- IdiomaAfrikaans Argentina AzÉrbaycanca
á¥áá áá£áá Äesky Ãslenska
áá¶áá¶ááááá à¤à¥à¤à¤à¤£à¥ বাà¦à¦²à¦¾
தமிழ௠à²à²¨à³à²¨à²¡ ภาษาà¹à¸à¸¢
ä¸æ (ç¹é«) ä¸æ (é¦æ¸¯) Bahasa Indonesia
Brasil Brezhoneg CatalÃ
ç®ä½ä¸æ Dansk Deutsch
Dhivehi English English
English Español Esperanto
Estonian Finnish Français
Français Gaeilge Galego
Hrvatski Italiano Îλληνικά
íêµì´ LatvieÅ¡u Lëtzebuergesch
Lietuviu Magyar Malay
Nederlands Norwegian nynorsk Norwegian
Polski Português RomânÄ
Slovenšcina Slovensky Srpski
Svenska Türkçe Tiếng Viá»t
Ù¾Ø§Ø±Ø³Û æ¥æ¬èª ÐÑлгаÑÑки
ÐакедонÑки Ðонгол Ð ÑÑÑкий
СÑпÑки УкÑаÑнÑÑка ×¢×ר×ת
اÙعربÙØ© اÙعربÙØ©
Início / Álbuns 1903
- ADAPT (1245)
This page continues the article from Image 1246. Full text available on 1246 for easier reading. - ADAPT (1246)
Wheelchair army got attention CLEVELAND www.cleveland.com [Headline] Wheelchair army got attention Monday, November 08, 1999 By T.C. BROWN PLAIN DEALER BUREAU COLUMBUS - A small but determined wheelchair army descended on the state capital last week, primed for confrontation and eager to draw attention to the plight of the disabled who need long-term care. The national group known as ADAPT, American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, wants to see community-based care for the disabled expanded. ADAPT claims Ohio spends 89 percent of its long-term Medicaid dollars to house the disabled in nursing homes and institutions for the mentally retarded or developmentally disabled. Only 11 percent of the funds are spent for home and community services, the group said, making Ohio one of the 10 worst states in the nation. "Our long-term care system has a heavy institutional bias," said Mike Auberger, of Colorado, ADAPT's co-founder. "This state has been unwilling to shift spending from institutional care to the community." ADAPT's numbers are correct to a point, but the group includes the aged in its figures for institutional care, skewing the results, said Mel Borkan, an assistant deputy director for the Ohio Department of Human Services. About 250,000 younger Ohioans with disabilities qualify for Medicaid coverage, and up to 19,000 of those are in institutions, she said. Ohio spends about $1 billion of the $2.6 billion in Medicaid funds on such younger disabled people in institutional care, Borkan said. ADAPT representatives did meet with officials from Ohio's human services department, although no issues were resolved. However, ADAPT's militant tactics attracted attention. For three days, more than 300 activists - most in wheelchairs - blocked access to the Verne Riffe Center and Rhodes State Office Tower. The group Wheelchair army stages similar actions twice a year across the country. In 1990, ADAPT shut down the U.S. Capitol for seven hours in an effort to jump-start stalled legislation that eventually created the Americans with Disabilities Act. "Unless they have a direct connection to a disability, the average person has no clue this is an issue," Auberger said "Our job is to create an opinion. If we put out enough of this stuff, I believe the public opinion will be extremely supportive of what we are doing." Not in all circles. State Rep. George E. Terwilleger, a Lebanon-area Republican, is sponsoring legislation pending in an Ohio House committee to establish a uniform community-based personal assistant program for the disabled, a proposal favored by ADAPT. But several lawmakers suggested last week that Terwilleger withdraw the bill. "This has had a bad backlash," Terwilleger said. "They've said, "Why have hearings? We don't need this kind of disruptive process.' I don't blame them." Nonetheless, Terwilleger said he hoped to carry the bill to the floor for a full House vote. ADAPT caused more than $9,300 in damage to carpets, revolving-door locks and elevator walls, but because the group is actually a loose network of activists, it may be difficult to bill it, said Scott Milburn, Gov. Bob Taft's spokesman. Milburn said Taft wanted to meet with the group's leaders, but not until ADAPT agreed to withdraw from Taft's reception area and the 14th and first floors of the Riffe Center. "One of the conditions of the meeting was that they cease their illegal activity," Milburn said. "Once they did that, we could work out details." But the activists refused to leave the building because Greg Moody, Taft's executive assistant for health and human services, would commit only to a "discussion" about setting up a meeting, not to an actual meeting. A 14-hour standoff ensued. No one was jailed over the three days, but the State Highway Patrol arrested or cited 215 people for criminal trespassing, a fourth-degree misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine. The patrol, which tallied more than $53,000 in overtime, got good marks for handling a potentially dicey and politically sensitive situation. "With people in wheelchairs this way, logistically it is most challenging, because you do not want to hurt the people or their equipment," said the patrol's Lt. John Born. "But you have to use some level of force." Besides drawing attention to the issue, the action aided the disabled in another way, said ADAPT's Auberger. "We're breaking all the stereotypes that we're so fragile," Auberger said. "And this empowers people who don't have a whole lot of anything else going on. You may not have control of all of your life; but you have a level of control. And how you see yourself becomes completely different." E-mail: tcbrown@plaind.com Phone: (216) 999-4213 1999 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission. Discuss this topic in Chatter Box Chat live with others Copyright 1999 Cleveland Live. All rights reserved. Please read and understand our Online User Agreement and Privacy Policy. - ADAPT (1247)
