sBoarad menmnioer gets NeWuide dog

Bciee: member of the College

board stepped down recently, and a new one stepped up.

Board member Marilyn Rushton, who has been blind all of her life, says that the relationships between her and her guide dogs are “incredibly strong. I’m not with anyone else 24 hours per day.”

Hoagy worked with Rushton for nine years, including the past three on the College board, and attended meetings for the many other groups Rushton works with. He went into retirement a couple of months ago. “He’s 11 years old, and starting to slow down. I didn’t want him to work until he couldn’t enjoy playing,” says Rushton.

To get a new guide dog, as she did in 1976 and 1986, Rushton went in April to a private school called Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California. It’s a very highly acclaimed non-profit school that services Canada and the U.S., where she first met her new dog, Garth, a yellow Labrador retriever.

“Tt’s a two-week accelerated program, very intensive. The dogs aren’t just picked randomly -- they’re matched with the way you walk, the kind of dog you like. The people there are experts in matching, and all sixteen of us in the class felt like we got the best dog for us.”

Rushton felt she needed a dog who didn’t need routine to feel secure. Because she’s busy as a trustee with the Burnaby School Board, co-director of the Burnaby Children’s Choir, and is starting a business as a disabilities consultant, she moves around a lot. She wanted a dog that is able to adapt, be content and quiet during meetings, and then get up and go somewhere new.

“People tend to believe that the dog takes the person, but that’s absolutely not the case. My dog follows my directions and gets me there safely. The dog is for mobility, and is trained in safety, but if I don’t know where I’m going, Garth can’t take me,” says Rushton.

A guide dog has to learn to obey a lot of commands: left and right turns, stopping, crossing streets -- in fact, the dog even has to disobey commands if the person has made a mistake and is in danger.

Rushton says that the hardest thing for a dog to learn is to disobey a command, but they do.

“For instance, if Garth stops me, it’s because there’s something in my way ora change of terrain, and if I can’t figure it out, I may tell him to go forward, but if he disobeys the command it’s because there’s something that I haven’t perceived. I may have put a foot forward to see if there’s a change in terrain, but there could be a branch hanging down that I’m about to walk into. And when he hasn’t obeyed a command for a reason for my safety, I’m going to give him a good big hug and lots of praise.”

Rushton says that guide dogs go out of work mode when their harness comes off, and Hoagy is now like any other dog, playing and eating and sleeping. Garth is adjusting well to his new position too.

“He seems to enjoy being on the College board,” she says. I

In Memoriam

Ed Chalkman, a former long- time Douglas College Employee, passed away Sunday, May 28, in Richmond. He began working at Douglas College in 1975 and was employed in the mailroom at the McBride site. In 1982 Ed went on Long Term Disability, then officially retired in 1988. Long-time and past employees of Douglas College will remember Ed for his vast range of knowledge and interests, and his sense of humor. On behalf of Douglas College, President Bill Day sends condolences to Ed's family.

Budget continued from page i

works, the types of funds the College has, and how we plan to spend the money in the coming year.”

The FTE increase allows the addition of about nine faculty and ten to 14 staff positions, but the budget letter from the Ministry states that there are no provisions for salary lifts. Tuition fee increases of 10% will be necessary to cover salary increments and non-salaried inflation (for costs such as paper, mail, heating, etc.) and maintain current levels of activity. Last year, 14.6% of total revenue came from tuition fees.

“A key element is that we have to provide for the small 1994-95 deficit of $100,000, and the Board has set up a new surplus policy where we will put aside $200,000 for an ongoing operational surplus account. Another key element is that Skills Now program funding has been reduced from the past year, but there are still a number of initiatives we’re involved in,” says Greenwood.

Greenwood says that the new budget is bad news for the Pinetree Way campus in another way. The Marketing Capital program, which provided matching contributions for equipment from donors and corporate sponsors, has been eliminated. “Funds from that program would have been a wonderful boost for our $5-million Pinetree Capital Campaign to ensure our capital needs at the new campus are met,” he says.

“The College is more fortunate than most because we’re in a growth mode, a situation where you’re expected to do more, where you have more opportunities for hiring people and completing projects. Still, we’re not getting adequate funding to recognize the increased costs of our current activities. My main concern is not this year’s budget, but next year’s.”

A recent letter from Dan Miller, Minister of Skills, Training and Labour, expressed concern over announced reductions in transfer payments from the federal to provincial governments, and the impact that could have on colleges. “We anticipate that such significant reductions in transfer payments to British Columbia will require serious reconsideration of the level of provincial government support provided for public post-secondary education,” Miller wrote. I