Coral and Opal

Listen To The Falling Rain

2009-07-17T16:42:00.001-04:00

From the great Jose Feliciano.

Have a great weekend.

Trig Palin: A Pinprick To Our Conscience

2009-07-17T14:58:00.005-04:00

There is a very interesting opinion piece today from the political website politico.com. The piece is written by Gary Bauer and Daniel Allott. Bauer is a former Reagan administration official, the former head of the Family Research Council, and a former candidate for President in 2000. Allott works with Bauer at American Values and has worked as a former community support provider for people with disabilities.

There is probably no more polarizing figure in American politics today than Sarah Palin. A recent poll of Republicans showed that she has a 72% favorability rating within her own party - higher than anyone else who is being touted as a potential candidate for President. But she seems to draw an equally strong response in the negative from her opponents. Ann Coulter, in a recent column, pointed out that the power of Sarah Palin can be measured in one very tangible way: the left can't stop talking about her. Derisively, yes., but they talk about her, and seemingly constantly so.

Bauer and Allot feel that there is one factor above all others that leads to her being so polarizing: her son Trig, who was born with Down Syndrome just a few months before John McCain tapped her as his running mate. In her vice-presidential nomination acceptance speech, Palin described her as "perfectly beautiful baby boy," a phrase that heartened parents of Down Syndrome children all across America. At the end of the speech, she held Trig in her arms and faced him toward the crowd.

To her supporters, she was showing the world how proud she was of her son, how precious he is. To her detractors, she was using him as a prop to garner sympathy. Liberal blogs that deride conservatives for their support of "limited government" - the government that helps support people with disabilities - have no problem advancing and posting articles, cartoons, and comments espousing the most hateful, despicable and anti-disability views towards one special needs family: the Palins. Somehow, they think it's funny when it's about the Palins.

Bauer feels that Trig Palin is inextricably linked to another issue that divides liberals and conservatives in this country: abortion. Sarah Palin knew early in her pregnancy that her child would be born with Downs, and she went ahead and gave birth to him, welcoming him into the world. This puts her in the minority - studies have shown that 90% of pregnant women who learn that their child will have Down Syndrome terminate the pregnancy. In this age of scientific progress and high resolution ultrasounds, disability and birth defects have gone to the top of the list for reasons for a couple to have an abortion. Recently in England, a woman sued the hospital and the ultrasound provider for not accurately telling her that her son would have disabilities. Had she known, the $2 million lawsuit asserts, she would have never let him be born.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, knew.

In the midst of these powerful trends stands Palin. She understands that discrimination against people with disabilities is fueled by ignorance of what it is like to be, and to care for, a person with a disability.

Her advocacy is validated by the waiting lists of couples ready to adopt children with Down syndrome and other genetic abnormalities. And by the fact that those closest to people with disabilities are among the most vocal critics of universal prenatal genetic testing.

The writers acknowledge that America has written public policies to try and support those people with disabilities who are here. But that is different, they argue, than wanting them here.

Palin is controversial, in part, because America is divided over disability. We’ve established laws and institutions that protect people with disabilities. But we also do everything we can to make sure they don’t see the light of day.

Trig is a reminder of our fierce ambivalence over disability. Every mention of his name is a pinprick to our conscience. Every photo of mother and son is a reminder of concepts — vulnerability, dependency and suffering — our culture no longer tolerates, as well as virtues, such as humility, dignity and self-sacrifice, it no longer extols.

Most - but not all - disability advocates lean more toward the liberal side of the spectrum. This includes many policies (guns, the war, etc.) that aren't related to the field of disability. (I know, wars give us more people with disabilities, they always argue. But wars also give us fewer teachers, firefighters, and police officers. That alone is not a valid reason to support or oppose).

But the issue of abortion does not fall in line with traditional, liberal views, not in the minds of many disability advocates. It's uncomfortable for many of them, especially for those who have disabilities themselves.

And in Trig Palin, what you see is the intersection of these two issues, personified.

Trig is also a reminder of an inescapable truth: Disability is an inherent part of the human condition. At a time of deep cultural divisions, 1-year-old Trig Palin represents the deepest division of all, between a culture that increasingly sees genetic perfection as an entitlement and a culture still rooted in the belief that human beings are defined not by their capabilities but, instead, by the very fact of their humanity.

"That's A Terrible Thing To Do To Somebody"

2009-07-16T10:48:00.012-04:00

The most disappointing episodes of Law & Order are when the defendant breaks down on the stand under relentless hounding from the assistant district attorney, and admits they committed murder. Of course. They denied their involvement. They pled Not Guilty. They fought the charges with every fiber of their being, and when the time comes to defend themselves on the stand, Jack McCoy wears them down, and they cough it up. Happens all the time.

Even more ridiculous were the scenes from Perry Mason, when the ace defense attorney - in the process of defending his client from murder charges, where the law only requires the creation of reasonable doubt - would go the extra mile and get someone not even charged with the crime to admit their guilt on the stand.

But none of these legal eagles have anything on the Gage County, Nebraska sheriff's department and county prosecutor.

In Gage County, they go beyond getting defendants to admit their guilt. They go flying by getting witnesses not charged with the crime to admit their guilt. No, in Gage County, they can convince people to plead guilty to murders they didn't know they committed. That is a higher level indeed.

In 1985, a 68-year old woman named Helen Wilson was raped and murdered in Beatrice, a quiet town of 13,000 in the southeastern corner of Nebraska. The FBI determined at the the time that the crime had been committed by a single assailant. Four years later, the case remained "unsolved" until a woman, Ada Taylor, came forward. She claimed that she and three other men had committed this horrific crime. Taylor who - according to court documents - was known "to be of low intelligence, with emotional problems" later added the name of James LeRoy Dean to the list. Mr. Dean, according to his attorney, is also of "low to borderline" intellectual functioning, and also is described as having emotional issues.

When the police came to talk to Dean, he said he knew absolutely nothing about the crime. This is something, of course, that is said by both the innocent and the not so innocent.

But Taylor claimed that Dean's motive for the crime was robbery. The crime scene investigation unit, however, found over $1,000 in the apartment in a place that would have taken very little effort to find.

The police asked Mr. Dean for a blood sample, which he - consistent a claim of innocence - readily supplied. The lab results showed that Mr. Dean's blood did not match the blood found at the scene of the crime.

Mr. Dean also agreed to take a polygraph test. This proved to be his undoing. Not because of how he scored, but because of who scored it. The test was administered by a deputy county sheriff who, quite remarkably, also had a Ph.D. in psychology.

Here's a life tip for the reader: If you find an psychologist who is working as a deputy county sheriff, he's probably a crappy psychologist. A good psychologist would be working as a psychologist, charging the country hundreds of dollars per hour for his services, not pulling third shift tracking down DUIs on Route 77.

This deputy county sheriff/psychologist told Mr. Dean that the polygraph results "revealed, at a subconscious level, his involvement in Wilson's homicide." The test, this deputy sheriff explained, also revealed that Dean was "repressing his memories of the murder."

