by Dave Seanor, Golf Examiner

(Part 5 of a multi-part series.)
Durham, N.C. – David Paterson, the accidental governor of New York, is African-American and legally blind. He once told the New York Times that during his lifetime he has suffered more discrimination because of his disability than the color of his skin.

“Internally, I probably felt myself more discriminated against as a disabled person,” Mr. Paterson said in 2006, when he was lieutenant governor to Elliot Spitzer, who resigned last March after being ensnared in a prostitution ring. “And when I would experience discrimination from another African-American I would go ballistic. I thought black people were supposed to understand.”

Professional golfer Kevin Hall is deaf and African-American. He can empathize with Gov. Paterson, to a point.

“Not nearly as bad, but I’ve had a few experiences,” Hall says. “I remember two kids teasing me because I couldn’t hear anything they were saying. I remember a girl telling me she couldn’t go out with me because I was black and her parents wouldn’t like it.

“I remember being put in a bad tee time with kids who had no business playing in the golf tournament, because I was deaf and black. It took us 7 hours to complete our round – with a threesome! I finished 2nd in the tournament.

“Those things happen,” Hall says. “That’s just the way it is.”

If Hall still suffers episodes of discrimination, none has been evident during First Stage of PGA Tour Q-School at Treyburn Country Club. True, there’s only a smattering of spectators on the course, mostly players’ families and friends. As for his fellow competitors, they tend to go out of their way to accommodate Hall’s disability.

When he hits a good shot, as he did frequently during a third-round, 1-under-par 71 that moved him into a tie for 45th place, the other players in his group often make sure they’re in his field of vision so he can see their thumbs-up signals. If in Round 4 Hall succeeds in making up the five-shot deficit that separates him from the top 25, Hall will experience no shortage of congratulations for advancing to Second Stage.

Andrew Ruthkowski and Neal Grusczynski will be among the first to text-message a “well done” to Hall.

“I respect what he’s accomplished, because I compete against him all the time,” says Ruthkowski, a friend of Hall’s from college golf and the Hooters Tour.

“To know his story and what he’s been through . . . I see Kevin for who he is,” Ruthkowski says. “Most of the time I forget he’s deaf. A lot of times I’ll catch myself talking to him, but I have to throw something at him to get his attention.”

Ruthkowski and Grusczynski have been Hall’s running mates for the last two years on the Hooters Tours. Hall met them at college tournaments; Hall played for Ohio State, Grusczynski for Xavier University and Ruthkowski for Michigan State. They often play practice rounds together, go out for dinner and sometimes sample the nightlife at Hooters stops.

Indeed, Hall has gained a reputation as the ideal “wing man” at bars because he’s fearless when it comes to approaching women. The three friends often joke about the time in Orlando when a girl refused to believe Hall was deaf, insisting to the point of anger that the trio was engaged in an elaborate pick-up scheme.

“Kevin and I talk about everything, and I don’t do that with a lot of people,” Grusczynski says. “He’s easy to confide in.

“It’s kind of weird how our relationship his built over the years. We’ve gotten to the point where we mess with each other pretty hard core.”

Like Barack Obama’s candidacy for President, Hall’s close friendship with two white guys can be taken as evidence that more prejudicial barriers seem to fall with each succeeding generation. Ditto for Hall’s willingness to forgive and forget.

Hall’s acceptance of “the way it is” doesn’t surprise Dr. Gregory Ernst, the executive director of the St. Rita School for the Deaf in Cincinnati, which Hall attended from age 5 through high school graduation. Ernst characterized Kevin as someone who refuses to allow external factors to impede his drive to succeed.

“When you had Kevin Hall in the classroom, it wasn’t Kevin Hall who is deaf, or Kevin Hall who is black. It was Kevin Hall who wants to learn,” Ernst says.

Which isn’t to say Hall is meek. “Of course I get angry,” Hall says of the occasional episodes of discrimination he has endured.

“Why do things have to happen to me because of my skin color and the fact I can’t hear?” Hall says. “Most of the time I just shrug it off and go do my thing, but I do remember one instance where I lost it.

“It was two kids teasing me because I was deaf. They were laughing at me and kind of poking at me with their fingers. I tried to stay calm and just kept playing a video game, but when one of them started shoving me, I’d had enough. We all got into a fight but I ran away after a few seconds – two on one, that didn’t bode well for me.”

Ernst acknowledges “as (Hall) widens the spectrum of his experience, he’s probably going to see some of that (discrimination).”

Percy Hall, Kevin’s father, says it hasn’t happened yet.

“No. And I’m serious,” says Percy, when told of Paterson’s comment and asked if he has witnessed similar dual discrimination toward his son. “I have not. I mean, we’ve been everywhere, in some really remote places. And no, never. Not with him. I don’t know whether (people) are intrigued with his ability to play or his personality or whatever. But no, no issues at all.”

If there were, Percy Hall would recognize them.

He grew up in Selma, Alabama, and was 19 in 1965, the year that rural crossroads made headlines as a flashpoint in the civil rights movement. As a youngster, Percy and his friends would take circuitous routes into town, avoiding certain neighborhoods where they were sure to encounter harassment. He was subject to Jim Crow laws, relegated to “colored-only” facilities. He saw cross burnings and was all too familiar with the infamous sheriff of Dallas County, James G. Clark.

Like so many of his generation, Percy Hall was incensed by the injustice. “I saw what was going on, and I wasn’t going to take it,” he says.

He participated in boycotts and sit-ins and recalls Malcolm X being a silent observer at one of the proceedings. He heard Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. give sermons in Selma churches. His eyes burned from tear gas at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. He was among the thousands who marched from Selma to Montgomery.

“I think society has changed an awful lot from that point in my lifetime,” Percy says. “Has it gotten better? Sure, it’s gotten better from where it was. But has it been eradicated? No, it hasn’t been eradicated because regardless of whether it’s a race thing, there’s going to be issues because of class.

“I still see it, but not with Kevin. I deal with stereotypes sometimes. People will see me (at a tournament), even blacks, and automatically ask, ‘How is your man doing?’ It depends on what mood I’m in, but I might say, ‘Why did you assume that I’m a caddie? I’m not caddying; I’m watching my son.”

What little bigotry or racism the Halls have experienced has been subtle. At one high school tournament, Kevin was listed as having the last name Woods. Percy was approached by a volunteer who asked, “Do you need a cart, Mr. Woods?”

In a USA Network segment during the 2006 Memorial Tournament, which Kevin played thanks to an invitation from fellow Ohio State alum Jack Nicklaus, it was noted – ironically, by an African-American announcer – that Kevin was the first person in his family to graduate from college.

