Blue Grass Council

of the Blind, Inc

859 259-1834                                                 April, May, June, 2005

1093 South Broadway, Suite 1220, Lexington, KY  40504

email:  bgcb@qx.net                   web page:  http://web.qx.net/bgcb

 

Happy Birthday

 

April

Tom Dixon          Richard Hobdy

Linda Sutherland

Margie Pike     Evelyn Marshall

Robert Elsea    Cindy Paulding

 

 May

Severa Banks Jacobs

Janis McCarty      Cecil Cox

 

June

George W. Mills      Patsy Rose

Jean Salladay      Roger Sieple

Ollie Christmyer

 

 

Ways & Means Committee

 

Martha Wilhoit, Chairperson

 

 

Membership Committee

I am happy to announce that the BGCB has a new brochure.  Stop in and pick up one.  We think they are very attractive and will help publicize our mission.  They will first be presented at the Vision Vendor Fair on may 14.  This brochure will have pictures on the front and back.

Membership dues for 2005 are due.  There is a membership application in the back of this newsletter for your convenience.

Ruth Ament, Chair

 

Transportation Committee

       LexTran is making changes on May 8^th.  Be aware of three major changes.  1)  Night service will resume until llpm.  2)  The trips after 9on may be ìloopedî or combined with a neighboring area route.  3)  Sectors of routes which have low ridership will be removed from service.  Please call 253-4636, :extran for information and details.  We do not have any additional information at the BGCB office.

 

KEEPING UP WITH AXEL

 

By L. Paul ìGPî Wiese

 

ìIíve done all I can to save your sight.  Maybe you should look into getting a guide dog.î My doctorís words as he patted my knee.  I had to quit driving two years ago, my sight has all but left me and now they want me to take care of a dog.

 

A week or so after telling my family my dilemma, my daughters mention several guide dog schools they found on the Internet.  They told me some people even use guide horses.  This didnít help me at all.  I gave up my horse just three years ago.  It seems that everyone had decided I was going to use a guide dog.

 

I thought the best I could do was just play along and they would lose interest in awhile.  Members of my Lions Club thought it would be a good idea to get a dog as well as my mobility instructor.  To make everyone happy I found myself filling out an application on the Internet to a guide dog school.   Much to my surprise a call came from the guide dog school informing me they would send a representative to interview me.  Six months later Iím at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind school in Yorktown Heights, New York.  It is the middle of November and Iím here for 26 days come shine, rain or snow.

 

After two days of orientation and more interviews, Iím told I will receive my guide dog the next day.  I called home to let the family know of my progress and explained that the school was trying to match me with a dog of my walking speed and personality.  I over heard someone in the background on

the phone say ìI didnít know guide dog schools trained Pit Bullsî.   The next day I was introduced to a Yellow Lab called AXEL.  How in the world

does a dog get a name like Axel?  Well it was explained to me that he was born in the schools first litter of the year and all the litter had an ìAî name.

 

Axel and I continued training for the remaining days.  I guess I should say ìI went through the trainingî.  Axel was already way ahead of me.  He already knew his left from his right.   We had a wonderful graduation day. My mother, two of my daughters and Axelís puppy raisers braved 18 inches of snow to be with us.  We finished our training a week later and boarded an airplane  for the flight home.  I was flying back to Lexington with another classmate and his guide dog.  Well, thatís a whole other story of its own.

As we boarded the plane suddenly the words ìPaul, youíre going to have trouble with that dogî told to me by one of my trainers began to make sense.  All during the flight the four attendants could not pass by without stopping. ìIs Axel comfortable?  Would Axel like some bottle water?  Can we pet Axel after the flight?î

 

It took a few more weeks before I felt that Axel had accepted me as his teammate.  The truth be known, I believe he thought this New York dog had been sentenced to serve his time with an aging plow boy from the south and he might as well make the best of it.  During Axelís first year with me we flew to Florida, got thrown out of a condo complex, was challenged at several restaurants, nearly turned a boat over during a fishing trip, chased all the deer away on a hunting trip, attended the Walkathon and played more golf than the law should allow.  Did I tell you about the time Axel started a golf cart.  Well, thatís a story of its own.

 

My wife started working full time and Axel and I found too much free time to eat and sleep.  I ate, he slept.  Realizing our days were not doing us or anyone else any good, we started doing more volunteer work.  In just the first year with Axel I realized that many people were uneasy being around sight impaired people and really misunderstood what a guide dog does.  The first thing we did was team up with the Blue Grass Council of the Blind.  We volunteered to visit schools and other organizations that wanted to learn about guide dogs.  We passed our test to become a Therapy dog team.  We started visiting nursing homes and the Childrenís Hospital.  This made us feel good but it really wasnít getting out our message.  We started visiting schools and getting involved in our city, state and federal government issues. We started attending monthly meeting for pedestrian issues for our city.  We passed our test to become a Canine Good Citizen.  We teamed up with our Lions Club and the County Health Department and lobbied our State Legislators at the state capital for more money for diabetes awareness.  Axel was awarded a ìCertificate of Appreciationî for his valuable contribution for  ì Diabetes Day at the Capitolî.  This award was presented to Axel at a Lions Club luncheon by the Kentucky Diabetes Network and the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

 

Well now, Axel took to this lobbying real good.  Every office we would enter, Axel would bat those big brown eyes and get the attention of the office staff.  We were on a roll.  The next thing I know, Axel and I are boarding an airplane to Washington DC.  Yep, he had the same problem with the air attendants.  We went to Washington DC to lobby our Legislators on issues for the vision impaired and blind.  Now Axel really took to DC.  I think he thought he was back in New York. Traffic, cabs, people sleeping on the park benches, you know, big city things.  After three days in DC we were glad to be home.  Traffic, buses, cabs, UK basket ball and rolling pastures with horses.  Axel thinks horses are just big dogs.  But thatís just another story of its own.

 

 

Wish List

Birthday and get well cards

37-cent stamps        file folders

Scotch tape           Trash bags

 

If you can help with any of these items, THANK YOU

 

Sympathy

        We have lost another of our long time members.  John Wyatt, age 76, died April 19, 2005.  John was the Treasurer and a great volunteer for the BGCB for many years.  John was a photographer for the Lexington-Herald leader for over 40 years.

John and his work at the Lexington-Herald Leader was recently featured in the Lexington Herald-Leader.  John will be missed by all of us.

 

Get Well

We hope Daisy Martin and Lucille Lawrence are doing better and can rejoin us soon.

Also, hurry and get out of the hospital to Mabel Johnson.

 

Calendar of Events

 

May 14 ñ Vision Vendors Fair, Star Shoot Dr, Hamburg, from 10-2pm.  Hands on assistive technology, magnifiers, gismos and gadgets

 

May 19 ñ Challenges of Aging, UK Student Center

June 3-4 ñ Yard sale, 744 Wellington Way

 

June 11 ñ Membership Meeting, Beaumont Branch Library, 11-1pm, indoor picnic

 

J