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Blindness no obstacle for new mayor of Bradenton Beach
Mayor-elect of Bradenton Beach Bill Shearon walks the neighborhoods and beaches with his chocolate Lab guide dog named Reese.
STAFF PHOTOS / THOMAS BENDER
STAFF PHOTOS / THOMAS BENDER
Published: Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 4:19 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 4:19 p.m.
BRADENTON BEACH - It is a kaleidoscope of visual delight, a breathtaking beach that far supersedes the cliché it should be.
A smattering of sea oats
surrounds a lazy hammock. A sand dune partially hides two colorful
umbrellas stirring in the breeze. A tourist bends down to examine a
shell. A sailboat glides by on turquoise water.
And sitting on the wooden deck of his beachfront home is Bill Shearon, the shoreline only a few hundred feet away.
But all he sees are shades.
He is legally blind.
He is also the new mayor of Bradenton Beach.
The
66-year-old Shearon will be sworn in today as the small city's new
mayor, his trusted guide dog Reese, a chocolate Lab, ever steady by his
side.
It is believed he will become the first mayor in the state who is legally blind.
“Hopefully,
for people with any disabilities, I will inspire them,” Shearon says.
“Just because they have a disability, they can still do anything they
want.”
Shearon has a
hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which is a
degenerative eye disease. He was declared legally blind about 10 years
ago.
He became mayor on Nov. 5 by beating incumbent John Shaughnessy 149-132.
But he will not be the first blind mayor in the country.
Steve
Lonegan, who has retinitis pigmentosa, was mayor of Bogata, N.J., from
1995-2007, and ran unsuccessfully for governor and U.S. Senate.
David
Paterson, also legally blind, became governor of New York in 2008,
after Eliot Spitzer resigned amid scandal. The first blind governor in
the U.S. was Bob C. Riley — he led Arkansas for 11 days in 1975.
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