SIGNews January '09

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What’s Inside

102 N. Krohn Place, Sioux Falls, SD 57103

Super Nanny, page 19

January 2009 Vol. 7, Issue 1

Address Service Requested

NDIAC, page 16-17.

SIGNews is proud to present you the year of 2008 in pictures – many photos were submitted and show much on what had happened in the year 2008. From all over the United States, we have seen many pictures ranging from news to life, sports to business, and humor to opinion.

Within the last year, we welcomed many things into this publication. A new re-vamped design that was well-received from SIGNews readers. Food & Health and Games became our newest sections. SIGNews appeared on Facebook in late spring and started up a new mini online newspaper, the e-SIGNews.

We increased the visibility of SIGNews in a good number of cities, including Phoe-nix, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; Omaha, Nebraska; Rochester, New York; Washing-ton D.C.; Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Wash-ington; Pleasanton, California; and Secau-cus, New Jersey.

We also celebrated our fifth anniversary last October. What a year. We jumped from a number of subscribers to a mass number of subscribers along with a diverse base of advertisers. Thank you for a great 2008!

As the SIGNews staff looks forward to 2009 bringing more creativity and a stron-ger structure to articles, we cannot wait to showcase our articles to each one of you! Enjoy the memories along with new chang-es!

SIGNews: 2008 in Pictures

Pictures, continued on page 2

2 • January 2009 • SIGNews www.signews.org

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Volume 7, Number 1

E d i t o r - i n -C h i E fJennifer Dans-Willey

E d i t i n g S u p p o r tNikki Soukup • Kim Barron

L ay o u t E d i t o rDeb Kuglitsch

B u S i n E S S a S S o C i at E /S a L E SShawn Whitney

C u S t o m E r S E r v i C EJo Schumack

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Meet Carl Denney!A long-time columnist, writer

and deaf club basketball coach, Denney lives in Fishers, Indiana

with his five children and actress-wife, Tuesday Apple. A Gallaudet University graduate, Denney has held a variety of professional po-sitions in the field of Deaf Educa-tion before taking the bold leap forward to helm a new organiza-tion, The Indy Hawks Deaf Sports Outreach that focuses on ath-letic development. He also led the Greater Indianapolis Deaf Club (GIDC) to five consecutive CAAD Championships, as well as

the 2008 USADB National Championship. In his spare time, Denney works out dai-ly at the local YMCA, plays basketball whenever he can and is slowly writing two books—one fictionalized account of William Ellsworth “Dummy” Hoy and an his-torical account of the Segre-gated Deaf Schools basket-ball teams of the American South.Carl Denney

Pictures, continued from page 2

SIGNews • January 2009 • 3 www.signews.org

NewsKelly Sargent

SIGNews staff writer

When Rachel Bavister, President of the Virginia Association of the Deaf (VAD), learned of planned budget cuts in mental health services for the deaf, hard-of-hear-ing, late-deafened and deaf-blind servic-es by the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services (DMHMRSAS), she wast-ed no time in drafting a letter of opposi-tion to what she viewed as “blatant dis-crimination.”

Following VAD’s Board Meeting on October 25, 2008, Bavister addressed a let-ter to DMHMRSAS Commissioner Dr. James Reinhard. She began, “The Virginia Association of the Deaf is aghast to learn that DMHMRSAS’s Central Office bud-get reduction plan has eliminated funding for interpreters, cut the state coordinator of services to the deaf and hard-of-hear-ing position funds in half, and eliminated funds for interpreters and CART services

for meetings of the Advisory Council.Access will be Deprived

“Whatever happened to the depart-ment’s claim to be ‘available to citizens statewide’?” Bavister wrote. “Without ac-cess to interpreters, mental health services to deaf and hard-of hearing citizens will be effectively curtailed, and unavailable to us. This is blatant discrimination; and we are bringing this to the attention of the Office of the Governor, our state legisla-tors and to the National Association of the Deaf Law Center.”

As part of VAD’s efforts to bring the proposed cuts to light and effectively ad-dress them, Bavister’s letter, in its entire-ty, appeared on the editorial page in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on November 6, 2008.

Bavister referred the DMHMRSAS Commissioner to the NAD’s 2003 Posi-tion Statement Mental Health Services for People who are Deaf and Hard-of-Hear-ing and supplement Culturally Affirma-tive and Linguistically Accessible Mental

Health Services, as well as the NAD’s 2008 Mental Health Services for Deaf Children position statement. She forwarded copies of the documents to Dr. Reinhard via pri-ority mail.

Bavister continued in writing, “Indeed,

DMHMRSAS has an office on ‘Cultural and Linguistic Competence,’ so how does this office plan to assure ‘culturally affir-mative and linguistically accessible men-tal health services for deaf people whose

VAD President “Aghast” Over Budget Cuts in Deaf/HOH Mental Health Services

Nadelle PayneSIGNews staff writer

In November, HEAR Indiana, a chapter of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, hosted an education conference in Indianapo-lis, Indiana. Their headline to promote the con-ference was “Doing Deaf Differently.” The Deaf Bilingual Coalition (DBC), a national organiza-tion supporting Deaf babies’ right to accessible language through American Sign Language, was appalled, saying that the wording “Doing Deaf Differently” was very disrespectful to the Deaf Community.Building Partnerships?

The theme of the conference was “Building Partnerships.” Several medical organizations and companies were sponsors of the event. There was one oral-deaf presenter. Deaf organizations, sev-eral Deaf well-known research specialists, Deaf bilingual-bicultural educators, and Deaf profes-sionals were excluded.

Deaf people are often impacted by what are being promoted to parents. However, in contra-diction to the “Building Partnerships” theme that HEAR Indiana conference had, they did not make partnerships with the Deaf people themselves.

DBC states that “Doing Deaf Differently” is a clear statement of disrespect toward the Deaf com-munity. The conference was not building partner-ships, as their theme stated they were, for they did

not reflect or include input and participation from the Deaf individuals who live the Deaf experience each day of their lives.

“Deaf communities all across America and Canada embrace American Sign Language, the cultural connection that accompanies its use and the access to a vibrant, clear, and accessible lan-guage that it provides,” quoted an article in Deaf Times Digest recently. “Deaf children of hearing families are thankful to their hearing parents who recognize them as being whole human beings de-serving of visual language as well as other com-munication opportunities, and who do not regard them as being disabled or impaired children who need to be repaired,” the article also said.

Two Perspectives Horton, executive director of HEAR Indiana

promoted in a press release recently that today’s technology has allowed Deaf people to come a long way, enabling them to hear, speak, and com-municate. DBC promotes, along with the Deaf community, that deaf children who grow up with

DBC Protests against HEAR Indiana

DBC, continued on page 30

Members of the Virginia Association of the Deaf at Richmond’s DeafNation Expo. Rachel Bavister, center with pink shirt, is the President of the association.

VAD, continued on page 12

Adrienne ParsonsSIGNews staff writer

The St. Augustine Record, a newspaper in St. Augustine, Fla., reported on November 9th that the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB)’s Board of Trustees has unanimously select-ed L. Daniel Hutto to serve as the President/Superintendent of the school. Hutto had served nearly a year as an interim president after Elmer Dillingham announced his retirement.

Hutto, 63, earned a 6-0 vote in his favor from the Board of Trust-ees, over another candidate. Prior to the announcement of his ap-pointment, Hutto told St. Augus-tine Record, “I want to make sure that the school continues to be the best school, not just in the state, but in the nation.”

Hutto was hired at FSDB in August 1968 as a teacher. He then moved to North Carolina for 10 years to work for the East-ern North Carolina School for the Deaf. There he began as a pre-school director for deaf children and eventually was promoted to

assistant superintendent. He returned to St. Augustine

and FSDB as an assistant princi-pal and through successive pro-motions, he was an administrator for the Residential Services. He then became the interim direc-tor after the announcement that President Dillingham made about his retirement.

Passion Passed On to HuttoWhen asked by St. Augustine

Record on how he came to work with the deaf, Hutto said that his

FSDB Selects Hutto as President

L. Daniel Hutto

Hutto, continued on page 22


Katherine FirkinsSIGNews staff writer

On October 9th, Irma Gere-na, a deaf patient of a Jersey City Rheumatologist, won the largest jury verdict in the United States against a doctor for failure to pro-vide a qualified sign language in-terpreter. The jury of the Hud-son County Superior Court in Jersey City, N.J., awarded Gerena $200,000 in compensatory damag-es and another $200,000 in puni-tive damages.

Gerena filed a lawsuit against Dr. Robert Fogari for refusal to provide an interpreter over a twen-ty-month period under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimina-tion, Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The law specifically requires doctors to provide reasonable ac-commodations to patients with disabilities when necessary. Gere-na had the right to have an inter-preter for effective communica-tion, and Fogari is required to pay her $400,000 plus attorney’s fees.

The Discovery of LupusIn May 2004, Gerena was di-

agnosed with lupus, a chronic in-flammatory disease that affects various parts of the body includ-ing the skin, joints, kidneys, heart, and brain. According to Biomedia Laboratories, the immune system produces proteins called antibod-ies to protect the body from bac-

teria, viruses, and other foreign substances. In contrary, lupus causes the immune system to lose its ability to recognize the differ-ence between body cells and for-eign substances. The immune sys-tem attacks the body cells instead of foreign substances, producing auto-antibodies that cause inflam-mation and pain in the body tis-sues.

The Lupus Foundation of America reports that about 1.5 to 2 million Americans have lupus, and more than 90 percent of them are females. Lupus is more com-mon in African Americans, His-panics, Asians, and Native Ameri-cans than in Caucasians.

Limited Communication Without an Interpreter

Gerena began seeing Fogari for treatment for lupus in May 2004. The doctor repeatedly denied her request for an interpreter through-out twenty doctor visits. He put her on steroids called Metrol and did not give her a thorough expla-nation of the treatment, including the risks, benefits, and alternative approaches.

Fogari preferred to rely on oc-casional written exchanges with Gerena’s civil union partner, Lourdes Torres, as well as the cou-ple’s nine-year-old daughter as an interpreter. Gerena said, “I needed a qualified interpreter for commu-nication purposes. I didn’t know

Deaf Patient Awarded $400,000 forDoctor’s Refusal to Provide Interpreters

Amy TschidaSIGNews writer

The Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Asso-ciation (OSDAA) owns and operates Columbus Colony, which is the only one of its kind in the country run entirely by deaf individuals.

OSDAA wants everyone to know that since its own beginning in 1870, OSDAA has been run only by volunteers. The current members con-sist of John Bradley, Jr., Wendell Clark, Richard Crossen, Harvey Crum, Darrel Doudt, Richard Huebner, William Noble, Steve Ridenour, Rick Schultz, Howard Snyder, Kim Sutton, and Delf-ina Zeigler. It is the oldest alumni association in the country—even older than Gallaudet.

Largest Retirement Center Columbus Colony, according to Mr. Richard

Huebner, is the largest deaf retirement center in

the country. Since many people from all over the country, not to mention the world, knows of Co-lumbus Colony, OSDAA thought it would be a good idea to create a building that was a one-of-a-kind for events and gatherings. Thus, the com-munity center dream was conceived.

Groundbreaking Ceremony On September 7, 2008, the community cen-

ter became a reality. During the annual Colum-bus Colony’s Fall Festival, the groundbreaking for the community center took place. The archi-tect behind the building, Jerry Maddox, the rev-erend who purchased unused land and buildings for this project, Reverend Richard Ellsworth of Central College Presbyterian Church, and the current members of OSDAA were at hand to wit-ness the beginning of their long-hoped-for com-munity center by taking the first shovelful in the

OSDAA’s New Community Center

The Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Association breaks ground for the new community center that will open in 2009.

A 1977 graduate of Gallaudet’s Master’s of Arts in Education program and a 13-year member of the Board of Trustees, has been named the 2009 Colorado Teacher of the Year, Susan Elliott was honored on November 11th ceremony at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Arvada, Colorado. Inside Gallaudet, a newsroom at Gallaudet University, reported that the Colorado Department of Education sponsors the Teacher of the Year pro-gram. The ideal candidate for the Teacher of the Year will in-spire students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn, have the respect and admiration of students, parents, and colleagues, play an active and useful role in the community and in the school, and demonstrate high levels of academic achievement for his/her stu-dents. Elliott said, “It is a huge honor and many responsibilities come with it.” She was referring not only to the statewide travel-ing she will do and the numerous presentations she will give, but an added opportunity to share her perspective. “I will represent all Colorado teachers, not only teachers of the deaf, but look for-ward to this opportunity to increase public awareness of deaf ed-ucation issues,” Elliott explained to Inside Gallaudet. Along with other state’s selected teachers, Elliott will visit Washington, D.C. in the spring to meet with the President of the United States.

Susan Elliott Selected as Teacher of the YearAdrienne Parsons


Irma Gerena, right with her partner, was denied communication access during her appointments with Dr. Robert Fogari.

OSDAA, continued on page 24

Award, continued on page 22


Anne BrunelleSIGNews contributor

The day before the first of July, my husband, Steve, abrupt-ly told me, “Guess what? Obama will come to Fargo this Thurs-day. The Internet said that it was supposed to be invitation only – only to the veterans, but will give away 1,000 tickets tomor-row afternoon from 4pm to 7pm at the Democratic Coordinated Office in downtown Fargo.” I in-terrupted, “Where’s the office?” He smiled, then frowned, saying, “I’m not finished talking. The of-fice’s only three blocks from our apartment. I will go there and get the tickets for ourselves and our friends.”

