We thank Audiovision, the Radio Reading Service of the New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center for the use of their recording studio to produce the cassette and digital formats that are aired on Audiovision and our website www.njcounciloftheblind.org. We thank Audiovision's John Hart and our webmaster Dave Casterline for their technical assistance. The Chronicle is read by Bob Lucas. For more information about Audiovision call 1-800-792-8322 or visit their website at www.audiovision-nj.org. The NJCB Chronicle is also available on Newsline.
The New Jersey Council of the Blind's mission is to strive for the betterment of the blind and visually impaired community. The purpose of this publication is to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas, opinions and information that concern blind and visually impaired people. The New Jersey Council of the Blind (NJCB) is a 501 (c) 3 corporation and all gifts are tax deductible. Tax deductible donations should be sent to the Treasurer of NJCB. Four quarterly newsletters are sent to members free of charge in either large print, audio cassette or E-mail. Non-members may request the NJCB Chronicle by E-mail and for an annual donation of $5.00 may receive copies in large print or on cassette. In order to make the Chronicle better, we need and appreciate information from our chapters, from individuals and from agencies and other outside groups and organizations which serve the blind and visually impaired. Articles to be included in the NJCB Chronicle, requests for copies of the newsletter or membership information should be sent to NJCB, 520 Ewingville Road, Ewing, NJ 08638. They may also be e-mailed to njcounciloftheblind@verizon.net or phoned to (609) 882-2446. All information must be received by December 1st to be included in the next issue of the Chronicle. You may obtain the current and back issues of the Chronicle and other information from our web site at www.njcounciloftheblind.org.
Hello My Fellow NJCB members. It appears that a long warmer than warm summer is almost at an end. I hope that everyone had an enjoyable sharing of family and friends and perhaps were able to take some interesting travel adventures that you just might want to share with us all soon.
Ottilie and Bob Lucas once again generously represented our NJCB at the ACB National Convention in Louisville Kentucky. They were able to catch up with some old friends and make some new contacts. They both reported some interesting programs and news from the national office. We will all look forward to hearing from them again in upcoming meetings.
As usual the months immediately following the convention are somewhat quiet and reserved. However things will start picking up again after the summer break. One new possibility is the beginning of video descriptive television on ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC. The initial offerings are limited and there have been some initial problems in these programs, but at least it is a beginning that will improve with time.
I look forward to meeting everyone at our state convention on the 27th of October at the Clarion Hotel / Palmer Inn on Route One South in Princeton, New Jersey. The doors will open at approximately 8:00 AM. At 9:30 AM we will have a business meeting in which we elect new officers for the 2013-2014 term. This is my final term as your president and I can't say enough about how much I appreciated serving you to the best of my abilities. You are a wonderful group of people. The activities scheduled for the rest of the day are listed in a subsequent article.
Again I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on the 27th. The more the merrier.
All the best! John Vernon, President, New Jersey Council of the Blind.
Come to the NJCB convention on October 27th at the Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn at 3499 Route 1 South in West Windsor. An abbreviated agenda follows this article. We are planning a day packed with information, prizes, socialization and good food. There will be something for everyone attending. For those of you who are planning on spending Friday night at the Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn, call the hotel at (609) 452-2500, and tell them you are with the New Jersey Council of the Blind. Make sure to do this before October 8th to ensure that you get the reduced rate of $76.99 per night. Many of us will be gathering for dinner at the hotel for dinner at 6:30 PM on Friday evening to meet Ken Stewart and renew friendships. Complete the Convention Registration form at the end of this newsletter with your meal choice and your choice of format for your program in either large print, cassette or Braille. It must be received no later than October 15th.
If you have any questions, you may call Ottilie Lucas at (609) 882-2446 or e-mail her at Ottilie@verizon.net. Hope to see you on October 27th.
8:00 - 9:30 AM: Registration, Continental Breakfast and Exhibits.
9:30 - 9:45 AM: Welcome - President John Vernon, Invocation - Bob Lucas
9:45 -10:45 AM: NJCB Business Meeting and election of new officers
10:45 -11:00 AM: Vito DeSantis, Executive Director of NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, What's new with CBVI
11:00 -11:15 AM: Adam Szczepaniak, Director of NJ State Library Talking Book and Braille Center, What's new at TBBC
11:15 -11:30 AM: Short presentations by exhibitors
11:30 AM -12:15 PM: Exhibits.
12:15 -1:45 PM: Luncheon Banquet with Keynote Speaker, Ken Stewart.
1:45 - 2:00 PM: Break.
