[nfbwatlk] Ding don.....lighthouse for the blind article

[Alco Canfield]

Underwhelmed.

Alco

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Nightingale, Noel
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 4:23 PM
To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Ding don.....lighthouse for the blind article

The below is the article forwarded earlier by Lisa to the list but this
one is a little easier to get to.
> Link:
> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/swift/330990_mary10.html
> 
> Text:
> Longtime Lighthouse president to step down
> By MARY SWIFT
> P-I COLUMNIST
> At 64, George Jacobson is a sucker for gorgeous blondes with big eyes
> -- especially if their tails are wagging.
> After all, some of Jacobson's favorite people are dogs.
> That's why on Friday, when employees of the Seattle Lighthouse for the
> Blind gathered for their annual summer barbecue, Jacobson made a
> special point of spending time with the guide dogs used by some of the
> organization's employees.
> The gathering was bittersweet.
> After 39 1/2 years at the Lighthouse, 28 of them as president,
> Jacobson is stepping down in January. (His successor will be Kirk
> Adams, who will be the organization's first blind president.)
> The Lighthouse provides employment for about 200 blind people,
> including 40 who are deaf and blind. 
> Gone is the "brooms-and-mops era," Jacobson says, a reference to the
> days when the organization made mostly brooms and woven baskets, which
> were sold door to door by members. 
> These days, the organization has contracts with Boeing and military
> and government agencies. Products include canteens, hydration
> equipment and Boeing airplane components produced in the Lighthouse
> machine shop by skilled machinists and technicians.
> Jacobson was a buyer, purchasing small, sheet-metal parts from the
> Lighthouse for Boeing when he got involved. 
> He hated his job at Boeing, fell in love with the Lighthouse's people
> and mission, and signed on to do marketing and sales.
> What he didn't know at the time was that he would fall prey to an
> undeniable case of puppy love.
> On a given day, as many as 30 guide dogs accompany their owners to the
> Lighthouse.
> "They all love me," Jacobson boasts with a hearty laugh.
> Some stay in a special kennel, "a Taj Mahal of a kennel," he says.
> Others spend the day with their humans.
> Irwin, a personable 8-year-old golden retriever, guide dog for Gig
> Harbor's Linell O'Neil, a receptionist, is among them.
> "He's a beauty," Jacobson says of Irwin. "He comes into my office
> every day and wiggles under my desk."
> Not that Jacobson does anything to discourage that affection, says
> Donna Masuda, his executive assistant.
> "He'll run into George's office looking for a good neck rub. Linell
> will call and call for him. He'll just sit there beside George,
> looking like he's hiding," Masuda says.
> And it's not uncommon to see Jacobson step into the long hallway
> outside the offices and call to the guide dogs.
> "They come charging down, racing down that hallway," she says. "We're
> talking big dogs at full speed."
> On occasion, he's employed guide dogs to break up the tension of
> stressful, high-level business meetings.
> "Some type of negotiations will be going on with a customer or with
> representatives of the federal government," he says. "People have
> their paperwork out. Maybe auditors are there. Everybody's focused.
> I'd set a time with one of the guide-dog owners and tell them to open
> the door, send in a guide dog and throw in a ball at a certain time.
> "It completely changes the mood of the meeting."
> The average guide dog works until it's 9. Older dogs tend to lose
> focus and generally are adopted out about that age, he says.
> When a dog retires, employees throw a retirement party complete with a
> bone cake. Jacobson attends.
> He says once he's retired he'll get his own dog.
> "Not all guide dogs make it through the program," he says. "But
> they're still great dogs. There's a long waiting list for those dogs."
> He laughs -- a warm, self-deprecating laugh.
> "I intend to use my considerable influence to get higher up on that
> list," he says.
> P-I columnist Mary Swift can be reached at 206-909-9612 or
> swiftyk at netscape.com.
> 



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