1 1/3" x 4" and 1" x 2 5/8"

Many thanks.

Richard Martin has abilities you can count on. After 34 years as an accountant and Budget Director for Kentucky Utilities, he set upon his second calling as a community volunteer. Since his retirement in 1998, Richard has devoted himself to helping others. He reads college textbooks on tape for visually disabled students throughout the state through the Lexington Volunteer Recording Unit; works at the Habitat for Humanity's retail store, Renovation Station; and spends his after-church time on Sundays delivering blood to local hospitals for the Central Kentucky Blood Center - as well as donating blood there (he's about to complete his 12th gallon!) regularly. His family - wife Deborah and daughter Barbara - both contribute to the Martin family community outreach program: Deborah is an RN at UK's neonatal intensive care unit, and Barbara works through UK as an evaluator of District Drug Courts throughout Kentucky.

Richard was born in Trenton, Missouri, and moved around quite a bit as a child. If it wasn't for the fact that his family had to relocate due to his father's job, he might never have become a reader at CKRE. In 1955, Richard came to Kentucky, and soon ended up in the English class of beloved Lafayette teacher Margaret Heaton, who some listeners may know as the voice of our Tuesday Herald-Leader weather report. Richard and Margaret remained dear friends well past English class, and Richard in fact began reading her at CKRE on Tuesdays in 1998. He currently can be heard on Saturdays reading the Herald-Leader.

Joan Grever loves many things: her family, Kentucky, her cats Merrick and Honeybun, volunteering, archaeology, and especially history. She may not have a long history here as a reader at CKRE, but her presence has been appreciated as a regular reader of the Kentucky Explorer, as well as being our resident researcher. Joan was responsible for our recent Fourth of July broadcast special, "Paul Revere," and was also a major force behind the research for our Lewis and Clark series, which was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark Foundation.

Besides reading and keeping the facts straight for us here at CKRE, Joan is also very active in the Lexington community. She volunteers at a local hospital three days a week and is also involved in helping to get a Lexington History museum up and running in our historic downtown Courthouse, a project that Joan says is "a most overdue community place."

Joan is a native of Louisville and is proud and pleased to be back living in Kentucky after 44 years spent living in places so diverse as Florida and Wyoming. She has four grown sons, an "almost" stepdaughter, and extended family in Lexington and Louisville.

One family member in Louisville, a cousin, became blind from diabetes when young and was able to graduate from the University of Louisville with top honors, partly because many of his classmates were able to read texts and notes for him. Joan says this is "pay-back time" for her and hopes to help CKRE expand its services to an even greater number of print-handicapped Kentuckians.

Visual Impairment Services Team (VIST), at the Lexington VA Medical Center, is specifically organized to provide coordinated outpatient services to blinded veterans. Freda B. Shipman, the Program Coordinator, arranges and helps provide community and VA program referrals, patient and family care, blindness related educational programs, professional counseling, and problem solving.

Services offered by the VIST program are available to both service-connected and non-service-connected veterans who are legally blind. Any honorably discharged veteran who is legally blind and eligible for VA health care can participate in the VIST program.

VIST also offers a support group meeting on the second Thursday of each month.

The VA has many services that can be helpful to veterans, and if you would like more information, please contact Freda Shipman at the VA Medical Center (Leestown Road Division), Building 1, Room 126. She may also be reached at (area code 859) 281-3916 or by email at Freda.Shipman3@med.va.gov.

Central Kentucky Radio Eye welcomes some of our most recent listeners. We hope you are enjoying our Radio Reading Service. If you have any questions, problems, or need help, please call us at 859-257-2702.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8am-1pm, and Saturdays and Sundays 9am to noon.

During the week our studio supervisor is Vanessa Oliver, and our Office Manager is Joyce McGuire. On weekends Tom Dixon and Al Crabb will answer questions or take a message.

Margaret Chase is our Executive Director, and from everyone here at CKRE we want to say hello and glad to have you:

CKRE thanks the Department of Emergency and Environmental Management (DEEM) for their interest in CKRE and our listeners. DEEM has kindly provided us with a weather radio. As soon as we can get this set up, we hope to be able to provide our listeners with emergency weather warnings during CKRE's local hours of operation.

As tempting as it may be to pet or offer food or treats to a Guide Dog, remember that the dog is part of a working team and should not be distracted. Ask first if you may pet the dog. The owner may enjoy introducing the dog to you.

If you meet a person who is blind or visually impaired, resist the temptation to grab their arm. Just ask if they need help. If they do, offering your elbow is an effective and dignified way to lead a person who is blind.

The International Audio Association and Information Services (I.A.A.I.S.) is an organization for Radio Reading Services and associated groups. Central Kentucky Radio Eye is a member of good standing with the I.A.A.I.S.

2003 PROGRAM GUIDE
By now, listeners should have received their new CKRE Program Guide in their mailboxes. If you did not and would like one, please call us at 859-257-2702 and we will be glad to mail one to you.

For those listeners who can access the Internet, our updated Program Guide is on our website.

INTOUCH NETWORK
Each day, from 1 p.m. until 8 a.m. Monday through Friday, (slightly longer hours on weekends), we provide national newspapers and syndicated programming through our affiliation with the InTouch Network in New York City.

We would like to draw listeners' attention to The Media Show which is produced by WAMC Public Radio. This program can be heard on CKRE at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Thursdays, and is a very lively, lighthearted discussion-style show dealing with issues confronting the media. There is also a new show called From The Kitchen at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays.

This may become a regular Monday feature during the last part of the reading of the Lexington Herald-Leader. We will keep you informed, and as always we welcome any comments or suggestions from our listeners.

We are sorry to say goodbye to Jack Rodgers, who read for CKRE since 1995. Listeners would have known his voice from the Monday Herald-Leader team. Cheerio, Jack, and thank you for all your help.

We are glad to report that Joyce McGuire, our office manger, is recovering well from her shoulder surgery. We miss having her and her Guide Dog, Glider, at the sound board.

Also we send our get well-wishes to Paul Davin, who recently underwent eye-surgery. Paul is a long-time reader of the Sunday morning Herald-Leader.