Perhaps each member of this organization should humble him or herself and attend a state convention of The National Federation of the Blind of Nebraska. Because of my responsibilities as NCBVI Webmaster, I was provided with the unique opportunity to do just that. And before I proceed with my remarks, I want to go on record as saying that since this newsletter is circulated to a few Federationists, as well as other non-ACB members, I will try to remain positive, but yet tell it, as I perceive it to be. The state convention was held October 8-11 at the downtown Lincoln Holiday Inn. Before I go any further, let me state that NFB of Omaha arranged transportation for all attendees, with those going on the van responsible for paying their assumed cost. For those that weren’t fortunate enough to ride in the van, taxpayers unknowingly provided transportation by commission staff in state vehicles. Personally thinking this wasn’t too kosher, the question was raised in route with the driver, ironically to picking up another client, whether attendance by commission clients were mandatory and part of their IEP process. The response provided was a client is never forced to do something they wish not to and that attendance at an NFB convention had to be exclusively their decision. After arriving at the hotel and going through the registration process, I felt as though I were entering a glorified state staff meeting as the majority registering attendees were commission staff. The registration process is similar, in some respects, to our registration process with the only difference being the cost for the banquet higher than ours and an opportunity to attend the student lunch, which this year featured one time Nebraska football coach turned Congressman Tom Osborne as the keynote speaker. Because my responsibilities only required attendance at the meetings and banquet, I passed on this opportunity, knowing full well I would have been reimbursed if I chose to attend. The Friday activities at the NFB state convention were rather interesting and quite imaginative. The senior division meets Friday afternoon to discuss issues related to blind seniors, as does the student division dealing with transition issues. In addition, NFB sponsors a hospitality room Friday evening only, cash bar, and a Monte Christo night, which is somewhat similar to CCLVI’s Las Vegas night at ACB national. Neither of these events saw me in attendance. I chose to have dinner with Janice Shafer and watch the presidential debate. As stated earlier, every ACBN member should humble him or herself and attend an NFB state convention. Both the Saturday morning and afternoon sessions featured speakers dealing with everything from technology to Dr. Pearl Van Zandt’s presentation on the happenings within the commission. The only real interesting speaker during the Saturday session was an update from NCBVI Chairman Barbara Loos on the previous year’s happenings as interpreted by the board of commissioners. So far as their Sunday morning business meeting is concerned, I was surprised at how little input the membership had. The business meeting consisted of nothing but committee reports, elections and fund raising for national. Now for my personal spin on the convention. While there is a purpose for both NFB & ACB, I am in the affirmative that ACB is far superior to NFB in that we, in Nebraska, put people first and causes second. While the goal of both NFB & ACB is similar, getting to the end result is extremely different. It got to the point where I couldn’t wait for the Saturday morning session to end so I could watch The Oklahoma/Texas game and deliberately walked in late during the afternoon session as the hamburger, fries and cold beer was easier to swallow than the propagandist rhetoric dished up by NFB. And likewise during the banquet, though the Nebraska football team got beat by a historic 60 points, I still haven’t decided which is worse … the final score of the game, or sitting through a weekend perceived as a glorified state staff meeting of pure rhetoric. Please understand that I am not bashing NFB as an organization as they have done some good for the blindness community. What I am concerned with is the perception that our supposed to be neutral commission isn’t. While we have no control over who does what in their private lives, we, within ACBN, do have a moral obligation and a duty to ensure our voice is heard on matters of importance letting NCBVI know there is one more organization of national importance in Nebraska besides the Federation. Hmmm! Wonders how much times each state staff member holding office in a private national blindness organization spent on taxpayer time doing the business of NFB? Further more, what appearance would this give to the state ombudsman? Hmmmm! You be the judge.