“Wrong,” bristles Jackie Hall, Kevin’s mother, who earned a business degree from the University of Cincinnati as she was working her way up the corporate ladder at Ryder Transportation Systems.

If Kevin lights it up in the final round at First Stage, then manages to reach the Q-School finals and earn a PGA Tour card, he can expect a torrent of requests to discuss the meaning and impact of his accomplishment.

Which shouldn’t be a problem for someone who understands that’s just the way it is.

(Next: On to Second Stage, or back to the bushes?)

© 2008 Examiner.com.

By CHARLES LUSSIER
Advocate staff writer

The Louisiana School for the Deaf will reopen Wednesday, not Monday.
The state Department of Education closed the school Oct. 8, and had announced tentative plans to reopen the school Monday.

State Superintendent Paul Pastorek announced the two-day delay in reopening in a news release Friday, but the department began calling some families about the change in plans as early as Wednesday.

In another change, the school will reopen for all students, both day students and those residing at the school. Originally, the state was planning to bring back only day students initially.

“This is a very resilient school community, and although the temporary closing over the last few weeks has been difficult, we are confident that the work that has been done was necessary and will reduce the risk of harm to children and lead to a high-quality educational experience for all students,” Pastorek said.

The news release didn’t offer specific reasons for the two-day delay in reopening. Two phone messages left Friday with the department seeking comment were not returned.

Kaedra Arnold, grandmother of a student at the school, said she had a message left on her home phone Thursday that announced the change but didn’t explain why.

“I felt it was just because children were going to be off anyway on Election Day,” Arnold said, referring to the Nov. 4 presidential election, a day when some other public schools in Louisiana will be closed.

Pastorek ordered the school closed Oct. 8 after reports of a 16-year-old male student sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl on a bus chartered by the school. The male student was arrested on a count of aggravated rape in Franklin Parish Oct. 17.

Five people — three of them current or former employees of the school — were arrested between November 2007 and April for alleged sexual misconduct with juvenile students.

Since the school was closed, state officials have been providing limited home service for students. The state suspended that service Tuesday to allow the staff of the School for the Deaf to prepare for reopening, according to the news release.

Sarah Fall, whose daughter goes to the school, said her daughter managed to get only five hours of help before returning. Fall said she wishes the school would go ahead and open Monday rather than wait.

Arnold said her grandson, Trey, also received only two sessions of help, but she was more positive about the reopening.

“I’m excited about him going back because that’s what he wants, and he’s excited,” Arnold said.

Both Arnold and Fall live in the Gonzales area.

In the release, Pastorek promised that the reopened school will be not only safe but will strive for high quality.

“This was not a pleasant time for anyone,” Pastorek said, “but what we learned over the last few weeks has re-enforced our determination to build a world-class model for deaf education at (the school).”

© 2008, 2theadvocate.com, WBRZ, Louisiana Broadcasting LLC and The Advocate, Capital City Press LLC

By Louise Brain

A VITAL centre at the heart of the deaf community has received two boosts in its bid for a new roof.

The Deaf Centre, in Railway Road, Lynn, which provides a social and information base for deaf people in West Norfolk, needs £15,000 to £20,000 repairs to its rotting roof.

Norfolk County Services, which has just celebrated the 40th anniversary of deaf groundsman Keith Broadwater joining the company, has donated £500 to the fund.

On top of that the centre has been approved for a £5,698 grant from West Norfolk Council.

© 2008 Johnston Press Digital Publishing

Melanie Paul, of Hampton, is deaf and uses the Sorenson Video Relay Service to communicate.

By SHANNON HUMPHREY | 247-4795
October 31, 2008

After using the same bank for 25 years, Melanie Paul expected them to accept her call. Instead, they hung up.

"They said, 'I'm sorry we cannot accept these types of calls,'" Paul said, referring to an assisted phone service that many deaf people rely on to make calls. "Then I call back and tell them that I am deaf, and to please not hang up on me again."

The problem is a lack of knowledge when it comes to the Sorenson Video Relay Service, a communication service for the deaf community that has been around for four years.

The Sorenson VRS allows deaf people to communicate with each other one-on-one, as well as with the rest of the public through an operator. It is a free service, offered 24 hours every day, for deaf people.

Paul has not always been deaf, but due to a wrong diagnosis when she was 12 years old, she lost 90 percent of her hearing. Paul can read lips quite well.

"I would say 99 percent of deaf people use the Sorenson now, so there's a need for the public to be more aware of it. The public is still only used to the old way of communicating, the TTY, or telephone typewriter, where the person types out what they want to say," said Paul, who has used the Sorenson for more than two years. "Now, we have the Sorenson, which allows us to communicate much better with one another."

The system works through a remote and video phone that rely on an Internet connection and a TV. The deaf person dials the number on the remote, and then an operator comes on to direct the call. The operator and the deaf person can see each other. From there, the deaf person can sign what they want the operator to relay to the person on the other end of the phone. The system also allows two deaf people to communicate directly, by seeing each other on the screen and signing.

Any deaf person can request a Sorenson VRS by visiting www.sorensonvrs.com. After the device is hooked up, there is a short training session.

While the Sorenson VRS allows for better communication for deaf people, the problem is education.

"Agencies, companies and doctor's offices are not aware of the new system," said Paul, an outreach consultant with the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled. "When you call using the Sorenson, an '800' number pops up, which makes people think it's a telemarketer, so they hang up."

The "800" number isn't the only problem encountered by people using the Sorenson.

"If you can get someone to pick up and not hang up on you, then they hear the operator say, "This is the Sorenson Video Relay Service," and the person on the other end either becomes confused or just hangs up, because they don't know what is happening."

So what can be done to solve the problem? Paul believes more awareness and education about the new system and how it works is the answer.

"Many deaf people who are speech-impaired call just like everyone else, so we need to be understood, and that means understanding how the Sorenson works," said Paul, the first deaf person to graduate from the College of William and Mary with an advanced degree.

"I know it's frustrating for them too, when they answer the phone and there's a man telling them that a 'Melanie Paul' is calling. They just need to take the time to have it explained to them."

© 2008, Newport News, Va., Daily Press

Sidekick II ™ Signature Series, by Silent Call ® Communications of Waterford, MI, monitors doorbells, telephones, smoke detectors and fire alarms within 2,000 feet and alerts people with hearing problems there is a visitor, phone call, or danger.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 31, 2008 – WATERFORD, MICHIGAN – A unique product being introduced November 1, initially designed for people with hearing problems, as well as people who are Deaf and Deaf Blind. This product has broad and powerful applications for hotels, universities, senior living centers, cruise lines, and children of hard of hearing parents as well.

