AS EYE SEE IT

Greetings from SDAB Presidents By Keith and Chelle

We are happy to be serving as co-presidents of the South Dakota Association of the Blind! This will be an exciting year, and we are excited about the new things that will be happening in SDAB. We want to thank Linda Biffert for her excellent leadership as President of SDAB over the past four years. Linda has done an outstanding job to assist the blind of South Dakota in maximizing their potential for independent living, and she has always been there to advance the cause of our organization. Thanks, Linda, and we look forward to your continued leadership on the SDAB Board. We want to see SDAB, as its bylaws state, "promote the general welfare of the blind and visually impaired" and "be of general service, help, and inspiration to the blind, and work for the blind. throughout the state of South Dakota." Our goal is to see the organization function with continued vitality and enthusiasm! We want to remind you of two things that have to do with our organization. First, as you will read in another article, SDAB will soon be raising funds by selling talking key chains. Each member is encouraged to sell these with enthusiasm in an effort to raise funds for our organization. Second, SDAB has a new web site, which will also be further described in another article. Check us out at http://www.sd-sdab.org Chelle and Keith want to serve you. Feel free to contact either or both of us if we can assist you in any way.

New Web Site

We are very excited to have a new and improved SDAB web site at www.sd-sdab.org. Sharleen Meyers and her committee (Keith Bundy, Brenda Fish, and Katie Williams) have volunteered to put together the site. It will have information about the Gadgetry Program, SDAB and statewide news, and upcoming events. The Association would also like to thank Keith Bundy who worked so hard to get the original SDAB web site up and running. If you have information for the website contact, Sharleen at sharleenm@sio.midco.net.

Scanacan

Are you tired of opening the wrong can? Are you embarrassed to find out that you put on a green shirt when you wanted a blue shirt? Are you frustrated when you can't find the disk or CD or movie you were looking for? Those days are over now, with the new SCANACAN Technology at your fingertips. The days of endless waiting for sighted assistance with product identification are now over. With the SCANACAN technology you can have it all. SCANACAN For Windows is the only speech-friendly, simple, powerful, affordable barcode scanning system, and independent living aid, and home management system you will ever need. Since just about everything you purchase has a bar code on it, there is no need for labeling grocery items any more, and no excuse for not cataloging all your items that are already bar-coded. If the item you scanned or entered is not in the Grocery Database of 84000 items, the Hardware Database of 62,000 Hardware related items, or the Schwans Database with all their cooking instructions, you can add it to the database with just a few keystrokes. You can create as many databases as your hard drive will hold. Each database holds up to 2 billion records in it. You can purchase clothing bar code labels and create a clothing database with the description, including the color, and manufacturer of your clothes. To order any of the above SCANACAN products, please contact Ferguson Enterprises, 205 Joliet Ave. SE, DeSmet, SD 57231-2411, 605-854-9280, e-mail: fergent@fergusonenterprises.com

Assistive Technology Act Former Senator Tom Daschle

The U.S. Senate passed the Assistive Technology Act of 2004. This action was pending when my State Director, Steve Erpenbach, provided a legislative update at the Association for the Blind conference on September 25, so I wanted to be sure that you and others were notified of the good news. This will reauthorize programs created under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 and I was proud to be a co-sponsor of the reauthorization. This Act has proven its effectiveness in helping people work and live independently by taking advantage of emerging technologies and services. I would encourage you to share this important development with others.

Gus Zachte Award By Jeanne Olson

Presenting the Gus Zachte Award to Larry Farke in person would have been a great pleasure. He would have been honored to receive this award, but he also would have been very humble - his acceptance would probably have started with, “I was only doing what I could to help each person to expand his or her horizons.” This posthumous presentation is still a pleasure because it acknowledges that all he did really was noted and appreciated. Larry worked in many areas of service to the blind and visually impaired. He was an itinerant teacher early in his career, then he began working at the Rehab Center where he taught home management, computer, crafts and recreation, and finally, orientation and mobility. But no matter what Larry was teaching, he was counseling and encouraging each and every person with whom he worked. Larry spent many hours helping people work through the question of what they could and would do to make their lives more fulfilling.

It has been said that everyone learned something when they spent time with Larry - whether they wanted to or not. Many people's lives were enriched as a result of knowing Larry Farke. Larry's natural curiosity made it possible for him to help people learn about things that most “'sightlings” take for granted. If you happened to wonder aloud about any one thing, Larry tracked that thing down and you were introduced to it, whether it was animal, vegetable, or mineral. If you didn't know what railroad tracks looked like, you were taken to the railroad yard and he had you get down on your hands and knees to find out what they were like. Most of you knew Larry and know how touched he would have been to be receiving the Gus Zachte Award. In place of an acceptance speech from Larry, lets take a moment to remember the differences he made in the lives of so many people who are blind or visually impaired.

