[Mt-blind] Rumors

Fri Aug 24 20:02:30 CDT 2007

Dan,

It is difficult for me to disagree at times, but I must in this situation 
when you and I know we were both at that June 10, 2007 meeting that was 
referred to as, "the first business meeting of HOPE n MT."

The conversation concerning HOPE members dues of $25 and that some may not 
be able to afford that particular amount  stated by one person sitting in 
the group, the comment responding to that statement being, "maybe we can ask 
the MAB for a scholarship to help those who cannot afford that amount."

my interpretation was, and is, if HOPE was established the dues would be 
$25, but that could change also,  and the MAB might be a tool to use for 
those who cannot afford the  fee. Therefore, MAB would be helping those not 
able to afford HOPE's dues when other MAB scholarships are given to those 
who have "earned" them and have some qualifications they must meet in order 
to receive those scholarships. My thoughts... if a HOPE member does not have 
the necessary funds to join, HOPE members themselves must come up with a way 
to fund their membership enrollment. A suggestion might be, for HOPE in MT 
as a division, to pay a portion  of the dues so a particular interested 
member is able to join. .

Further in the meeting the group was talking about fund raising and how they 
could generate funds. During that conversation it was stated, "maybe we can 
ask MAB for $1000.00 start up funds".

My interpretation of this statement is that HOPE might ask MAB for start up 
funds of $1000.00 so they could have some monies to get the group going in a 
positive direction and further down the road they may have gatherings around 
the state instead of always in one location.

I guess the most surprising comment to me was during the beginning of the 
meeting when it was stated, "the MAB is so filthy rich they only charge this 
(token or nominal) fee of $5 for dues each year". I am a bit befuddled as to 
where this impression of the MAB came from and what others know about the 
MAB to make a statement such as this.

You also stated to me, it was hoped that  the paperwork for HOPE in MT would 
be sent through the MAB Board of Directors and then on to the NFB convention 
in July of this year. That did not happen.

Maybe you can respond to my statements here knowing I am not attempting to 
begin a battle with you, but do want the MAB membership to know what I heard 
in the HOPE in MT meeting on June 10, 2007 during the Family Learning 
Weekend held at MSDB. If you wish to discuss this matter with me privately, 
feel free to call and/or leave a message. I will do my best to get back with 
you if I am not available at the time of your call.

Respectfully,
Teresa Leese
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mt-blind-request at nfbnet.org>
To: <mt-blind at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 11:00 AM
Subject: Mt-blind Digest, Vol 14, Issue 13