Introducing the Sidekick II ™ Signature Series, by Silent Call ® Communications of Waterford, MI, monitors doorbells, telephones, smoke detectors and fire alarms within 2,000 feet and alerts people with hearing problems that there is a visitor, phone call, or danger.

“This new generation of alerting systems is not only a life saver that offers security and assurance to people with hearing problems,” says George Elwell, President of Silent Call, “but the Sidekick II ™ Signature Series is also an important instrument to help hotels, universities, cruise lines, and senior living centers comply with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).”

By complying with the ADA, institutions and businesses are then able to reach out to the 30 million people in America who have a hearing loss. “One of our cruise line customers offers special cruises for people with hearing problems allowing them to target a market previously underserved, “ say Elwell.

The Sidekick II, which is to be used in conjunction with any Silent Call 418MHz transmitter, also has been a very popular tool for the expanding Baby Boomer generation committed to the care of aging parents with a hearing loss.

Another useful application is for home office use to prevent workers from being interrupted by the telephone or doorbell. Instead the worker receives a less intrusive visual or tactile alert that the doorbell or phone is ringing.

The Sidekick II also is a wonderful tool for sound sleeper because its built-in alarm can be connected to the sleeper’s mattress causing the bed to shake when the alarm goes off.

The Sidekick II Signature Series’ bright, flashing strobe and front indicator panel alerts users quickly to visitors, calls, and emergencies. If a fire or smoke alarm has a low battery, blocked path or malfunction Sidekick II notifies the user so corrective action can be taken. The monitor has a night dimming backlight display so it doesn’t interfere with sleep at night and provides alerts 24/7. “The Sidekick II can even be attached to a vibrating pad placed under the mattress to wake even the soundest sleeper,” says Elwell.

Elwell was motivated to start his business when he was trying to meet the needs of his brother-in-law who became permanently deaf at age two because of meningitis.

“One day I asked him how he would know if there was a fire in the house and he answered, ‘When I smell the smoke’,” explained Elwell. “That motivated me to create products that will produce flashing strobe lights and vibrations to alert deaf individuals to fire or smoke, a door bell or phone ringing and more. That was the beginning of SilentCall in 1987.”

In 2007 Silent Call celebrated its 20th anniversary of producing products that keep people with hearing problems safe and secure in their homes and workplace. Some devices even warn the deaf resident when someone is trying to gain access to their home.

All of Silent Call’s products carry a five year warranty. The photo cell smoke detectors are powered by a lithium battery that will last up to 10 years.

About SilentCall
SilentCall Communications provides personal communications and life enhancing systems for the deaf, deaf/blind, hard of hearing, and people out of hearing range. Since 1987, SilentCall helps individuals who are hard of hearing, deaf and deaf-blind to lead more convenient and safe lives. SilentCall also provides a life-saving tool for anyone in a noisy setting or outside their home to receive notification that someone is at their door or that their alarm detects smoke. Their entire line of expertly designed products is backed up by a five year warrantee on all new systems. For more information visit www.silentcall.com, call (800) 572 5227 (voice/tty), or email sales@silentcall.com.

# # #

By Carrie Ritchie
carrie.ritchie@indystar.com

Dante Paulone, 11, has a special relationship with his 14-year-old cousin, Tyler Lehnerz. Dante, an avid athlete, was born deaf and needs an interpreter when he plays sports. So Tyler stepped in to help.

Dante plays on the Knights traveling football team through the Southeastern Program of Recreational Team Sports, and Tyler goes to his practices and games to interpret what coaches and players are saying. Saturday night, the pair will go to the Indiana Elementary Football Association's state finals where the Knights play Center Grove.

Dante said through an interpretive service that he's excited for the game and loves sports and competition. He hopes to play sports through college.

Teri Paulone, his mother, said it would be difficult for Dante to play his best without an interpreter, because he wouldn't always know what the coach and team expect of him. Teri Paulone, who's also deaf and spoke through the service, said the SPORTS program has provided interpreters to her son for years.

"The SPORTS programs are really trying hard to make this work, and I really appreciate it; it's great," she said. "There are a lot of deaf children who come here because they know that this community will make everything equal access for the children."

Earlier this fall, SPORTS was one of 20 programs in the nation to earn a grant from Liberty Mutual Insurance. SPORTS will put the $2,500 gift toward funding interpreters.

To win the grant, SPORTS had to get parents to participate in a sports parenting quiz on Liberty Mutual's Responsible Sports program Web site. SPORTS had one of the 20 highest participation rates nationwide, and it was the only program in Indiana to win a grant.

SPORTS publicized the quiz contest in its e-newsletter and got a lot of response.

The program has about 10 children who are hearing impaired and works with as many interpreters, said Pam Johnson, SPORTS development director. Interpreters, who charge $40 to $50 per hour and have a two-hour minimum, will cost the program about $5,000 this year, she said.

"We just feel really blessed to have parents that are so involved with their kids' programs," Johnson said.

©2008 IndyStar.com.

by Dave Seanor, Golf Examiner

(Part 4 of a multi-part series.)

Durham, N.C. – Were he not such an easy-going guy, Tim O’Neal would take issue with the notion that Kevin Hall is the next-best African-American pro golfer behind Tiger Woods.

Instead, O’Neal’s performance through 36 holes of the First Stage Q-School tournament at Treyburn Country Club spoke for itself. He posted rounds of 71-72 compared to Hall’s 78-74, leaving O’Neal tied for ninth place. Hall, mired in 64th place, faced the daunting prospect of leapfrogging some 35 players in order to finish among the top 25 and advance to Second Stage.

Whatever the outcome, O’Neal can appreciate its significance. He turned professional in 1997, riding the tide of optimism spawned a year earlier by Woods’ sensational rookie campaign on the PGA Tour. O’Neal was on the first wave of a widely predicted influx of black talent into professional golf. But he has witnessed nothing of the sort.

“It is surprising,” he said over lunch after Round 2 at Treyburn. “It’s actually depressing.”

Indeed, Woods remains the only African-American on the PGA Tour and there are few black players in the pipeline. Moreover, the game’s power structure – from whom the golf industry takes its cues – remains overwhelmingly white.