To sum up, according to Dr. Deputy, the test showed that Dean was lying about the crime, even though Dean didn't realize that he was lying about the crime. That's some polygraph. Call the APA.

The police repeatedly showed Dean videos of the crime scene and convinced him that he been there. And in exchange for testifying against the other suspects, the prosecutor told him that they would give him a good deal, that they wouldn't charge him with first degree murder. They told him they would take the death penalty off the table.

So, he testified. He pled guilty to aiding and abetting second degree murder of a crime he couldn't recall being a part of. He spent 5 years in prison. HIs "accomplices" - based in no small part on his testimony - spent upwards of 18 years in prison for the murder of Helen Wilson.

Dean, of course, was innocent, a fact that was proven with the help of the Innocence Project. So, tragically, were all of the others. The guilty party had been a man named Bruce Allen Smith, identified through DNA tests, according to recent tests conducted by the Nebraska Attorney Generals office.

Smith had been an original suspect in the crime. And when you see the evidence - gee - you could understand why. On the night in question, he had been drinking in a bar in Beatrice. He went to a nearby party where he was thrown out after he threatened that he was going to "rape someone." As he was being thrown out, he vowed that he would "get even." He was dropped off in the middle of the night near Wilson's apartment. The next day a witness saw Smith with blood on him. And the police found a wallet at the scene that Smith was suspected of stealing.

Unfortunately, an incompetent lab technician had eliminated Smith as a suspect. So, naturally, the police went with the "repressed-memories/threaten-them-with-the-death-penalty" angle. it turns out that Dean wasn't the only one the psychologist used this theory on:

(Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy attorney Jerry) Soucie criticized the prosecution's use of a psychologist who told the accused that they had committed crimes so heinous they had blocked what they had done from their memories. One of the women sentenced in conjunction with the case, Debra Shelden, still believes she was somehow involved, even though the evidence overwhelmingly points otherwise, Soucie said.

"That's a terrible thing to do to somebody," Soucie said.

What a travesty of justice.

"Dancing" In The Dark

2009-07-15T12:37:00.013-04:00

There are very few shows that my wife and I watch together. Actually, there is only one show that my wife and I watch together, and we watch it with our children as well: American Idol.

But American Idol serves as the map point where our television viewing paths begin to diverge. I'm drawn to vibrant, diverse melodramas such as Monday Night Football and the NHL Playoffs. Whereas she is comforted by the unscripted realities of Supernanny and John and Kate Plus 8. She also enjoys one of the more popular shows - a show whose popularity confounds me - Dancing With The Stars.

I enjoyed watching Jerry Rice catch footballs. I enjoyed watching Evander Holyfield box. And, in their chosen fields, I enjoy the talents of Tucker Carlson, Mark Cuban, and Li'l Kim. I just don't care if they can dance.

Through all the seasons, there was only one celebrity that I followed. There was only one guest star that could get me to turn off Georgetown vs. Syracuse and watch. There was only one who could make me pivot from ESPN and get lost in the dance.

I am talking, of course, about Marie Osmond who, but for a tragic series of cosmic missteps in the planes of time, geography and, perhaps on her part, religion, could have been my wife. But beyond my beloved Marie, there was really nothing that drew me to the show. And now I seem to know why:

They don't like people with disabilities very much.

Robert Carr and Arnie Pike, two fans of the show who were recently part of the studio audience in Los Angeles, have filed a lawsuit against the show. Carr, a double amputee, and Pike, a quadriplegic, claim the show was insensitive and, at times, hostile toward them because they use wheelchairs for mobility.

The lawsuit alleges that the studio has no designated areas for wheelchairs. And, as written into the filing, the petitioners bet they know why:

They claim the staff has "a policy of placing disabled persons where they cannot be seen by the camera or the public."

Pike and Carr say they were put in the very back, behind all of the permanent seats, in a position that made it impossible to see the dance floor which is, in truth, a pretty important part of the overall show.

But worse than that, they both allege, the show was even hostile to their companion dogs.

The worst slight of all -- allegedly -- "his service dog was placed in the aisle where the camera man threatened to run over the dog."

Some people in wheelchairs can laugh off the occasional, unintentional slight. But don't start threatening their Goldens. That is waking up the grizzly bear.

To give some degree of fairness, they did have deaf actress Marlee Matlin on the show. Not that Pike and Carr could have seen her, but she was on the show. They also kept uncomfortably telling Matlin after every performance what an "inspiration" she was, which was their way of saying "It's hard to dance in absolutely perfect time to the music when you can't, well, actually hear the music."

I don't know what the Access Board regulations are on television studios. But they don't sell tickets to television shows - thereby removing the "Michigan argument" for ignoring the ADA - so I don't know why they wouldn't have a few spots for wheelchairs.

Could what Pike and Carr allege by true? Could the show that forced us to sit through Jerry Springer and Cloris Leachman dancing, really not want to upset the aesthetics of the "competition" by showing people in wheelchairs? Could they be that unbelievably stupid?

Stay tuned.

"Give Me A T!"

2009-07-14T14:55:00.010-04:00

Dateline: Marietta, Georgia.

Joe Green's family was going to a neighborhood pool party over the 4th of July weekend. He decided to let his children set up a stand to sell some of the items he makes for his struggling small business, patriotic hats and t-shirts. He told his children they could use some of the profits to help fund the fun things they wanted to do this summer.

The children - along with their friends, one of whom was in a wheelchair - set up the stand and were proudly selling their wares. Green briefly left the pool to return home and noticed an unfamiliar white car parked outside the party. Two girls were seated in the car, one more was hanging out by the gate to the pool area. When he went back in to the party, he saw yet another girl over at the table, talking to the young children. He went up to her and started a conversation, explaining to her why the children were selling them, and what they hoped to do with the profits.

A few moments later, after he had left the area, he heard them yelling and crying. The girl, they claimed, had stolen the small box with the money in it, ran out the gate, hopped in the white car, and sped off with her friends, making off with nearly $150 in cash.

That is when the young kids went into total NCIS mode. One of the brothers of the robbery victims said he had seen her before, and thought she went to nearby Sprayberry High School. They borrowed someone's iPhone and got on the website for the high school. They found a picture of the cheerleading team, and one of the girls in the picture looked a lot like the suspect. Just to be certain, they then went to Facebook and typed in the name of their suspect, the aptly named Chelsea Steele.

Bingo. They called the police, told them what had happened, and presented them with their evidence.

The police tracked down Ms. Steele, aged 17, and she admitted her guilt. And all of a sudden the "Cheerleader Steals From Kid In a Wheelchair" stories began flying all over the Internet. "Chelsea Steele" the 13th most popular search term on Google one day.

Local television stations covered the case with gusto. The kids were - get this - flown to New York City with their father to be interviewed by Meredith Vieira on the Today show. The segment featured Chelsea's mugshot, with the voice over saying, "Give me a T! Give me an H! Give me an I! Give me an E! Give me an F!"

