[nfbmi-talk] Kalamazoo Gazette Article and Channel 3 Tonight

[J.J. Meddaugh]

We're lucky to have a paper and television station that is eager to cover 
the story. It doesn't hurt that it's sweeps month for TV as well.

I'm confident you can get some good coverage on the MCB meeting in March, 
among other events.

You may wish to reach out to  Barbara Wieland on Twitter at username 
bawieland as I think she could be convinced to write more given the right 
angle.



J.J. Meddaugh - ATGuys.com
A premier Licensed Code Factory and KNFB Reader distributor
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elizabeth" <lizmohnke at hotmail.com>
To: <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 9:38 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Kalamazoo Gazette Article and Channel 3 Tonight



Thanks for keeping us up to date on all the local media coverage. Personally 
I think this article is better than the one that ran this past weekend. it's 
too bad we can't get the same kind of media coverage here in Lansing.



Elizabeth

> From: jj at bestmidi.com
> To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org; nfb-kzoo at nfbnet.org
> Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:52:04 -0500
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Kalamazoo Gazette Article and Channel 3 Tonight
>
> First, Christine Boone will be on channel 3 tonight (Wednesday) at 11.
>
> She may also be on the CW 7 at 10.
>
> Also, here's the article from Wednesday's Kalamazoo Gazette.
>
>
>
> Firing over marksmanship program protested: Supporters want former blind 
> training center director reinstated
>
>
> By Chris Killian | Special to the Kalamazoo...
> February 24, 2010, 12:30PM
> Protesters, Michigan Commission for the Blind Training Center
> View full size
> Demanding reinstatement: Protesters march Tuesday outside the Michigan 
> Commission
> for the Blind Training Center in Kalamazoo to protest the firing of former 
> director
> Christine Boone for her creation of a marksmanship program there.
> KALAMAZOO -
> Roxanne Mann had never shot any kind of gun until she took a class at the 
> Michigan
> Commission for the Blind Training Center last year.
> On her second try, she pulled the trigger on her spring-loaded pellet 
> rifle and hit
> the bullseye on the target.
> "I was amazed," said Mann, 46, who has had vision problems most of her 
> life and has
> been nearly blind for the past three years. "I've done more here than I 
> ever thought
> I'd be able to do."
> That sense of achievement was what brought Mann and several of her fellow 
> students
> to a protest at Kalamazoo training center for the blind Tuesday to demand 
> reinstatement
> of former director Christine Boone, who was fired for creating the 
> marksmanship program.
> The program, conducted in a wooded ravine behind the Oakland Drive 
> facility beginning
> last September, was canceled in November and Boone was fired Feb. 4 for 
> allowing
> firearms on state property.
> "It's a safety-work-rule violation, a serious work-rule violation," Mario 
> Morrow,
> director of communications for the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor 
> and Economic
> Growth, said last week of Boones' firing.
> "The class was run safely, effectively and professionally, just like every 
> other
> program here," Phill Kelly, 26, who was enrolled in the class before it 
> was terminated
> in November, said from Tuesday's protest.
> "They took all the appropriate safety measures into consideration. It's 
> not like
> we were shooting .22's or shotguns out here."
> Boone, who has 30 years of experience in the rehabilitation field, said 
> she saw the
> activity as one that empowered students and boosted their self-confidence. 
> She said
> she received verbal consent in March to begin the program from Patrick 
> Cannon, director
> of the Michigan Commission for the Blind in Lansing, and has appealed her 
> dismissal.
> The Kalamazoo Gazette has been unable to reach Cannon for comment.
> Several students at Tuesday's protest praised Boone, who became director 
> of the training
> center in 2006, for her progressive programs.
> Miles Matie, 35, had a career in computer programming before losing his 
> eyesight
> four years ago. Although he's only been at the training facility for a 
> month, he
> said he's learning a lot thanks to programming that Boone started.
> Boone replaced outdated typing classes with computer training, introduced 
> specialized
> technology to level the playing field between blind professionals and 
> their sighted
> colleagues, and established a peer-support system for blind college 
> students, according
> to Matie.
> "I'm out here picketing for my fellow students," he said.
> "When you get rid of programs, you are subtly saying blind people can't 
> live a productive,
> normal life," said Larry Posont, president of the of the National 
> Federation of the
> Blind of Michigan, which organized the protest.
> "We say the average blind person can do the average job," he said. "We are 
> in the
> right and we will continue to fight."
> © 2010 MLive.com. All rights reserved.
> http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/02/firing_over_marksmanship_progr.html
> J.J. Meddaugh - ATGuys.com
> A premier Licensed Code Factory and KNFB Reader distributor
> _______________________________________________
> nfbmi-talk mailing list
> nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nfbmi-talk:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org/lizmohnke%40hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469226/direct/01/
_______________________________________________
nfbmi-talk mailing list
nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
nfbmi-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org/jj%40bestmidi.com