Next day, Steve and I stood in a long line in a 89-degree heat, hoping and praying that we’d be lucky with getting the tickets. To my astonishment, we got 6 tickets with no difficulties. That night I spent all my free time making sure that my digital camera was

in a working condition! On July 3, we went to the Far-

go dome and we boarded on a shuttle bus to the Children’s Mu-seum at Yunker Farm in north-ern part of Fargo, North Dakota. We had to walk through a metal detector surrounded by local law enforcement and Secret Service. Once they allowed us into the se-cured site, we asked one of the event coordinators through our sign language interpreter, Cathy Obergon, “Where is the special section that are reserved for the deaf?” We had to wait for more than an hour before actually en-tering that section. We sat along two United States senators, Ken Conrad and Byron Dorgan and a U.S. Congressman, Earl Pome-roy. That section was definitely the perfect place for me to do my photography!

Then Barack Obama, the pre-sumptive Democratic presiden-tial nominee walked out from the bar-red museum towards the stage to wild cheers of 1,300

attendees. Obama started his speech with a Fargo quip, “It’s fun to be in Fargo, although I have to say, it doesn’t look like it does in the movie.”

After his speech about patri-otism in honoring veterans’ ser-vices, I had to brace for ‘once in a lifetime’ as I held my camera steadily and firmly in hopes that he’ll walk towards us while hand-shaking attendees clockwise. As he approached us, my husband, Steve, Jeremy Sebelius, Steven Flaten and Karen Kern, our ac-quaintances who accompanied us to see Obama, signed “I love you” sign. Obama did show a puzzled look, then picked up on the sign and signed back to us with his traditional and beautiful smile. This was a lifetime photo.

It was a perfect picture be-cause I was only less than five feet away from Obama, in a sunny en-vironment, with this famous sign for “I Love You.” That was defi-nitely an incredible opportunity and an experience for me.

Anne Brunelle is a senior at the Minnesota State University in Moorhead, studying in photog-raphy-documentary and graph-ic design. SIGNews would like to recognize and thank Brunelle for

her photo that was published on the front cover in December, 2008 issue and apologize for not cred-iting Brunelle properly at press time.

Meeting Barack Obama in Fargo, N.D.


Canadian Blood Services HelpsDeaf Donors Give Blood

Canadian Blood Services is launch-ing a new initiative that will make it easier for donors who are Deaf, deaf-ened or hard of hearing to give blood. Through collaborative efforts between the Canadian Hearing Society and the Association of Visual Language Inter-preters of Canada, Canadian Blood Services developed procedures ap-proved by Health Canada that provides for the use of ASL or LSQ interpreters during the entire donation process, ac-cording to the Medical News Today’s article published on November 21. Lois Buckley was the first donor to donate blood under the new policy, using a sign language interpreter.

Caribbean Educators VisitsSchool for the Deaf

According to The Republican, a publication in Springfield, Mass., a del-egation from the Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago visited Willie Ross School for the Deaf on October 17 to review the partnership model devel-oped by the school and the East Long-meadow Public School System. Trini-dad and Tobago are reviewing various models of education for deaf and hard of hearing students with the ultimate objective to develop an inclusive model similar to the one that is being offered at Willie Ross. The delegation was led by Christopher Johnston, the Director of International Initiatives, College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota.

Deaf ‘Extreme Home Makeover’ Recipient Faces Possible Foreclosure

The Associated Press reported on December 9th that Judy and Lar-ry Vardon, a deaf couple who received assistance with building a new home from the Extreme Home Makeover, an ABC show, is facing a possible fore-closure. The Vardons were featured on the popular television show about four years ago. Millions watched as their 980-square-foot house was trans-formed into a dream home with cam-eras and flat-screen monitors that al-lowed them to monitor Lance, their blind and autistic son. After the make-over, the couple refinanced the mort-gage. They saw their monthly pay-ments skyrocket from $1,200 to $2,300. On December 14, the Associated Press reported that the family received sev-eral thousand dollars in financial aid to avoid foreclosure.

Emma Agnew Remembereda Year After Death

On November 16, the newsroom of the 3 News of New Zealand report-ed that the Canterbury’s deaf com-munity gathered to remember Emma Agnew a year after her disappearance and murder. Agnew was regarded as a future leader of the deaf. Her fam-ily and friends decided the best way to honor her was with a DVD. At the

DVD screening, those closest to her paid tribute to her, including her cous-in Tiffany who shares the same birth-day as Agnew. The deaf community made the DVD to show support for the Agnew family after a year of suffering. The sign language DVD is now avail-able on YouTube.

Gallaudet to Host International WORLDEAF Cinema Festival

Inside Gallaudet, a newsroom at Gallaudet University in Washing-ton, D.C., reported on November 26 that Gallaudet will hold its first WORLDEAF Cinema Festival from November 4th to 7th, 2009. The festival will include professional and student film competitions complete with cash awards and a Hollywood-style awards show. Other events will celebrate past and present accomplishments, as well as promote interaction among indus-try representatives, filmmakers and audience participants. Conference or-ganizers are soliciting new work from both professional and student film-makers. All entries must be created after 2006. Juried cash awards will be presented for outstanding feature, doc-umentary, and short films.

Kentucky School for the Deaf Could Invest in New Elementary School

The Lexington Herald-Leader, a lo-cal newspaper in Lexington, Kentucky, reported on November 6 that the Ken-tucky School for the Deaf (KSD) would sell 108 acres of its campus. The pro-ceeds will be reinvested into a new el-ementary school and other improve-ments, according to a plan presented on November 5 to the State Board of Edu-cation. The sale stands to gain a reve-nue as much as $10 million to $12 mil-lion. The members of the State Board of Education, acting as the school board for KSD, were intrigued by the proposal. The Danville/Boyle County Economic Development Partnership said KSD has already had some nibbles from interested parties seeking to pur-chase the property.

Parents Suing NMSD in Rape Case The parents of a girl who was

raped two years ago at the New Mex-ico School for the Deaf (NMSD) are suing the school, its superintendent, principal and a counselor according to the November 1st report made by The New Mexican, a publication in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sylvia and Alez Mar-tinez claimed in the lawsuit, which was filed on October 2nd in State Dis-trict Court, that the school was negli-gent in handling reports of harassment against their daughter that eventual-ly led to her rape. In response to the lawsuit, Superintendent Ronald Stern said in an e-mail that “allegations in a plaintiff’s complaint are just that,” and are “typically slanted to make the cir-cumstances sound as extreme as pos-sible.” He also wrote that the school has vigorous training program and securi-

ty protocols designed for student safe-ty, which are reviewed on a regular ba-sis to update and to refine.

Playstation Opens Doors for theDeaf in England

The Guardian, a local newsroom in London, England, reported on Novem-ber 26 that at Longwill Primary School in Birmingham, every deaf child has the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP). Alison Carter, deputy headteacher, said that the PSP is the ideal machine for the kids. The children have plug-in cameras to capture British Sign Lan-guage (BSL). The tapings are used to record their teachers’ signs for the new words’ meaning and context. “We had kids where their written work wasn’t as good as their signing. They improved by signing their stories to the cam-era, taking the PSP back to their desk and trying to translate what they had said in BSL into written English. That’s been very successful.” Children can take their bedtime stories home be-cause the school has started creating a library of bedtime stories.

University of Kentucky DeniesDeaf Equestrian InterpretersThe BG News reported on Decem-

ber 12th that Jena Richards’ appeal for an interpreter continues. Administra-tors have been unresponsive thus far. Richards, a deaf member of the Uni-versity of Kentucky (UK) equestri-an team, appealed directly to the UK President Lee Todd after the Disabili-ty Resource Center denied her request for an interpreter earlier this fall. Rich-ards met with Patty Bender, assistant vice president of Equal Opportunity for the Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity Department, but said no progress was made. “Bender declined to comment because the DRC could not comment on individual cases,” said UK spokeswoman Gail Hairston. Richards said, “Frankly, the meeting did not end well.” She reflected, “I was too angry and hurt because, according to her, I’m not deaf. Hopefully this next meeting I’m trying to set up will pre-pare us better for such ignorance.”

SCSDB Takes Drastic Measures The Spartanburg Herald-Journal,

a newspaper in Spartanburg, South Carolina reported on November 24th that after taking a $2.1 million hit to its operating budget, the South Caro-lina School for the Deaf and the Blind (SCSDB) is moving forward with ex-treme measures that includes a manda-tory five-day staff furlough, and a clos-ing of its local adult education program and an outreach center in Rock Hill. Interim President Carol Mabry said the approved actions are necessary to keep the school’s core program afloat. The budget cuts had become perma-nent with $13.7 million in funds. The furlough will not impact the instruc-tional hours and would save the school $250,000.

City of Modesto and Deaf ManNears Settlement

The city of Modesto is nearing a settlement with Harry Tessien, a deaf man who sued the city in 2007 claiming police officers inappropri-

ately apprehended him and used ex-cessive force to subdue him—despite his shouts that he could not hear their commands. Tessien’s complaint said he was seeking unspecified compensation and attorneys’ fees. Tessien was “told” to get out of his vehicle with his hands up. The police shot his rear window within a minute of stopping him. Tes-sien was also shot several times with bean bags as he shouted, “I am deaf, I am deaf.” Tessien’s attorney said that the settlement was not finished and de-tails cannot be disclosed. This story was first reported on November 18th by the Modesto Bee, a local newspaper in Modesto, California.

NCSD Teacher EarnsBoard Certification

Leslie Corley, a middle school guidance counselor at North Carolina School for the Deaf (NCSD), recently received notification of being a Nation-al Board Certified School Counselor, the News Herald, a local news publi-cation in Morganton, North Carolina, reported on December 9th. Corley, 28, joins the ranks of other North Carolina teachers who are leading the nation in the number of teachers achieving cer-tification. National Board Certification is the highest credential in the teaching profession. Corley earned her under-graduate degree from UNC-Greens-boro in social work and her graduate degree from Appalachian State Uni-versity in school counseling. She has been employed at NCSD since August 1983.

Hospital District to PayDeaf Couple $99,000

A press wire reported on Novem-ber 21 that North Broward Hospital District has agreed to settle with An-drew and Bicki Saltzman from Boyn-ton Beach, Florida in the amount of $99,000 after five years of litigation. The case was assigned to the Honor-able Alan S. Gold and settled in me-diation before the Honorable William C. Turnoff in the United States District Court in Southern District of Florida. The Saltzmans sued the hospital for failure to provide interpreters during Mr. Saltzman’s hospitalization from February 15, 2002 through March 2, 2002. The hospital also attempted to use The Saltzmans’ son to facilitate the communication lines between doctors and his parents.

NTID Hires New Director forCenter on Employment

The NTID News reported on No-vember 19th that the National Techni-cal Institute for the Deaf had appoint-ed John Macko as the director of the NTID Center on Employment. Macko had served as interim director of the Center and had served as associate di-rector of the Center since 2004. Macko, of Mendon, N.Y., brings more than 17 years of experience in employment services, placement and business to the position. Prior to coming to NTID in 1993, Macko was a financial reviewer for The Prudential Asset Management Company. Macko holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in career and human resources devel-opment, both from Rochester Institute

of Technology.

Deaf Woman Dies After Hit and Run In Pontiac, Michigan, police ar-

rested a man in connection with a deadly hit and run. On December 11th, the WXYZ, a news channel in Detroit, Michigan, reported that on Decem-ber 10th, a SUV hit a 41-year-old deaf woman walking along the 300 block of southbound Telegraph. The SUV hit her first and took off. Unable to avoid the woman, two other cars hit her. These drivers then stopped. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A de-scription of the SUV was given to the police. It was found at a car wash where a 28-year-old was cleaning up around the damaged part of the vehicle. He was arrested by a Keego Harbor police officer.

Deaf Woman Honored forWork in Deaf Community

The Clayton News Daily, a local publication in Jonesboro, Georgia, re-ported on November 13th that Jeanette Lorch was recently honored for her in-volvement and work within Georgia’s deaf and hard of hearing community. Lorch was named the state’s 2008 Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Community Lead-er of the Year by Georgia Relay, the free public telephone interpreting service for deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind and speech-impaired people. Lorch is an intake specialist with the Georgia Telecommunications Equipment Dis-tribution Program (GATEDP) for more than ten years. Lorch is also a member of Deaf Seniors of America.

Manslaughter Verdict inKilling of Deaf Man

The Brampton Guardian, a publi-cation in Brampton, Ontario, Cana-da, reported on Nov. 11 that after six days of deliberations, a jury has found a Brampton man guilty of manslaugh-ter in the beating and stabbing death of a local deaf man. Anthony Medwid, 20, will be sentenced on January 13th by Madam Justice Bonnie Wein in the brutal killing of Brian Wainman, 27, in March 2007. A jury of four women and eight men delivered the verdict on Monday night. There is no minimum sentence for manslaughter. The sen-tencing range for manslaughter varies widely, depending on the circumstanc-es of any given case. It carries a maxi-mum life sentence.

Louisiana School for the Deaf Sued over Molestation Case

The mother of a student claiming two male students repeatedly molest-ed her daughter during the 2007-08 school year is suing Louisiana School for the Deaf. The mother, who lives in Vermilion Parish, contends the State through the Department of Education, that the school had a duty to protect her daughter from harmful events, but was negligent in doing so. The moth-er is seeking an unspecified amount of damages. The suit has been assigned to state District Judge Tim Kelley. The mother claimed that her daughter has suffered “serious and disabling inju-ries.” The girl is now attending a public school in her home area.

