By JON HEDDLESTON

By JON HEDDLESTON

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“Be more positive. Have an awareness.”

That was one message Debra Jo Combs of Amis8ville left October 5 with members of Rappahannock’s Board of Supervisors. The mother of a handicapped child, Mrs. Combs was one of two county residents who spoke during a public meeting supervisors held to garner input from citizens regarding county services to the handicapped. From the public meeting and other sources, the supervisors will draft a plan this month to put the county into compliance within two years with federal regulations regarding the handicapped.

Those regulations deal primarily with making public buildings and facilities accessible to the handicapped, the supervisors explained during the meeting. At stake if the county doesn’t come into compliance is the welfare of its citizens - and federal revenue-sharing funds, which total $36,000 (est.) for fiscal ’84-’85.

The county presently is completing a “self evaluation,” County Cleric Diane Bruce explained. The purpose of the public meeting: “To try to bring the county’s services into compliance,” she said.

Mrs. Combs stressed the need to bring buildings and facilities “up to code.” She singled out the county library, the courtroom at the courthouse and surrounding courtyard buildings as inaccessible to the handicapped and others. “We’re not only talking about the physically disabled; we have elderly to think of as well,” she said.

Hugo Sinnott of Flint Hill also addressed the board, telling the supervisors that he had several handicaps. Mr. Sinnott praised the work Rappahannock’s Department of Social Services, but wondered what more could be done beyond the scope of that agency. Mr. Sinnott noted that being handicapped placed financial hardship on his family. “We’re stretched to the very limit,” he said.

Board Chairman Richard Latham