Donations Buoy Disabled Pupils After Theft

A month and a half after thieves stole computers customized for use by disabled students at Pierce College, the students can look forward to a brighter fall semester, thanks to donations.

“Right now there are still too few [computers],” Pierce President E. Bing Inocencio said Wednesday. But “we are possibly in a recovery.”

By this week, the donations amounted to a new security system for the computer lab, two computers and $3,345 in cash, Inocencio said. Other pledges of money and services were yet to be collected.

The special computer lab in the geography building serves about 900 disabled students yearly--including quadriplegics and those with hearing and sight problems. The computers were customized--some voice-activated--and equipped with special software programs.

During Memorial Day weekend, burglars broke into the lab and stole the best five of the 11 computers, Inocencio said. Each was worth about $10,000.

Soon after the theft was reported, calls began to pour in, Inocencio said. Among the first was one from an executive of Home Tech Security, which donated a security system estimated to be worth $2,000.

Inocencio said New Technologies Inc. volunteered to collect the cash pledges to purchase other computers.

Police say they have leads in the search for the culprits, Inocencio said, but the investigation continues.

Meanwhile, the donations have bolstered the spirits of disabled students. “They were really shocked and excited--one actually cried,” Inocencio said. “I feel this is a caring community.”