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©2008 Sorenson Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Because all VRS calls are sent over an Internet connection, you must keep in mind that using a Sorenson videophone to place an emergency 911 call is subject to certain limitations and risks, particularly in comparison to 911 calls made using a voice telephone. For example, you may not be able to place a 911 call with a Sorenson videophone if an Internet connection failure or a power outage occurs, or if your Broadband or ISP service has been terminated. For a full description of these limitations and risks, please visit Sorenson’s Web site at: http://www.sorenson.com/disclaimer. For more information about the FCC’s requirements for real numbers and 911 emergency calls, go to the FCC’s Consumer Advisory at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/trstendigit.html.


sports

January 2009

January 15-17 19th Clerc Classic Basketball Tournament Frederick, MD Clerc Classic 1X Hosted by Maryland School for the Deaf www.deafnation.com

January 16-19 Women’s Snowshoe Retreat Aspen, CO Hosted by Aspen Deaf Camp [email protected] www.aspencamp.org January 17 18th Annual Individual Handicap Classic Mobile, AL Hosted by Mobile Deaf Bowlers Camellia Bowling Alley [email protected]

January 17 Annual Individual Handicap Classic Chicago Metro, IL Hosted by Chicagoland Illinois School for the Deaf Alumni Elk Grove Bowl (Elk Grove Village IL [email protected]•www.n-ski.com/pdfs/cisdaabowl

January 17 5th Annual Green Mountain TBA Invitation Basketball Hosted by Brattlesboro Deaf sports www.neaad.net/basketball

January 17 2nd Vegas Poker Classic Las Vegas, NV No Limit Texas Hold’EM BinionCasino/Hotel•www.vegasclassic.net

January 17-18 Third Annual Vegas Classic Basketball Las Vegas, NV Desert Breeze Community Ctr [email protected] www.vegasclassic.net•www.lasvegasnevada.gov

January 17 Eastern Athletic School for the West Trenton, NJ Deaf Invitational Basketball Tournament Hosted by New Jersey Deaf Sports Inc Marie K [email protected]•www.nj

January 23-26 Annual Boys Mason-Dixon St Augustine, FL Basketball Tournament HostedbyFloridaSchoolfortheDeaf/theBlind

January 23-26 Annual Girls Mason-Dixon Jackson, MS Basketball Tournament HostedbyMississippiSchoolfortheDeaf/theBlind

Compiled by Jo Schumack

Deaf SportS

CALENDARCALENDAR

continued on page 10

Matt ShandSIGNews staff writer

Curtis Pride, the first deaf player to play a full-season of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era, was announced on November 3rd as the new head baseball coach at Gallaudet Univer-sity. Pride effectively retired from the MLB after an eleven-season career.

BackgroundPride was born in Washington, D.C., on De-

cember 17th, 1968. He became deaf due to rubel-la and began developing oral skills at a very early age. He attended John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he excelled at vari-ous sports. Pride personally broke all of the school’s single season and career records for soccer, baseball, and basketball. Pride was also selected to play for the United States national soccer team in the 1985 Junior World cup in Beijing, China. Pride scored two goals in the tournament, including the match winning goal against Bolivia. Pride was named one of the top 15 youth soccer prospects in the world following the tournament.

Pride received a full athletic scholarship to at-tend the College of William and Mary in Williams-burg, Virginia. While studying finance, Pride start-ed at point guard for the basketball team all four years.

The Big LeaguesAfter graduating, Pride was signed to the New

York Mets, but his 1993 MLB debut was with the Montreal Expos. In September of that year, his first hit at Olympic Stadium received a five minute standing ovation from the crowd attracting media attention, both domestically and internationally.

In a professional baseball career that spanned over a decade that included playing for teams such as the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Angels, Pride had a .250 batting average, 20 career home

runs, and 82 runs batted in (RBIs). Pride played in 421 Major League games – the most ever played by a deaf athlete since William Hoy. Gallaudet’s base-ball field is named after Hoy, who played profes-sional baseball over 100 years ago.

Willing to LearnGallaudet’s athletic director, Mike Weinstock,

said “Curtis brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the game to Gallaudet.”

“We have many talented baseball players on campus, and there is a wealth of talented deaf and hard of hearing high school baseball players, and I know many of them will want to come to Gallaudet, to play for Curtis.” Many on the team have ex-pressed their eagerness to help him.

“The team always helps out the coach, and in exchange they teach us baseball,” said senior John Moore, Jr.

Pride said, “During my 11 seasons in Major League Baseball, I was able to overcome various ob-stacles and learn many things that I am now con-fident I can share with my players at Gallaudet to not only help them with baseball, but also, and even more importantly, with their lifetime goals and dreams.”

“While I currently don’t know much American Sign Language, I am eager to learn so I can commu-nicate directly with my players and all the students on the Gallaudet campus,” he said.

Foundation Provides SupportAlong with his wife Lisa, Pride runs the Togeth-

er With Pride Foundation. The Foundation offers a number of support programs for children with hearing loss, including scholarships, literacy initia-tives, and mentoring.

Pride officially became the Gallaudet baseball head coach on December 1st, and is preparing for the team’s season, which begins in February.

Major League Baseball PlayerCurtis Pride to Coach Gallaudet’s Team

With desire to learn sign language, Pride hopes to boost up Gallaudet’s baseball team this spring.

Eleven seasons in the major leagues, Pride was able to overcome obstacles to be successful.


Compiled by Jo Schumack

Deaf SportS

CALENDARCALENDAR

January 24 30th Annual Individual Handicap Classic W. Palm Beach, FL Hosted by Palm Beach Co Assoc of the Deaf Palm Beach Strike Zone Bowling (Lake Worth FL) [email protected]•www.pbcad.info

January 24 12th Annual WSAD Invitational Addison, IL BasketballTournament•AddisonParkDistrict [email protected]•www.wsadeaf.org

January 31 UK Deaf Poker Series 11 Central London, UK Casino Royale www.deafpoker.co.uk•www.deafok.com/events

February 2009

January 31-Feb 1 Eastern Athletic Association of the Deaf Philadelphia, PA Invitational Basketball Tournament Hosted by New Jersey Deaf Sports Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf [email protected]•www.njdeafsports.org

January 28 Western States Basketball & Riverside, CA Cheerleading ClassicFebruary 1 Riverside School for the Deaf ContactDavidHamilton•www.csdr-cde.ca.gov

February 7 15th Annual Individual Handicap Classic Chicago Metro, IL Hosted by West Suburban Association of the Deaf Bowling Green (West Chicago, IL) [email protected]•www.wsadeaf.org

February 7 6th Deaf Ice Bowl College Park, MD Sponsored by Deaf Reach Calvert Road Disc Golf course [email protected]•www.maddga.net www.icebowlhq.com•www.deafreach.org

February 7 Brooklyn Society of the Deaf, Inc Brooklyn, NY 2009 National Deaf Poker Tournament Texas HOLD-EM Tournament [email protected]•[email protected] www.easternsilentpokertour.wetpaint.com

February 13-21 US Deaf Ski and Snowboard Association Aspen, CO Hosted by Aspen Deaf Camp [email protected] www.aspencamp.org

February 14 45th Annual Mixed Handicap Classic Columbus, OH Hosted by Columbus Association of the Deaf HPLanes•[email protected]

To submit listings of national and international Deaf Sports events, send an email with “DeafSportsCalendar”[email protected]. Bobbie Beth Scoggins, our NAD President, with

her buck on a hunting trip in Texas. Bruce Kucker, husband of Julie Kucker, top, shows off his pheasants along with Peek-a-Boo.

Joshua Wilson with a buck in northern Ohio.

Julie Kucker of Watertown, S.D. with her pheasants and Peek-a-Boo, her hunting dog.

Davey Olson and Michael Skjeveland, both from Minnesota, went hunting in Madison, S.D.

More Hunting Photos


Barack ObamaIn November, the most promising candidate to lead the Unit-

ed States of America into the new millennium was elected eight years after the fact. A mid-western Senator with roots in Hawaii, Harvard-educated and a sweet jump-shot was elected by a majority of U.S. citizens to lead our economically-challenged nation that is stuck in a war that nobody I know believes in anymore with banks and businesses failing all around our landscape.

Barack Obama – welcome to the White House. Somewhere, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King are giving each other high-fives on a daily basis with warm smiles.

For too long – race has been a bit too important everywhere in America, especially since we are supposed to be an enlight-ened and intelligent mass of citizens. It hasn’t been fifty years yet that the Russians would use the abhorrent norms of the American South and certain pockets to spread propaganda about our coun-try amongst their people and our athletes whenever we had a con-tingent sent overseas. Our military separated by color, our schools, and sadly – our southern Deaf schools - practiced segregation. Peo-ple were steered towards specific jobs and industries based on their skin and opportunities were forever lost for millions.

To me, watching and seeing images of the blatant racism our black peers have experienced, undergone and lived through has been real hard. As I become older, it becomes more a distant mem-ory because, to me – it seems to be petering out, although I can’t speak for others. I am sure racism rears its ugly head now and then, perhaps too often still. I can only hope it doesn’t.

A person’s skin does not and should never negate any potential or induce negative or demeaning comments. People are born with what they have and all should be respected accordingly, no matter what color they are.

America’s melting pot basically is a rainbow of various shades, hues and smatterings. It’s a beautiful color – this rainbow. Each smile we see amongst this rainbow is always purely white. Those smiles and that color are important because peaceful harmony and perseverance amongst ourselves is what we need in this time of uncertainty. A beautiful example is our President – elect’s smile: priceless!

I am confident in Barack Obama, not because of his slick mar-keting campaign that was certainly original in venue. Not because he projects images and memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, ab-solutely not because he is a former hoopster, although that has giv-en him points in my favor.

I support Barack Obama because he is of our generation, with all its appreciation of technological wonders, wide-spread appreci-ation of life, acceptance and tolerance of others and the joy of hav-ing complete peace worldwide.

One main reason I support Barack Obama is because he, to borrow baseball vernacular, swung for the fences and made it. He as a black man, faced insurmountable odds the moment he decid-ed to throw his hat into the ring, and defeated the written and un-written history that a black man will never lead our country. He is the living embodiment of that great Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s edict, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Barack Obama had no fear.

Carl Wayne Denney SIGNews staff writer

A decade ago, Therese Rollven was the point guard for the Gallaudet Women’s Basketball team that advanced deep into the NCAA Division III basketball playoffs. She starred all her four years on the Bison team – along with Ronda Jo Miller, Rhonda Johnson and Touria Ouahid. Her lead-ership, cool-headedness and sharpshooting from outside kept defenses honest and from collapsing on Miller inside.

Aside from being the poster girl for Gallaudet Women’s basketball, she was also active in the col-lege community with her sorority and other orga-nizations. A beautiful blond from Sweden – Roll-ven was very easygoing and accessible, if a bit shy. Not your typical jock – she also was a honors stu-dent who made the Dean’s List numerous times in her collegiate career.

Then she disappeared.

Where was She? For the longest time, whispers and smatterings

of information abounded from time to time per-taining to her whereabouts until a nice inquiring e-

mail to Kjell Gunna, the Deaf International Basket-ball Federation president came back with specific information and an e-mail from Therese followed. Never before has the internet made the world seem smaller than it already is!

Therese has been the Development Coordina-tor under Gunna in the Swedish Deaf Sports Fed-eration since 2005, doing various research, stud-ies and promoting the Sports Federation – a paid position within the Swedish Government. Prior to that, she was working in different local and nation-al organizations in Stockholm since 1999. She also spent a year and a half as a teacher in Manila in that time span.

In her current capacity, she works with the edu-cational development within the Federation, which is under the nationwide Swedish Sports Confed-eration. According to Rollven, there are about ten professional athletes in Sweden that are Deaf; how-ever, there are numerous young athletes enrolled in the Sports Gymnasium programs where they get extra training time with specific and private coach-es. Many professional athletes came from this be-ginning. More are foreseen down the road in the years to come.

Still Playing With Love of BasketballRollven continues to play and is affiliated with

a Deaf team in Stockholm. The Deaf team also has about fifteen hearing players participating in the basketball program. Between work and play, she was one of the dozen chosen out of fifty appli-cants to take part in the Sports Leadership Pro-gram within the Swedish Sports Confederation – a very prestigious course in the country of Sweden. Throughout this course, she intermingles with fel-low peers who are expected to lead the country’s sports program in the future and has also already picked up valuable contacts.

She is expected to be the designated replace-ment for Kjell Gunna when he retires. Gunna speaks very highly of her. Her reputation and hard work precedes her and she faces a great future as a leader in Sweden and the Deaflympics down the road.

The Swedish Connection Mystery

Therese Rollven is now working for the Swedish Deaf Sports Federation, doing research and studies along with promoting the Federation.

With a great passion for basketball, Rollwen continues to play and is affiliated with a team in Stockholm. She played at Gallaudet along with Ronda Jo Miller, Rhonda Johnson and Touria Ouahid.


primary language is Ameri-can Sign Language (ASL)’ when funding to interpreters has been eliminated?

“Furthermore, how is DMH-MRSAS planning to be ‘respon-sive’ to deaf members on the Advisory Council, and commu-nicate openly with them, with-out services of CART and inter-preters?”

“Again,” Bavister insisted, “this is discrimination.”

Asking for Reinstation of the Funding

Bavister respectfully conclud-ed her letter by saying, “While the VAD acknowledges the need for state agencies to cut their budgets during this time of eco-nomic uncertainty and instabil-ity, we strongly protest singling out access to services by the deaf for such cuts. We are asking DMHMRSAS to reinstate fund-ing for interpreters, the state co-ordinator’s position, and to make interpreter and CART services available for meetings of your

Advisory Council, so all people may have access.”