2:00 -5:00 PM: Speakers and workshops.
5:00-5:30: Wrap Up
5:30 PM: Adjournment.
*Note: Door prizes will be given out at the beginning of each session. You must be in the room to claim your prize. Raffles and 50/50 drawings will be throughout the day.
The New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center Adam Szczepaniak, Director
P.O. Box 501
Trenton NJ 08625-0501
Toll free number: (800) 792-8322
Fax: (609) 530-6384
Web: www.njsltbbc.org.
Chuck Cohen, President, C-TECH
2 N. William Street
Pearl River, NY 10965
Work number: (845) 735-7907
Fax number: (845) 735-0513
E-mail: chuck@magnifyit.com
Web: www.lvpshop.com
Trisha Ebel, Independent Living Assistant
Heightened Independence & Progress (HIP)
Work number: (201) 996-9100
E-mail: tebel.ber@hipcil.org
Web: www.hipcil.org
Sherlock Washington, ThisAbled
SW Unlimited LLC
81 Ortley Court
Matawan, NJ 07747
Work number: (732) 290-1677
Fax number: (732) 290-1688
Cell phone: (732) 208-5353
E-mail: sherlock@swunlimited.com
Web: www.swunlimited.com
Vito DeSantis: Executive Director, NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Adam Szczepaniak: Director, New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center.
Ken Stewart: President of the CCLVI Chapter in the Metropolitan New York area and long-time member of the A.C.B. Board of Publications
Pat Kay: Certified Native American Flute Facilitator
Leigh Tilden: President of Computer Talk
There will be other speakers in addition to those mentioned above.
Convention Committee: Frank Schack, Joyce Sowa, John Vernon, Larry Morgan and Ottilie Lucas
The Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn is located at 3499 Route 1 South just south of the Market Fair and Pep Boys in Princeton at the corner of Rt. 1 and Emmons Drive. Pure Restaurant is in the same complex. The hotel's phone number is (609) 452-2500.
From the North:
From the South:
From the East:
Or
The Nominating Committee is made up of the following members: Ed Fedush, chairman; Jean Cannella and Bill Dougherty. Ed presented the following slate to our members at our general business meeting at Camp Happiness on July 28, 2012. Those proposed were: Larry Morgan for President, Frank Schack for First Vice President, Joyce Sowa for Second Vice President, Ottilie Lucas for Secretary and Bob Lucas for Treasurer. The election for our officers for 2013-2014 will be held at our business meeting at 9:30 AM on October 27, 2012 at our convention. Others can be nominated from the floor. Before nominating a person for an office, be sure to get their approval to run. We thank John Vernon for serving NJCB as President for the last four years. He has been a conscientious and capable leader and we hope that he will remain active for many years in the future.
We presently use the term "annual convention" in two places in our constitution (Article IV, Section 1 and Article VI, Section 1). Since we do not have conventions every year, a proposal was made at the July 28, 2012 meeting at Camp Happiness to change these two statements to "annual meeting". The vote will take place at the October 27, 2012 business meeting.
This year, for the first time, The Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired's (CBVI) Board of Trustees joined ranks with The Trenton Thunder baseball team to award scholarships to two CBVI students who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to education, advocacy and community involvement.
Both scholarship recipients delivered outstanding interviews that left the entire Selection Committee feeling inspired and elated.
Wesley Brook's positive spirit, determination to succeed, and his advocacy on behalf of all people with disabilities resulted in his having the distinction of being chosen as the first recipient of the Trenton Thunder Blind and Visually Impaired Awareness Night Scholarship for Leadership and Community Service. Wesley is a Middlesex County resident who attends Monmouth University. In 2011, his dedication to helping plan and coordinate New Jersey's first Annual Disability Pride Parade led to his being appointed the Grand Marshall of that celebration.
Tiffany Huang's tremendous personal fortitude and exemplary level of commitment to fulfilling the educational requirements for achieving her career goal of being a Clinical Psychologist made her the unanimous choice for The Nat & Sally Rogoff Scholarship for Academic Excellence. Tiffany is a Bergen County resident who attends Ramapo College.
During their lifetimes, the late Nathan and Sally Rogoff were both well known for their philanthropy and dedication to helping others, especially young people who were blind or visually impaired. Mr. Rogoff served on the CBVI Board of Trustees for over 30 years.
The scholarship awards were presented at "Covering the Bases: The Sixth Annual Blind and Visually Impaired Awareness Night with The Trenton Thunder", on Thursday July 26, 2012 at Waterfront Park in Trenton, NJ.
