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Show Telephone Pioneers repair "Books" for Blind : ... " , ' I"'' . Tli , - hii li'-'1- ' '" For those blessed with good vision as well as the physical ability to pick up a book and turn its pages, it is easy to take being able to read for granted. Not everyone is so lucky, however. Mr. Earl Merryweather of Cedar City is one of more than 5,000 Utahns who does not have the ability to read in a normal fashion because of vision problems or other ' physical disabilities. For these people, the Utah State Library Commission provides an excellent "Talking Book" program. Through this service, Mr, Merryweather and others enrolled in the program have access to magazines such as Reader's Digest, thousands of the most current books as well as other printed material which is recorded on either tape or long-play records. The machines to play the tapes and records are also provided. Because of their constant use, the machines are in need of regular repair and maintenance. Two full-time repairmen are employed by the Commission, but they can't come close to handling the work load. The problem was brought to the ' attention of the Telephone Pioneers, a service organization whose membership is limited to employees of Mountain Bell, Western Electric, and AT&T with 18 or more years of service. Frank Timmons, section chief for production at Western Electric's Service Center in Salt Lake City and himself an active Pioneer proposed that his group assume the responsibility of repairing the record players and tape decks. It was enthusiastically accepted by his more than 30 employees. This was last March and since that time more than 600 machines have been repaired, an average of approximately 100 per month. Work is done on employees' spare time such as breaks, lunch hours and after work. Gerald Buttars, Director of Special Services for the State Library Commission, praised the participating Telephone Pioneers explaining ex-plaining that "When the units are broken, we're out of business." He added, "While the repair aspect is certainly necessary, our budget is simply not large enough to PHONE SERVICE. Mr. Earl Merryweather of Cedar City is one of 5,000 Utahns involved in the Talking Book program. Employees of the telephone company perform a service by fixing the machines when they need repair. allow for it. Without the telephone company volunteers, our program either couldn't function at its present rate or we would be forced to ask for additional tax dollars to hire more repairmen." A Western Electric repairman added the per sonal touch to the program, however, when he explained, "No, I don't mind giving up my time. If I couldn't see, I'd just pray to God someone would do it for me." Those desiring more information in-formation regarding the program are encouraged to call 1-800-662-5540 (toll free). |