Two days later, a letter similar in vein was sent to Virginia Gov-ernor Kaine. Bavister also made contact with the Virginia De-partment for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (VDDHH), and kept Dr. Rosalyn Crawford of NAD informed as well.

After VAD’s letter appeared in the Richmond Times-Dis-patch, Bavister received a brief phone message from the Virgin-ia Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing.

“[The message] said that DMHMRSAS had left them (VDDHH) a message that they were not going through with their planned cuts to interpret-er and CART services,” Bavister told SIGNews. “I held my breath until I received a letter from Dr. Reinhard.”

According to Bavister, in a letter dated November 19, 2008 Reinhard says, “Mental health services for individuals who are deaf continue to be provided regionally by specialized staff across the Commonwealth. The

Department did not eliminate interpreters for services to indi-viduals who are deaf, and service providers are expected to furnish interpreters.”

Reinhard’s letter also states that the Department’s proposed reductions that Bavister high-lighted, including support for the interpreter reimbursement pool, interpreter and CART sup-port for the Advisory Council, and one-fourth of the financial support for the state coordina-tor’s position, will not be imple-mented in fiscal year 2009.

In response to a SIGNews e-mail inquiry, DMHMRSAS Communication and Media Re-lations spokesperson Meghan Wedd McGuire affirmed their position.

“There has been confusion about this program and about potential impacts of pending budget cuts as part of plans to reduce Virginia’s projected $2.8 billion budget shortfall,” she writes.

“Any reductions or chang-es for regional deaf services and state deaf coordinator functions

have been postponed until July 1, 2009. This delay will allow time to work out details for how re-gional services might be affected in the two regions.”

Shifting Unused ResourcesCurrently, for fiscal year

2010, McGuire states, their plan is to shift unused regional deaf services funding to maintain the coordinator position at the full-time level, and to shift the cur-rent allocation of that position from 50/50 state coordinator/re-gional service provider to 25/75, respectively.

McGuire claims that this action will bring the State’s role more in line with job require-ments and, in addition, will al-low services and consultation to be provided in the Salem/Roa-noke region where services have not previously been available. McGuire adds, “This plan is sup-ported by the current state coor-dinator.”

Further, McGuire asserts that interpreter pool funds would be accessible to the local public pro-viders, called community ser-

vices boards, to recoup fifty per-cent of their interpreter costs for services provided to consum-ers. “When these funds run out during the year,” she states, “the community services boards will continue their practice of paying for needed interpreter services, as required by law.

“In other words, the availabil-ity of state interpreter pool funds does not affect CSB obligations to provide interpreters -- they will still have to provide interpreters. Lastly, the state coordinator and local CSB will ensure the cost of the Advisory Council interpret-ers are paid for in 2010.”

Asked whether Bavister feels her efforts have been successful, she responds, “Someone sug-gested I write to DMHMRSAS and ‘thank’ them for not going through with these reductions. I haven’t done so yet, because a) DMHMRSAS should not have targeted the Deaf community in the first place, and b) ‘thank’ them for what? Grief? Making us out to be reactive instead of pro-active, or what?”

She adds, “Maybe later.”

VAD, continued from page 3


The CSD On behalf of all CSD employees, we’d like to wish

“Happy New Year!” to each SIGNews’ reader and also all of our deaf and hard of hearing consumers across the nation who use our products and services. CSD began in 1975 and after 33 years, we are still going strong. We look forward to 2009 as another successful year in helping provide access, independence and awareness of issues affecting deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Happy New Year!

One of the few issues that are able to cross political and ideological boundaries is the idea of a smoke-free workplace. With that concept in mind, the Sioux Empire Tobacco (SET) Free Coalition approached the Centers for Disease Control Media Campaign Re-source Center in order to place tobacco counter-marketing ads in Sioux Falls, South Da-kota movie theatres, specifically the CineMark Century Theaters. Once those ads were purchased, CSD-TV added captions to the ads, so people with a hearing loss can access the information to the same extent as hearing movie-goers.

The ads began running Thanksgiving weekend—traditionally one of the busiest week-ends for the theater industry—and will run for 12 months.

“We thank the SET Free Coalition for involving underserved populations like our consumers in this tobacco-free initiative,” said Ben Soukup, CSD chief executive officer. “Whether hearing or deaf, it doesn’t change the fact that over 20 percent of South Dako-tans are currently tobacco users, and we feel these adds will provide the type of informa-tion for smokers they typically would not have access to.”

CSD of Minnesota hosted its third Annual World AIDS Day remembrance at our “home” in St. Paul this year. With the themes being leadership and art, CSD intern Katy Kelley recruited art pieces from the community to display in the art gallery.

One group that contributed was Min-nesota North Star Academy students. The art piece they created won the hearts of everyone at the event. One participant explained, “It amazes me, the knowledge these young children have, and we have our HIV/AIDS programs to thank for that. At their age, I knew nothing.”

The event started with guest speakers and led to the community being able to speak about why they support this cause.

One participant stated, “I come here ev-ery year, and I see new faces and I am grateful for CSD always doing this, I have a place to go, to remember and share my stories. I will be here next year.”

The red ribbon cookies were a hit with the exhibitors as they reviewed the art pieces and talked with the artists. The closing ceremony consisted of the ritual candle light vigil and deaf support spir-it “rap.”

“We were really pleased with the out-come and support from everyone this year,” commented Jessalyn Frank, HIV program coordinator. “I wish to thank the Hugh J. Anderson Foundation for sustaining their generous support of our program and community.”

Happy New Year from CSD

CSD and the Sioux Empire Tobacco Free Coalition Partner to Caption Ads for Local Movie Theaters

Deaf World AIDS Day

CSD of Minnesota hosted Deaf World AIDS Day to honor arts and leadership along with contribution from Minnesota North Star Academy students.

Interpreting Online

Getting an interpreter has never been easier!

CSD Interpreting Online (CSDIO) is easy, efficient and appointments can be made any time, day or night. CSDIO is also more cost effective than hiring a physical interpreter: There is no two-hour minimum for CSDIO. Most interpreting agencies charge a two-hour flat rate even if the entire appointment is 15 minutes long. With CSDIO, you pay only for the time you use. There are no charges for parking fees, drive time, scheduling fees, etc. that inflate your interpreting costs.

Go to CSDIO.COM or call 1-888-MYCSDIO for more information.


BusiNess

How low can it go?With the dramatic twists and turns in the economy, we

have gradually watched the mortgage rates fall to near-historic lows. As I write this article we are nearing rates that have not been seen since 2003, when they were at/or below 5% for a 30-year mortgage.

Fortunately this is very good news for our economy and housing market. The drastically reduced rates will encourage many people to enter the housing market to buy a house while rates are this low. The low rates will also produce a refinance boom in the market in which we will see many people, that have rates at 5.75% or more, refinancing to save money. This will be a positive shot in the arm for our economy and hope-fully for our floundering housing market.

How does it benefit you? If you are a house seller you should see quite a few first-time buyers entering the market in the next several months. Just be wary of homebuyers that do not have a down payment.

The only mortgage program that can finance 100% of a pur-chase is USDA rural loan program. If your home is not con-sidered a rural property then be sure the potential buyer has funds to give you a legitimate offer.

If you are a homebuyer, then the low rates are an obvious benefit to you. The ½ point reduction over last month’s rates means you can potentially save thousands to tens of thousands of dollars on your mortgage over the long term. Of course the catch is that banks are stricter now then ever before.

It would benefit you to talk to your ASL mortgage officer to determine if you qualify or discuss what steps should be tak-en to get the lowest rate possible. If you are a homeowner you have options! Most likely you have a much higher rate than the current 30-year mortgage rate.

I highly recommend you consult with your ASL mortgage officer to look at possible options. This includes borrower that are upside down on their home, meaning they owe more than the house is actually worth.

Many banks are trying to prevent foreclosures and will of-ten accept a principal reduction in order to avoid a bankruptcy situation. This process is called a short-refinance. If you be-lieve you are upside down on your house you should consult an ASL loan officer right away to review your options.

Mortgage 101Jason Steinbach,

President & CEO ofDeafMortgage.net

Are you a business owner?Are you working in an unique field?

We WANT to hear from YOU! Write us at SIGNews, 102 N.Krohn Place,

Sioux Falls, SD 57103 or e-mail us [email protected]

Carl Wayne Denney SIGNews staff writer

Sometimes we are very fortunate as a commu-nity to have trailblazers come along every once in a while to provide relief, enjoyment, assistance or en-tertainment. One such individual blazing into the realm of filmmaking is ASL Films founder Mark Wood.

Wood directed “Forget Me Not,” “Wrong Game,” and the just – released “The Legend of the Mountain Man”. He also wrote the scripts, secured locations and arranged the working atmosphere to all three films. The experiences have made him a seasoned film veteran looking ahead to his fourth film, to be filmed in the spring and summer of 2009 in Indiana.

Acting a Great Influence Growing up in northern California, Wood al-

ways liked movies and plays. Naturally, he became an actor himself in high school – appearing in Cal-ifornia School for the Deaf – Fremont school pro-ductions such as “Sign me Alice” in 1987 and “Into History” both directed by Julianna Fjeld.

After college, the acting bug still was in this tall and stocky man – he pondered establishing a film company as far back as 1995, but lacked funds and experience. “My heart was in it, but my wallet wasn’t at the time,” Wood said with a smile.

He was hired by the North Carolina School for the Deaf to direct a school performance in 1995 about Helen Keller, William Gibson’s “The Miracle Worker.” The experience gave Wood confidence in knowing that he had undergone the transformation from spectator of plays to a director of his first play,

ASL Films

Mark Wood has a goal of establishing a studio in Indiana, making 2-3 films a year.


Many Deaf people struggle with buying homes because of the communication issue that comes with not being able to communicate effectively with realtors, buyers, banks, and mortgage companies. All these people, and more, are involved in the real estate business of buying or selling a home.

Deaf in Real Estate BusinessAnn Meehan pursued her real estate license,

which she got recently, founded Kamela and Com-pany along with her daughters. The name comes from the combination of the first two letters of the four women’s last names: Ann Meehan, the mother; daughters, Jennifer Kalis, Elizabeth Kalis-McGuire, and Michelle Lapides. Meehan and Lapides are both Deaf. Jennifer is another daughter, who is hearing. Jennifer also has her own interpreting service busi-ness. The youngest daughter, Michelle Lapides, is a 2007 graduate of Maryland School for the Deaf and

is a sophomore at Gallaudet University. She is also Miss Deaf America until 2010.

Kamela and Company: Deaf Mom andDaughters Business Endeavors

From left to right: Jennifer Kalis, Ann Meehan and Elizabeth Kalis-McGuire.

Kamela, continued on page 30

ASL Films, continued on page 22


First Team Heriberto Nunez Alabama Sr.Kwentavious Boyd Alabama Sr.Brandon Dean Fremont Sr.Galvin Drake Riverside Jr. Ryan Baldiviez Riverside So.Ryan Santana Florida Jr.Michael Morris Illinois Sr.Gabriel Paulone Indiana Sr.Tony Dall Indiana Jr.Will Fetzer Indiana Sr.Ryan Bonheyo Maryland Sr.Clayton Grossinger Maryland Sr.Mark Cross Maryland Sr.Todd Bonheyo Maryland So.Sean Harden Model Sr.Anthony Palmer Model Sr.Joshua Sandoval Model Sr.Joe Conrad Texas Sr.Jarlen Giacona Texas Sr.

Second Team Jerrod Cunningham Alabama Jr.Joshua Snow Alabama Jr.Jeremiah Williams Alabama So.Ronnie Cuartero Fremont Sr.Zac Koehler Fremont Jr.Luis Estrella Riverside Jr.Kyle McDonald Riverside Jr.Marcus Larry Florida Sr.Terrance Petty Illinois Sr.Corey Balzer Maryland Sr.Shawn Harrington Maryland So.Michael Mabashov Maryland Sr.Andrew Daly Model Sr.Cedrick Payne Model Sr.Jay Hill Texas Jr.

Honorable MentionAndrew Stewart Alabama Sr.Demetic Snider Alabama Fr.Caleb Potter Alabama Sr.Chris Stubblefield Fremont Jr.Derek Keels Riverside Sr.Josh Collins Riverside Jr.Christian Montes Riverside Sr.Yovannie Marquez Riverside Sr. Bradley Crickmore Florida Sr.Steven Molinelli Florida Sr.Jose Torres Florida So.Julian Smith Illinois Sr.Adam Donnelly Illinois Jr.Pete Kujawa Illinois Sr.Lee Taylor Illinois Sr. Vanel Taylor Illinois Jr. Dakota Reynold Illinois Jr.Dana Honte Indiana Sr.Tyler Grace Indiana Sr.Joshua Griffen Indiana Sr.Ethan Kramer Maryland So. Todd Rewolinski Maryland So.Justin Weiner Maryland So.Gregg McConville Jr. Maryland Jr. Donte Thomas Maryland Sr. Jason Marple Model Sr.Blake Immellmisacho Model So.Adrian Bargas Texas Jr.

Eleven-Men FootballMaryland School for the Deaf

Coach of the Year11-Men Football

Mark BurkeModel Secondary School

for the Deaf

Co-Player of the YearGabriel Paulone, Indiana

Co-Player of the YearRyan Bonheyo, Maryland


Steven FuerstWisconsin School for

The Deaf

First TeamAnn Whited Indiana Sr.Krystal Johnson Texas Sr.Arica Jones Fremont Sr.Jessica Isarel Maryland Sr.Sedrina Arellano Texas Sr.Jasmine Smith Alabama Sr.Lauren Wellman Iowa So.Lauren Benedict Maryland Sr.Bianca Hamilton Phoenix Day Sr.Kirsten Pudas Minnesota Sr.