Also honored that evening was Harry Eberle, who is an esteemed and respected member of the visually impaired community. Throughout his life Harry has been active in the NJ Lions and many blindness organizations. This former president of the Mercer County Association of the Blind is responsible for managing the operations of the huge cafeteria complex at Fort Dix and still finds the time to dedicate a great deal of his energies to community service. Helping build homes for needy families through Habitat for Humanity, coordinating toy and coat drives during the winter months, mentoring other visually impaired business enterprise trainees, and making holiday time visits to senior centers dressed as Santa each year are just a few of the reasons why he was selected as an honoree.
The Trenton Thunder baseball team is the Double "A" Affiliate team for the New York Yankees. Every year since 2006, in partnership with CBVI and the NJ State Library Talking Book and Braille Center, the Thunder have hosted a "Blind and Visually Impaired Awareness Night" during a regularly scheduled home game played at Waterfront Park, in Trenton, NJ.
By Christine Hinton, Supervisor, Meyer Instructional Resource Center Amy Ricciardi, Coordinator, Educational Services
As the mainstream educational environment acknowledges the need for changes in the way we think about reading and comprehension related to technology, it is important that the needs of students with visual impairments are met through new strategies for both students and teachers. The New Jersey Commission for the Blind & Visually Impaired is currently conducting a statewide 12-month i-PAD™ Pilot Project for 15 students with low-vision. The students received their i-PADs on June 26, 2012 at an event attended by Jennifer Velez, Commissioner of The NJ State Department of Human Services and Vito De Santis, Executive Director CBVI.
Each year the CBVI, George F. Meyer Instructional Resource Center has a challenge when charged to provide over eight hundred book titles for visually impaired students throughout the state of New Jersey, resulting in thousands of reproduced pages. Large print text books provided to students in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade are all reproduced eleven by seventeen inches in size and the print size ranges from eighteen to twenty four point fonts in size. After enlarging the text, the books are produced in several volumes; otherwise, the weight and size of the book would be too large for the student to use. These enlarged textbooks often do not fit on an average school desk and at times students must tear out the pages being covered in class to make using the books manageable.
The basis of this Pilot Project is to provide i-PADs to five CBVI students from each of the three regional offices who have ordered large print books from the agency in the past and who are in the ninth through the twelfth grade. Each of the students possesses some technological experience with downloading and reading electronic books. They are required to use electronic textbooks for fifty percent of their school book requirements.
Student input on the use of the device including the device itself, apps, hypertext (markup language used to interpret and compose text), non-linear hypertext (Information that is presented in a nontraditional linear format) and Interactive Text (Text that requires readers to interact with the text to achieve an outcome) will be explored.
Some of the presumptive outcomes of this project are that the students will be provided immediate access to text with customized print size to accommodate their individual visual disability; enabling the student's independence in obtaining documents and text in a timely manner; enhancement of the student's functional capabilities in the educational setting; and reduction of the number of devices that a student would need in the classroom.
The use of the i-PAD will allow our students the ability to utilize the same equipment as do the other students, thus ensuring inclusion and equality in accessing most books.
All chapter dues and membership lists are due to be given to the Treasurer, Bob Lucas at the NJCB Convention on October 27th. Please include in the membership list: member's name, address, phone number, E-mail address, legally blind or fully sighted, format for newsletters (large print, cassette or E-mail). Please also send your membership list with the above information as an attachment to Ottilie@verizon.net
The dues are $6.50 for each voting member.
It is appreciated if the Members at large would also pay their individual dues of $10.00 to Bob Lucas at this time or mail your check for $10.00 to Bob Lucas, Treasurer, 520 Ewingville Road, Ewing, NJ 08638-1410. Renewal forms for the Members at large will be available at the registration table. Invoices will be sent out near the end of the year to our members at large who have not paid their 2013 dues.
Also, don't forget to bring door prizes (cash and other gifts) and give them to Frank and Joyce Schack at the Registration Desk.
Thank you,
Bob Lucas, Treasurer, NJCB
The next semiannual meeting of the Friends of the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped will be on December 1, 2012 at The Trinity United Methodist Church at 1985 Pennington Road, Ewing, NJ 08618 from 10 AM to 12 Noon. Lunch will follow for a cost of $5.00. Call Ottilie Lucas at (609) 882-2446 or E-mail her at Ottilie@verizon.net to let the Friends know you are coming.
NJCB received 3 donated Perkins Braille writers. Richard Heigh, a Certified Perkins Braille Repairman and NJCB member, has cleaned and repaired them at a much reduced price. There are two Braille writers still available. We are selling these writers which are now in very good condition for $250.00 each. They cost about $650.00 new.
