Oklahoma Council of the Blind
Board Meeting
November 13, 2004
 
 
President Randy Howard called the OCB November 
board meeting to order at 10:05 AM through a 
conference call, conducted over the conference 
bridge system. A quorum was established with the 
following board members in attendance, Vicky 
Golighly, Joe Fallin, Julie Brantley, Jeri Cooper, 
Jeanne Meyer, Judy Hansen and Elaine Boykin. 
Other OCB members in attendance were; Pat Kelly, 
Jean Jones, Ray Jones and Tommy Robertson.
 
Minutes for August 28, 2004 have been distributed 
on the Oklahoma Listserv and were approved as distributed.
 
Treasurer’s report was distributed on the Oklahoma 
Listserv and was approved as received.
 
Presidents Report: Randy stated that he has 
selected chairman for his newly established 
committees. He stated that he has established the 
Fundraising committee and has placed Pat Kelly as 
its chair. Paul Miller, Beal Pickett and Jane Fore as 
members with additional individuals as 
recommended by Pat.
 
The membership committee will be chaired by Jeri 
Cooper. At this time Cy is the only individual that 
has shown an interest in this committee, Jeri will 
add individuals as needed. Randy stated that he 
wants the committees to work together as needed 
and that he expects there will be some cross-over of 
ideas and suggestions by these committees. The 
2005 convention committee is being chaired by 
Teresa Kruta and their first goal is to locate a 
convention hotel. The sustaining sponsorship 
committee is being chaired by Jeanne Meyer. 
Members of that committee are: Joe, Marilyn, Vicky, 
Jeri, Ray and Tommy. Randy stated that we do 
have a proposed budget which we will review during 
new business. He stated that since the last board 
meeting he was able to do a "What's Happening" 
news update that was distributed over the list serve. 
He asked that we try and get this out to members 
and other individuals that we know do not have 
computer access.
 
Newsletter Committee: Vicky will chair this 
committee and she would like to see a newsletter 
produced in March and then right before the 
convention along about July or August. Elaine and 
Judy have agreed to assist her in this effort. We are 
looking at a two to five page newsletter. Randy 
would like a member from each affiliate to assist in 
getting information to the newsletter committee. Jeri 
agreed to assist from TCB, Tommy will find 
someone to assist for the Muskogee chapter and 
Judy will assist with HCB. Raymond Washburn still 
has the tape duplicator and says he will assist in 
duplicating tapes as needed.
 
Convention Committee: Vicky provided an update 
on this committee as Teresa was unable to attend. 
She stated that the convention will be in OKC, they 
will be meeting with the Chamber of Commerce to 
develop some bids for hotel accommodations. The 
convention will be September 9, 10 & 11 and the 
tentative theme is safety and security. Vicky is in 
charge of exhibits and Jeanne will be in charge of 
decorations. The next meeting of the committee is 
December 9, at 9:00 PM through the conference 
bridge. Teresa has asked the convention committee 
to let her know what sub-committees they would like 
to be on. The committee has about 16 members 
and more are welcome. Randy stated that we are 
getting more members to our conventions and feels 
this is the result of our new ideas combined with our 
old ideas. Pat mentioned the possibility of opening 
up our convention auction to the public. This will be 
brought forth to the convention committee.
 
Fund raising: Tommy and Pat provided information 
on the current fund raising activities. Tommy stated 
that they want to start a car donation program that 
is local. They would like to do it in Tulsa, Muskogee 
and OKC. Pat has talked with people that will not 
charge us for auctioning, but will need to pay for 
towing. He stated that towing will cost around $35 
per car. Randy stated that we have received $3,500 
from our current car donation program; he feels this 
was as the result of our questioning the company as 
to why we had not received any funds for the past 
17 months. The board feels that we need to come 
up with a flyer that tells the public about our car 
Donation program. Members could hand these out 
as they work with the public. Pat asked about using 
the phone bridge for other committee activities. 
Randy stated that we are getting a lot of activity on 
this bridge and would like for people to let him know 
when they will be meeting. It was also suggested 
that Jeanne add the conference bridge schedule to 
the website. She stated that this could be done 
quite easily.
 
Randy stated that Les Barr is looking over our 
current car donation contract to see if there is any 
language that would block our ability to pursue the 
local car donation project. He is suggesting that we 
use the local affiliates to receive the funds from the 
local locations and they will then turn around and 
provide OCB with half of the money they receive, 
therefore people will know that the money is being 
used locally. The local affiliate could send out 
thank you notes and the receipt for the value of the 
car. Pat stated that he is working with having the 
ads paid for by the various wrecker services. He 
also stated that as soon as a proposal was 
developed this will be taken to the local affiliates.
 