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Regarding Rumors (Daniel Burke)
>   2. MAB Elections (Daniel Burke)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:34:41 -0600
> From: "Daniel Burke" <burke.dall at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Mt-blind] Regarding Rumors
> To: "'Montana Association for the Blind List'" <mt-blind at nfbnet.org>
> Message-ID: <002801c7e5e6$9192bc20$0301a8c0 at upstairs>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1250"
>
> There has been concern in the MAB of late regarding a couple of important
> issues.  They are a request from the Montana Business Enterprises Inc. to
> borrow $100,000 from the MAB to help with the purchase of vending 
> equipment,
> and the proposed division of the MAB for parents of blind children, Help 
> our
> Parents Excel in Montana (HOPE in MT).  I would like to offer the facts,
> free of speculation, so that members are clear about both and how, if at
> all, they will affect the MAB.
>
> Last month, chapter presidents received a proposed petition in the mail 
> from
> Great Falls Chapter President Dick Howse regarding the MBEI'S request and
> the status of that request.  In Dick's letter that covered the petition, 
> he
> discussed the petition and the fact that I did not call for a vote and 
> that
> there was reason to believe that the matter may come up again at the MAB
> convention in Great Falls.  Since I am not a chapter president, I did not
> know of or receive a copy of the petition until some weeks after it was
> mailed.  After obtaining a copy I called Dick and gave him my assurance 
> that
> the matter was closed.  I did not call for a vote because no member of the
> Board offered a motion either to make or refuse the proposed loan. 
> However,
> I take the lack of a motion as a refusal of the proposal, based on the
> extensive discussion we had in that May conference call.
>
> I welcome the opinions of the membership.  The Board serves at the 
> pleasure
> of the membership and we certainly want to know how the membership feels 
> so
> that we can act accordingly.   I urge chapters to give the petition 
> serious
> consideration and to make its views known to the Board.
>
> This request didn't come out of nowhere.  MBEI currently has five licensed
> blind vendors working.  But it has been strapped for cash for the past
> couple of years, which has limited its further growth and employment of 
> even
> more blind Montanans.     Efforts to get the state to provide better 
> funding
> support were unsuccessful until late winter this year.  In February, I met
> with Gov. Schweitzer to present the issue.  A meeting was arranged for
> March with his aide Anna Whiting-Sorrel, , the Dept. of Public Health and
> Human Services, Sam Hubbard and Donna Harris of MBEI, and I.  That meeting
> resulted in greater assistance in funding the administrative costs, but we
> were unable to get more funds for expanding the program at that time.  We
> redoubled our efforts in the 2007 Legislature to obtain that money.  But 
> as
> every Montanan knows, the session was a difficult one with respect to the
> budget, and we were unable to find more money to expand the program.
>
> MBEI then asked if it might propose a loan from the MAB to help out with 
> the
> funds for expanding the program.  With some reluctance I agreed.  I say
> reluctance because it is not the responsibility of the MAB to fund this
> program, that is for DPHHS to do.
>
> Two other items in the interest of full disclosure.  I serve as chairman 
> of
> the MBEI Board of Directors.  This is a volunteer position, and I receive 
> no
> money for my time on that Board.  Ted Robbins, the MAB 3rd Vice-president,
> has from the time he came on the MAB Board abstained from all votes
> concerning MBEI because he is an employee of that organization, serving as
> its Chief Financial Officer.  He announces his abstention prior to a vote
> and without prompting.  Also, because of Ted's employment with MBEI and
> because MBEI makes monthly payments on the loans it has, I asked the Board
> for a motion in our first meeting in 2005 to make the 1st Vice-president,
> Jim Marks the Board's Treasurer.  In previous years, the 3rd VP was
> Treasurer, but it did not seem proper to me or to Ted that he serve as
> Treasurer.
>
> Finally, we need to push DPHHS to adequately fund the blind vendors 
> program.
> When I talked with Dick Howse I mentioned that we now need a resolution to
> that effect, and will draft it for consideration at the convention in 
> Great
> Falls.  But the matter of the loan is closed.  THERE will be no further
> consideration of it.
>
> Now to the matter of HOPE in MT.  For the past couple of years parents of
> blind children have attended a Family learning weekend at the Montana 
> School
> for the Deaf and Blind in Great Falls during the summer.  Parents talk to
> each other.  They are hungry for information about blindness, about
> educating their blind children, about what kind of future their blind
> children will have and about the things they must do to ensure their
> children are prepared for successful adult lives.  Some formed an ad hoc
> committee to investigate organizations that could support parents of blind
> kids.  Wisely, they saw no point in reinventing the wheel, but wanted to 
> tap
> into the resources of an established group.  After some research, they met
> and decided that the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
> (NOPBC) had the most to offer them in terms of experience, materials,
> expertise, etc.  NOPBC is a division of the National Federation of the
> Blind, which is the MAB'S national affiliation.  In order to become part 
> of
> NOPBC, they asked to become a division of the MAB, which is how NOPBC is
> structured at the national level and in every state affiliate.  They took 
> a
> template for by-laws from NOPBC, selected the name HOPE in MT and 
> submitted
> a draft to the MB Board for consideration.
>
> Comments and recommendations for clarification were made, and a new draft 
> is
> now near completion.  For example, in order to be part of the MAB our
> by-laws state that all persons must pay the annual dues of five dollars.
> HOPE in MT has agreed to forward that amount from the dues it collects to
> the MAB for every member of HOPE.    In addition, we clarified language
> concerning what happens to HOPE assets in the event it ever dissolves. 
> That
> money, whatever it might be, goes to the MAB to hold until such time as
> another parents of blind children division forms, much as we now do if a
> chapter dissolves.
>
> I invite members of the MAB to consider carefully the critical importance 
> of
> having an active and effective division of parents of blind children as 
> part
> of us.  Some concern seems to be out there that such a division would be
> negative for the MAB.  I believe that supporting the efforts of parents of
> blind children to learn from us, to be part of us and to work with us to
> help shape the futures of blind children in Montana is every bit as
> important as the other critical work we already do.  My agenda, such as it
> is, is to grow the MAB, to begin to shape the next generation of blind
> Montanans, those who will carry on after us.    As such, I offered MAB
> assistance in bringing more families into HOPE.  At its meeting at MSDB in
> June, concern was raised that HOPE'S dues of $25 per year might be too 
> much
> for some families.  I believe that paying part of that amount with MAB 
> funds
> is not too much to risk on an investment in the future of blind children. 
> I
> threw out the amount of $1000 for this purpose at the HOPE meeting.  I 
> would
> certainly expect all members should at least pay the $5 MAB dues. Upon
> reflection, however, $100 or $200 are far more likely; I don't expect that
> their will be more than 5 or 10 low-income families making such a request.
>
> This is not a question of "us and them," because there is no "them."  This
> is a matter of "us," of what kind of an organization we are.  I think we 
> are
> a strong, positive, forward-looking association.  We are all Montanans, 
> the
> kind of people who work hard for what we believe and who share what we 
> have
> learned with those new to blindness and offer what is needed for them to
> help themselves.  That is why the MAB was formed, why we hold the Summer
> Orientation Program every year.
>
> I suspect that some in the MAB are concerned that the MAB will be taken 
> over
> by the NFB.  Let me state the obvious:  The MAB has been an affiliate of 
> the
> NFB since 1956.  Put that in perspective, the MAB voluntarily joined the 
> NFB
> before I was born.  And if there is concern that the Summer Orientation
> Program might be negatively affected by my actions as President, let me
> assure all that I support the SOP and if anything have seen to it that it
> receives more money than in the past.
>
> I invite any and all with questions to contact me either privately or on 
> the
> list.  One thing we sorely need in the MAB is more open and civil
> communication.
>
> Dan
>
>
>
> Dan Burke
> Missoula, Montana
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:19:09 -0600
> From: "Daniel Burke" <burke.dall at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Mt-blind] MAB Elections
> To: "'Montana Association for the Blind List'" <mt-blind at nfbnet.org>
> Message-ID: <002901c7e5f5$29311820$0301a8c0 at upstairs>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1250"
>
> It has come to my attention that some MAB members may have discarded their
> ballots for the mail election, with the idea that a new ballot would be
> replaced.  The MAB Board met tonight and decided that no new ballot would 
> be
> mailed.  However, if members have not voted and no longer have their
> ballots, they can request a replacement ballot through their chapter
> president, district representative or by calling the state office at
> 442-9411.
>
> Voting deadline is September 4.
>
> Dan Burke, President
>
>
>
> Dan Burke
> Missoula, Montana
>
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> End of Mt-blind Digest, Vol 14, Issue 13
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