Contact Robert Lucas, Treasurer of NJCB, with any questions or to order at:
(609) 882-2446 Home
(609) 638-4232 Cell
520 Ewingville Road
Ewing, NJ 08638
zcpabob@verizon.net E-mail
This is a great buy. Share this opportunity with your friends who are looking for a dependable Perkins Braille Writer.
Garden State Guide Dog Users -Hello everyone. By the time you get this newsletter we will have had our conference call meeting in early September. The next face to face meeting will be held on Friday December 7th, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at the home of Vicki and Ricky Curley at 16 Green Farm Lane, Stockton, NJ 08559. Pizza and salad will be the refreshments served at this meeting. Hope everyone enjoyed their summer and that you all will have a good fall. Lauren Casey, GSGDU president.
Mercer County Association of the Blind- The members of Mercer County Association of the Blind have had a very active summer. Several of us celebrated their birthdays and anniversaries with a picnic at the Lucas' home on June 30th. The Lucases enjoyed representing NJ Council of the Blind and the Curleys represented Garden State Guide Dog Users at the ACB Conference and Convention in Louisville in July. We enjoyed a delicious picnic and the NJCB quarterly meeting at Camp Happiness on July 28th. Many of our members and friends enjoyed the hospitality of the Trenton Elks for our annual picnic on August 4th. Several of us have been benefitting from the descriptive video movies at our local movie theaters. We are looking forward to our regular meetings starting on Thursday, September 20th as well as a dinner to celebrate our members who have birthdays in the months of September through December. We hope to see many of you at the NJCB convention on October 27th at the Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn in Princeton.
NJ Blind Citizens Association- After hosting the NJCB quarterly meeting on July 28th, we are preparing for a busy, busy October. On October 13th we are sponsoring an antique car show in the parking lot of the Middletown Shopping Center on Route 35. This is the site of the old Pathmark store and Applebee's and Chuckie Cheese's. Admission is free. The following day, October 14th at 7:00 PM, will be a fabulous "doowop" concert featuring Johnnie T at the Red Oak Diner in Hazlet. The concert only costs $20.00. Food and drink can be purchased separately. On October 20th the NJBCA Ladies Auxiliary will be serving the Annual All You Can Eat Spaghetti, Sausage and Meatball Dinner from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at Camp Happiness. Camp Happiness is located at 18 Burlington Avenue, Leonardo, NJ 07737. Dinner tickets can be purchased in advance for $10.00 by calling the NJBCA office at (732) 291-0878.
Saturday, October 27, 2012: NJCB Convention at the Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn, see prior articles.
Saturday, December 1, 2012: Friends of the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped's fall meeting at the Trinity United Methodist Church from 10 AM to 1 PM.
Friday, December 7, 2012: Garden State Guide Dog Users meeting at the home of Vickie Curley, 16 Green Farm Lane, Stockton, NJ 08559. The meeting will begin at 1 PM and be over about 3 PM. Call Vickie at (609) 397-3150 to let her know you are coming.
Saturday, January 26, 2013: NJCB Quarterly Meeting at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Ewing. Watch for more details in the January, 2011 issue.
President: John Vernon (609) 392-3674
1st Vice President: Frank Schack (973) 595-0116
2nd Vice President: Joyce Sowa (732) 596-9675
Secretary: Ottilie Lucas (609) 882-2446
Treasurer: Bob Lucas (609) 882-2446
NOTE: Disclaimer. The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the New Jersey Council of the Blind officers and/or members. The editor reserves the right to edit articles submitted for both space and content.
Date: Saturday October 27, 2012 from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Place: The Clarion Hotel/Palmer Inn, 3499 Route 1 South, Princeton, NJ.
Phone: (609) 452-2500.
Cost: $50.00
Hotel Rooms: Make reservations directly through the hotel before October 8, 2012 to get a reduced rate of $76.99 plus tax for Friday night only. Call the hotel at (609) 452-2500 and tell them that you are with New Jersey Council of the Blind.
To register for the Convention fill out the form below and send it with your check payable to NJCB to our Treasurer, Bob Lucas, 520 Ewingville Road, Ewing, NJ 08638 by October 15, 2012.
(609) 882-2446
Name:
Address:
Phone:
E-mail address:
NJCB member: yes____ no____
I would like my program in Braille ___ Large Print ___ or Cassette___
Meal Choice: Chicken Piccata ___ or Eggplant Parmesan ___
Total cost: $50.00
Any questions? Call (609) 882-2446.