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May 17, 2008 8:10 pm US/Eastern
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Injured Soldier Receives High-Tech Home
ROSS TOWNSHIP (KDKA) ―
A solider wounded in battle in Iraq now has a special place to call home thanks to the hard work and efforts of several local people and organizations.
Army Specialist James Fair was blinded and left without hands after a roadside bomb sent shrapnel through his body in Fallujah in November 2003.
Now, Fair has a new high-tech home to call his own in Ross Township.
Homes For Our Troops, Duquesne Light and volunteers worked for a year and a half to provide Fair with a renovated home that has the latest in cutting-edge technology.
I've gotten to know the family very well. You couldn't ask for better people," said Duquesne Light spokesperson, Joe Vallarian. "There is no better person who deserves this than James."
The house has voice activation and proximity readers.
For example, Fair will be able to walk into a shower room and say "Start shower" and it will happen.
When he approaches a door, a censor will automatically recognize it's him and activate the door to open and close.
The downstairs of the home will house a rehabilitation and exercise center for Fair.
He and his family say they are very appreciative to all those who chipped in.
"Thank you. There's nothing you can say to them but thank you," said Fair's mother, Lonnie Mosco. "They've done wonderful work for him."
The home was expected to cost nearly $300,000 -- all of it paid for by donations.
Fair's home is the 26th built by Homes For Our Troops and 30 others are planned or under construction.
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