Second TeamAshley Wagner Wisconsin Jr.Amanda Phillips Indiana Sr.Shaina Steingieser Maryland Jr.Meghan Laughlin Minnesota Sr.Tandy Lewis Maryland Jr.Shea Rasmus Fremont Sr.Sandia Nemhard Buffalo Sr.Amy Bachtel Ohio Sr.Janel Schmidt Fremont Sr.Chelsea Elstad Colorado So.

Third TeamLakeisha McNair Florida Fr.Kayla Gregory Oklahoma Sr.Gabriella Beyer Wisconsin Jr.Victoria So Lexington Isabel Glasman Delaware Jr.Cheyenna Wilding New Mexico Sr.Heba Kayed Pennsylvania Sr.Jenny Smith Minnesota Sr.

Meghan Murphy Riverside Sr.Britnee Hursin Fremont Sr.

Honorable Mention Valerie Boyette Florida Jr.Marissa Woodruff Rochester Fr.Catie Van Broekhaven Michigan Sr.Adriana Alvarado ENCSD Sr.Nichole Gordy Alabama Jr.Traci Ann Hoglind Indiana Fr.Caitlin Velasquez New Mexico Sr.Michelle Giterman Texas Sr.Stele Hawkins Oklahoma Jr.Ashlee Lambert Texas So.Danica Metlay Rochester So.Marshaka Simmons ENCSD Fr.Brittany Frank Maryland Jr.Shayna Rose Unger Maryland Jr.Molly Perkins Minnesota Fr.Caldonia Wilding New Mexico Fr.Karlee Gruetzner Michigan Ashleigh Dreyer Michigan Chelsea Lee New Jersey So.Leah Murray New Jersey So.Leigham Basilio Delaware Jr.Kiona Drayton Delaware So.Alsion O’Hara Colorado So.Shaui Ambrester Riverside So.Cindy Siebert Minnesota So.Claire Tucker Maryland So.Rachel Novella Minnesota So.Martha Wolcott Colorado Jr.Na’Imah Burgos New Jersey Sr.

Player of the YearAnn Whited

Indiana School for the Deaf

Coach of the YearVicki Kitsembel

Maryland School for the Deaf

Team of the Year - Division I Maryland School for the Deaf

Team of the Year - Division IIMinnesota State Academy for the Deaf


First Team Nicholas Elstad Colorado Sr. Xavier Johnson E.North Carolina Sr. Chris Gaddy E.North Carolina Fr. Timothy Simmons Georgia Sr.Edward Snipes Georgia Sr.Kenny Smith Iowa Sr.Charles Ainsworth Minnesota Sr. Marquarius Boyd Mississippi So. Justin Vaughan New Mexico Sr.Paul Littlebear Oklahoma So.Brandon Ruble Oklahoma Sr.Leonardo Tuperet Oregon Sr. Dedrick Simpson South Carolina Jr. Michael McKelvey South Carolina Jr. Michael Carver Tennessee Jr.Dakota Thompson Tennessee Jr. Denton Millas Wisconsin Sr.Carlos Desarden Wisconsin Sr.Kyle Hornung Wisconsin Sr.

Second Team Regi Madril Colorado Sr. Averie Norfleet E.North Carolina Fr.Kishawn Matthews E.North Carolina Fr.Davion Gilling Georgia Sr.Westley Blankenship Georgia Sr.Peter Schweitz Iowa Jr. Cole Thompson Kansas Sr.Carl Jenkins Mississippi So.David Gloria New Mexico Jr.Colin Larkins Oklahoma Fr.Miles Barbee Oregon So.Terry Frierson South Carolina Sr. Deacon Harrington South Carolina Jr. Tyler Antrican Tennessee Sr. Stefan Jaeger Wisconsin Sr. Jose Castillo Wisconsin So.

Honorable Mention A.J. Moddy Colorado Fr. Alberto Salgado E.North Carolina Sr. Eric Williams Georgia Sr.Brandon Stevens Georgia Sr,Jonathan Roach Georgia Sr.Matthew Whitlock Georgia Sr.Cody Contreas Iowa Jr. Derek Schmitz Mississippi Jr.Karemon Lane Mississippi Fr.Mark Lucero New Mexico Jr.Austin McKenzie Oklahoma So. Marshall Griffith Oklahoma So.Jacob Walden Oklahoma Fr.Joshua Reed Oklahoma Jr.Melvin McKee Oklahoma Sr.Daniel Regan Oregon So.Justin Johnson South Carolina Jr.Hakeem Pinckney South Carolina Sr.Rufus Towns Tennessee So.Tony Davis Wisconsin So.Ennis Brown Wisconisn Sr.


Mark BurkeModel Secondary School

for the Deaf

Player of the Year:Timothy Simmons,

Georgia School for the Deaf

Eight-Men FootballSouth Carolina School for the Deaf


Steven FuerstWisconsin School for

The Deaf

Coach of the Year: Frank Wells, Lexington

Tony DavisEnnis Brown

First Team Michael Lumley St. Mary’s Sr. Richard Spiecker Rochester Sr.Dustin Tipton Kentucky Sr.Travis Zornoza Kentucky Sr.Shaquana McDonoughTLC Sr.Derrick Lee Lexington Sr.Sheldon Clarke Lexington Jr.Angel Ortiz Lexington Jr.Jeremy Wagoner WPSD Sr.Wayne Jennings New Jersey Jr.Ryan Dievart WPSD Jr.Wilson Velez TLC Sr.

Second Team Jordan Marcotte Rhode IslandSr.Joey Mattiace New Jersey Jr.Adam Pagan Lexington Jr.Adam Duty WPSD Sr.Dequan Thomas American Jr.Mark Sperr Rochester Jr.Randy Spann PennsylvaniaSr.Dakota Tellander Rochester Sr.Ben Letendre TLC Jr.David Wantuck St.Mary’s Sr.

Honorable Mention Courtney Huru TLC Jr.Lauren Sprague TLC Jr.Joe Gareri Rhode Island Jr.Cory Fiordaliso New Jersey Jr.Brister Campbell WPSD Sr.Jeremy Lloyd NYSSD Sr.Hector Rivera American So.Irick Carter NYSSD Jr.Derek Possumato WPSD Sr.Dani Quiroz New Jersey Sr.

Co-Teams of the YearLexington School for the Deaf

Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf

Co-Player of the YearMichael Lumley

St. Mary’s

Co-Player of the YearShaquana McDonough

Learning Center


LifeErick Posner


Gallaudet University and National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) recently won several awards for their re-cruitment promotion campaigns. Gal-laudet won five awards at the MarCom Awards event, while NTID won two awards. The MarCom Awards is an an-nual award event hosted by the Associa-tion of Marketing and Communication Professionals.

According to a press release by NTID, the recruitment video, “Dream. Discov-er. Decide.” won a MarCom Platinum Award and a Gold Award for its “Tiger Self-Mailers,” which is a series of direct marketing materials sent to prospective students.

Gallaudet, according to a press re-lease, won a MarCom Platinum Award for their Recruiter’s Presentation DVD. The DVD was produced and edited by Enrollment Marketing staff with assis-tance from Video Services.

Huge Competition BaseBoth of the press releases mentioned

that this year’s MarCom competition had over 5,000 entries. A wide range of organizations, including advertising agencies, public relations firms, and For-tune 500 companies were amongst the competition.

In a statement to SIGNews, Deb-

ra Lawson, Gallaudet’s director of En-rollment Marketing commented that she was thrilled that Gallaudet won the awards. “To be recognized by peers in our industry is truly an honor. It keeps us motivated to constantly improve our recruitment materials and receive fur-ther recognition. We just learned Mon-day that we won the Platinum Award in three categories for the Ava Awards 2008 (another competition)” wrote Lawson.

Proud to Win Pam Charmichael, NTID’s director

of Marketing Communications echoed Lawson’s pride. “We are very pleased to have our work recognized by this inter-national competition administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. We are very proud that, amidst that compet-itive field, RIT/NTID emerged a winner” wrote Charmichael to SIGNews.

According to the MarCom web-site, the MarCom Awards is designed to judge work based on its own merit. They

do not publicize specific criteria to avoid having the competitors trying to design their products to fit the criteria. More importantly, the judges seek out works that will “provide the intended audience with the same basic measurements” (i.e. what was the first impression, was the work creative, to the point, eye-catching, theme, or colorful?). “Obviously, a black and white low budget annual report pro-duced for a non-profit will not be judged in the same manner as an expensive an-nual report produced for a Fortune 500 company,” the website explains.

The scoring consists of judges discuss-ing amongst together and come up to an agreement on a score. Entries receiving scores between 90-100 points are Plati-num Winners. Entries with 80-89 points are Gold Winners. Entries scoring from 70-79 receive an Honorable Mention cer-tificate.

Lawson is clearly thrilled by this hon-or. She had inkling that Gallaudet’s re-cruitment materials would be a winner.

Gallaudet and NTID Earns Marketing Awards


In October, Super Nanny, Jo Frost, aired an episode on the show featuring a Deaf family, Kip and Dorothy Baulisch in their Nebraska home.

About Super Nanny Super Nanny is a television series in its fifth season

by ABC. Started in the United Kingdom, Jo Frost, the show’s rising star, is what many call the “modern-day Mary Poppins.” Generally, Frost goes to homes across America and works with parents who have unruly chil-dren. On the show, Frost observes how the parents handle their day-to-day obstacles with their children. After the observation, Frost works with the parents on how to get rid of unwanted behavior. After demon-strating how well the new ideas will work and getting phenomenal results from the children, the parents are left on their own to try the strategies that Jo Frost has taught them.

Frost’s simple methods on the popular show stress consistency, communication and reasonable conse-quences for poor behavior, all delivered with loving firmness. She emphasizes the importance of stating the new rules of the household to children in advance, as well as explaining the consequences for misbehavior. She also honestly points out to parents where they need

to be more in control of their children through their decision making, become more flexible, or even how they may need to adjust their expectations of a child’s readiness for certain behaviors. When parents wit-ness Frost’s results and -- even better -- achieve them on their own, they’re true believers in the “Supernan-ny Way.”

Deaf Family a First for Frost Frost, in October, faced a new challenge with work-

ing with the Baulisch family. Deaf parents with four daughters who hear normally, the three youngest girls take advantage of their parents. As a result, the older sister, Melissa, who is 18, ends up acting like a mom. Melissa felt that she was only around to be a babysitter, not the sister. It created a very frustrating situation in the Baulisch household.

Because Dorothy knows sign language very well and reads lips, the girls do not know sign language well enough to have a good, solid communication with their parents. As a result, the girls are disrespectful and mean to each other. “They think because they’re deaf, they can be wild,” Melissa told a news source.

Observation PeriodDuring the observation of the family, Jo Frost im-

mediately saw how the children completely ignore their mother. “They don’t listen,” Jo said, “and they don’t

watch her signs.” Jo also recognized that Melissa was expected to be the interpreter and the “second mom.”

Parent Meeting with FrostDuring the show, the Baulisch parents try to “hide”

behind their deafness, but Jo was adamant saying, “Just because you’re deaf doesn’t make you any less of a par-ent!” Frost explained that the reason there were prob-lems was that communication had broken down. She made learning sign language mandatory for the family. She also made it very clear that the older daughter, Me-lissa, was not to play the role of being a parent. “She is

Super Nanny Jo Frost Visits Deaf Family

The Baulisch family with Jo Frost (center), the star of Super Nanny show.

SuperNanny, continued on page 30

Recruitment, continued on page 24


Even though some people may have had issues with Ryan Commerson’s activism, I still found his online film “Media, Power & Ideology: Re-Present-ing D-E-A-F” (mosinternation-al.com) to be very provocative. Sometimes the best kind of ac-tivism happens when one is con-fronted with things one must think about instead of putting them off for another rainy day. I decided to email him with some questions as I’d met him in per-son once a few years back.

SIGNews: Didn’t you go to Gallaudet? If so, how did Gal-laudet help you as a Deaf per-son?

Ryan Commerson: Yep, for both my B.A. and M.A. de-grees. Gallaudet helped me re-alize that the worst form of aud-ism can be found at Gallaudet. I didn’t like what Gallaudet was, but I love what Gallaudet could

become. Its very in-stitution has been steeped in paternal-ism and ironical-ly, that alone helped make me a stronger person with a clear vision of what need-ed to be done to rem-edy the entrenched problems that’s en-veloped Deaf people.

SIGNews: You studied film at a college in Michigan. What did you learn from that pro-cess?

Commerson: I attended the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan, a certificate pro-gram. I learned that hearing people wouldn’t give deaf peo-ple a chance because it’s not their place to do so; it’s up to deaf people to carve a spot in the film industry on their own.

SIGNews: I seem to recall

that you led a grassroots effort to help improve the

Michigan School for the Deaf. What was that like?

Commerson: It was an in-tense experience. It took two years of emotional turmoil before a protest took place. I learned that Deaf people’s fear of losing the school was so

strong that they would t u r n a g a i n s t their own p e o p l e (me) for trying to make it b e t t e r . U p o n the rec-ommen-d a t i o n to read Rules for Radicals

by Saul Alinsky, I was finally able to set aside my emotions and think rationally, looking at the situation as a game, play-ing tactically, and it worked. I want to emphasize that I did not act alone; a friend, Alison Aubrecht, was an equal game changer. Without her, none of this would have ever happened. (Please go online at www.starv-ingforaccess.blog.com for more information.)

SIGNews: Do you feel that there aren’t enough Deaf ac-

tivists? If so, why aren’t there more? What could be done to help remedy that situation?

