Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Lions Club Forms

A new civic club is in Gurdon.

Saturday, July 24, Lion's International presented a charter creating a Lion's Club in Gurdon. The charter presentation was done at a banquet at the Gurdon High School cafetorium.

Past International President Dr. Jim Fowler made the presentation to charter President Jim Otwell.

Past District Governor John Barnett presented Gurdon's new club with a sponsor patch from the Prescott group. Prescott's Lion's Club sponsored Gurdon's club.

George Ivey, from the Prescott Lion's, will be Gurdon's Guiding Lion, helping the new organization get on its feet.

Barnett gave the history of the Lion's Club, saying it began in 1917 with the motto "We Serve."

Until 1925, the Lion's Club had no definite purpose. However, Helen Keller asked if the club would help the blind. Since then, helping the visually impaired has been the major focus of Lions International.

At this time there are 44,000 Lion's Clubs with 1.4 million members. Two dozen more were sworn in Saturday night.

Barnett asked the new members to attend meetings as often as they can and to do all they can to help others, along with working to make the club grow and prosper.

Johnny Holmes, from the Hope Lions Club, was the speaker for the night.

Holmes' message was particularly apt as the Lions helped him after he lost his eyesight. He spoke of two Lion projects, the Lions World Services for the Blind and Leader Dog Training.

Holmes lost one eye in an industrial accident, and vision in the other after suffering a stroke.

Because of the blindness, he first went to LWSB for mobility training. Here Holmes learned how to function without his sight. He was taught independent living skills such as cooking and sewing.

He also learned how to tell directions during the day by the heat of the sun, as well as at night, though it's more difficult, he said.

LWSB, Holmes told the new Lions, has 13 different employment vocational classes, including small engine repair and computer technology. He said most of those in the accounting and computer classes are trained to work for the Internal Revenue Service.

Arkansas, he said, is fourth in the nation in the number of blind people per capita. Currently there are approximately 100,000 legally blind residents in the state.

"The Lion's have their job cut out for them," Holmes said. "Life does go on after darkness."

He joked saying it should be mandatory for every business and/or industry to have a blind person on staff to help others find their way out of buildings when there's no light.

Getting serious, Holmes told the new members the leader dogs are earned, not just given to blind people.

"You need to be able to walk six to eight miles, two or three times a day," he said.

However, the first step is to complete LWSB training and learn to get around with a white cane. After graduating from LWSB, candidates can go to Leader Dog School in Rochester, Mich.

Here, the real work begins. Students must learn how to control and work with their animals in 25 short days. "You pack a lot of training into the 25-day program," he said.

Those who receive dogs learn how to take care of the animals, and there's plenty to learn. The dogs get a specified amount of food and water daily.

Holmes has been working with his current dog, Saber, for three years and is amazed at the things his animal does still.

He joked saying Saber has been trained to seek out attractive women in places and sit by them. "Now if he'd only learn to find attractive single women," Holmes said.

Before going out with a four-legged dog, the blind students must first go through "Juno" training. Juno is actually a human teacher who has a harness attached to their hand.

The student must give "Juno" commands and praise the "dog" after the task has been properly done.

This can look strange to those who don't know what's going on, Holmes said, as the students literally pet the hand and praise it for doing a good job.

Next, though, comes getting the dog. Holmes requested a large German Shepherd, but wasn't ready for the size of his animal when they first met.

"The day you get the dog is an exciting day," he said. "You spend two hours in a room getting acquainted with it. You learn to trust your dog, to depend on it and develop confidence in it.

"Saber is my greatest friend in the world. He would do anything for me. He gives me mobility with dignity and is alert to all obstacles."

With a cane, Holmes said, a blind person can operate safely from the waste down, but can't locate obstacles in the head area.

With a dog, though, the animal is trained to be on the lookout for any object which could pose a threat to their master.

Leader dogs begin training when they are nine weeks old, Holmes said. The training lasts until the dog turns one or can successfully do the job.

From there, the dog is sent to leader school to work with their person. A dog's expected working life, Holmes said, is six to eight years.

These animals make great pets as they are fully trained, housebroken and work on a leash. The dogs are also protective toward their charges and will get between their person and any perceived danger.

Sighted people, Holmes said, see only with their eyes. The blind, though, must utilize their sense of touch, smell and hearing to "see" with.

He asked who was more handicapped, the sighted or the blind, as the sighted live with their eyes and the blind live with all parts of their body.

There are three types of dogs used for leader dogs, German shepherds, golden retrievers and black Labrador retrievers.