Consider:

* There are no African-Americans among executive decision-makers at the PGA Tour.
* Since he joined the PGA of America in 1997, Earnie Ellison has been the only African-American among senior management of the association that looks after the interests of club professionals. As director of business and community relations, Ellison oversees the PGA’s diversity programs. The organization has about 28,000 members; fewer than 300 are African-American. None of the executive directors of the 41 PGA Sections is African-American.
* There are no African-Americans among senior management at the U.S. Golf Association, and only three have ever served on its volunteer Executive Committee, which sets USGA policy.
* There are no African-American executive directors among more than 75 U.S.-based members of the International Association of Golf Administrators, an umbrella coalition of national, state, regional and local golf associations.
* There are no senior decision-makers in management at golf’s top equipment manufacturers: TaylorMade, Acushnet (Titleist, Cobra & FootJoy), Callaway, Nike, Ping and Cleveland.

The same year O’Neal turned pro, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced to great fanfare the launch of The First Tee, a nationwide initiative to introduce golf and its “core values” to youngsters who otherwise wouldn’t have access to the game. The mission of The First Tee has evolved more toward the teaching of life skills than swing planes. It figures to produce more African-American golf consumers than championship golfers, although one probably will beget the other. But that will take time, as only about 25 percent of First Tee participants are black.

Joe Louis Barrow, the executive director of The First Tee, is arguably the highest profile African-American in golf management. Barrow is a former U.S. Commerce Department aide, former president of the golf bag manufacturer Izzo Systems, and the son of boxing champ Joe Louis. He tops a short list of black movers and shakers in golf that includes the PGA of America’s Ellison; Charles Schwab Cup tournament director Leon Gilmore; and Michigan State University golf coach Sam Puryear.

“I wouldn’t be forthright if I didn’t say it was disappointing that there is not greater diversity in golf,” Barrow says. “Certainly in what I would call the more controlled areas of golf, in terms of it’s much easier to recruit for positions in the management and administration of golf than it is to have someone compete at the highest levels of the professional game.”

Anyone destined for those highest levels almost certainly will have passed through the American Junior Golf Association. Based in Brazelton, Ga., the AJGA conducts more than 80 tournaments each year for boys and girls age 13-18. It is the feeder system to college golf. If a youngster hasn’t had success on the AJGA, he or she isn’t likely to get a whiff from college recruiters.

An accurate count doesn’t exist, but no one denies that African-Americans comprise a small minority of the AJGA’s 5,200 members. Participation by black kids, says AJGA executive director Stephen Hamblin, remains “fairly consistent. There’s a few.”

(The organization doesn’t request information on race or ethnicity from its members, a policy instituted long before 2003, when the AJGA adopted a performance-based entry system. Prior to that, participants were selected based on resumes they submitted. “We didn’t ask because we didn’t want anyone to claim bias,” Hamblin says. He concedes that gathering data on minority participation “may be something to think about” now that the selection process is bias-free.)

With few African-Americans coming out of the AJGA, it's hardly surprising that a Web search of the rosters of the 81 teams and 18 individuals selected to play in the 2008 NCAA Division I Golf Championship revealed 11 black players among the 877 listed. That number was skewed by the seven African-Americans on the roster of Jackson State University, a traditionally black college that was the 27th seed among 27 teams at the East Regional, where it finished last.

The most accomplished African-American player at the NCAAs, according to the Golfweek Sagarin College Rankings, was Vincent Johnson of Oregon State, ranked No. 475 nationally at the time. Johnson shot 81-73-74 and tied for 71st individually at the West Regional.

On the professional level, the best African-Americans beneath Woods appear to be Hall, O’Neal and George Bradford.

Hall, 26, shot to prominence as the deaf, African-American golfer at Ohio State who won the 2004 Big 10 individual championship. He has made a combined 16 starts on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour but more recently has been relegated to the Hooters Tour, where he triumphed in a 54-hole Winter Series event last January.

O’Neal, 36, has demonstrated resilience since turning pro after graduating from Jackson State in 1997. He knocked around the mini-tours for three seasons and would have earned a PGA Tour card at the 2000 Q-School finals had he not scored bogey, triple-bogey on the last two holes. So it was back to the mini-tours until Q-School of ’04, where O’Neal missed his PGA Tour card by one shot but secured fully exempt status onto the Nationwide Tour.

In four seasons on the Nationwide, O’Neal is a non-winner but has made 71 cuts in 129 starts and earned $423,630. He played only 13 tournaments in 2008, owing to reduced conditional status after finishing 100th on the previous season’s Nationwide money list.

University of Maryland alum Bradford, 34, has spent the last four seasons on the Canadian Tour, finishing fifth on this year’s money list ($62,405 in 15 starts) on the strength of four top-3 finishes. He’s been a three-time winner on a minor circuit called the Moonlight Tour. This week Bradford made it through First Stage of Q-School, shooting 5-under-par 283 at Spring, Texas, and tying for 18th.

None of this trio has accumulated any Official World Golf Ranking points in the last two years. Bradford is No. 576 in another world ranking of pro golfers, the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index; O’Neal is ranked 729th; Hall hasn’t played enough qualifying events to be ranked.

O’Neal believes there are plenty of talented black golfers, but they lack the financial support to continue their careers as professionals.

“Yes, there are more minorities playing,” he says, “but as far as minorities getting to the next level, that’s not happening. And I think it’s purely because they don’t have the (financial) backing to do it.

“There are guys who have the talent, but if you don’t have the money to play, it’s a dead end. It’s tough for everybody, no matter what color you are. It’s hard to go out there and play when you have to worry about your bills.”

O’Neal reckons it takes “a minimum of about $50,000 to $60,000 a year to pursue the dream free of money worries.

“I’ve been looking (for sponsors) all year and can’t find anybody,” he says. “I had to borrow money to play in Q-School this year.”

Add to that the hyper-competitiveness of golf in the Tiger Era. The prospect of making big money on the PGA Tour – 98 players have earned $1 million or more in prize money in 2008, and the Tour average is $995,265 – has attracted better athletes to the game. Starting as juniors, they’ve taken advantage of technological advances in equipment and training that have produced more sophisticated golfers across the competitive spectrum.

“When I came out of college, I didn’t know anything about the golf swing,” O’Neal says. “I’d just hit it, find it, and hit it again. The stuff I know now about the golf swing in general I wish I had known 10 years ago. Kids who come out of college nowadays, they’re good. They know what’s going on.”