Chelsea is free on $5000 bond. Originally, she was the only person charged, but the police are noticing that the other girls' stories are not really adding up. The police announced they would be interviewing the other girls again, and that more charges could be pending. Ms. Steele - described as a "rising" student at Sprayberry - has been charged with robbery and underage drinking.

Chelsea has offered up an apology. And like all good, heartfelt apologies it was offered through her attorney. And in the spirit of true repentance, she has offered to pay the money back - if they drop the charges.

Here's a better idea, Chelsea. Go see the families affected by your crime and personally apologize for your actions. Vow to work all summer to raise money for the children, so that their summer dreams can come true. And at no point should you ever even hint that they should drop the charges.

The sheer stupidity of this crime is staggering, and it almost reinforces the theme that this had to be a one-shot deal. No one could be this dumb on a regular basis.

She is from a nearby high school. She was known by people at the party. She spoke to one of the parents at the party. And then she stole the box in broad daylight, right out of the hands (figuratively) of a kid in a wheelchair. And she tried to get away.

In a way, I feel sorry for her, but that is mostly likely due to the fact I have daughters myself. Pinching $150 from a neighborhood party is hardly worth becoming infamous the world over. But so brazen a crime was almost an open invitation for getting caught. I'm guessing her cheerleading days are over. And I'm guessing she will pay for this crime in ways that will far outlast any term of community service the is most assuredly coming her way.

I hope that in the long run, something very good comes of this for young Chelsea Steele.

Fanny Crosby: Echoes Of Mercy, Whispers Of Love

2009-07-10T15:24:00.003-04:00

Frances Jane Crosby - known to all as Fanny - is one of the most famous and prolific writers of religious hymns in our country's history. It is estimated that she wrote over 8,000 hymns before dying in 1915 at the age of 94.

Fanny Crosby went blind just weeks after her birth in 1820, stemming from the treatment a doctor recommended for inflammation in her eyes. By the time she was one, her father had passed away, leaving her to be raised by her mother and grandmother.

A devoutly religious family, Fanny was prone to memorizing long passages from the Bible, passages that would be woven into her timeless musical pieces.

She also wrote popular tunes, including the somewhat maudlin "Rosalie, The Prairie Flower" and other songs.

But she is best remembered for her hymns. She was asked to play "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" at the funeral of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1885. She was inducted in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1975.

There is no greater testament to her talents than the fact that people are still performing her songs today, songs that were written some 140 years ago.

Please enjoy a modern reworking of a Fanny Crosby classic, "Blessed Assurance" by the Christian popular music band Third Day.

Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Have a great weekend.

"I Will Continue To Disrupt At The Highest Levels"

2009-07-08T13:15:00.019-04:00

H/T: PJ...

Research surveys show that people with disabilities are the least likely demographic group in the country to own a computer and have access to the Internet. That is why here at Assistive Technology of Ohio we have a program where an Ohioan with a disability can obtain a refurbished computer for only $50. We think owning a computer helps people with disabilities learn, work, live independently, and compete in the 21st century.

Or, if your name is Gary McKinnon, it can help you try and prove the existence of little green men, while setting off a world-wide cyber terrorism panic.

McKinnon, of Scotland, sent the U.S. national defense agencies into a spin in 2001 and 2002 when he hacked into 97 United States military computer systems, including NASA, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and, for good measure, the Department of Defense. His efforts were discovered when he mistakenly miscalculated the time difference between the two countries. A Pentagon worker sat down at his computer and saw that someone was controlling it from a remote location.

He was eventually tracked down and arrested under British law, and told that he would likely face nothing worse than public service.

President Bush, however, was not in a charitable mood. The USA, rather than offering pubic service, was thinking something more along of the lines of "the rest of your life at Guantanamo Bay."

Through years of legal wrangling, Mr. McKinnon has managed to stave off extradition to the United States. The walls, however, appeared to be closing in on him in the past few years, when he decided to try a different tack: disability.

In 2008, Mr. McKinnon was diagnosed - for the first time - with Asperger's Syndrome, which he claims greatly contributed to his crime.

Gary does not deny being behind the attacks. But he and his supporters say the hacking was naively motivated by his eccentric search for the existence of UFOs because he has Asperger's - a form of autism which leads to obsessive behaviour.

And while he is now trying to hide behind his (lately proclaimed) disability, that hasn't stopped him participating in international conferences on hacking. It hasn't stopped him from talking to the media about his daring, cyber accomplishment. It hasn't kept him stating assertively that he knows for certain - based on his illegal, hacking research - that the U.S. is burying the existence of flying saucers. But, like all UFO theorists, he JUST MISSED being able to prove their existence.

He claimed to have viewed a detailed image of "something not man-made" and "cigar shaped" floating above the northern hemisphere, and assuming his viewing would be undisrupted owing to the hour, he did not think of capturing the image because he was "bedazzled", and therefore did not think of securing it with the screen capture function in the software RemotelyAnywhere at the point when his connection was interrupted.

He was too "bedazzled" to save the files that would have broken this mystery worldwide? Drats! Haven't we heard this before? "My camera mysteriously went dead..." "When I got home there were no images on the film...." If ONLY he had clicked save, he could have proven once and for all what the U.S. government knows (and what the other 191 countries apparently do not): that we are not alone.

There are efforts across the pond to try and gin up public support to stop him from being extradited for a crime he has readily admitted committing. Marillion, the British rock group whose highest charting U.S. single soared to #74 on the charts - 24 years ago - has made noise about doing a benefit concert for him. The Daily Mail is calling him a "naive hacker," asking him to be treated legally as if he were a child, and wondering why no Members of Parliament are rushing to his defense...

One hacking job could be considered the work of a naive hacker. Ninety-seven computer systems later, that's a different story. I'm not sure I'm buying his story.

After all, if he was just looking for UFO data - which he maddeningly forget to save - what explains this little missive he left on the military computer system?

US foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism these days... It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand-down on September 11 last year... I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels.

Those aren't exactly the words of a man trying to figure out if E.T. is real.

No Place Like Home

2009-07-07T12:47:00.002-04:00

During my time on the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council, I learned of the passion that disability advocates have for community services. There is a constant battle going on between the grass roots disability champions and the providers of services rooted in the old model - institutions and nursing homes. One of the most visible national disability organizations, ADAPT, is dedicated almost solely to the proposition that people with disabilities need to live in community settings and be freed from a lifetime of being locked away in nursing homes.

There was a member, Todd Gatewood, who has severe cerebral palsy, who had lived most of his life in an institution. With the help of self-advocates and other people with disabilities encouraging him, Todd was able to envision a life for himself beyond the walls of the institution. With the help of personal assistants and others in the community, Todd has lived in the community for over 10 years, and has become one of Ohio's leading disability advocates.

Community placements are often (but not always) less expensive for the taxpayers. They give people with disabilities more freedom and more autonomy, and it places people with disabilities where they belong - in the heart of our communities. And inherent in every community-based policy agenda is one assumption: that community placements are likely to be better for people with disabilities, even if they don't know it yet.

But, as they say, there are two sides to every coin.

