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August 18, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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August 18, 2006
 
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Pair enter first venture with blind faith NewBusiness By Paul Gauvin pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com PAUL GAUVIN PHOTO CURTAINCALL -Jennifer Rappazzo, left, and Patricia Yetman, join the ranks of female entrepreneurs by opening "BehindThe Blinds" window treatment center in Centerville. Patricia Yetmanstud- ied criminaljustice at Cape Cod Community College then was hired as a special reserve officer by the Barnstable Police Depart- ment. She guarded the new police station on Phinney's Lane from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. when it was under construc- tion and she cried for the owners who had rented a house only to find it in ruins after the renters had gone. She was too soft, too sensi- tive for that line of work, she recalls. So the curtain came down on a police career. Now, years later after raising a family, the curtain is going up on a business -"Behind The Blinds"-she and partner Jennifer Rap- pazzo, who has an associ- ate's degree in interior de- sign from 4Cs, started a few weeks ago in the Centerville Shopping Center. They join the ranks of a growing number of women foregoing casinos and such to gamble on their own commercial aptitudes and skills. And, in this case, with their own money. "We were at a Boston seminar on draperies," Rappazzo said, "and Pat suggested we start our own business. 'You serious?' I asked her and she said 'Yes.' 'OK' I said. 'Let's do it.'" So much for boardroom meetings and long-range planning. The couple had met while working for another com- pany offering window treat- ments, but before that, were homemakers and mothers. In Yetman's case, she is parlaying a course taken some time ago with SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and a lifetime of self-taught sewing and prior "home business" experience in the joint venture. They put up some of their own personal savings, personal loans and a bit of home equity, rented the 1,000-square-foot space and decorated it handsomely to display a smattering of vari- ous window treatments. Yetmantaught herself to sew when she became a homemaker and mother of four children. She made some of their clothing and parlayed that into a home business making children's clothing for local boutiques, then draperies. "I also had a home-based catering business for a while," she said, until finally settling for ajob working for somebody else in window treatments, where she was trained by Rappazzo. "It's a bit scary," Rappaz- zo said of her first entrepre- neurial outing, "but we're excited." "There are hundreds of designs for blinds," they said, with plantation design indoor shutters currently in vogue. "There's also been a big change in what you can do with sliders using new lines of products. Before you were fairly limited to the simple vertical treatments." They displayed a new product of sheer polyester combined with vertical blinds that create more of a cur- tain look that, when open, subduesthe light coming through the window or, when closed, eliminates it. There's no shortage of good-humored banter and repartee either. If things slow down too much, says Yetman, "we'll apply for a liquor license." TechHies ^ BY Stan Elias TensorComm@comcast.net The talent pool is deeper than you think You may recall that last month this column discussed, among other things, the largely untapped talent resource that is our aging population. A class of hardware and software called "assistive technology"has been de- veloped to help individuals cope with sensory, cogni- tive and motor deficits. Although these resources can benefit older people wishing to remain in or return to the workplace, they also address the needs of the disabled community as a whole. The benefits that accrue to small busi- ness owners when they hire someone with a disability can be considerable. The assistive technol- ogy needed by disabled workers to function in the workplace is relatively inexpensive and easy to install, and in the long run, can pay off handsomely in terms of efficiency, reliabil- ity, and employee loyalty and morale. Language and communi- cation impairments range from dyslexia to difficulties remembering, solving prob- lems or perceiving sensory information, to problems comprehending and using language. For people who have these disabilities, complex or inconsistent visual displays or word choices can make comput- ers difficult to use. Several software packages address these needs. Aurora Suite 2005 is a set of programs designed to help people with learn- ing disabilities or dyslexia handle word processing tasks. Aurora Prediction learns the user's writing style, claims the publisher, and completes and pre- dicts words. It is an auto- matic spelling, grammar and homonym checker and ensures correct capitaliza- tion and punctuation. It helps create documents, email, instant messages and more.Aurora Echo reads documents, email or web pages aloud. It of- fers spoken feedback as the user types to indicate possible mistakes. Au- rora supports Microsoft Speech API version 4 and 5 speech synthesizers and are available in American English and ten European and Asian languages. It is compatible with Windows XP and Windows 2000. The Gus! Multimedia Speech System consists of five interlocking commu- nication/speech programs to provide optimal utility, based on the physical and speech requirements of the user.The package includes Gus! Easy Talk, which helps the user create speech by selecting from a listing of topics and phrases. Gus! Speak Clipboard provides speech output from any Windows application. Gus! TalkingCalculator is exactly that:an on-screen calculator with speech output.Gus! Mouse is a switch-adapted mouse for switch/scanning users. Mobility impairments can be an effect of aging or they can be caused by a wide range of illnessesand accidents such as arthritis, stroke, cerebral palsy, Par- kinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and repetitive stress injury, among others. These make using standard keyboards, mouse devices and software programs difficult . Dragon Naturally Speak- ing 9 has long been a leader in speech recognition. The ninth edition does not require the user to read any scripts or training texts. Bluetooth microphones are CONTINUED ON PAGE A:9 First reg agreements ready for council Projects would stretch pliable growth zone as intended By David Still II dstill@barnstablepatriot.com The first regulatory agreements since approval of the downtown Hyannis Growth Incentive Zone be- tween the town a downtown develop- ers will be headed to the council for review and approval next month. Robert Bradley's four-story replace ment of the former Hibel Museum of Art at Main and Ocean streets and the retail/office/residential remake by Ginsberg Asset Management on Steven's Street gained planning board approval Monday night to have their final agreements sent to the town council for consideration and possible adoption. The planning board was named as the town's negotiator for regulatory agreements, with final approval com- ing from the town council. The two approved Monday night stretch the intentionally pliable Growth Incentive Zone to accom- modate site and project-specific elements. For The Hibel project, the agreement specifies building height, parking requirements, a 12-unit-per- acre density and other design consid- erations. The Steven's Street project calls for the development of 29 residential townhouse units within seven, 2.5 story buildings with private garages and situated on a 2.73-acre parcel. The project totals 52,000 square feet. Among the relief recommended by the planning board is the ability to provide the three units of affordable housing required under the town's inclusionary housing ordinance at another location. The council is expected to get its first taste of the regulatory process in September. S*^ CONTRACTOR'S Mf^ ^ INSURANCE J 1 508-775-3131 I \ The / I Fair Insurance * L\ V Agency, Inc. 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