TANTILIZING TIDBITS

Awards Reminder: So far we have heard of no recommendations for either of our awards this year. If anyone knows a person who might be eligible, send me a nominating letter. This upcoming issue of KABVI NEWS will likely be the only one that reaches members prior to our November convention date. Joyce Lewis, Chair; KABVI Awards Committee; 3509 E. 2nd St. North; Wichita, KS 67208. (316) 681-7443.E-Mail: billlewis13@earthlink.net

Temporary Kansas Drivers License (From Steve Bauer): Beginning June 1, 2004, the state of Kansas no longer issues driver's licenses immediately to applicants. Instead, the state issues a temporary license or receipt. This document is on a sheet of regular printer paper, includes the person's driver's license number at the top, followed by a photo, the person's signature, the person's personal information and the person's name and address. The state will not issue the permanent (laminated) license until three to four weeks after a driver applies for a license.

Unfortunately, the "temporary" license appears easy to alter and/or forge. Customers presenting the "temporary" license as a source of identification to open an account or conduct a transaction, such as cashing a check or making a purchase, may be required to present another form of ID.

New Breed of Dog Guide (From the Spring, 2004, Dialogue Magazine): Ask most blind students how they navigate the halls and classes at school, and they may point out their cane or glasses. Richard Howarth, a young Briton who will attend Stockport Grammar School next year, will point out his robot guide dog. The battery-powered machine, designed by Stockport head boy, Matthew Wilson, an 18-year-old who will be a physics major next year at Oxford University, detects objects, steps, and curbs with a system of laser beams. Named Wilson, presumably after its designer, the robot dog cost 80 pounds ($145) to build. Ten-year-old Richard Howarth is looking forward to using Wilson. “This sounds great,” Howarth told Deborah Haile, a writer for the Manchester News. “If I was going to a new place on my own, it would be useful then. It would be good when blind people are visiting a new school or a new place – like a friend’s house – or if you’re moving house.”

The University of Kansas Audio-Reader Network and Kansas Talking Books collaborate to make more books, especially regional publications, accessible to the blind and visually impaired. During the past several months, Audio-Reader has provided 17 books recorded by Audio-Reader volunteers for Talking Books, including "My Times, My Town" by Walt Bodine and "The Slow Air of Wean MacPherson" by Thomas Fox Averill.

Audio-Reader Program Manager Lori Kesinger and Kansas Talking Books Director Toni Harrell coordinated the collaboration. Audio-Reader volunteers record books that are not available through the Talking Books program, including those by Kansas authors. Advances in technology have made it possible to convert Audio-Reader's book recordings, broadcast on closed-circuit radio, into special cassette format used by Talking Books clients.

Harrell said the joint venture already was a success.

"Kansas Talking Books could not be more excited about the joint project and the possibilities it offers our patrons," she said. "Our partnership with Audio-Reader Network is a great opportunity to provide resources that might not otherwise be available to persons who use the Kansas Talking Book Library Services. We believe our patrons will greatly appreciate these additional titles and are grateful to Audio-Reader for their support in making this program enhancement possible."

Kesinger said she was pleased with recent progress and hoped to continue expanding a library for blind and visually impaired readers. "I am excited about the possibilities advances in technology are opening up, and we look forward to more cooperation with Talking Books and other agencies in the future," she said. "We are especially excited to play a role in making more William Allen White Award-winning books available to the visually impaired."

Offered as a public service by KU, Audio-Reader is a reading and information service for blind and print-disabled individuals in Kansas and western Missouri. For more information about Audio-Reader, call (800) 772-8898. To find out more about Kansas Talking Books, call (800) 362-0699.

Both agencies offer services free of charge.

New and Used Low Vision Aids: At www.ocutrade.com, visitors can buy and sell both new and used low vision and blindness products at auction. It's the web's first auction site dedicated to products for the blind and visually impaired - www.ocutrade.com. It’s easy to set up as a buyer or seller, and the fees are LOWER THAN EBAY! Sellers can try OcuTrade now and enjoy NO POSTING FEES (for a limited time)!. A part of the OcuSource family of websites, OcuTrade puts you in touch with buyers and sellers of new and used magnifiers, video magnifiers, magnification software, Braille displays, note takers (braille and voice), Braille printers. More categories to be added soon! Check now and check often because products come and go daily. SELLERS: Lower sellers fees than eBay! No posting fees. We're focused on low vision and blindness - only those interested in vision impairment products.

Dog Goes to Post Office to Get Mail: From Today's AP Wire; By associated Press - July 13, 2004. Contributed by Bill Lewis) - CARPIO, N.D. - Toby arrives at the post office here at 9:30 every morning, ready to deliver the mail, even though he's barred from coming inside. The 12-year-old golden retriever has been delivering mail to his owner, Brad Sullivan, for the past two years. He makes the three-block trek to the post office with Gordon Lewis, Sullivan's neighbor. Toby waits patiently outside until Lewis puts the Sullivans' mail in a green pouch around his neck for the short trip home.

"He's just crazy to come and get the mail," Lewis said. "He usually waits outside, and then takes off when I put the pouch back on him."

Sullivan said his mother, Connie, was hospitalized a couple of years ago and Sullivan was laid up from a vehicle accident, so he started sending Toby with Lewis to get the mail.

"We put that pouch on him and he's a different dog," Sullivan said. "It's like it's something important for him to do.

Connie Sullivan said she gives Toby a treat when he gets back. And Carpio Postmaster Kevin Nissen said Toby carries on the Postal Service tradition of getting the mail out on time.

"It's like clockwork at 9:30," Nissen said. "It saves Brad or his mom from coming uptown."