Birth of....

RantWoman received these amazing tidings of struggles from the past and has decided to file them in blogland just for reference.

    From the Braille Monitor, September 1966.
*note: Francis Pearson was Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission.  He  had previously been in the state legislature

WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION HOLDS CONVENTION
Members of the 12 local chapters of the Washington State Association of the Blind gathered at the Monte Cristo Hotel in Everett from August 4th to 6th  for their 31st Annual State Convention. A rich agenda was provided through the efforts of Gerhard G. Ruben, executive secretary of the convention  committee, and ably presided over by President Wesley M. Osborne.

Some convention highlights were:

New concepts in law enforcement were discussed by Robert Schillberg,  prosecuting attorney of Snohomish County.

Francis Pearson, chairman of the Washington State Public Utilities and Transportation Commission (and himself blind) discussed the past achievements of the WSAB and suggested some next  steps.

Perry Sundquist, a member of the Executive Committee of the National  Federation of the Blind and backstopping for President Jacobus tenBroek who  was unable to attend because of illness, discussed practical approaches to improving State services for the blind in Washington.

More than 100 persons attended the banquet at which Lt. Governor John A.  Cherberg and Perry Sundquist were the speakers. D. L. Archer, executive vice president of the Association of Western Pulp  and Paper Workers, presented greetings from labor and drew telling parallels between his union's experiences and the difficulties which the organized blind often encounter with agencies. An international panel on the status of the blind in several countries was participated in by the consul generals of  Austria, Germany, Great Britain and Japan.

The convention adopted resolutions supporting the enactment into law of the Model White Cane Law, endorsing without any reservations the struggle of the Seattle White Cane Association to remain masters of its own destiny in spite of COMSTAC, urging the transfer of services for the blind from the State
Department of Public Assistance to the Department of Rehabilitation, supporting the raising of funds for the building of a headquarters structure for WSAB, the amendments to Aid to the Blind statutes to provide for the granting of the maximum exemptions permitted by federal laws and regulations, and opposing the transfer of the Washington State School for the Blind in Vancouver from the Department of Institutions to the Department of Education.

Richard Gustafson of Vancouver was elected president for the ensuing year;  Tom Gronning of Seattle, vice president; Nadine Lessard, Vancouver, secretary, and Nellie Couch, Olympia, treasurer. Wesley Osborne of Tacoma is the Legislative chairman; Sam McGre of Everett, the Organization chairman; Margaret Osborne, Tacoma, the Public Relations chairman; Earl Madding,  Seattle, the Ways and Means chairman, and Oscar Mortenson, Seattle, the Welfare chairman.

President Gustafson will be the delegate to the 1967 NFB Convention in Los Angeles, and Tom Gronning was elected alternate delegate. Tacoma was unanimously selected as the convention city for the 1967 meeting of the
WSAB.