For some people with disabilities, nursing homes or institutions are not just some warehouse or segregation unit -- they are home. For Sara Schnell, the Beatrice State Developmental Center in Beatrice, Nebraska, was the only thing she had ever known to be a home. Unfortunately for Sara, who had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair, there were those who felt she would be "better off" somewhere else, somewhere that was better equipped to care for her.

Last year, an 18-year old resident of Beatrice had a very serious seizure and the response of the staff at Beatrice was less than sufficient. The young man died and, shortly thereafter, the state ordered all "medically fragile" residents to be transferred out. This included Sara who had lived at Beatrice for 52 years. The adjustment was going be be profound.

Schnell was well-known around campus and people there understood her way of communicating, (stepbrother Garry Wheeler) said.

In February, the state - against the objections of her family - placed Sara in an apartment in Lincoln, over 40 miles away. Removed from her friends, the familiarity of her surroundings, and the comfort of her regular schedule, Sara began to deteriorate.

(Wheeler) said she first got sick around April, during her initial hospital stay. He said she aspirated on saliva, and he believes that was because she spent most of her time lying in a bed, unlike at BSDC, where she was in her wheelchair more often and doing activities.

She was moved from the apartment to a hospital unit in Lincoln, followed by a brief stay in the nursing home. She was then moved back to her apartment for a brief time, before being re-admitted to the hospital. At the end of June she began receiving hospice care at a nursing home until she passed away July 2. She was 65 years old.

Her family is not pleased with how her life ended.

“We could see her emotional health deteriorate with each move and it was manifested in that we feel that she just gave up fighting for her life,” (Wheeler) said in an e-mail. “Part of her physical and mental degradation was finding out that she couldn’t ever return to the familiar surroundings of the BSDC campus.”

Of course, one can never know if these problems would have arisen if she had stayed. But within the movement of community living, some consideration has to be given to the Sara Schnells of the world. One shouldn't assume that the increased freedom and autonomy of a community placement will necessarily outweigh what they will give up in comfort and familiarity. Sometimes, the best place to be is home -- however she defines it.

"When They Change The Law, We Will Get Married"

2009-07-06T13:08:00.006-04:00

There has been a lot of debate in this country in the past 10 years about marriage. Federal and state courts have been issuing rulings on whether homosexuals should be allowed to be legally married. State legislatures have passed laws defining marriage, and voters have (thus far) held up the definition marriage on statewide referendums across the country.

The underpinning of all this debate has been the value of marriage to a society. But sometimes in public life, in public policies, the promotion of the institution of marriage can be in conflict with the idea of providing government services in a fair and consistent manner. Sometimes, the protection of the tax payers purse strings can work against the institution of marriage.

Case in point.

Steve McNutt and Candy Adcock were sweethearts back in grade school, almost 50 years ago. After high school, they went their separate ways. Candy went on to get married and Steve went on the the University of Michigan to get a degree in engineering.

Four years ago, a mutual friend brought the old friends back together again. Adcock, now a widow, and McNutt reignited their old friendship and it eventually blossomed into a romance. The two of them wanted to get married, to make their commitment official not only before God, but to the state as well.

"I loved her," said McNutt, 59, sitting in his Ann Arbor condominium recently. "And I was always looking for somebody. She's part of my life and I'm part of her life."

Be he couldn't make the commitment. Neither could she. To do so would be to place their independence and their very health in peril.

Both Steve and Candy are severely disabled with cerebral palsy. They both have Medicaid insurance through the state of Michigan, a program that pays for a personal attendant services. These aids are the mechanism that has allowed each of them to live independently.

"The bottom line for me is if I don't have someone to assist me, I don't get out of bed in the morning," (Adcock) said. "I don't eat or use the bathroom. All those basic things don't get done without those people to help me."

If they were to marry, their combined incomes would make them ineligible for Medicaid and would, in turn, cost them the use of their personal attendants. Their health and safety would be at risk without them.

So they had no choice but to not get married. They just live together in an apartment, devoted to one another, but unable to make the commitment formal out of fear of losing what they need to survive. And in our country, due to the ways our laws are written, this is a decision made by too many couples who are poor, elderly, or disabled. Out of fear of losing benefits, they remain unmarried. And if you believe that society benefits from marriage, it would logically follow that society suffers along with them.

I believe in marriage. I also believe that our government should be able to find a way to make it easier for people like Steve and Candy to believe in it to.

"When they change the law, we will get married. We will never give up," said Adcock.

It's a shame they can't get married now.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-02T21:21:00.002-04:00

Have a great Independence Day Weekend!

An amazing version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic by the Cactus Cuties....

God bless this land.

Headline of the Day

2009-07-02T12:45:00.004-04:00

Here is your headline of the day, courtesy of the Jackson (MS) Northside Sun :

"Woodrow Wilson Project Not Finished After More Delays"

I should say so! Talk about delays!

... the roughly $1.5 million project calls for installing new handicapped-friendly devices and improving sidewalks to meet standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act, (David Willis) said.

Sure, blame the guys in wheelchairs.

Abbey Curran - "You Know You Can Do It."

2009-07-01T12:52:00.010-04:00

In a recent Miss USA pageant, one contestant made an impact far outlasting the final curtain. She stood up for what she believed in and didn't give in to societal norms about how she should behave. She just put herself out there just as she was, staying true to the values she was raised with, and left her fate in God's hands. In the end, she didn't win, but she went back to her state with her head held high, with thousands of new fans from across the country, and with national media outlets actively working to get her to come on their show and tell her story.

The year was 2008, not 2009. And I'm not talking about Ms. California.

Abbey Curran was named Ms. Iowa 2008 and got the chance to compete in the 2008 Miss USA pageant. One thing made her different than the other contestants; different, really, than any other contestant in the history of the pageant: Ms. Curran had a disability. Specifically, she has cerebral palsy, a condition that affects her ability to walk without assistance.

As a little girl, it was always her dream to compete in beauty pageants. She would dress up in formal gowns and parade around the house as if she were Ms. America. She always made her family - who lived and worked on a farm in Iowa - sit and watch the nationally televised pageants with her.

She got a very positive outlook on life from her parents, who were always encouraging her to try and not let her disability stop her from pursuing her dreams.

Her mom says she always told Curran "she can do whatever she set her mind to. You know you can do it. You can do whatever. You just have to try. Might have to try harder than somebody else, but you can do whatever you want."

About 6 years ago, Abbey started establishing beauty contests for children with disabilities, known as Miss You Can Do It Pageants. The pageant is to be held on Saturday, July 25th in Kewanee, Illinois. The pageants are for girls with special needs aged 5-25, and the pageant is divided into four categories, broken down by age.

Here's where it gets a little interesting, though.

Each girl will compete by age group in private interview, casual wear, evening gown, and on-stage question.

And on-stage question of a 5-year old? I have a six-year old son right now, and I can't imagine asking him anything on stage, other than, "Which is better - SpongeBob or Pepperoni Pizza? And why?" Still, though, it sounds like a great idea to me.