Delbert Aman Memorial Scholarship

The Delbert K. Aman Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to a resident of South Dakota who is blind or visually impaired, and who will be attending a post-secondary program at a state support University, Vocational Technological Institute, or a private University. A GPA of 3.00 must be maintained in their chosen area of study. An individual student may be awarded a Delbert K. Aman Memorial Scholarship in four consecutive years and with a total of no more than six awards per student. The SDAB will pay for lodging, registration and meals for the recipient to attend the Annual SDAB Convention. At which time, the recipient will be asked to share his/her future academic goals and expectations. The Association does not intend to pay travel or other expenses for the recipient to attend the National ACB convention but this decision is reviewed each year. If you are interested in applying from the scholarship, contact the American Council of the Blind or your local SBVI Rehab. Counselor.

Key Chain Fundraiser

The Association will be selling talking thermometer key chains. We are planning to sell 100 of them for $10 each. If you would like to purchase one or are interested in selling some, contact Linda Biffert at 605-627-5608.

State Library

South Dakota’s State Library is working to improve its Talking Book program in the next few years. Currently, those who receive services through the South Dakota Braille and Talking Book Library are supplied with talking books on cassette. Dan Boyd, Director of Information Services at the State Library in Pierre says in the next four years, the cassette books will be replaced by digital talking books. He says the talking books have come a long way, starting with Braille and moving on to records and finally cassettes. Boyd says the digital talking books will be stored on flash memory chips, which are embedded in a carrier the size of a cassette. He says the digital books will be very helpful for their users, as they will allow them to easily refer to pages they want to return to, without having to reverse and fast forward, as with a cassette. Boyd says the State Library is always looking for volunteers to help produce the books. He says area residents can sign up to read the books or to proofread those that are already voiced. Currently, the Talking Library Program through the State Library is serving about 5,700 individuals. Boyd says many others could qualify based on visual or physical impairments or reading or learning disabilities. The digital talking books are expected to be in widespread use by 2008.

Election Results

SDAB had several members and friends that were running in elections this past November. We want to recognize the following people for doing such a great job!

Chris Turner – who was a Republican candidate in the District 18 state senate race from Yankton, ran a great campaign against Democratic incumbent Sen. Garry Moore, but unfortunately incumbents are hard to beat. For those of you who know Chris you realize this will probably not be the only time he will try to do something to “make a difference.”

Ted Kneebone - who was a Democratic candidate in the District 3 state senate race from Aberdeen against Republican incumbent Duane Sutton. Unfortunately for Ted this incumbent was also hard to beat. I found this quote on Ted’s website from Senator Tim Johnson that I felt really describes him. “I am happy to add my voice to those who are supporting Ted Kneebone for the South Dakota Senate. Ted has been very active in Brown County for many years, and has had a distinguished career working in South Dakota schools. His concern for "the little guy” is unmatched, and if he is elected, he will work very hard to ensure that folks who have no voice are heard.

Clyde Calhoon – who is the Brookings County State's Attorney, won another term in office. Calhoon, a Democrat, won his first term as state's attorney in 1974. He was honored for his service and abilities as a prosecutor in May 2003 when the South Dakota State’s Attorney’s Association named him Prosecutor of the Year.

Senator Tom Daschle – the members of the Association would like to send out our best wishes to Tom Daschle and thank him for all he has done for our state.

News and Notes

Dear Friends - We both would like to thank you and all the members of SDAB for inviting us to show our SCANACAN Products. We would also like to thank you for sponsoring us. It was so great seeing everyone, and we really appreciated the warm welcome back that we received from all of you. The convention was great and we both enjoyed it very much. We will be back again next year. The best meal was the meal you provided for us on Friday evening. Perhaps next year we can stay for the banquet and the auction. Again, thank you so very much for everything. You are all wonderful, just like one big happy family. Love, Pat and Vernon Ferguson

Congratulations to Eric (SBVI office in Pierre) and Lynette Weiss on the birth of their daughter Kara Ester. She joined their family on October 11.

Happy Birthday to Steve Hart and Jim Zuber who both celebrated “BIG” millstone birthdays this year but 10 years apart. You do the math!

Happy Birthday to Carol Thommen from Aberdeen area who recently celebrating her 97^th birthday. Only three more years to go before we will have a really BIG celebration for her.

Braille Gifts - I am a parent of twin 6 year olds - one blind child and one visually impaired child. Over the past fe