HEARD ANY GOOD NEWSPAPERS LATELY?

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

A local newspaper is like an old pal, stopping by every day to fill us in on the news in our community and what's going on in the neighborhood.

But what happens if we can't read our local newspaper anymore?

In Los Angeles, more than 140,000 people have visual impairments that make it impossible for them to read a newspaper. To them, this newspaper is just a piece of paper with no words, no meanings, no information to keep them in touch.

The Braille Institute and Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic produce some wonderful reading texts and library books, but neither can respond fast enough to keep the visually impaired in touch with the world on a daily basis.

Listening to radio and TV news fills in some of the void, but they can't touch a local newspaper for depth and breadth of what's going on in their community.

Tell them who was born, got married or died yesterday. What the price of a quart of milk is this week, or what Garfield is up to today.

No, there's no alternative to the daily newspaper if you want to find out what's happening outside your front door when you can't see anymore.

Which is why Jolie Mason and her small band of volunteers are some of the most important people in this city.

For the last 10 years, this remarkable woman - who is visually impaired herself and gets around with the help of a guide dog - has been delivering the morning newspaper to the city's sight-impaired population.

With the help of some dedicated, sighted volunteers, she started the Los Angeles Radio Reading Service out of her San Fernando Valley home.

Its slogan is: ``Heard any good newspapers lately?''

Every morning, volunteers, like retired dentist Max Flehinger, read the Daily News front page, local columns, editorial page, comics, food ads and individual sections to the visually impaired who have a special radio that picks up the subcarrier signal on KCSN-FM (88.5).

``We're trying to give our listeners the things in a newspaper, like your column, the comics, and food ads, they can't get anywhere else,'' Flehinger said.

``We want to give them back the feel for the newspaper they can't read anymore.''

Jolie's been moving her newspaper-reading service around the Valley the past 10 years to anyplace that offers her volunteers free room for a desk, a couple of chairs, and some audio equipment.

The dream has always been to find a permanent home. And thanks to some generous, dedicated people in this Valley, the dream is within reach.

Next week, the Los Angeles Reading Service will move into its new offices behind the See's Candy store in the Northridge Fashion Center.

The mall management made the space available for free, and people like Chatsworth general contractor Doug Fidler and Boy Scout Adam Silver, working on his Eagle Scout project, donated their time and sweat for more than a year to turn an empty room into a recording studio.

``Having the extra space and equipment to expand is going to allow us to reach even more visually impaired people in this city,'' said Jolie, who returned from an East Coast visit recently to pick up her new guide dog, Ella.

But there's one drawback to getting the studio up and running next week. Jolie and her volunteers learned recently the reading service would have to pay $6,100 for the electrical connection from the mall's main power source to their unit. They don't have $6,100.

Nelkane Benton, director of the community relations department for radio station KLOS and TV station KABC - which helps support the reading service - said the two stations will pay half the electrical hook up cost.

``Jolie and her reading service remind me of the story of the little engine that could,'' Benton said Friday. ``This is the little radio station that needs to be.''

A nonprofit organization called Community Partners, which is an umbrella agency for small charities, has taken the Los Angeles Reading Service under its wing and is handling all donations to help the reading service get up and running at its new location.

For more information, call Janet Elliott at Community Partners, [phone].

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Jolie Mason and guide dog Ella stand by as Adam Silver, working toward his Eagle badge, refurbishes the new broadcast studio at Northridge Fashion Center.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer