friends, neighbors,
co-workers, businesses, churches, etc...

Should you not know who your Assembly-Persons or Senator are, you could do
one of the following:

                1. Call the Office of Legislative Services

                   Office of Public Information

                   Toll Free: 800-792-8630

                   Phone:      609-847-3905

                                2. Contact your local library

                3. Call your Town Hall

                4. Click on the link:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/districtnumbers.asp

                                On this page, look for your city/town by
browsing through the District list or use a screen reader "find" to search
for your town.

                                The link before the list of towns within a
district gives Senator and Assembly-Person names, phone numbers, address,
etc. The link below the towns gives professional background information of
each representative.

If this step (4) was not working for you, you may wish to click on the next
link. This will break down the towns and cities further. When you click on
your town though, it will bring you back to the point of the above step (4),
but you will know where your town/city would be included.

To determine your district number by the Municipality (town or city name) if
you had a problem:

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp#O

The following are the instructions to prepare the Senate letter. 

Instructions:

1.       Put the date you are mailing at the top line of the document.

2.       Add your senator's name to personalize your message. This is after
"Dear Senator" and before the comma.

3.       Change "Your Name" in the next line. In this same line, either
leave member or change "member" to an office or position you may hold in the
NFBNJ.

4.       At the 3 asterisks which are after the description of Dusty's Law,
add a personal comment about an attack or situation which has happened to
you or someone you know. Should you not wish to add a note, remove the line
with the asterisks.

5.       Change the information at the end of the document. Two lines after
the "Respectfully" line,: 

A.      Enter your name and title/member

B.      Change "Address" to your street address.

C.      Change the text of City/Town, New Jersey Zip Code to your personal
information.

D.      Place your contact phone after the "Phone:".

E.       Place your email after the "Email:".

Please remember to also update and send the Assembly Letter as we have to
have both New Jersey State Houses to approve their "Dusty's Law" bills to
have this become law

One final  request, please send me a message if your interaction with your
Senator or Assembly-Persons were positive, negative, to be determined or
will review in their response with you. You may wish to also call your
legislature as a follow-up to this letter. Please thank them for their
support should you learn they are in favor of "Dusty's Law" and ask for them
to vote "yes".

A copy of the letter is included below if you were not able to open the
attachment:

July mailing-date, 2012

Dear Senator,

My name is Your Name, member of the National Federation of the Blind of New
Jersey, the largest and oldest organization of the blind in New Jersey and
our nation.  I am writing to express the NFBNJ's position pertaining to an
issue that is important to the blind community.

We are urging that you will consider sponsoring or co-sponsoring the
following bill that will extend greater protections to the blind and their
guide dogs.

Dusty's Law (S1907)

S1907 criminalizes attacks on guide dogs and guide dogs in training which
may interfere with the work of the dogs or may cause injury or death.
Designating these attacks as a criminal act is essential, as it will ensure
a police response when a guide dog or guide dog in training is
attacked-something which no other law currently does. This bi-partisan
legislation also calls for fines levied to an individual who is found
guilty, and includes restitution for vet bills, value of guide dog and costs
to replace and train with a new guide dog.  The Assembly version of this
bill (A2728) has also garnered bi-partisan support.

*** Include a brief, personal comment or experience in this location from
you. ***

The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight; it is the
misunderstanding and lack of information that exists. Given the proper
training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance.
We urge the New Jersey Senate to hear us for equality and support this
legislative initiative.

The members of the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey, guide dog
users, and guide dog trainers appreciated your time, professionalism, and
attention that you paid to the issue we brought before you. When this bill
is brought out of committee and put to a vote, we urge that you will vote
for it.

To sign on as a sponsor of this bill, please contact the prime sponsor:

Senator Anthony Bucco, Legislative District 25, (973) 627-9700

To advocate for the hearing of this bill in Committee, please contact:

Donald Norcross, Chair, Law & Public Safety Committee, (856) 853-2960

For additional information, please contact:

Vincent Chaney, President, New Jersey Association of Guide Dog Users

Phone: (732) 251-8650   E-mail: vgc732 at optonline.net

We look forward to working with you and your staff to bring our goal to
fruition. If I can be of any assistance, please contact me by phone or via
email. 

Respectfully,

Your Name, title in the organization

National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey

Address

City/Town, New Jersey Zip Code

Phone:

Email: 

Vincent G Chaney Jr

732-251-8650

President, NFBNJ New Jersey Association of Guide Dog Users

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