Jeanne has asked Pat to look at our website to 
review the current car donation program information. 
 
Judy inquired as to the status of the keychain 
thermometers and Randy is to call the ACB office to 
find out what is causing the delay in their delivery.
 
Legislative Committee: Joe stated that on 
December 3 they are going to meet with Oklahoma 
Alliance to Public Transportation. This group has 
received a grant for $3600.00 from the OTA National 
organization. The Tulsa chapter has agreed to 
provide $2300.00 to the Oklahoma Alliance to Public 
Transportation. The first major piece of money will 
go to developing a website with an estimated cost of The steering committee is developing bylaws 
that will be presented on the 3rd. They will be 
setting up a project such as putting out postcards to 
the transportation department in order to survey 
their rider ship. Joe stated that they will be working 
with our legislators as they have many new 
individuals that have no back ground in our 
programs. We must explain why we need DRS, 
School for the Blind, accessible transportation, etc. 
We did appropriate money last year to spend on 
this and he asked Randy to authorize up to 2500 
payable to the OK alliance of public transportation. 
Since this has been done in the past a motion is not 
necessary. 
 
Joe updated the board concerning the money 
raised for the Braille instructional center. He would 
still like to see OSLS put in some money, but has 
not received a proposal at this time. He would like 
Teresa Kruta to submit a proposal on how this 
money will be spent.
 
Tommy stated that Muskogee has elected Merle 
Garrison as Senator and he has some knowledge of 
the school for the blind.
 
Jean stated that we need to get our name in from of 
the new legislators and she would like to see us 
send a letter, stating who we are and the size of our 
membership and what a couple of issues would be. 
Vicky has volunteered to assist with this letter.
 
Free Matter committee: Vicky stated that we have 
stalled out as ACB is not taking a leadership role on 
this. We do need to continue monitoring the 
situation. Randy stated that he has talked with 
others concerning this and everyone appears to be 
running into this and they are opting to pay the 
postage. There first concern is getting information 
into the hands of their membership.
 
Sustaining Sponsorship: Jeanne has contacted 
everyone on her committee to establish a time to 
meet, and would like to meet as often as needed. 
Randy wants a report back by the end of the year or 
the beginning of next year with some suggestions. 
He would like to have this moved forward upon 
during the March board meeting. The first 
committee meeting will meet on Tuesday, November 
30, at 9:00 PM.
 
Old Business: None
 
New Business: Jean provided information about the 
new grant that ABLE-Tech has received. This grant 
program was developed to improve fire safety to 
disabled individuals.  They are giving away smoke 
alarms that are adapted to various disabilities. 
There will be an application process and they will be 
providing that information soon. These smoke 
alarms will be hardwired in individual's homes by 
the fire department. The fire department will 
instruct on their use and will work with the individual 
in developing a safe escape route.
 
Discussion was held concerning the 2004-2005 
OCB budget and it was moved, seconded and 
approved that we accept this budget.
 
Jeanne stated that she has been contacted by 
www.ocusource.com which can provide a free listing 
for our organization. Their purpose is to enhance 
our purpose and make us more visible. The board 
instructed Jeanne to go ahead and provide them 
with our information.
 
League: Randy reported that they have re-
engineered the league’s website. They have 
changed providers, etc and it is currently more 
assessable, including online catalogs and online 
ordering of league products. At this time they do 
not have online payment. As of the end of August 
they have reached 10 million in sales for the year. 
They have obtained approval for the cub equipment 
to move to Allen and they are currently processing 
orders and have three blind individuals working, 
with the possibility of hiring two more.
 
Affiliate Reports
Heartland: Judy stated they are appointing 
committees and setting goals for the coming year. 
They will do another newly blinded seminar. 
Christmas dinner is on Dec. 4 at 12:30. They still 
are recruiting members.
 
Muskogee: Barbara Staggs visited there last 
meeting and they discussed the state questions. 
Their Christmas dinner is on the Dec 4.
 
TCB: Jeri stated there Christmas party will be on 
Dec. 18 and the next meeting will be in January. 
Last meeting they had two new members which 
puts their membership up to 16. They would like to 
have a booth at the Tulsa fair. Their new officers 
will be elected at the Dec meeting. The Randy 
Chapman award will be presented during the 
Christmas party which will take place at Cathy 
Holloway's home.
 
Randy would like to explore the possibility of 
providing some leadership training and what the 
cost factor might involve. Some affiliates in other 
states have come together and are pooling there 
resources to provide training. He stated that it has 
reduced the impact on their budgets and has 
worked quite well. He is considering contacting the 
surrounding states and volunteering our conference 
bridge to do some leadership training.
 
Meeting adjourned at 11:55
Elaine Boykin, Secretary

Back to the OCB Home Page