[Ohio-talk] Buckeye Update for December 16th

[Wanda Sloan]

The Diabetic Action Network is still in extance.  We are working to maintain 
and up grade our team buuilding.  Ii will be sending you the minutes from 
the meeting in Col. very soon.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J. W. Smith" <jsmith1 at ohio.edu>
To: <Dr. John W Smith :>
Cc: <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11:23 AM
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Buckeye Update for December 16th


         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
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