Commerson: Indeed. There can never be enough activists in general because the job’s so in-convenient. Who would foot the bill? First of all, deaf peo-ple have long been cheated out of language and education from the minute they were born. There must be an ideologi-cal shift in order for this prob-lem to be remedied; hence, the film, “Media, Power & Ideol-ogy: Re-Presenting D-E-A-F.” Any effort to describe the rem-edy would require volumes and volumes of books, which no-body would read. Therefore, we must make movies so there will be more effective activists and the like.

SIGNews: How did you hook up with the Mosdeux folks? What made you decide to make this particular film?

Commerson: Wayne Betts, Jr., one of the two co-founders of Mosdeux, was in the same class with me under Facundo Mon-tenegro, one of the best profes-sors Gallaudet has ever seen, bar none. We produced short films for classes and named our student ‘company’ MOS Pro-ductions, which incidental-ly and coincidentally led to the creation of Mosdeux and MOS International at the same time. Quite a coincidence.

I was a graduate student in

the Cultural Studies and had to complete a thesis in order to re-ceive a Masters degree. I asked my professor and advisor, Dr. Dirksen Bauman, if I could “write” my thesis in ASL so it wouldn’t be shelved like other theses. That’s when Wayne Bet-ts, Jr. came in; he shot and edit-ed the film. I wanted the entire world to have access to my the-sis. Anyway, after ten years of searching for an answer to sig-nificantly transform the Deaf Education, legal and medical systems concerning the deaf, and after being involved with both protests (Michigan, 2005 and Gallaudet, 2006), I under-stood that the answer lay in a medium that has had a staying power in shaping of the Ameri-can culture: film and television programming.

The current ideology says: if you don’t speak or hear English well in America, you’ll never succeed. Simple. Its simplici-ty was so profound that every-thing suddenly seemed ridicu-lous. Now, what makes ideology an ideology? Everyone needs to have a “shared knowledge” of the values-nobody would dis-agree that you must know Eng-lish in this country to be suc-cessful. If we can create a new body of knowledge and share it with everyone then what hap-pens to the ideology? It’ll shift. It did for the blacks, gays, and women-it was a no-brainer.

Spotlight On…Ryan Commerson

By Raymond Luczak

become. Its very in-stitution has been steeped in paternal-ism and ironical-ly, that alone helped make me a stronger person with a clear vision of what need-ed to be done to rem-edy the entrenched problems that’s en-

strong that they would t u r n a g a i n s t their own p e o p l e (me) for trying to make it b e t t e r . U p o n

Ryan Commerson

Katherine FirkinsSIGNews Staff Writer

The China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe (CDP-PAT) is a unique performance troupe founded in Beijing, Chi-na in 1987 that promotes equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in artistic ex-pression. The CDPPAT per-formers portray the univer-sal principals of truth, honesty, and virtue and transcend the boundaries of culture, politics, and language to express the hu-man spirit.

For the past 21 years, the troupe has inspired a wide va-riety of audiences in more than

100 performances in more than 60 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and the Amer-icas. To date, 55 out of 88 per-formers are deaf and hard of hearing, 28 are blind, and 5 are handicapped. What’s more is that 42 of them are current-ly enrolled at the University of Science and Technology of Bei-jing. They will be the first group of students with disabilities to graduate from the university.

Receiving Recognition from International Organizations

CDPPAT has received recog-nition as the “Image Ambassa-dor for People with Disabilities” by the Disabled People’s World

Assembly and the “UNESCO Artist for Peace” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

According to the “China Daily,” former China Premier Zhu Rongii claimed that CDP-PAT “demonstrates the great-ness of human being and the power of will.”

Former President Bill Clin-ton and Vice President Al Gore are two other political lead-ers who were impressed by the troupe’s performances in Washington, DC in 2000. In a letter to CDPPAT, Clinton said, “I thank all those participating in the China Disabled People’s

The China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe

Deaf and hard of hearing dancers performs “Buddha with Thousand Hands.” CDPPAT, continued on page 24


father influenced him. He elab-orates, “He had a special place in his heart for deaf people and started a deaf ministry in his church. It instilled something in my mind which turned into a career.”

The Other Candidate The only other qualified

candidate was Letisha Turner of Jacksonville, Florida, who holds two master’s degrees—one in deaf education and one in edu-cational administration.

Turner was a program co-ordinator for St. Johns Coun-ty Schools from 2006 to 2008, supervising 20 employees, and previously worked in Georgia school systems. Most of her ex-perience came from the em-ployment she had at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville, Florida.

She told St. Augustine Re-cord, “The school can go to yet another level and raise perfor-mance outcomes. That would solidify this school as a national leader.

Administration Faced with Challenges

Hutto’s administration had to find ways to cut $3.2 million from its $42 million budget and successfully did so without any layoffs, even though 87% of the school’s budget went to person-nel.

He was asked on why he wanted the job, he frankly said, “I’ve got 40 years of experience, most at that at FSDB. I love this school and I just feel that I’m in the right place at the right time.”

much about lupus, and I was frustrated that I didn’t have a full understanding of my medical condition and treatment.”

Torres did everything she could to help Ger-ena with her interpreter situation. Fogari contin-ued to refuse to provide her an interpreter—even though the couple gave him an interpreter’s busi-ness card and had the interpreter to call him to explain the discrimination law.

On one doctor visit, Torres was furious at Fog-ari for neglecting to arrange an interpreter and wrote “You forgot to call an interpreter” on the examination table paper. The doctor explained to the couple that as a solo practitioner, he could not afford the $150 to $200 fee for the interpret-ing service for each visit.

In fact, Fogari argued in court that he would have suffered from “undue hardship” paying for an interpreter while receiving only $49 per visit from Gerena’s insurance company; however, his tax returns showed that he earned approximately $425,000 a year.

In Jan. 2005, Fogari retaliated against Gere-na for requesting an interpreter, and she had no choice but to see another doctor. Gerena’s con-dition improved drastically when she started go-ing to a new rheumatologist. She learned from him that the swelling on her face and pains in her

joints were side effects of the steroids, not symp-toms of the disease, and she was required to stop the treatment in May 2006.

The Fight Against DiscriminationGerena decided to sue Fogari so that other

deaf and hard of hearing patients would not deal with an issue similar to hers. She was represented by Clara R. Smit, an attorney in East Brunswick, N.J., who specializes in serving deaf and hard of hearing clients. She is fluent in American Sign Language and is the first attorney in New Jer-sey to bring lawsuits against hospitals and doc-tors for failure to provide interpreters to deaf and hard of hearing patients. She has settled 30 cases against hospitals and 13 other cases against doc-tors in New Jersey and Florida.

“It is a tremendous victory for all deaf people across the nation who for years have struggled and continued to struggle to understand and participate in their own medical care,” said Smit. “The verdict [of the Gerena case] will hopefully spur medical providers into ensuring in the fu-ture that effective communication with deaf pa-tients who communicate primarily in American Sign Language takes place. Further, the verdict should educate and wake up other public accom-modations such as lawyers and hospitals about their obligations.”

no matter that it was in a small school in the American South – the experience struck him heav-ily and he knew that he would not have any hesitations about doing it again.

Becoming a Film-makerAfter relocating to Fishers,

Indiana to be close to his fam-ily, Mark was teaching at the In-diana School for the Deaf when he was asked to direct a school play. Meeting the challenge head-on in a large metropolitan environment, Mark directed “Any Number Can Die”, which was a smashing success in the spring of 2005 and followed it up with “Flowers in the Dark” the next year.

In the spring of 2006, Wood made a decision that would change his life, forever. He made the easy decision to go ahead and risk a significant sum of his life’s savings in making a movie for the Deaf Community – a very small niche worldwide. It was more of a personal quest that Wood want to accomplish.

Filming “Forget Me Not” was an experience Wood states as “opening the way” for a more permanent facet of his life – that of a movie-maker. The cast was a bunch of unknowns, the locales were in the immediate vicinity of his home and the most expensive part of the bud-get went into the cabin used for the last half of the film.

The success of “Forget Me Not” made Wood a hot com-modity in the Deaf Commu-nity. Viewers flocked to watch the film, hungry fans across the world belonged him with de-mands for the film and this was a newfound area he wasn’t ac-customed to.

“The film gave me much more access to individuals and corporations with strong finan-cial sponsor bases” Wood says “It also got him in touch with many people from all walks of life offering congratulatory e-mails or requests to be put into my next film.” He says with a laugh.

“Big Money” Film“Wrong Game” was done

on a higher budget in Flint, Michigan. The cast was a vir-tual Who’s Who of American Deaf Acting – Bernard Bragg, Andy Vasnick and Willy Con-ley were but a few of the promi-nent names. The experience he had with them was astound-ing – he was dealing with ex-perienced actors who also gave him high marks for profession-alism and his skill in directing the film.

“Wrong Game” followed in the footsteps of “Forget Me Not,” and became a much in demand film among the com-munity. The “whodunit” was entirely written by Wood, and the experience taught him to become a more detailed and fo-cused scriptwriter.

The success of both films enabled him to reach a large sponsorship deal with Sprint to sponsor his third film, “The Legend of the Mountain Man” with the highest budget to date – production costs are very ex-pensive and what he received helped meet every expense in-volved in the filming. Currently being shown across the country and beyond, “The Legend of the Mountain Man” is a spectacu-lar piece of filmography.

More Goals to Accomplish

ASL Films, with its trade-mark logo harkening back to-wards the golden age of films – the 40’s and 50’s, has a goal. Wood says “The objective now is to establish a studio here in Indiana, where we can have a warehouse to handle the ship-ping of DVDs and related in-ventories, as well as make two to three different films a year.”

DVD sales expect to happen within the next year or two and Wood says demand is very high for his films, a win-win situa-tion. He also encourages others to follow their dreams as it is very convenient to make films, given that the internet and digi-tal cameras have cut down the expenses involved in filmmak-ing a huge deal. Certainly words of wisdom from Deaf America’s most talented filmmaker.

For scheduling – please look into www.ASLfilms.com and follow instructions therein for contacting information.

Who they serveReal estate is something

that many can do, but very few are Deaf, which qualifies them to help the Deaf community. The trio caters to the Frederick, Maryland community. “There are a lot of deaf people here,” Meehan said with her daughter interpreting.

Meehan said that there is construction going on at the Maryland School for the Deaf, located in Frederick. Meehan is confident that it will bring more people to Frederick for their new business. “People, es-

pecially in the Deaf communi-ty, do not know where to start when buying a home. They want a home, but don’t know how to begin,” Meehan said. “It is exciting to help them get a home of their own.”

Team PlayersMeehan says that it is nice

to work as a team. “I can’t imagine working alone,” she says. “In case one of us is out of town, there is someone to help our clients.” Jennifer is the team leader and serves as an in-terpreter for the company. The team “bridges the communi-cation gap.” The company has

both signers and interpreters. This combination often makes the Deaf community feel very at ease with doing business. Elizabeth focuses on real es-tate investments and Jennifer looks forward to working with younger clients, such as those buying their first home.

Jennifer Kalis, Ann Meehan, and Elizabeth Kalis-McGuire have formed Kamela and Com-pany in Frederick, Maryland. Ann and Elizabeth, both of whom are deaf, have teamed with Jennifer as an interpreter to establish this real estate firm that caters to the deaf commu-nity.

Kamela, continued from page 15

Award, continued from page 5

Hutto, continued from page 3

ASL Films, continued from page 15


food&HeaLtH

Adrienne ParsonsSIGNews Staff Writer

The Wii-Fit is now the ‘craze’ among millions of people in this country. Many had stood in lines on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. I know for sure because I was one of them. My girlfriend was also standing in the line at a local drug store while I was freezing my feet off

at Sam’s Club. All just for Wii-Fit.

Wii-Fit is a board where one can actually treat it as a scale, a exercising machine and a fun tool to play games on. You would need a console to be in sync with the board.

Lulu, who stood in a line at the local drug store, got hers also and we both decided to give the product a review. She

said, “I never enjoyed running, but with this, I sure enjoyed running with my fellow Miis!” Speaking of Mii, it’s an avatar of yourself, designed by you. It’s adorable to see a cartoon repre-senting yourself.

After hearing Lulu rave, I excitedly stood on mine and cringed when I saw my Body Mass Index go into the “Obese” level and saw that my Mii get fat on the spot. It’s a “slap-in-the face” fact that I am not taking care of myself.

I went on to begin my fit-ness reigme and tried the yoga and strength training. I discov-ered some faults with the Wii-Fit. Whenever my head is not in a position to see the television, I found myself struggling with staying within a circle to “bal-ance” myself because I could not see.

Lulu agreed with me, saying that she could not see the tele-vision that was telling her in-structions while she was trying

to do some push-ups. But we found so many pos-

itives with Wii-Fit that could beneift many deaf and hard of hearing persons who owns one. Everything on Wii-Fit is already open-captioned!

We both have Wii trainers to guide us with movements and more, they would talk us through details, such as how to do a “Tree” position in yoga, by describing what we’d need to do - all in open-captioning!

With the balance games, it was all self-explanatory. With aerobics, we were able to dance,

following other Miis’ steps and instructions.

I never thought I’d under-stand yoga in my life, no offense to Lila Lolling above, but with this, I finally understood how cleansing a deep breath could be.

To this day, ever since Black Friday, I have lost seven pounds. Slow, yes, but it’s all in fun and entertainment. That’d help me get ready for a couple of wed-dings in 2009!

I give this a rating of four stars out of five. I recommend any Wii users to buy Wii-Fit!

