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

[Alco Canfield]

The writer of the article spent more time gushing over the dogs than writing
anything of real substance.  The thought of his interrupting a meeting by
having the dogs run in after a ball really annoyed me.  How unprofessional!
I would be really irritated if I needed my dog and George had it in his
office.

Alco

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Lauren Merryfield
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 2:02 AM
To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Ding don.....lighthouse for the blind article

Hi,
Have they gone to the dogs or what?  This article should have been written 
during the Dog Days of August, if at all.
Thanks
Lauren, who is laughing, though it really is not a laughing matter
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nightingale, Noel" <Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov>
To: <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 4:22 PM
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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