After she competed for Miss USA, she was profiled by CBS News, People Magazine, Access Hollywood and was a guest on the Ellen Degeneres Show. She is currently back to her studies at St. Ambrose University in Davenport.

I think it is great that she is decided to compete in pageants. I think it is even better that she decided to compete in the Miss USA pageant which is historically a pageant based almost exclusively on beauty. (I know, no spinster has ever been named Ms. America because she pounded out a mean marimba, but at least they attempt to showcase something other than beauty).

The Miss USA pageant has very, very minimal non-beauty categories, such as the on-stage interview, made famous by Ms. Prejean. Ms. Curran, a woman with cerebral palsy, was a worthy competitor for Miss USA for one very good reason:

She's gorgeous. Period.

And judging by the historic view that society has toward people with disabilities, that is indeed a very good thing.

Michael Jackson - The Loneliest of Lives Ends

2009-06-26T14:26:00.012-04:00

Sometimes in life, the worst thing that can happen to a person is to become famous. It can be a condition from which you never recover.

There are a lot of people in the entertainment world who - like Michael Jackson - become international superstars as children. And the landscape is littered with former child stars who had tremendous difficulty adjusting to life as an adult.

Pop culture also brings forth white hot supernovas - young men and women - who reach heights of fame, popularity and success reserved for but a precious few. This too brings troubles. The top of the world can be a very difficult perch to climb down from, even for an young adult.

Michael Jackson is the only person I know who went through both. He's the only one I can think of who experienced the life of a child star, and then later went on in a second phase of his career to become the biggest star on the planet. And in my opinion, this double dose of fame sealed his fate.

The Jacksons were a run-of-the-mill family act from Gary, Indiana until the gifted soul of young Michael Jackson became old enough to grab the microphone and command the audience to listen and watch. Not them. Him.

It didn't take long until the Jackson 5 were the hottest act at Motown Records, and Michael was the biggest star in the music business, known the world over.

After leaving Motown and moving to Epic Records, his star dipped slightly lower in the sky, owing to his physical changes and the fact that "The Jacksons" assumed the responsibility of writing and producing much of their own music at their new label. They weren't ready to do this, and their careers as popularly-relevant artists suffered as a result.

But it proved to be the training ground that Michael needed to become the biggest star the music world has ever seen.

After cutting his solo-artist teeth (with the help of the musical talents of Rod Temperton and Quincy Jones) on the commercially successful "Off The Wall" album, Michael followed up with "Thriller," an album unlike any other.

Before "Thriller," most artists approached albums from a top-heavy perspective. The studios would pour money and time into perhaps 2 songs, fill the rest of the album with lesser material, and release it. The thought process was that a third or fourth good single from an album would be pointless, because fans inclined to buy the album already would have.

Michael's approach to "Thriller" was unique: Why not make every song on the album a hit? As long as you're making an album, why not make it the greatest album of all time? So, he did. And he pulled it off. In an industry where 500,000 copies sold earns one "Gold Record" status, "Thriller" has sold over 100 million copies.

Factor in the explosion of music videos with MTV, Michael's God-given talents for dancing and filmmaking, combined with his built-in base of fans from his days at Motown, and it was the perfect storm. He didn't use "Thriller" to sell records to his fans - he used it to create hundreds of millions of fans all over the world.

And judging by the slowly deteriorating train wreck that his life eventually became, I think it is fair to say that he couldn't handle it. No one could. It was too much.

His life was never normal. If the Jacksons had faded into the wood work - as so many child acts do - he might have adjusted and had a somewhat normal existence. But he emerged from a potentially damaging situation - childhood fame - and then soared to heights of fame never seen before or since.

And, slowly but surely, even while continuing to dominate the charts through the late 80s and early 90s, he started to lose his grip on this world.

In some sense, Michael Jackson died about 15 years ago. He died a little when he started showing up at events with baby chimps in his arms, talking in all seriousness about never wanting to grow old. He died a little when he started mutilating himself - through countless plastic surgeries and manipulations of the color of his skin - rendering him nearly unrecognizable. He died a little when exhibiting unexplainably weird behavior surrounding his own children. And eventually - to most of his rational-thinking fans - he died when he started hiring teams of lawyers to fend off increasingly plausible charges of sexual molestation of innocent children.

Once he left the working-class neighborhoods of Gary, Indiana, he lost, gradually, all touch with what a normal life was like. And he eventually created a fantasy life for himself that bore no resemblance to reality, that violated many of the basic norms of society, and that cost him the affection of the millions of fans who were prepared to stand by his side forever.

So yesterday, in the hours after his death, the airwaves were filled with former friends and past associates talking, dry-eyed, almost searching for an emotional response to his passing, attempting to make people understand how great he really used to be.

When Elvis died, the headline in the Memphis paper the next day read, "A Lonely Life Ends On Elvis Presley Boulevard." I'm not sure anyone ever had a lonelier life than Michael Jackson. May he rest in peace.

The Fairest Of The Angels

2009-06-25T15:13:00.007-04:00

One of the icons of my youth, Farrah Fawcett, has passed away. She was not a particularly great actress, but she had a profound impact on society. If you were to ask the man on the street to respond to the name "Farrah Fawcett," you will get two reactions: She was on "Charlie's Angels" and she posed for one of the most famous pin-up posters in American history. The poster of her in a one-piece swimsuit ranked right up there with the iconic pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Raquel Welch, and Rita Hayworth.

She did receive critical acclaim for her portrayal of a battered spouse in The Burning Bed, a TV movie. She also received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in Extremities. But for most people - certainly for people my age - she will always be remembered as Jill Munroe, the fairest of the Angels. Amazingly, most people don't realize that she was only on "Charlie's Angels" for one season. But that one season lasted forever.

Rest in peace, Mary Farrah Leni Fawcett.

"Children Don't Have Those Years To Wait"

2009-06-25T13:13:00.003-04:00

The question that arises from yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in Forest Grove v. TA - the same question that every Supreme Court ruling - is: what impact will it have?

According to some public school administrators here in central Ohio, the answer is this: Not much.

For one thing, the Supreme Court did NOT rule that the parents should receive reimbursement for the costs of tuition at the private school. The Supreme Court ruled that the parents do indeed have the right to seek that reimbursement; a lower court will decide later this year whether or not the reimbursement will be approved.

Secondly, some experts think the ruling will only have limited impact on services.

In Columbus City Schools, which approved placements for 320 students in private schools, the ruling won't change district programs or affect finances, spokeswoman Kim Norris said. "The recent case doesn't change the fact that parents still must inform the school district if they suspect their child has a disability," she said.

Well, I'm not sure I agree totally with that. In the Oregon case, the parents disagreed with the school district that said their son didn't qualify for services. They paid for an outside expert opinion, enrolled their son in a specialized school, and then asked the school district to approve him for services. There are plenty of parents out there who may disagree with whether or not their son needs disability services. In this scenario, the fact that the school district disagrees with the parents does not preclude the parents from seeking reimbursement for services rendered at a private school. I think that's a big deal.

