It was a cool, brisk breezy morning as the 1997 Spring Conference
of the N.F.B. Merchant's Division opened in the Lake Tahoe room of
Harrah's Hotel and Casino 3275 Las Vegas B.L.V.D. South.  About 30
federationists braved on-going hotel renovation and a merciless
casino to discuss their concerns about the Randolph-shepherd
program and its future.
the conference was held on April second and third and to say the
least the agenda was packed.  It was called to order at
approximately 9-20 A.M. by President Charles Allen and after some
opening remarks and routine business, the first item which took up
most of the morning session was called "Protecting your assets from
outside competition."  The presenters were Fred Puente, President
of Blind Industries and Services of Maryland and Charles Hamilton
Director of the Business and Enterprises program in Minnesota.  
Mr. Puente spoke of B.I.S.M.'s new and highly successful vending
program which mainly consists of vending machine locations, and
their efforts to stave off takeover attempts by the Maryland-D.C.
Vendors Association, a private group of sighted vendors who have
obviously taken note of B.I.S.M.'s success in this area and want to
get in on the action.  
Mr. Hamilton spoke of legislative attacks on the Minnesota program
mainly stemming from vocational schools, which due to their recent
shift from local school districts to the college and university
system, are now under Randolph-shepherd jurisdiction which they
oppose.  These schools not only spearheaded an effort to get
colleges and universities exempt from the Randolph-shepherd
program, but attempted in one case in Rochester Minnesota to have
a sighted vendor attempt to force a blind vendor out of business in
a vocational school via the political route.
He also spoke on the status of cases pending against the Federal
Prison system, and the Veteran's Administration.
In the prison case, officials tried to claim that the law only
applied in part namely to the visitors' room and the staff area but
not to the inmate area.  However the courts have ruled that the law
applies in total to all areas of the prison system and that it
applies in total not in part.
Regarding the V.A. case, in which blind vendor Dennis Groschel is
attempting to hold on to his location in a V.A. facility, the 8th
circuit court of appeals has ruled in our favor in that not only
does the Randolph-shepherd law apply to the V.A. but that the
agency has been doing all it can to circumvent the law and demanded
in rather strong language that it immediately  comply with the law
in good faith.
Don Morris ended the morning session with a brief presentation
concerning our problems with the V.A. in Maryland where
unfortunately, the news is not quite as favorable.  He informed us
of V.A.'s construction of a new Veterans' hospital in downtown
Baltimore and its allocation of a huge amount of space for their
own vending facility to be run by Vending and Canteen Service,
(V.C.S.) as well as a large amount of vending machines scattered
throughout the facility while originally not allotting any space
for a Randolph-shepherd location.  When the Arbitration panel and
the 4th circuit court both ruled that the V.A. was in violation of
the law it allotted only a very inaccessible, token location of 251
square feet of space for a Randolph-shepherd location which is only
1 square foot above the legal limit.  
However, the forth circuit court ruled that while the law did apply
that in a situation where a state arbitration panel opposes a
federal agency the panel has no punitive power or jurisdiction to
take any kind of action and that it was up to the V.A. to choose
its own remedy; and if the parties did not like the remedy they
could simply go back to another arbitration.   
One point very much in our favor in both cases is that we have good
attorneys working on them; Andy Freeman in Minnesota and Bill
Gliesner in Maryland, both of whom drew high praise from Merchant
Division leaders and Mr. Gashel as well.
Harvey 
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