That group would include less accomplished but no less motivated African-Americans such as Andy Walker, Joshua Wooding and Stephen Reed. Walker played on Pepperdine University’s 1997 NCAA Championship team. He finished 29th on the Canadian Tour’s 2008 Order of Merit (money list) and has three victories on the Gateway Tour to his credit. Walker played on the Nationwide Tour in 2002, making two cuts in 19 starts.

Wooding played for Southern California and is toiling on mini-tours in California and the southwest. He failed to make it through First Stage of Q-School last week in Beaumont, Calif., missing by three shots after scoring 8 over par 296. Reed, a former Texas A&M standout, is a mini-tour warrior, mostly on the Gateway Tour. He, too, missed out at First Stage, falling two shots short after scoring 1 over par 289 at Kingwood, Texas.

(With events mostly in Arizona, California and Florida, the Gateway Tour is similar in strength of field to the Hooters Tour, although its tournaments typically are 54 holes. The Florida-based Moonlight Tour is a modest collection of one- and two-day tournaments.)

No doubt the meltdown of the worldwide economy will impact the ability of PGA Tour aspirants to keep pursing their dream. It likely will slow the growth in general participation by African-Americans as measured in a 2003 study by the National Golf Foundation (the latest such study on record), which concluded there were 2.3 million African-Americans among 36.7 total golf participants in the United States (including juniors and “alternative participants” such as exclusive range users). More revealing was a breakdown that showed 1.3 million blacks among 26.2 million adult golfers and 552,000 blacks among 6.1 million junior golfers, meaning African-American golfers tend to be younger.

The study also bolsters O’Neal’s contention that golf can be cost-prohibitive. Correlating participation to household income, the study showed participation rates at incomes of $125,000 are roughly 25 percent for both whites and African-Americans. But at incomes of $75,000, the rate for whites is 20 percent and the rate for blacks is 12 percent. At incomes between $25,000 and $39,000, participation rates for whites are between 12 percent and 15 percent, compared to 3 percent and 6 percent for African-Americans.

As for the trends of increased overall participation by blacks and other minorities, The First Tee’s Barrow says the golf industry has been vexingly slow to capitalize on a significant demographic shift.

“(Non-golf) companies clearly have determined that if you want to expand your, quote, customer base, you should do so with those who are selling your product, managing your product, or administrating your product being more like the people you’re trying to reach,” Barrow says. “We don’t see that as consistently in golf as I think we should.

“I’d daresay that in the 16 years I’ve been in the golf industry, there has been little material change in terms of people from diverse backgrounds throughout the management and administration of golf.

“I’m not casting stones other than to say that it’s going to take a very concerted effort and a very committed effort over a period of time,” Barrow says. “And the sooner the industry chooses to do so, I think the better served the industry will be in the future.”

One way or another, Kevin Hall will have a stake in golf’s future. Optimistic by nature, he sees change on the horizon.

“Golf is kind of hanging around in the background, but all that is changing with what Tiger is doing for the game,” he says. “I think we’ll see more and more black golfers coming out in the future. There are programs encouraging that to happen, like The First Tee, all over the country. It’ll happen someday.”

Like O’Neal, Percy Hall worries that the expense of developing highly skilled golfers has stymied efforts by black players to reach the next level. “Finances have a lot to do with it,” he says. “It’s a lot of commitment. Especially for parents who have more than one kid.”

But the father is more jaundiced than the son, tacitly suggesting that golf is out of sync with a prevailing hip-hop culture among blacks, leaving young African-American athletes more attracted to the glitz of the NFL or NBA.

“Golf is not glamorous,” Percy Hall says. “I think a lot of African Americans play football or basketball because there’s a lot more people there to see you.

“And golf is a totally different kind of sport. You have to have the discipline and the passion, and there is nobody (on the golf course) to really share that with. It takes special people to play the sport. I think its really going to take some time (to meaningfully increase African-American participation).”

© 2008 Examiner.com

The Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Keiichi Katakami, on Wednesday, inaugurated a dormitory block and a three-unit staff bungalow for the staff and students of the Kibi School for the Deaf at a ceremony at Kyebi.

The GH¢75,000 project was funded by the Japanese Embassy in Ghana under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project Scheme (GGHSP) of the Japanese Government.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Katakami said since 1989, the Japanese Embassy in Ghana had funded 18 educational projects in the Eastern Region under the GGHSP and assured that the Embassy would fund many more projects in future.

He encouraged the students of the school to learn hard and assured them that though they might be hearing impaired, as long as they continue to learn they would achieve their dreams of growing up to become brilliant men and women and contribute meaningfully to the development of Ghana.

The East Akim Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Victor Asihene, said within the past seven years, the Assembly had provided the school with a KVIP place of convenience and two boreholes fitted with iron removal plant.

He said the Assembly had also extended streetlights to the school compound and presented a set of furniture to the kindergarten department of the school.

Mr Asihene said through his own resources, he had purchased a corn-mill for the school and promised that the contractor working on the construction of the kitchen and dining hall for the school would be compelled to complete the project before December.

In a speech read on her behalf, the Director of Special Education Division of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, Mrs Victoria Donkor, thanked the Japanese Government for their support and called on other benevolent organizations to come to the aid of the school.

The East Akim Municipal Director of Education, Mrs Kate Agyemang –Badu, said many deaf children who are on the waiting list of the school could not be enrolled because of inadequate infrastructure.

Earlier in a welcoming address, the headmaster of the school, Mr Jordan Agbona, said the school, which was started in 1975 with a student population of eight now has an enrolment of 213 with more applicants on the waiting list.

Mr Agbona said only three teachers were being accommodated on the school compound making the supervision of the school children after school hours very difficult.

He said due to limitation of facilities, some of the students had to wait for their colleagues to have their meals first before the others and appealed for support to put up more structures.

Source: GNA
Story from Myjoyonline.Com News:
http://news.myjoyonline.com/education/200810/22211.asp

Published: 10/30/2008

© Myjoyonline.com

A new program in the Clover Park School District supports preschoolers who are deaf or hard of hearing.

DEBBY ABE; debby.abe@thenewstribune.com

In teacher Lisa Hough's classroom, pictures of letters loaded in a choo-choo train chug across the wall, and the clatter of rambunctious preschoolers livens the morning lessons.
It's a typical preschool class – almost.

A poster, tacked on a bookcase at kids’ height, spells out the alphabet in sign language. As Hough goes over the day’s activities with her pint-sized students she asks, “Did we do coloring today?” while fluttering her fingers against her chin. That’s the sign for coloring.

One by one, the youngsters respond, “Yes, we did coloring” out loud and in American Sign Language, and check off “coloring” on their daily planner.