Happy 2009 to you. Wow, can it actually be 2009? It seems as though time passes so quickly these days. With the conclusion of a passing year and the birth of a new, we all find time to reflect on our life. We spend time reviewing the past and dreaming of new hopes for the future. We set New Year’s Resolutions in the hopes of creating a year filled with prosperity, health and happi-ness.

But what is the New Year to bring? How do you step out of our old habits and into the life that we truly would love to create?

The first step is to let go of any attachments. Attach-ments can be to things, people, ways of thinking or ways of identifying with yourself. Let’s think about this for a moment. Say that you have an attachment to something very special to you, your favorite clothing item or even your beloved one. What happens if that person or item is no longer in existence? What emotions pop up? An-ger? Frustration? Sorrow? Sadness?

All too often, our attachments lead us to a state of suffering. Whether the emotion is sadness, frustration, anger or a slew of other emotions, ou will notice that they create a sense of suffering. According to Yoga phi-

losophy, all attachments lead to suffering. ALL of them.As you go about establishing your new year and new

you, be sure to also include room in your life to let go of your attachments. First, notice what attachments you have in your life. Make a list of them. Ask your Self,

“what are my attachments?” As always, be willing to be honest with yourself and truly listen and observe what comes up.

Once you have your list, begin to let go of these at-tachments. One by one. If you have an attachment to a specific item, try giving that item to someone in need. If your attachment is to your own identity (who you are), try adventuring into something new in your life to show you are more than you think. If your attachment is to a person, begin giving that person space to freely ex-press his/her own being. Honor that person in the pres-ent moment, for exactly who they are, and remember, no one owns anything—especially other people.

Yoga philosophy teaches us that the only permanent thing in your life is your beautiful Divine Soul, which is exactly perfect in this very moment. Begin to shift your awareness from your outside world of attachments to your own Divine Light. Become dedicated to unveil-ing this priceless power that resides within you. Uncov-er the totality of your essence? Enjoy a life of inner peace and happiness. May 2009 be a year dedicated to your Essence and may the universe continue to guide you and bless you.

YOGA with Lila

by Lila Lolling

New Year, New You? Letting Go of Attachments

Wii-Fit Deaf-Friendly?

The Wii-Fit board that people can stand on to play and exercise.

Wii-Fit will measure your Body Mass Index along with your weight, by just standing on the board.


Correction & ClarificationIn December 2008 issue, Gallaudet Begins New President Search, writ-

ten by Erick Posner, Jane Fernandes’ middle name was identified as Kennedy, while it was supposed to be Kelleher.

SIGNews apologizes for anyinconvenience this may cause.

Performing Art Troupe for their role in building bridges of understandings among the peoples of the world and in strengthening the depth and breadth of U.S. and China re-lations.”

In addition to Clinton’s words, Gore said, “After the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we too will be remembered not for vic-tories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our con-tribution to the human spirit. These performers share a tre-mendous human spirit. Their artistry has inspired millions of Chinese people and now promises to do the same here in the United States.”

Receiving Raves CDPPAT is best known for “My Dream,” a professional art group created in 2000 that presents different types of performances including music, dance, and opera in conjunction with representations of

the Chinese and Eastern customs. The production of “My Dream” was shown in the closing ceremonies of the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, and at the Cultural Festival of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

For the 2008 Olympic Games, classical pieces such as “Avalokitesvara Bodhisatt-va,” “The Happy Life on Farm-land,” “Dancing and Listen-ing,” “Kite Flying,” and “The Code of Life” were adapted in the production. “Avalokites-vara Bodhisattva” was vot-ed as the best dance perfor-mance by Chinese television audiences.

The Avalokitesvara Bo-dhisattva (“Buddha-to-be”) with “a thousand arms and

eyes” is known as the most popular Buddhist deity in the Eastern culture, and the Buddhists view the deity as the embodiment of compas-sion and mercy. In the dance, “Avalokitesvara Bodhisatt-va,” 21 deaf and hard of hear-ing performers were arranged on a lotus-shape stage, us-ing various hand postures and spellbinding body move-ments to form “a thousand arms” to represent the deity and provide their interpreta-tion of his kindness. To watch a clip of “Avalokitesvara Bo-dhisattva” on YouTube, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Dsd9H1wTE.

For more information on CDPPAT, visit www.my-dream.org.cn.

CDPPAT, continued on page 21

“From the early feedback we are re-ceiving rave reviews!” exclaims Law-son.

Always Has Room for Improvement

Lawson hopes to improve the DVD for next year, not for the competition, but to update the information. “Be-cause this is a recruiter’s presentation DVD, we must change it every year as recruiters visit some of the same

schools yearly and want to present a new DVD during each visit. The mes-sages will be similar year to year but the design will change” Lawson said.

When asked about what element of NTID’s DVD were popular with the people. Charmichael said, “We can’t point to any particular element as be-ing a favorite with everyone, but, in general, I would say that people like to see what current students and par-ents have to say about their experienc-es here at RIT/NTID. It puts a human face on the university.”

Recruitment, continued on page 19

groundbreaking ceremony. The OSDAA members are very proud of their organization and hope that the community center will show the community the dedication and hard work of their organization.

Features Galore Mr. Huebner said that the long-

hoped-for community center will consist of an exhibit hall, a theater that can seat 230 people, a museum, and will also house the OSDAA ad-ministrative offices.

The exhibit hall, which can hold a thousand people or seventy booths, can be used for exhibit shows or dinner events.

The 230-seat theater will be de-signed to meet deaf people’s needs. There will be monitors on stage and behind the stage, vibration under each seat so that the audience can “feel” the activity on the stage, am-plified equipment for hard-of-hear-ing people. Mr. Huebner said that the “theater can be used for plays, lectures, movies, workshops, wed-dings, education, etc.”

The museum, containing ar-chives, will be able to show the long

and rich history of deaf people.

Millions Invested According to Mr. Huebner, the

OSDAA has invested $5.6 million dollars for the creation of this com-munity project. They found the funding for this center in several ways. One method was by selling some unused land that OSDAA had owned for over one hundred years. They also received money from those people who had included OSDAA in their wills. Mr. Huebner said that the current board has worked very hard at fundraising events, such as the annual Columbus Colony’s Fall Festival, bingo, and raffles.

If anyone would like to make do-nations, they can send it to the OS-DAA office located at 901 Sunbury Road, Westerville, Ohio 43081.

Mr. Huebner said the contractor has scheduled the building’s com-pletion for August 2009, but that OSDAA expects the grand opening of this community center to take place in September 2009, during Columbus Colony’s 2009 Fall Festi-val. OSDAA says everyone is wel-come to attend to witness the grand opening.

OSDAA, continued on page 5

For the past 21 years, the troupe has inspired many people.

Keep the letters coming!Send your comments or information to: [email protected] mail to: SIGNews, 102 N. Krohn Place, Sioux Falls, SD 57103


Games

Unscramble thesefive Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form

five ordinary words.

Now arrange the circled letters to form the

surprise answers, assuggested by the above

hint.

ACROSS

1 Exist 4 Fencing sword8 Mark12 Vice13 Facts14 By way of (informal) 15 Location of next DSA conference (two words) 17 Destroy18 Chem. suffix 19 Rev. Gallaudet21 He (Ital.) 24 Boy’s name 26 Domain28 Perils32 Information Networking Institute (abbr) 33 Revise35 River36 Part of CID38 First AAAD city40 Sea duck 42 Italian family43 Part of GUAA46 Poem48 Speech defect49 Site of Virginia School for the Deaf54 Pare55 Other (Sp.) 56 Lerner (AAAD Basketball Tournaments) 57 Positive 58 Supt. Tiffany’s school 59 Boy’s name

DOWN

1 One method of TC2 Narrow inlet3 Naval officer (abbr) 4 Paradise5 Blackberry or Sidekick 6 Greek letter7 Gil (Gallaudet drama professor) 8 Robust9 Pal 10 Solo melody11 Hurries16 1990 USDSSA convention site20 Japanese car21 Malzkhun (deaf writer) 22 Autry (cowboy) 23 Reclined25 Girl’s name27 County in northern Calif. 29 Makes a mistake30 Tumult31 Loudness unit34 Part of MSG (NY) 37 Phila. University 39 Sharp41 Loud sounds43 Mountains44 Place45 Employer47 A pair50 Device used by the Deaf for communication51 Metal 52 Site of 1996 NAD convention (abbr) 53 Exec. Director Bloch’s org’n

SIGNews Puzzle Edited by Jimmy Stern

BarackBaulischBavisterBrunelleCommersonCorleyCrossenCrumDoudtElliottGerenaGlassmanHuebnerHuttoIndiana

KamelaLorchMackoNoblePrideRichardsRidenourRollvenSchultzSnyderSuttonVardonWilliamsWoodZeigler

Sudoku by www.SudokuCentral.com

Answers on Page 30

KRECLIDEf

signeWS JUMBLE

NIESHEC

tENIVS

SEoRNa

DaRWaWord search


Humor

Dinosaurs are Not a Lion, They Stink!

All the Krafty kids have their own unique twists on ASL. Their language abilities are ever-changing, depending on how old they are, how much time they spend with us and other deaf peo-ple, and their own individual talents with ASL. It’s fun to see ASL features pop out spontaneously such as classifiers: (Luke) “I JUMP-UP WHOOSH (air-go-by-me) I CRASH DOWN, I OK”; collo-quial ASL: (Natalie), “TRUE BIZ...;” performance ASL: Calvin taking command of the Camp La-kodia stage during last year’s ASL festival, utter-ly comfortable signing in front of an audience of deaf people, leading the fingerspelling Olym-pics segment (which Tessa won by fingerspelling the ABC backwards); and playing-with-ASL: say-ing the bedtime prayer with Tessa by duo-signing “Now I lay me down to sleep.” Try it with your kids; it’s special!

Of course every signing kid has their own unique style and like any other parents we cele-brate each language milestone! But our funny KO-DAs, living in both the English and ASL worlds do manage some strange utterances by combin-ing their two languages. The Krafty Kids have ex-pressed a few goodies lately that I’d like to share!

We saw the latest Indiana Jones movie and for a while Tessa was concerned about the NEW HAIR BOMBS. Calvin made a few CHOKES about it until we got him to stop terrorizing his siblings! The movie must have really impressed the kids be-cause they are still playing Indiana Jones, creating SECRET COATS, saying they are happy for their JACKET to be alive and HEALTH means noth-ing to them. They hide Calvin’s WALL or make treasure out of POTATO and run around, playing secret agents. If we ask them what they are doing, Luke will say, NEVER MINE.

My kids love Clam Chower when it is cold out and Pizza HOT any time! We love going to Farm

Dinosaurs, continued on page 28


TV Caption Bloopers

HOW DID SUCH A SMALL GROUP REEK (wreak) SO MUCH HAVOC YOU CAN FEEL THE COLDER CARE (air)COMING IN YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FLIGHT (plight) OF ANIMAL SHELTERS I WOULDN’T BE SPLICED (surprised) IF WENEVER FIND OUT DON’T BE FUELED (fooled) WITH THAT YOU SHOULD NOT VIOLET (violate) THENOISE ORDINANCE

by Shirley Glassman

(

(

(

(

(

(

SIGNews is seeking deaf and hard of hearing

CaRtooNIStS for a national monthly newspaper.

Punctuality is mandatory. Rates for cartoons are negotiable. for more

information, email SIGNews at [email protected]

and Know, are thrilled when we FINE have GUESS here to play MANY APPLE, and I PROB-LEM should stop now before I go too far!

But I must tell one last sto-ry so you can make sense out of the title: Luke got a dino-saur “tattoo” on the back of his hand one day. The next morn-ing, I saw he had rubbed the de-tails away, leaving a black mark

on his hand. I said to him, “Did you kill the dinosaur?” Smugly, he replied, “Dinosaurs are not A LION, THEY STINK!” (Di-nosaurs are not alive, they’re extinct.)

Other interpretations to the phonetic signing: nucle-ar bombs, jokes, secret codes, chance to be alive, wealth, Cal-vin’s wallet, play dough, nev-er mind, clam chowder, Pizza Hut, Barnes and Noble, finally, guests, monopoly, probably.

Dinosaurs, continued from page 27


opinion

Writers Filmmakers Inventors

Do you have a book, movie or product you

want SIGNews to review? E-mail [email protected]

for more information

This was overlooked in my last column, but I’d like to offer belated congratulations to Travis Dougherty, who was chosen as one of the ten applicants out of hun-dreds to intern on “The Late Show with David Letter-man.” You might think, everyone interns all the time, so what’s the big deal? For Mr. Dougherty, this repre-sents a real opportunity to learn the high-voltage world of national television and network. He will be working in the research department, starting this month. You go, Travis, and make sure Mr. Letterman’s facts are all correct when he does his opening monologues!

There’s a new deaf theater company in the Twin Cit-ies! The producer Andrew Oehrlein has set up Deaf Blender Company (deafblender.org) with the goal of working with both deaf signers and hearing people in a variety of production. (Yes, it’s true they will pre-miere my show “Un: 2 short plays about love” [the one-acts begin with “un” as in “Unconditional Murder” and “Unhappily Ever After”] this February, but they’ll be producing and performing works by other people. The show, which Evonne Bilotta-Burke is directing, opens on February 19th.)

And yes, there’s something else that people should really look out for: John Lee Clark’s chapbook Sud-denly Slow: Poems (Handtype Press) is an amazing col-lection that explores what it means to be a Deaf-Blind person, and no, it’s not one of those cutesy Hallmark books. It really does give a sense of what it’s like to be Deaf-Blind, but often with humor and without pathos. If that wasn’t enough, Mr. Clark’s definitive anthology Deaf American Poetry is coming out from Gallaudet University Press this spring!