But, still, it remains difficult to fight the system. Parents, the article notes, are often required to pay a minimum of $10,000 in legal fees just to bring their grievances to a hearing, with no assurances that they will be successful. And, further aggravating the problem, a child's education is like sand falling out of the hourglass: you don't have the luxury of protracted court battles.

"It's a high-risk endeavor," Director of the Ohio Coalition for Education of Children with Disabilities Margaret Burley said. "Children don't have those years to wait."

Score One For Private Schools

2009-06-24T12:53:00.013-04:00

Several months ago, I wrote about the important case before the Supreme Court, Forest Grove School District v. T.A..

In this case, a family from Oregon wanted to enroll their son in a school that specializes in educational programming for children with disabilities. Their son - known in court documents only as "T.A." - previously had problems in school but (in 2001 and 2003) was found not to be eligible for educational services covered in an IEP.

T.A.'s behavior and condition worsened and, on the advice of a specialist, the parents enrolled him at the specialized and expensive private school. The parents then sought to have the public school district sign off on the disabilities and determine that T.A. was now eligible for reimbursement, which was over $5000 per month. The school continued their stance that he was not appropriate for an IEP at all and did not grant him eligibility.

Of course, by that point, the school knew what the parents were up to, knew that a granting of eligibility to T.A. could lead to tens of thousands of dollars leaving the public school district in the direction of the private school.

What I didn't realize until reading the oral arguments is that, following a ruling by the Hearing Officer that the parents were indeed eligible for tuition reimbursement, the school finally responded with a belated offer of an IEP. The parents - not wishing to send their son to a school that sued to deny him services - declined their offer of services and continued at the private school.

The public school then used the parents' refusal to return the child to the public school as proof that the parents should not be eligible for private school reimbursement. After all, the public school - numerous court battles later - was offering.

Speculation prior to the case was that the court would be divided 5-4, with Justice Kennedy being the deciding, swing vote. It turns out it wasn't that close: the vote came down 6-3 in favor of the family. Scalia and Thomas, who usually vote identically and who are normally friendly to the private sector, voted with the public school district, as did the reliably liberal David Souter. Chief Justice John Roberts, often expected to stand with Scalia and Thomas, voted for T.A.

I agree with the decision. I have also never been a big fan of the IDEA and the process it sets forth for the writing of IEPs. Times are tough, and it is difficult for schools to provide a full complement of specialized services to only a handful of students. Too often school districts, realizing that the array of services needed by a student with disabilities would sorely test their budget, respond not by claiming poverty, but rather by pretending the child doesn't need those services at all. The mere acknowledgement in an IEP of the need for the specialized services - about which there would likely be little disagreement in the absence of monetary considerations - legally obligates the provision of those services under the Act.

The Act was written in a way to make it difficult for a school district to dishonestly cry "poverty" when parents sought specialized services for their children. But the practical effect of the Act has led many schools - who these days can truly and loudly cry "poverty" - to be dishonest and misleading about what services that children with disabilities actually need to succeed in schools.

This is crazy. The determination of whether or not someone has cancer is not predicated upon the quality of their insurance. Imagine a health care system that would only acknowledge the actual existence of a medical condition if it is determined that there is some mechanism to pay for its treatment. That is no way to run a rodeo.

I like the decision. I think that parents need choices in trying to find the best educational fit for their children with disabilities. And I believe that laws - and legal decisions - best serve children with disabilities when they encourage professionals to accurately determine what a child truly needs.

Just A Bit Outside

2009-06-22T13:30:00.005-04:00

The Detroit Tigers placed pitcher Dontrelle Willis on the disabled list. He was placed on the disabled list not for tightness in his shoulder or a pulled hamstring; the official medical diagnosis was for "anxiety disorder." But in practical terms - the baseball world - the diagnosis was simple: he forgot how to pitch. Every few years it happens to someone on the major league level - they just forget how to play or, to be more precise, how to throw. And for athletes to suddenly forget how to do what was previously the easiest thing in the world, it places them on the "disabled" list in the truest sense of the word.

Dontrelle makes light of the situation, saying that he doesn't understand how an "anxiety disorder" could make him throw balls instead of strikes. Willis thinks the problem is simply mechanical and separate from his battles with the disorder. And, judging from his unorthodox pitching style, one would be tempted to say he has a point. But I think he's wrong - I think the anxiety disorder has everything to do with his problems.

Dontrelle Willis is not alone on this "disabled" list.

Steve Blass was a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late 60s and 70s. He won as many as 18 games in a season and pitched two complete game wins in the 1971 World Series, finishing second in the MVP balloting to the legendary Roberto Clemente. Then, inexplicably, after the 1972 season he lost the ability to pitch.

Blass went from being a pitcher who walked 2-3 players a game, to a pitcher who walked one player every inning. He normally averaged three hit batters a season; in 1973 alone he hit 12 batters. He had only 27 strikeouts in 1973, compared to career best of 147 in 1967. His earned run average ballooned from from 2.49 in 1972 to nearly 10 runs per game the next year. By 1974 he was back in the minors, but he never returned to form. By 1975 he was out of baseball, only 2 years removed from being a World Series hero. But he became the face of this condition; whenever it happens now, people are said to have caught "Steve Blass disease."

And it has happened to others. Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals - one of the most highly rated young pitchers in baseball - suddenly became unable to throw the ball anywhere near the plate during the playoffs his rookie year. Steve Sax, the 1982 Rookie of the Year with the Los Angeles Dodgers and a five time All-Star, woke up one day and could no longer make routine throws from second base to first - the easiest throw in baseball. (One season the Dodgers, due to injuries, were forced to play outfielder Pedro Guerrero at third base. A reporter asked him what he was thinking out there and he replied, "Well, my first thought is. 'Please don't hit it to me.' My second thought is, 'Please don't hit it to Steve Sax.'").

Similar spells afflicted other major leaguers such as second baseman Chuck Knoblauch and pitcher Mark Wohlers. Mackey Sasser, a catcher with the Mets, lost the ability to simply throw the ball back to the pitcher from behind the plate.

These things don't make much sense. No one knows for sure why athletes could suddenly lose the ability to do something that they probably didn't even have to think about doing since they were in tee ball. But it is illustrative of the nature of anxiety disorders - that which was routine now becomes very stressful, difficult and, in rare cases, impossible. There is a mental block preventing you from doing what previously had come natural to you.

There is something important to remember - for Dontrelle Willis to remember - about the players who have battled Anxiety Disorder in this way. It may have greatly impacted their baseball careers, but it didn't ruin their lives. Steve Blass is an announcer with the Pirates. Rick Ankiel made it back to the majors, but as an outfielder, not a pitcher. Steve Sax recovered to have very productive seasons with the New York Yankees, and is now a successful businessman. And Mackey Sasser went on to be a college baseball coach.

So, this is not the end of the road for Dontrelle Willis. It may not even be the end of his baseball road. But if it is, he needs to know that with appropriate help, there is a big wide world out there beyond the lights of Tiger Stadium.

The Best "Obscure" Boy Band Song - Ever.

