I have just returned from the 1997 spring conference of the Merchant's 
Division of the N.F.B. and hope to post a report later this week.  Fred 
Puente, President of Blind Industries and Services of Maryland was there and 
told me that they hope to have the new carbon canes that they are 
manufacturing for N.F.B. available at the New Orleans convention.  
This brings me to something that I think should be addressed.  I have been 
through about 5 of these $35.00 telescoping carbon canes since just after the 
last convention.  They splinter, they break and are generally not reliable.  
I wrote a letter to Dr. Jernigan advising him of my experiences with them and 
in his response he said that we were no longer contracting with this overseas 
firm that had been making them, that these were bad and that we would now be 
dealing with B.I.S.M.  
I received a similar response from a worker at our Material's Center when I 
called to enquire as to the date of availability of the new canes.  She said 
that they had received a bad shipment after the convention and were in some 
cases replacing defective canes.  I'd like to know what good is this service 
if we have to replace one half of our telescoping carbon canes with the other 
half?  We are dealing quite possibly with people's lives if these canes fail 
in a critical situation.  Shouldn't we pull these canes from the market, 
return them to the manufacturer and refuse to pay for them and wait till we 
have a reliable product for sale?  Why are we still selling canes to our own 
members and others alike when we know they are bad?  Our integrity and our 
name are on the line here with a product that is literally our life's blood.  
I think we should get our priorities straight.  
Harvey 
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