Mid-Atlantic Regional Group

Blinded Veterans Association

Roanoke/Salem  Chapter  Meeting

Minutes

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

On December 4, 2007, the Blinded Veterans met at the VA Hospital in Salem. Those present were Ed Walker, Richard Rhett, Tim Woodrum (VIST Coordinator), Ernie and Lola Bradley, and Clyde Compton via teleconference.  Ed Walker, President, opened the meeting with a prayer and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

The Minutes re the donation of the food ($250) for the Regional meeting by Clyde and Hazel Compton were read and approved. For the record, Ed only kept transportation fare to/from the meeting ($6) and returned $14 to the Treasury. The treasury now has ($856)

Ed said he had read the October 26 Regional Meeting Minutes and it sounded like it was a very productive meeting. He added that they are sending money out for the chapters.
We have to pay for the party and send the receipt to Pete and he will send the money back.  

Ed announced that he had made reservations for the Christmas party for 10-15 people at the Red Lobster Restaurant, (Tanglewood) located at 3529 Franklin Road SW, Roanoke (tel. 343-1549) on Tuesday, December 11, at 6:00 pm. " Everyone come and fellowship for Christmas."                                                   

Ed then asked for old business: none
Committee reports: none

New business: Clyde Compton reported that as of 1 January 2008 the regional group will have a new website: www.margbva.org . The website is going to be JAWS and ZOOM-TEXT friendly. It will have only one graphic which is the BVA emblem. The rest of it will be all text.              

Ed: Clyde, you mentioned it is JAWS friendly. Have you got "9" yet? I understand it is being shipped.

Clyde: I am not buying "9" until it fixes all the bugs.

Ed: Do we have a maintenance agreement re the upgrades?

Clyde: Don't put in early to get it. It takes a while to get the bugs worked out. I have Change 8 which I got last year.

Ed: Did you get it from West Haven?

Clyde: No, you got it for me. Somebody called Florida and they sent it. With maintenance agreement you get three upgrades which may not be "9". We have three upgrades between 8 and 9, et al.

Clyde: The website is completely text. Later (probably around April after all the bugs are worked out) we will have a link to a photo section but JAWS will not work on this link. I am the head honcho over the website. I am the one that says yeah or nay. I want it to work several months before we add the photo link.

Ernie told Clyde that we would Email him a copy of the minutes each meeting.

Ed: It is time for the election of officers for next year.                                            ^:

Richard: I nominate you for President.

Ed: I had planned to move this group forward but Jean got sick, I lost my dog. I did not go where I wanted to go with the group. My aim is to regenerate the group and get it back to what it once was or even larger. We have the veterans. It is just a matter of reaching them and getting them involved.

Mrs. Bradley, will you be the secretary?                             

Lola: I will be glad to.
Richard, will you continue as vice president?
Richard: yes.                                                         

Tim will continue as VIST Coordinator.

Ernie Bradley is Treasurer-Secretary;  (Lola is note taker).

Clyde said that he had talked to Mr. Barton, who is new to the Prosthetics and is a very nice person. Where is he from?

Tim said he has worked here for over 20 years in building 74, He had been around for quite awhile.

Clyde: He seems well informed.

Rick said Tony said he was all right.

Ed asked who is the chief now?

Tim: Mr. Barton is taking Tony's place.  Tony is still there but Barton took over a lot of the responsibility. He is not the chief.

Ed asked Tim if they have given him any more help. Tim said he usually has a student helper in the summer time but he did not get one this time. "You still have to put up with me."

Ed: I found the director's letter saying no in a nice way. I think we can work around that.

Ed asked Tim how many blind veterans we have.

Tim said on the roster we have 206. Keep in mind that there is a certain percentage of them who do not come here or who have been lost. They might live in Harrisonburg and have not been here who would fall in that category because they are inactive. I am going to go in the roster again.....

Ed: Let us know what we can do to help to get an updated list and, who knows, when we get it, you may want to restart your meetings again.

Tim: We have in the past had a lot of local folks.  Lot have passed on.. .Louise Byrd...
We lost her recently. In the future maybe we can recognize her. She was a very unusual and helpful person.

The meeting was then adjourned.

Ernest Bradley
Secretary

Minutes Archive

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