2009-06-12T13:30:00.004-04:00

Here's a hint: this boy band - with Ohio roots - teamed with the great Stevie Wonder for this song. It only made it to #38 on the charts in 1999, but I think it is one of their best efforts.

Please enjoy 98 Degrees, featuring Stevie Wonder.

I'm on vacation next week, so posting could be light.

Have a great weekend.

The Lonely Wheelchair

2009-06-11T14:12:00.013-04:00

There are basic rules for criminals, and every year there are a handful of aspiring thieves who egregiously violate them.

There was the man in Pittsburgh who went to a Giant Eagle and paid for his groceries with a $1 million bill. There was the guy who, after robbing a store, tried to cover his tracks with arson, and set himself on fire. And, then, there was the sheer brilliance of 18-year old Peter Addison who, while committing an act of vandalism, made sure to deface the property with graffiti. His most interesting artistic decision was when he chose to write, "Peter Addison Was Here!" in black spray paint.

He was later apprehended.

The first rule all aspiring thieves should abide by - well, the first rule after "don't spray paint your own name on the wall" - is to avoid avoid any descriptor that will make it very easy to identify you. For example, don't tattoo a bald eagle on the middle of your forehead, or the word "F#&%" over one eye, and "You" over the other. People tend to remember those things.

Some other helpful tips:

Don't rob stores if you are an albino
Don't rob stores if you are 7 feet tall
Don't rob stores if you are a wheelchair-using amputee. And if you do, don't leave the wheelchair behind.

At the Burke's Outlet store on Slate Street in Cayce, South Carolina, Clarence Edward Hair obviously did not take the last piece of advice to heart. The Columbia, SC resident is a wheelchair-using amputee who went into the store with the intent to rob, using his wheelchair as a prop.

You can see the suspect in security video picking items off the rack. Minutes later, he stuffs them onto the seat of his chair then wheels himself out.

As security began to pursue him, he quickly fled the scene leaving his wheelchair - and the clothes he was trying to steal - behind in haste.

The suspect is apparently missing his left leg.

By that, I assume, they mean "in general." I don't think they mean that they found a prosthetic leg at the scene and assumed it was his.

The fact that they were able to identify him was no surprise - the wheelchair alone probably took care of that. But consider the demographics he was up against.

There are 113,278 people who live in Columbia. 30.1% of whom are between the ages of 25-44, narrowing it down to 34,097 suspects. 46% of residents are African-American, reducing it to 15,684. If 49% of that population is male, then you are down to 7,685. The rate of wheelchair use of males aged 16-64 is 0.39%, meaning that there are probably 30 African-American males in Columbia, South Carolina between the ages of 16-64 who use wheelchairs. When you narrow that list further to eliminate those who do not use a prosthetic left leg, you are pretty much left with Clarence Edward Hair.

Mr. Hair is - amazingly - still at large. He is also a suspect in other crimes in the area.

His series of crimes has even earned him what every thief pines for: their own nickname. Hair is now being called "The Wheelchair Bandit."

Uh, not anymore he's not. Check the parking lot.

Singing Kumbaya Has Never Been Easier

2009-06-10T14:04:00.004-04:00

Although I haven't done the research to back this up, I'm guessing that "sheltered workshops" for adults with disabilities have been in decline in the past couple of decades. I make this assumption based on three facts. The first of these is that greater efforts have been made in the past 20 years to integrate adults with disabilities into the general workforce - with supports - thereby reducing the number who need a workshop. In fact, the disability field as a whole has turned against the concept of sheltered workshops - the mere mention of the term has been known to make current-era disability professionals cringe.

But just as significantly, the economy has effected this area of life. Not just the recent downturn; more so the structure of the economy itself. Far, far fewer people make their living in factories doing piece work - much of that work is now done either by machine or it is done overseas where labor costs are cheaper. As a result, the number of contracts for basic material handling in the U.S. economy has dramatically dropped - and when one does pop up, it is less likely to go to a sheltered workshop in today's competitive economic climate.

So, developmental disability employment programs have been forced to create their own products and hope they can sell. In our program, for the past few years we have purchased marketing pens from ATCO, the employment arm of the Athens County (Ohio) MR/DD program. Other organizations make clocks, try to sell art, etc., anything to help keep some cash coming into the program. The key is to come up with a product that people with cognitive disabilities can make, that people will want to buy.

In the state of Minnesota, somebody did just that.

The last two summers we have enjoyed (well, at least my wife and I have enjoyed) camping with our family in beautiful and historic locations. Two years ago, we camped in the Wisconsin Dells, the Badlands of South Dakota, The Black Hills, and Rocky Mountain National Park. Last summer it was Niagara Falls and Acadia National Park in Maine.

Based on these experiences - and countless campouts with my two Boy Scout sons - one thing is evident: it ain't camping if you don't have a campfire. And sometimes it can be a pain to keep all of the fire necessities with you, along with the seemingly endless list of supplies that camping requires. Collecting paper, leaves, twigs, bigger twigs - all the building blocks of a fire - can be a drag. So, in a desire to make my life a little easier (a life in which 2 adults and 6 kids sleep in the same tent), I have taken to buying "fire starters" at the camp stores -- sticks of slow burning fuel that will start almost any fire.

Lifeworks Service in Eagan, Minnesota, has started making Fire Starters of their own. But these products are made using mostly recyclable products. They take scraps of shredded paper and stuff them into empty, cardboard toilet paper tubs. They then dip the whole product into melted candle wax and "Voila!" Works like a charm - it burns long enough to get most fires up and running. A brilliant idea, pardon the pun.

Betsy Gadbois, program manager for Lifeworks, said the Fire Starters also offer users another source of warmth -- the idea that you're helping people with disabilities earn money.

Assembling them helps clients develop workplace skills, such as working alongside others, that may improve their opportunities for being hired by local businesses.

Sounds like a great idea, all the way around. Uses recycled products, makes camping easier, and helps people with disabilities. Singing Kumbaya has never been easier.

The Fire Starters are being sold in Minnesota State Parks, or can be purchased through their website.

The Importance of Art Education

2009-06-09T14:58:00.009-04:00

Times are tough - especially for non-profit organizations that rely on donations from the general public. Goodwill Centers that take gifts of just about anything that will sell, are often faced with slightly older cars, slightly more worn out clothes, and fewer dollars in direct donations during economic downturns.

So you could perhaps forgive employees at a Goodwill in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for probably believing that the donation of two paintings of scenes from Venice, Italy, wouldn't go for all that much. They probably would hang in a neighborhood store for a few months, and end up being tossed in with a couple of coffee mugs, blue jeans, and a copy of Journey's Greatest Hits.

Luckily for Goodwill, however, there was somebody there who knew at least a little about art. The work indeed seemed to be pretty good - good enough to do a little research about the artist and the pieces.

It turns out the works were originals by Peruvian artist Federico Del Campo -- well-known in art circles and highly respected. Goodwill wisely reached out to the Weddington's, an auction house that specializes in appraising works of art put up for sale. The verdict on the two works by Del Campo - who lived from 1837 to 1927:

Between $30,000 and $50,000. Each.