This is a typical day in a new preschool for deaf and hard-of-hearing children at Carter Lake Elementary School on McChord Air Force Base.

The Clover Park School District started the preschool class this fall, the first time it’s offered a hearing-impaired program, said Ann Almlie, Clover Park’s director of special education.

The Lakewood-area district enrolls 12,000 students, including 15 to 20 deaf or hard-of-hearing children, a year. But because few of the hearing-impaired students are in the same grade, the district generally arranges for those needing full-time specialized instruction to attend programs in the larger Tacoma and Puyallup districts. But with enough hearing-impaired 3- to 5-year-olds in Clover Park to make a program viable this year, Almlie said, “we didn’t want them to travel so far. … Special-education laws say it’s our responsibility to provide programs for our children; the only time we don’t is when we don’t have a program to provide them services.”

Since most of the youngsters have a parent in the military and live on Fort Lewis or McChord, the district housed the program at Carter Lake Elementary.

Five 3- and 4-year-olds with hearing problems and two “peer model” preschoolers with normal hearing attend the free 21/2-hour preschool sessions four mornings a week. The goal is to give the kids enough of a head start to eventually enter general education classes.

Two older, hearing-impaired children have the help of an interpreter when they attend regular kindergarten in the mornings at Carter Lake, then spend afternoons with Hough.

It’s benefiting Carter Lake’s general student body as well, as they learn about another language and culture, said Principal Paul Douglas. Some staff members are learning sign language from a class interpreter.

“Students beg teachers to share signs with them so they can play with our deaf and hearing-impaired students,” Douglas said.

With the program nearer to his home on Fort Lewis, 4-year-old Jonathan Ferguson now rides the bus for 15 minutes, instead of enduring last year’s 45-minute bus excursion to the hearing-impaired preschool at Zeiger Elementary on South Hill, said his mother, Theresa Ferguson.

“The whole program is wonderful, the resources they have available and the teachers are fantastic,” Ferguson said. “We chose to go to Clover Park because of her.”

Hough taught Jonathan and other youngsters at Zeiger’s preschool last school year.

“I have an advantage because I’ve been hard of hearing all my life and deaf for over 11 years,” Hough said. “I use a lot of those experiences to help the students, knowing what the challenges are with learning.”

And like many of her students, Hough has a cochlear implant, a surgically inserted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to people who are profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. Using a cochlear implant, however, requires training and doesn’t necessarily lead to normal processing of sound.

“I still can’t tell the difference between a fire alarm and a phone ringing,” Hough said.

The highest academic hurdle for hearing-impaired children is learning language and vocabulary, the foundations of reading and writing, Hough says. It’s tough to grasp abstract concepts, the meaning of prepositions, and differences in tense if you don’t regularly hear them.

“A normal, developing child has had so much auditory input from birth on up,” she said. “You’d be surprised how many don’t know nursery rhymes or don’t know how to sing their ABCs because they can’t hear; (still) a lot of them have some verbal speech.”

Many students never catch up to their peers. The median reading comprehension level of deaf and hard-of-hearing 17- and 18-year-olds is at the fourth-grade level, according to the Gallaudet Research Institute.

“That’s why I’m very passionate that my children aren’t in those statistics,” said Hough.

A gregarious, dynamic woman who works on the side as a clown, Hough simultaneously signs while speaking so that students will learn to sign, lip-read and practice hearing and speaking.

An interpreter assists in each class, and a speech-language therapist provides intensive training to students twice a week. Though their hearing abilities vary, Hough says each of her students can hear a little with a hearing aid or a cochlear implant.

Hough makes each activity and interaction with the kids an opportunity for engaging instruction. During snacktime last week, Hough wore a silly hat topped with a bread-loaf-sized, yellow-and-blue stuffed fish, in keeping with the week’s focus on the letter “F.”

She individually asked each child to name the animal on her head and verbally count Goldfish crackers as she laid them on a numbered card.

She and 3-year-old Tanner Thompson said together, “One, two, three, four, five.”

“You need to work on ‘fuh-iii-vuh’” she said, stretching out the word and blowing lightly on his upheld hand so he could feel the “F” sound.

He enunciated “five” more clearly.

“Good job! Give me a high-five,” Hough said to the pleased youngster. They slapped hands.

Ferguson says Hough’s personal touch and the Clover Park and Puyallup preschool programs have made a “drastic difference” in her son Jonathan’s development. Since starting preschool last year, he’s learned to say and to sign letters, colors and numbers, and to socialize with other kids. Now he’s teaching Mom and Dad new signs.

“With her being hearing-impaired, she understands exactly what their problems are and how they’re feeling,” Ferguson said of Hough. “My son loves her so much. He hugs and kisses her, blows her kisses. He’s excited to be there.”

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

© 2008 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company.

Center Provided Cochlear Implant Services and Speech-Language Therapy

Oct. 30, 2008

Kate Kitsumritphol is like most college freshmen. She’s busy going to classes, studying for exams and adjusting to life 1,400 miles from home. But unlike most of her classmates, Kate received some extra help from the UT Dallas Callier Center for Communication Disorders.

Shortly before Kate’s first birthday, doctors discovered she had profound hearing loss. She was living overseas at the time, but her parents brought her back to Texas, where they believed she would have more opportunities for school and speech-language therapy.

As a very young child, Kate used a hearing aid, which allowed her to hear speech sounds so that she could develop spoken language, but it did not let her hear all of the sounds necessary for optimal speech communication. Her parents agreed that a cochlear implant might be a better option.

In 1995, Kate visited the Callier Center for a pre-surgical evaluation. The audiologists at Callier conducted thorough hearing and speech-language evaluations to determine whether Kate was a candidate for a cochlear implant. The audiologists also provided her family with information about the benefits a cochlear implant might provide their child.

The audiologists determined that Kate was a candidate for a cochlear implant, and in January 1996, Dr. Peter Roland, otolaryngologist with UT Southwestern Medical Center, performed the surgery.

“Everything sounded so clear that I couldn’t believe my ears,” said Kate. “Unlike with the hearing aid, there was no static at all; it was if my ears had been fully opened for the first time.”

After the surgery, Kate started school at Arapaho Elementary, where she also received speech therapy. She found that her cochlear implant gave her more confidence communicating with her teachers and classmates, and with a lot of hard work and determination, Kate excelled academically.

Because of her success in the classroom, Kate was accepted to be a member of the class of 2012 at Stanford University. She wanted to make the adjustment to life at Stanford “as smooth and painless” as possible, so she decided to visit the Callier Center and pursue additional therapy services to help with her speech intelligibility.

