Carl, it occurs to me that you might be interested in this. I recently
began scanning a book for Bookshare called The Protected by Rowena
Portch. I had no idea what this book was about before I began scanning
it. It turns out that the main character is a blind woman who lives on
the Olympic Peninsula.
On 10/26/2016 2:23 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
While I've always voted for Patty Murray, even when she does stuff I
wish she didn't do, nonetheless I am getting cranky over some of the
piles of begging letters. Senator Murray begins by telling me(she
calls me by my first name!) that she just loves hearing stories about
why folks love living in Washington State. Then she turns to me and
begins begging for money. The rest of her email is a long laundry
list on how to give, where to send it and on and on and on.
But hey! I went back to that short little sentence at the top of her
email, and I found her return address, and I wrote her an answer.
Just in case she doesn't put it on the National News, here is what I
wrote:
Dear Senator Murray,
Well, since I'm unable to send money to support your re-election, I
will send you a response regarding why I would live nowhere else than
in this glorious part of Planet Earth.
Of course being born in Spokane in 1935 does have lots to do with my
bias. But most of my life has been on the Western slopes and most
recently here on the great Olympic Peninsula. My wife, Cathy and I
provide services to older low vision and blind people. This free
service is through money provided by the Department of Education, sent
to the Department of Services for the Blind, and contracted to the
University of Washington, with whom we contract. We've been doing
this for almost 22 years, serving around 3,000 persons. Currently we
cover Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties, and Gig Harbor. This is
down sized from having also included Mason and Grays Harbor for many
years. But age takes some accommodating. Besides being totally
blind, I am well into my 81st year. Cathy and I are rehabilitation
teachers, and have both worked at the Department of Services for the
Blind, for years prior to my early retirement and a move to the
Peninsula.
So, with that short introduction, I will tell you that we have always
supported you and others like you. If we had our way, we'd clone you
at least another 80 or 90 times, and put you all in Congress.
The thing that is even more glorious than our amazing scenery, we live
on ten acres near the Olympic National Forest, are the people. Our
work brings us close to folks who have been solid citizens their
entire lives. They are folks who mostly brought us through a Great
Depression, a World War and Rock and Roll. These men and women have
not only done the work of keeping America strong, they have put up
their tax dollars year after year to ensure our nation had the
wherewithal to provide support to all citizens. Sadly, we seem to be
looking at a period in time where some citizens feel that they are
special and above all others. They have manipulated our laws to make
certain that their Greed is satisfied...and may the rest of us be
damned.
I know that putting the Ship of State back on an even keel is far more
than one Senator can be expected to do, but if you have any clout at
all in our nation's social services, please do what you can to
increase the support to the older blind and low vision folks. This
population is growing rapidly. Yet the level of services, never even
close to enough, is falling further behind with each bomb we sell off
to our "allies". Senator Murray, how can we claim to be "defending
our shores" when we are allowing our people to slowly fall into
poverty?
My wife and I provide a free service, even dipping into our own
pockets to do what we can to ensure that folks are able to maintain
their independence.
Again, thank you for doing the job you do, Senator Murray.
Carl Jarvis, Director
Peninsula Rehabilitation Services
2510 Snow Creek Road
Quilcene, WA 98376
Phone: 360-765-4239
email: carjar82@xxxxxxxxx