Del Campo, who moved to Italy to develop his art, was known for his highly detailed fine depictions of Venice. The two paintings that are being offered, both of which are sized at roughly 60 by 42 centimetres, feature the Venetian canal.

If they sell for anything near the appraised price, they will be the largest donations in the organizations history. The question that, of course, needs to be asked is this: Did the donors know what they were donating?

The story gives no indication that the donors tipped the disability non-profit off to the value of the gift; there was no letter laying out the history of the pieces and what the organization should hope to reap from the donation. The paintings were, apparently, just dropped off with no leading clue as to their overall value. It was serendipitous that Goodwill was able to figure out the value before selling them for peanuts along with other donated items.

There is no good reason the donors wouldn't tell Goodwill the value of the items, which raises the somewhat uncomfortable question of whether the donors ever knew of the value of the donated items. And, if this is true, is Goodwill under any obligation (moral, if not legal) to inform them of the value of the gift? The donors might write it off as a $50 donation to charity, when they could write it off as $100K. For tax purposes, I would want to know the value of the gift I have given.

But Goodwill also could run the risk that, if informed of the value of the gift, the donor could suddenly ask for the gift to be returned. This could, in the least, set off a fight between the donor and the non-profit over ownership.

So - how did Goodwill resolve this issue?

Goodwill didn't attempt to contact the donor to make sure they knew what they were giving up.

And that settles that. Just another example of why art education needs to be stressed again in the schools. You could be sitting on a gold mine.

Lower Than Low

2009-06-04T14:27:00.003-04:00

I usually try to use these pages to lift people up. Sometimes, however, the darker side of human nature comes to the fore.

Stealing from the elderly makes you scum. Scummier still is one who steals from the the elderly blind.

What does it say about you if you steal from someone who is elderly, blind and has other significant disabilities? Part of the challenge of living alone when you are blind is that - there is no way around it - you are vulnerable to those who would seek to take advantage.

James G. Denikos and Jane K. Wilczek, currently of Spring Hill, Florida (and future residents of Abaddon), were arrested this week on suspicion of stealing from their blind, disabled, 85-year old female neighbor.

It all started when the (unnamed) victim made the mistake of giving them a blank check with the understanding that they would fill it out for $25.

That led to 6 checks being filled out without her permission in the amount of $240. They started making notations in the memo section to make it appear they were being paid for services rendered, such as yard work. They then changed their story and said they were just recouping money owed to them - as if grabbing her check book and helping yourself (while forging her name) is the best way to accomplish that.

The elderly woman is lucky that it was only $240. But for Mr. Denikos and Ms. Wilczek, the size of the crime isn't what is important.

It's the thought that counts.

They Pulled It Off: Sarah's Heading To Long Island

2009-06-01T12:19:00.003-04:00

Back in January, I poked a little fun at the Independent Group Home Living Foundation of Manorville, New York.

They invited Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to come to their 30th annual fundraising gala, to receive their "Honoree of the Year" Award. I figured they were reaching for the stars.

Turns out they pulled it off. She will be coming to the event - originally scheduled for May, now moved to June 7. I am impressed.

Walter W. Stockton, IGHL's Chief Executive Officer, "Governor Palin is a devoted public servant and mother who has set a fine example on the national stage for many families having children with developmental disabilities. As a mother with a Down Syndrome child, Governor Palin has become an inspirational symbol to our IGHL families who are coping with their own children's special needs. These families look to leaders such as Governor Palin for compassionate attention to the educational and therapeutic programs that are improving their own youngsters' chances for learning. We at IGHL applaud the Governor for her concern for children with disabilities."

Sometime dreaming big does pay off.

Vine Street Blues - Wingy Manone

2009-05-29T14:55:00.003-04:00

This week's featured artist? Joseph Matthews "Wingy" Manone, an American trumpet player, singer and bandleader from New Orleans.

As a young man growing up in 'Nawlins he was severely injured in a street car accident, causing his right arm to be amputated. He performed with a suit coat on that hid his prosthetic arm that he clasped on to the horn to steady it.

Wingy Manone was born in 1900 and traveled the United States extensively in the 1920s, taking his brand of jazz from New York to Texas to St. Louis.

His records are not widely played today, but one of his biggest hits was "Tar Paper Stomp," a song that Glenn Miller reworked and later put out as the all-time classic "In The Mood."

Why was he called 'Wingy'? That's easy.

Because he only had a one arm, man.

Please enjoy "Vine Street Blues" by Wingy Manone and his band.

Have a great weekend.

Don't Get Up - I'm Just Getting Tasered

2009-05-27T15:20:00.007-04:00

A story out of Madison, Wisconsin raises an important - but often ignored - question: What services, exactly, do service dogs perform?

Stephen Bottilla, accompanied by his "service" dog, was hungry for all the menu delights that his local McDonald's restaurant had to offer.

Now, I assume that it is not readily, visually apparent why Mr. Bottilla, 37, needs a service dog. As such, when Mr. Bottilla entered under the golden arches, he was approached by the manager of the restaurant and asked a very elementary question: "Is your dog a service dog?"

Mr. Bottilla said that he was, and was left alone to enjoy his meal. But the question bothered him; he was insulted that the manager would question his need for a dog. He felt he was being harassed by the manager for being a person with a disability, and he wasn't going to put up with it.

Feeling his rights were violated, Stephen Bottilla called the police, hoping to press charges against the restaurant.

The officer explained that the manager was simply interested in making sure the only animals in his restaurant were indeed service animals, and that he hadn't done anything wrong.

(Police spokesman Joel Despain) said the Americans With Disabilities act allows business owners or managers to ask customers if an animal brought into a business is a service animal, or what kind of tasks the animal has been trained to perform, but can't ask about any special identification cards for the animal, or about the person's disability.

The manager didn't ask any probing, personal questions, and didn't request any further proof, so the issue should have been closed.

But that wasn't good enough for Mr. Bottilla. He became increasingly frustrated at the officer's unwillingness to pursue the matter further. He became agitated, belligerent and refused to leave.

Ultimately, the officers tried to arrest him, and, in the words of a the spokesman, "a scuffle ensued." It took three officers to wrestle him to the ground, pepper spray was used by one officer and, finally, the officers resorted to tasering him to get him under control.

Bottilla was hauled off to jail and the "service dog" was taken to the Humane Society.

What was the dog doing while his master was being overwhelmed by three uniformed, armed men, who were using chemical and electronic devices to overtake him?

DeSpain said the dog slept through the whole thing.

He couldn't be bothered.

According to Dogs for the Disabled, service dogs are trained to "Bark to raise the alarm in an emergency." Wouldn't getting your head kicked in qualify as an emergency?

Help you across the street? Check.
Get you the morning edition of The Capital Times? Absolutely.
Offer any reaction while you are getting pummeled by three men who are armed with batons, guns, chemical spray and electronic, scream-inducing tasers? Yawn.

Doesn't sound like much of service dog to me.