Berkley Williams, speech-language pathologist, worked closely with Kate by helping her improve the way she facilitates communication with other people. “Our goal was to make Kate’s speech sound more natural, fluent and intelligible, said Williams. “Part of Kate’s therapy was to walk around the Callier Center and talk to people. The people provided feedback about what they could and could not understand.”

Kate was committed to her therapy and practiced the new communication techniques at home. Williams also videotaped Kate throughout the therapy so that she could see and hear how she was communicating.

Williams met with Kate for a total of 12, 45-minute sessions. Kate received assistance from the Callier Care Fund, which helped to subsidize the cost of treatment services.

“I am forever grateful to all the people who made my surgery possible,” said Kate. “The therapy I received at Callier has given me the confidence I needed to make a successful transition to college life.”

Media Contacts: Debra Brown, UT Dallas, (214) 905-3049, debra@utdallas.edu
or the Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, newscenter@utdallas.edu

By KIRSTEN TAGAMI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, October 30, 2008

When Jesse Hartley began to lose his hearing in middle age, he realized how difficult it was for deaf people to understand the world around them.

Mr. Hartley became an advocate for captioned television news and more visual information on MARTA trains, among other efforts. In 1992, he was named Deaf Citizen of the Year by a group of Georgia organizations that represent the hearing-impaired.

Mr. Hartley, 93, of Decatur died of congestive heart failure Monday at Walton Regional Medical Center in Monroe, near his son’s home. The memorial service will be 3 p.m. Thursday in the chapel of A.S. Turner & Sons, Decatur, which is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Hartley was born in Bowman in Elbert County. He joined the U.S. Army and served as part of a medical unit during World War II in the Philippines and other parts of Asia, said his son, Cliff Hartley of Lawrenceville. He reached the rank of master sergeant and earned several medals, including the Bronze Star, his son said.

He worked in the food business in Atlanta for 47 years, managing several grocery stores and then working as a salesman and trainer for Sunshine Biscuits Co. He retired in 1980.

Mr. Hartley served on the board of directors of the Atlanta Masonic Temple and was on the board of his church, East Lake Methodist, and taught Sunday school.

When he was in his 40s and 50s, Mr. Hartley began to lose his hearing, possibly because of a hereditary condition. Eventually, his son said, “we communicated with him primarily using a dry-erase board.”

Mr. Hartley became an outspoken advocate for greater access and information for the hearing-impaired, writing articles and lobbying TV stations to use captions in their news programs.

He served on MARTA’s Elderly and Disabled Access Advisory Committee for 18 years, helping ensure that information about train arrivals and departures was conveyed visually.

Mr. Hartley was an avid reader, especially of books about history or current events, and loved gardening. His home was on a double lot in unincorporated DeKalb County, near Decatur, and much of the garden was designed to attract birds. He also kept a large vegetable garden and grew flowers, his son said.

Mr. Hartley was devoted to his specially trained “hearing dog,” Mia, a longhaired dachshund that had been a show dog before she was trained to help deaf people.

Other survivors include a son, Claude Hartley of Covington; three grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

© 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Julia Bennett

REVELLERS at a club for the deaf were today slammed for creating too much noise.

Residents living near the Blackpool Fylde and Wyre Society for the Deaf's North Shore venue say the problem was so bad some weekends it "was like being next to a town centre nightclub".

And they today slammed the council for not responding to the anti-social behaviour caused by parties held at the club in Cornwall Avenue.

Brian Batey, 36, said: "It's been going on for more than 18 months – cars and property are being vandalised when they come out of the parties.

"The council isn't doing anything. It's been like this from when we moved in, we wouldn't have moved here if we'd known it'd be like this."

The charitable society hires the venue out for private parties in the evening to generate extra income.

But local resident Kenny Morland, 44, said: "We've had to call the police out many times. This is a residential area, but it's like a nightclub.

"Last month there was a riot on the street – there must have been about 14 people out on the street that night, running up and down the road.

"It's not just the noise levels, it's battles and fighting. It's normally a nice street."

Another Cornwall Avenue resident, who did not wish to be named, added: "It's like living opposite a nightclub in central Blackpool.

""It's difficult because the society is a charitable trust and they're trying to create some income, but this is a residential street."

PC Alan Cavanagh, community beat manager for Warbreck, said there had been problems, many caused because the smoking ban had forced revellers out onto the street.

He added: "I've been made aware of a couple of problems. When people are stood outside the club their voices can be carried up and down the street. We do deal with incidents of public disorder.

"Sometimes they will take 16 and 18-year-old parties and children end up on the street, but it doesn't happen every week.

"It has been a priority for the last two or three months.

"They are brilliant at the Deaf Club and are addressing the problems."

A spokeswoman for Blackpool Council said the club has a licence for entertainment and music until 11pm, but had applied for licence extensions until 12pm for four events so far this year.

Residents can submit applications and evidence to the council to request the review of a Premises' License.

Coun Tony Brown, ward councillor for Warbreck, said: "I'm concerned, but we can only do so much. We've got our eye on things.

"The only thing is to get the police around there on a regular basis and get licensing to have a look at it."

Carole Parr, manager of the club, said security staff were hired for parties involving young people, and she too pointed at problems brought about by the smoking ban.

She added: "We are aware there have been complaints. Now people have to go outside to smoke there have been half a dozen people outside. When residents have their windows open it has caused a disturbance.

"For the functions with young people we hire a security firm to have people on the door. We want to live in harmony with our neighbours."

©2008 Johnston Press Digital Publishing

By Tui Benjamin

DEAF people are to take part in walks across Wrexham and Flintshire, accompanied by guides fluent in sign language.

For the first time deaf people of all ages will be able to take part in British Sign Language (BSL) walks across North Wales.

Groundwork Wrexham and Flintshire established the project as part of its Mentro Allan access scheme after discovering that while many local deaf people want to explore the countryside and walk socially, they feared the isolation that joining a group who could not communicate with them could bring.

Now in its second year, the Mentro Allan project has organised a wide range of outdoor activities including cycling, canoeing, orienteering, tai chi and gardening for people with all sorts of physical and mental learning disabilities, involving 587 participants overall.

The project has recently been supported by a grant of £250,000 from the Big Lottery Fund and an extra £20,000 from the Countryside Council for Wales.

Sarah Massey, Mentro Allan project co-ordinator, said: "We are looking for volunteers able to sign in BSL who would be interested in training as volunteer walk leaders on a one-day free training course, and then set up walks locally at different times throughout the week."

