[Ohio-talk] Buckeye Update for December 16th

[J. W. Smith]

         I must say that this is getting ridiculous! As I write this update 
the weather here in Athens is not very pleasant and by all accounts will 
continue to go down hill the rest of the day. maybe I should stop writing 
these updates and see if the weather improves?

         Let me begin by congratulating Richard Payne and Bruce Peters on 
their elections as Presidents of their particular chapters. Bruce is taking 
over the presidency of the Summit County chapter once again. Please join me 
in thanking Mary Weldon for her recent years of service as President of 
that chapter. Mary is one of those quiet types that just gets the job done 
and I want her to know how much I appreciate that. I will say more about 
Richard Payne's chapter later in this update. I know that there will be a 
new President of our Athens chapter in January so we will have to update 
the leadership list shortly there after.

         Once again I have three things to cover in this update;

The Wooster Meeting

         On December 6th we were scheduled to have a meeting in Wooster to 
investigate the possibility of starting a new chapter there. the meeting 
was scheduled for 10 am at the United Methodist Church, unfortunately I 
could not attend because of a prior commitment. Eric Duffy graciously 
agreed to represent us and I had every confidence that he would do his 
usual competent job. At about 9:30 Eric received a phone call informing him 
that either the church was on fire or at least there was severe smoke 
damage occurring. Needless to say the meeting was postponed,  thankfully it 
was not a fire, but an over heated motor in a remote location of the church 
that proved to be the problem. I guess it is safe to say that this was not 
the time or place for the meeting. I am pleased to tell you though that we 
have rescheduled that meeting for March 28th and our contact person in that 
area Diane Johnson, assures me that the weather will be great and that 
there will be no more potential fires.

Sub-Committee Budget Meeting

         On December 10th I participated via phone and Eric participated in 
person at the budget meeting at RSC. Once again it is clear that we are 
facing some very difficult times ahead. The majority of the meeting was 
spent documenting just how serious things are and what the agency is trying 
to do to address these issues. I was surprised at how clearly I could hear 
the participants in the meeting, but I was very glad that we were able to 
have Eric represent us in person. In general I thought that the meeting was 
proactive and that the commissioners were taking these matters very 
seriously. Toward the end of the meeting the issue of combining services 
was brought up and as I indicated to you in the email that I forwarded to 
you yesterday it was made clear to all concern that this was an issue of 
great importance to all blind Ohioians. The commissioners want to study the 
pros and cons of this issue and thus we have been asked to provide 
documentation to help them as they wrestle with this topic in future 
meetings. It is my sense that this issue will be raised in the next few 
meetings and let me assure you that we will make our position clear to this 
sub-committee. I want you to be ready if necessary to do whatever it takes 
to persuade those commissioners about the importance of maintaining 
separate bureaus. I may need you to move quickly so be prepared. I will try 
to give you as much notice as I can.

Miami Valley Banquet

         On Decmber 13th I was pleased to attend an educational banquet 
sponsored by our Miami Valley chapter. Richard Payne and his group did a 
marvelous job and it was an honor to talk about who we are and why we 
matter with the 35 or so attendees. This chapter is very active and growing 
and much of the credit should go to President Payne and his board. We need 
more chapters like this and I would like to attend more events like that 
banquet. It was clear to me how appreciative the guests were for what the 
Miami Valley Chapter had and was accomplishing in that community. They are 
a model chapter for all of us to follow in terms of recruitment and raising 
public awareness.I would like to visit each of our chapters over the next 
two years and I would like for those visits to be a combination of a 
chapter meeting as well as some social event. I will be contacting chapter 
presidents in an attempt to schedule a  time that I can come and be with 
you, to listen to your chapter members and to find out just what we can do 
to assist you to be the most productive chapter you can be.
         Finally, please enjoy the holidays and get ready for a brand new 
year. Our January 17th board meeting will be held at the Airport Marriott 
Hotel in Columbus. I will give you more specifics about that meeting in my 
next update.

Sincerely,

J.W . Smith

NFBO Po box
458 Athens, oh 45701- 0458

Phone/Fax 740-592-6326 or 1800-396-6326