May 2009 be a year of new artistic and entertain-ment discoveries for all.

OFF THE RED CARPET

Raymond LuczakSIGNews columnist

RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPET RED CARPETRaymond Luczak

Jennifer Dans-Willey SIGNews staff writer

“Congratulations!!! $1.4 mil-lion for you from Texas Lottery! Reply ASAP!!!” was the sub-ject line I received in my Gmail. I studied that e-mail. The first paragraph said, “We are pleased to announce your e-mail address as one of the 200 lucky winners in the Texas Lotto draw held on the 30th of November 2008. All 200 winning addresses were ran-domly selected from a bath of 100,000,000 (ONE HUNDRED MILLION) international e-mails addresses.”

I had to sit back and study that e-mail again. It was too good to be true. I decided at that mo-ment that I am going to be a vic-tim of a scam. I wanted to inves-tigate. I wanted to know how it all worked. I wanted to explore how I felt when I was ‘expecting’ a check and all that.

That e-mail got the best of me. I strangely had this whirlwind feeling; I was expecting a check of $1.4 million. With that mon-ey I’d definitely pay off my mort-gage and put in a college fund for my children! I read that e-mail again. It said, “The Texas Lottery is proudly sponsored by the Mi-crosoft Corporation, Coca Cola, Nokia, MTN, the Intel Group, Toyota, Toshiba, and fully sup-ported by United Nations.” My heart was pounding but this head of mine start taking over, “Jenni-fer, you work at SIGNews, you owe this to yourself to do this project for your community – check this out.”

Back and Forth Communications

I sent back an e-mail with one line, “How is it possible?” Sure enough, a Dr. Grace Williams re-sponded with, “Dear Lucky Win-ner Willey. Good to read from you. Your email is lucky to be among the 200 lucky e-mails se-lected by the Texas Lottery. All the 200 winning e-mail address-

es were randomly selected from a batch of 10,000,000 (TEN MIL-LION) e-mails addresses all over the world. And your e-mail ad-dress made you to be among the lucky winners. This Lottery Pro-gram is real and approved by Unit-ed States And United Nations and it totally real and legal, which you will 100% have the funds in your hands. Sum of USD $1.4 Million check will be issue out in your fa-vor. As soon as you get back to me with your information.”

English, anyone? This woman claims she’s a Doctor. Dr. Grace Williams. The first few mistakes I noticed quickly was that the first e-mail said 100,000,000 e-mails, now this one said 10,000,0000. A missing zero was obvious. I want-ed to get this a bit further. I de-cided to respond with my name, address, age, sex, country, and phone number. All I cared was that there was no request for my social security number, along with my birthday. I was okay with that. Of course, I asked questions with that information. I respond-ed with, “Information filled be-low – now, I am not the one to be scammed – and if I am – quite a lot of things can really happen.”

A minor threat sent back – with a clear message that I am NOT to be scammed. Period. Then I put in four questions that I wanted to be answered. Where is the money coming from? How is it possible that a fund has been established to make this real? I never heard of this system before. Care to ex-plain? How did my e-mail get into the system? When do I expect the check to get to me?

More Assurances…Again, Dr. Williams sent back

an email addressing me once again, ‘Lucky Winner Jennifer Willey’ this time.

She continued, “Good to read back from you once again your e-mail message was read and the content in was well noted and Un-derstood by me. I will like you to know that This Lottery Program was established and sponsor by US Government & United Na-tions. (Cash Prize Was Donat-ed By US Government, United Nations, Microsoft Corporation Coca Cola, Nokia, Yahoo group, MSN group, MTN, the Intel Group, Toyota, Toshiba & Private and Individual Companies ETC.)

Am pleased to inform you of the result of the final draw of our Lottery Programs. The online cyber lotto draws was conduct-ed from an exclusive list of over 100,000,000 (ONE HUNDRED MILLION) e-mails addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by Advanced Automated Random Computer Search from the Internet. No tickets were sold. And your e-mail was selected as one of the 200 lucky winning e-mails. I would like you to know that your e-mail was lucky to be attached with the total prize of $1.04 Million.”

Consequently, you have there-fore been approved for a total pay-out of $1,040,000 USD (One mil-lion and forty thousand dollars only). I will be processing your winning prize for. This process-ing only take 2 days and the cer-tified check will be delivered to

Lottery Scams: An Investigative Report

Dr. Grace Williams sent her identification card to convince victims of her scam that she belongs to an actual lottery organization.

Scams, continued on page 30


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your by the courier service at your home address.” Dr. Grace Williams even sent her ID along with photo of herself, to assure that she belonged to the Texas Lottery Commission, Mega Millions people down in Texas.

The e-mail just became in-consistent. Now I just lost $360,000? It was $1.4 million, now it is $1.04 million? I went on Google to further my re-search. I learned a bit more and noticed something I did not notice before. Williams’ e-mail address was from yahoo.com, not the state e-mail ad-dress you would normally see on anything that belongs to ei-ther State or Federal agencies. I found Texas’ Lottery Com-mission and studied its logo. It matched Williams’ identi-fication card. The addresses matched between two of them. But the website never men-tioned about e-mail lottery, not even one word. This was when I went ahead and googled Wil-liams’ name and found her on a really long list of scammers.

Silent Treatment Ever Since I wrote back to Dr. Wil-

liams, “Grace, what is your website? I’d like to gather more

information on this – so that I can be more aware of your lot-tery system. I could only find the state of Texas’s actual lot-tery commission, and I am finding this a bit difficult to be-lieve. Your name was listed as a scam. Regards, Jennifer.”

Guess what? I never got a response to that e-mail. I guess she thought I was being too clever and stopped right there. This was on December 8th.

Beware of ScammersThe $1.4 million header in

the subject can really be at-tractive. For your information, I was tempted. I was attract-ed, because of course, with the United States declaring that it’s in recession, which $1.4 million definitely would have put us in great sense of comfort. Frank-ly, I was disappointed that I wouldn’t see that amount of money in my mailbox anytime soon. That’s how I felt after see-ing that I have not received any response.

In my entire life, I have nev-er been scammed like this, but I am glad I got to experience the whole thing, because I was able to do this for the readers of SIGNews. Just don’t go further, ask many questions you need to know the answers to, you’ll find yourself safer.

Scams, continued from page 29meant to be one of your kids,” Frost said on the show.

Suggestions for the Baulisch familyFrost suggested that the family learn

sign language, which resulted in Mr. Bau-lisch teaching the kids sign language through games. Frost also suggested that there be consistent bedtime to reduce the bedtime chaos that the family experi-enced. Also, she suggested that the par-ents take on the role of being the parents instead of relying upon Melissa.

During the course of the show, there was a sign language interpreter. There were also sign language conversations amongst the family members. Mrs. Bau-lisch has reported recently that the visit by Jo Frost was very beneficial to the fam-ily. “We all get along and we’re a family,” she said in a recent e-mail.

SuperNanny, continued from page 19

municate. DBC promotes, along with the Deaf com-munity, that deaf children who grow up with access to ASL from the very be-ginning, with both parents who embraces the learn-ing of ASL, and who at-tended Deaf Schools, will also ‘grow up as part of the hearing world.’ These chil-dren acquire a language that is visual, but also gain access to both their fami-ly’s culture and the culture of the Deaf community that comes with ASL.

American Sign Lan-guage has a rich heritage and those who embrace it

are bilingual. DBC’s goal is to educate the public so that those who are in po-sitions to influence parents and have a positive impact on Deaf babies’ lives will become aware that now is the time to build partner-ships with Deaf experts and Deaf professionals. “Without these partner-ships, how can we all be able to work for the better-ment of Deaf babies’ lives, including promoting their right to be bilingual?” said a letter written by DBC to protest Ms. Horton’s press release quote.

Any information about DBC can be found at www.dbcusa.org.

DBC, continued from page 3


Looking Forward to ChangeLooking back to 2008 made me think when I write this with passion. I realize

that I have been talking about so many different subjects in the Editorial section in the past year. I have ranted. I have praised. I have whined. I have celebrated. This month, with excitement coming up, especially with the new President coming in for the United States, I am extremely looking forward to change.

Changes, especially in the area of economy, will definitely be good. I look for-ward to what Barack Obama has to offer to United States. We need to stop the war in Iraq. We need to focus on this country’s defense instead of helping defend other countries. We need to stop spending $1 million per day for soliders to fight. We need to focus on our own economy. I am quite tired of paying more than 3 bucks for a gallon of milk. I am still miffed at the gas prices even it has gone way under $2.00 a gallon but we are still seeing our food bill increase. What the heck?

Enough of my rantings about hearing America’s economy dilemma. Time to fo-cus on what means to me the most. Deaf America. Believe me, Deaf America is defi-nitely impacted in an economic sense. We are seeing a decrease in our contributions to help our own people. We are seeing decrease in memberships to organizations. I just got an e-mail from National Association of the Deaf explaining about the econ-omy taking a big impact on the organization’s structure and salary payments. Deaf Seniors of America took a toll, not even long time ago, when their bank folded, tak-Seniors of America took a toll, not even long time ago, when their bank folded, tak-Seniors of America took a toll, not even long time ago, when their bank folded, taking away $170,000.

We are seeing a decrease in attendance towards social clubs, tournaments, con-ferences, and more because of the gas costs. We are seeing a decrease in donations because each one of us would need every dollar to support ourselves.

That’s okay. We are in recession. That’s to be expected. Of course, we need to keep our Deaf children in mind. Our future is in our Deaf children. They need our support the most. We need to keep Deaf America as much alive as we are today in order to have Deaf America open its doors to our Deaf children.

We would need to help those organization stay afloat - contribute as much you can. Figure this. Ten dollars contribution a month equals $120 a year times 100 peo-ple would result in $12,000 overall. That’s definitely a big return.

Think about it. What can you do for Deaf America? Give back to the commu-nity that has given so much for you. It’s time to return the favor. It’s 2009. It’s time for C-H-A-N-G-E.

Obituaries

What Do You Like About SIGNews?Send your comments or

information to: EditorSIGNews, 102 N. Krohn Place,

Sioux falls, SD 57103

John R. Lopez, 1940-2008 John Ramirez Lopez, a long time resident of Arling-

ton, Virginia, died on Aug. 20, in Columbus, Ohio. Lopez was born in Nogales, Ariz., on June 24, 1940 to Rober-to and Isabel Ramirez Lopez. The youngest of three chil-dren, Lopez attended the Arizona School for the Deaf and received his bachelor’s degree from Gallaudet College in 1966. He went on to work in multiple capacities in differ-ent states. During the last years of his career, he worked

at the Policy Office at the White House during President Clinton’s Adminis-tration. he leaves behind a daughter, Olga L. Monagas of Chicago, a brother, Robert Quihuis of Tuscon, Ariz., along cousins, nieces, nephews and numer-ous family members and friends near and far. Burial was on Dec. 6 in Fair-fax, Va. Memorial Service took place on Dec. 6 at Ole Jim Piekoff Alumni House at Gallaudet University.

Dr. Michael “Mike” Kemp, 2008 Dr. Michael “Mike” Kemp chose to go to the heaven

on Nov. 24. He was a resident of Maryland and Virginia for over 35 years. Kemp was a full Professor in the De-partment of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University. He taught ASL for 35 years and had been teaching visual gestural communication and sign language teacher training throughout the United States and the world in places such as South and Central Amer-

ica, Southeast Asia, Japan, Middle East, the Caribbean islands, Canada, and Europe for 26 years. Kemp was the owner of Kemp-Visual Communications and was a graduate from Gallaudet University with BA in Sociology, Mc-Daniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) with M.Ed. in Deaf Education. He leaves behind his wife, Joan and his children, William, Jen-nifer and Jamie.

Ila Mae Windham, 1939-2008 Ila Mae Windham passed away on November 28. She was 69. She was

born in Center, Texas, to Caswell and Willie Mae Windham. She attend-ed Texas School for the Deaf from 1953 to 1959. A resident at Deaf/Blind apartment complex in Austin, Texas, she regularly attended Jesus Luther-an Church for the Deaf to worship and host fellowship and dinners. Visita-tion was on December 7th. A funeral service was conducted by Pastor Mark Seeger of Jesus Lutheran Church for the Deaf at Watson and Sons Funeral Home in Center on December 8th. A memorial service will be held at Aus-tin at a later date to be announced.

Alexander “Alex” J. Jankowski, 2008 Alexander “Alex” J. Jankowski passed away on Decem-

ber 17. He was 89. He attended Michigan School for the Deaf and was an active member and held offices in sever-al organizations including the Detroit Association of the Deaf, the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf, the Lu-theran Church for the Deaf and the Deaf Service Center in Florida. He owned a shoe repair business for several years before he sold the business and worked for Big Bea-

ver Precision Co, manufacturing parts for airplanes until his retirement. He was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Katherine (Irene) F. Jankowski and brothers Roman, Edward and Richard. He is survived by his daughter, Kathy; Karen Goss; grandson, Vitali, brother Joe and sister Helen and oth-er family members and many friends. With passion for dogs, after taking in many homeless dogs, a tribute can be contributed in his memory to Best Friends Animal Society, 5001 Angel Canyon Road, Kanab, Utah, 84741.

editorial


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CSD-TV Interviews –Face to FaceDaughters of Frederick Shreiber After the unveiling of artwork honoring their late father, CSD-TV spentsome time with the daughters of Frederick Schreiber, who discussedtheir father’s groundbreaking work as a deaf leader and his legacy inthe deaf community.Now Showing!

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SIGNews January '09

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