President David Anspach brought the meeting to order at 1:07 PM. Chuck Huber led everyone in the flag salute. Role call was taken; 19 members plus two guests were present.
Kim Ellsworth read aloud the meeting minutes for August. There was a question as to the sponsorship levels with regards to the tier amounts. John Carson explained that nothing has been officially decided and that he had just thrown some numbers out during the last meeting as a general idea. Correction: Congressman Bill Young has been tentatively scheduled to speak at the event in the park; the minutes had listed him as a definite speaker. A motion that the minutes be accepted along with the correction was made and seconded by John Carson and Richard Wells, respectively. Motion carried.
Bonnie Prescott gave the Treasurer’s report. There was a balance of $1,442.59 last month; $207.00 was deposited. The current balance is $1,649.59. A motion that the Treasurer’s report be accepted was made and seconded by Charlotte Bogadi and John Carson, respectively. Motion carried.
The Chapter welcomed Kory Williams who is a guest and she spoke to us briefly about herself. Linda Saunders made an announcement regarding Braille sample ballots. The new election specialist is Martin Munro. He wasn’t certain that he could have the sample ballots made up by October’s Chapter meeting but if he is able to, Linda will bring them for the Braille readers in the Chapter to look at. She needs to know how many members are interested so she can tell the Election Specialist how many to make up. Those who are interested may call Linda directly or they may e-mail Martin at the following e-mail address. John will also put this information upon the Chapter’s website. Martin’s e-mail address is: mmunro@votepinellas.com.
Janice Snow of the Speakers Committee has scheduled Dan Mann from the Lighthouse of Pinellas to come and speak to the Chapter in November. She also is planning on contacting Angel Watson from the Caring and Sharing Center as a future speaker. Debbie and Chuck Hietala talked to the Chapter about a sports center called Challenge Aspen. They teach folks with all types of disabilities various sports such as kayaking, flag fishing, mountain biking, rock climbing, rafting, skiing, etc. Anyone who is interested may contact the Hietalas.
Next, some thoughts and ideas were discussed regarding the Chapter Christmas party. Party location ideas: The Hietalas volunteered their home and Janice has been researching the Wine Cellar restaurant. Janice and Judy spoke with the banquet manager there. He has two banquet rooms, any banquet meal such as ham or turkey may be chosen, it would be $13.00 per person. Everyone agreed that this is a great price and Janice will find out what all the 13 dollars includes. A motion that Janice pursue the Wine Cellar idea for the Christmas party, pending she is able to work out the cost and book a date was made and seconded by Chuck Hietala and John Carson, respectively. Motion carried. There will be a party instead of the meeting; Janice will present the restaurant with the date of December 16, somewhere around noontime to 3:00 PM. If the Wine Cellar doesn’t pan out then the Hietala’s house can be an alternate location. An idea for something to do at the party: doing a gift exchange called “the white elephant”, “dirty Santa”, etc. Also, singing some Christmas carols in lieu of the festive occasion. Everyone thought the gift exchange is a great idea and a limit of ten dollars, must be a unisex gift was agreed upon. Janice also mentioned that she proposed the idea to the banquet manager of future Chapter party events possibly taking place at the Wine Cellar and he was enthusiastic about this and said he would even provide water dishes for the dogs.
Next, Debbie gave a brief guide dog report. The gentleman whose guide dog was attacked by the Maltese back in June, the meeting to see if this will go to trial will be held on September 21. A coworker of Debbie’s saw a segment about this incident on the Animal Planet channel during one of their working dog series. In the original hearing, a ruling was made against the gentleman, the dog was declared vicious and he would have to muzzle his dog in public. Marion Gwizdala, President of the East Hillsborough Chapter, began a fundraiser to try and raise enough money for an appeal. After speaking vehemently to Marion, she was able to convince him to present the incident to the National Board. President Mark Mauer agreed to assist and a lawyer out of Washington D.C. is now involved. The Hietalas also reported that Southeastern’s executive director resigned a couple of months ago and has now been replaced by Pat Cowan who was chairman of the board. Pat is a multiple guide dog user and she is blind.
President Anspach announced that Marion Gwizdala will be performing at Ruth Eckerd Hall on October the 6th and 7th. Marion has invited folks from the NFB family to come see him perform. Anyone who is interested in attending, please contact David Anspach for further details.
Next, the Fundraising Committee reported on the plans regarding the upcoming “Meet the Blind Picnic” in the park event. Pavilions 8 and 9 in Seminole park have definitely been reserved; Mike Lamb and his crew will arrive at 8:30 AM to hold the location. Street crossings are scheduled to take place at 10:00, 10:30 and 11:00 AM. There needs to be at least two dog guide users, two white cane users and there needs to be some sighted guide demonstrations as well. Everyone is asked to wear a red shirt at the event in order to have Chapter related members stand out from everyone else. David contacted Jerry Lazarus and all kinds of NFB related materials for the NFB table are on the way and David will also be bringing the tape players, which will be given to those who make a ten dollars or more donation. David would like to obtain a six-foot banner to hang at the location of the event and some discussion took place with regards to the details of the banner and where to get one. Chuck Hietala will look into this and get back to David with his findings. David announced that the news release, which was sent out to various locations has been generating much interest. A mistake was made in the prior news release with regards to the pavilions. It said pavilions 7 and 8 and in the next release, which will go out on September 21, John is going to just drop the 7 as we actually have 8 and part of 9. As long as folks show up to 8, we can get them over to 9. David announced that the President of the FCB (Florida Council for the Blind) and her Chapter are interested in attending the event. According to their organization’s Constitution, they must hold 11 meetings a year and in order for them to attend our event, they need to have a very brief business meeting there first. No one objected to this and positive comments were voiced in welcoming the FCB Chapter to our event. There were also no objections to them bringing their own literature and setting up a table. Planning took place at this time in assigning folks for the various time frames for the street crossings. John asked Chuck Hietala to help coordinate everyone. 10:00 AM: Grant Downey, Mike Lamb, John Carson, Eric Kosten, Tammy Anspach and Jill Carson. 10:30 AM: Tammy Anspach, Mike Lamb, Grant Downey, Jim Ellsworth, Kim Ellsworth and Jill Carson.
Janice will contact the Seminole police department again as she has not heard back from them yet. A sample proclamation and a PDF of the “Meet the Blind Month” activities obtained from National have been sent to Leslie Waters office. The Prescotts will be helping to bring the drinks and some coolers. Debbie plans to setup a table where tickets can be purchased for hamburgers and hotdogs. Cash payment will be taken for sodas, waters, chips and pound cakes. Burgers will be $3.00, hotdogs $2.00, cakes $1.00 and drinks and chips $0.50 for each. Mention was made of possibly having a couple of notebooks out on the table for guests and participants to sign for the purpose of keeping track of the attendance. Discussion took place regarding possibly handing out business cards that contains our Chapter’s contact info if time permitting or using a rubber stamp that has the website’s info on it.
SECRETARY’S NOTE: I must apologize here as the Minutes are not able to be completed. This is where the tape ran out, which contained a great portion of the meeting. However, it seems that nothing recorded on the secondary cassette.
Written and Submitted by:
Kim Ellsworth
Pinellas Chapter Secretary
NFBF