There will be two open evening events on Wednesday, November 12, at AVOW in Wrexham from 7pm to 9pm, and on Thursday, November 13, at Flint Pavilion from 7-9pm, for people interested in finding out further information. BSL interpreters will be attending both meetings and refreshments will be available.

For further information email Sarah H.massey@groundwork.org.uk

©2008 North Wales Newspapers Ltd

By DEBBIE ABE
THE NEWS TRIBUNE

LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- In teacher Lisa Hough's classroom, pictures of letters loaded in a choo-choo train chug across the wall, and the clatter of rambunctious preschoolers livens the morning lessons. It's a typical preschool class almost.

A poster, tacked on a bookcase at kids' height, spells out the alphabet in sign language. As Hough goes over the day's activities with her pint-sized students she asks, "Did we do coloring today?" while fluttering her fingers against her chin. That's the sign for coloring.

One by one, the youngsters respond, "Yes, we did coloring" out loud and in American Sign Language, and check off "coloring" on their daily planner.

This is a typical day in a new preschool for deaf and hard-of-hearing children at Carter Lake Elementary School on McChord Air Force Base.

The Clover Park School District started the preschool class this fall, the first time it's offered a hearing-impaired program, said Ann Almlie, Clover Park's director of special education.

The Lakewood-area district enrolls 12,000 students, including 15 to 20 deaf or hard-of-hearing children, a year. But because few of the hearing-impaired students are in the same grade, the district generally arranges for those needing full-time specialized instruction to attend programs in the larger Tacoma and Puyallup districts.

But with enough hearing-impaired 3- to 5-year-olds in Clover Park to make a program viable this year, Almlie said: "We didn't want them to travel so far. Special-education laws say it's our responsibility to provide programs for our children; the only time we don't is when we don't have a program to provide them services."

Since most of the youngsters have a parent in the military and live on Fort Lewis or McChord, the district housed the program at Carter Lake Elementary.

Five 3- and 4-year-olds with hearing problems and two "peer model" preschoolers with normal hearing attend the free 2 1/2-hour preschool sessions four mornings a week. The goal is to give the kids enough of a head start to eventually enter general education classes.

Two older, hearing-impaired children have the help of an interpreter when they attend regular kindergarten in the mornings at Carter Lake, then spend afternoons with Hough.

It's benefiting Carter Lake's general student body as well, as they learn about another language and culture, said Principal Paul Douglas. Some staff members are learning sign language from a class interpreter.

"Students beg teachers to share signs with them so they can play with our deaf and hearing-impaired students," Douglas said.

With the program nearer to his home on Fort Lewis, 4-year-old Jonathan Ferguson now rides the bus for 15 minutes, instead of enduring last year's 45-minute bus excursion to the hearing-impaired preschool at Zeiger Elementary on South Hill, said his mother, Theresa Ferguson.

"The whole program is wonderful, the resources they have available and the teachers are fantastic," Ferguson said. "We chose to go to Clover Park because of her."

Hough taught Jonathan and other youngsters at Zeiger's preschool last school year.

"I have an advantage because I've been hard of hearing all my life and deaf for over 11 years," Hough said. "I use a lot of those experiences to help the students, knowing what the challenges are with learning."

And like many of her students, Hough has a cochlear implant, a surgically inserted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to people who are profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. Using a cochlear implant, however, requires training and doesn't necessarily lead to normal processing of sound.

"I still can't tell the difference between a fire alarm and a phone ringing," Hough said.

The highest academic hurdle for hearing-impaired children is learning language and vocabulary, the foundations of reading and writing, Hough says. It's tough to grasp abstract concepts, the meaning of prepositions, and differences in tense if you don't regularly hear them.

"A normal, developing child has had so much auditory input from birth on up," she said. "You'd be surprised how many don't know nursery rhymes or don't know how to sing their ABCs because they can't hear; (still) a lot of them have some verbal speech."

Many students never catch up to their peers. The median reading comprehension level of deaf and hard-of-hearing 17- and 18-year-olds is at the fourth-grade level, according to the Gallaudet Research Institute.

"That's why I'm very passionate that my children aren't in those statistics," said Hough.

A gregarious, dynamic woman who works on the side as a clown, Hough simultaneously signs while speaking so that students will learn to sign, lip-read and practice hearing and speaking.

An interpreter assists in each class, and a speech-language therapist provides intensive training to students twice a week. Though their hearing abilities vary, Hough says each of her students can hear a little with a hearing aid or a cochlear implant.

Hough makes each activity and interaction with the kids an opportunity for engaging instruction. During snacktime last week, Hough wore a silly hat topped with a bread-loaf-sized, yellow-and-blue stuffed fish, in keeping with the week's focus on the letter "F."

She individually asked each child to name the animal on her head and verbally count Goldfish crackers as she laid them on a numbered card.

She and 3-year-old Tanner Thompson said together, "One, two, three, four, five."

"You need to work on fuh-iii-vuh," she said, stretching out the word and blowing lightly on his upheld hand so he could feel the "F" sound.

He enunciated "five" more clearly.

"Good job! Give me a high-five," Hough said to the pleased youngster. They slapped hands.

Ferguson says Hough's personal touch and the Clover Park and Puyallup preschool programs have made a "drastic difference" in her son Jonathan's development. Since starting preschool last year, he's learned to say and to sign letters, colors and numbers, and to socialize with other kids. Now he's teaching Mom and Dad new signs.

"With her being hearing-impaired, she understands exactly what their problems are and how they're feeling," Ferguson said of Hough. "My son loves her so much. He hugs and kisses her, blows her kisses. He's excited to be there."

---

Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com

© 2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

From Staff Reports
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Allegany dropped a three-game sweep to Maryland School for the Deaf Tuesday to finish the Campers’ regular season.

The Orioles won 25-20, 25-20 and 25-10 to get the victory.

Leading the Campers with six blocks and seven kills was Rebekah Wormack. Brianna Twigg added nine kills.

For the Orioles, Shayna Unger had 17 assists and nine digs. Shayna Steingieser added eight kills, and Jessica Israel had seven kills. Brittany Frank finished with nine digs.

The jayvee game was a 2-0 win for Allegany with scores of 25-18 and 25-19. Leah Wormack had eight kills, Hayley Stankan added seven and Taryn Rosenberger had 10 points. The Campers jayvees finish 8-6.

Allegany (3-11) will play at Hancock on Friday, 7 p.m. in the first round of the Maryland 1A West Region playoffs.

© 2008, The Cumberland Times-News