4-8 sw THE PLAIN DEALER Ohio TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2, 1999 [Headline] Disability-rights protesters invade state office By SANDY THEIS and T.C. BROWN PLAIN DEALER REPORTERS COLUMBUS State troopers arrested four disability-rights protesters and cited them for disorderly conduct last night, after about 200 protesters, most in wheelchairs, took control of a state office tower and demanded to meet with Gov. Bob Taft. What began as a peaceful sit-in apparently turned violent about 7:30 p.m., when the foursome attempted to break through a glass doorway in the lobby where they had camped out since about 10:30 yesterday morning, said a spokesman for the governor. The protesters are members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, a national group that wants Ohio and other states to earmark a greater percentage of their Medicaid Money for in-home care, rather than for nursing homes. ADAPT is meeting this week in Columbus. [quote]`We didn't come here with just one trick in our bag. At least this governor wants to play.' -MIKE AUBERGER, organizer, American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today [text resumes] In addition to arresting the four, all of whom were released, the state secured a temporary restraining order from a Franklin County Common Pleas judge. The order prevents the group from "continuing to obstruct main elevator access" in the Vern Rife Center for Government and the Arts. State officials said they would allow only five protesters to remain on the 14th and 30th floors today. "At some point this evening, we have to clear the building so people can return to work," Brian Hicks, the governor's chief of staff said about 9:30 p.m. About 70 ADAPT members filled the lobby of the governor's office on the building's 30th floor, and an additional 40 crammed into the 14th floor, where House Speaker JoAnn Davidson's office is located. The arrests occurred outside Davidson's office. Throughout the day, about 100 more picketed the ground floor and perimeter of the Rife Center. ADAPT organizer Mike Auberger said Taft "probably saved face by coming with this TRO," but he hinted at escalating trouble. "We didn't come here with just one trick in our bag.," said Auberger, whose group has blocked public transportation and shut down government buildings in other cities. "At least this governor wants to play." Armed with bullhorns, sirens and signs, group members made their case for increases in home-based services for the disabled. Ohio ranks seventh in the country in per-capita spending on nursing homes, Auberger said. It ranks near the bottom, he said, in the percentage of long-term care dollars spent on home-based services. Ohio already is expanding in-home services, said Scott Milburn, a spokesman for Taft. He cited statistics showing that between 1992 and 1998, the number of people receiving home- and community-based care jumped by 200 percent, while the nursing home population grew by just 6 percent. By midday, chants from the protesters rang through the hall-ways and stairwells of the Riffe Center. "We're ADAPT, and you've been trapped," chanted protesters who used their wheelchairs to jam elevators and block the lobby to Davidson's office. Both Davidson and Taft were out of town and unavailable to meet with ADAPT, although Milburn maintained throughout the day that the governor hoped to arrange a meeting later this week. When the building closed at 6 p.m., ADAPT members refused to leave, despite warnings that they faced possible trespassing charges. "Nursing homes take everything you have," said Gabe Lawson, a 24-year-old protester from Indiana who once spent five days in a nursing home. "It's so depressing," Lawson said. "All you see is people dying." Throughout the day, Auberger attempted to negotiate a meeting with Greg Moody, the governor's executive assistant for human services, acting as the state's liaison. "We will consider it, but I cannot commit to a decision as long as the building is inaccessible," Moody told Auberger, who broadcast the negotiations to the assembled crowd via speaker phone: "As soon as we return to normal functions, we will be flexible either late, Wednesday or Thursday." The protest disrupted state workers and angered dozens of parents who had trouble getting to their children enrolled in the day-care center on the building's seventh floor. "Are you a mother?" one angry woman shouted at a protester. "I don't make the laws. I'm just here to have lunch with my daughter."' E-mall: Esthels@plaind.com Phone: (216) 999-4213 E-mail: thrown@plaind.coni Phone: (216) 9994213 - ADAPT (1248)
- ADAPT (1249)
News Net [Headline] Caught in the headlights [Subheading] Statehouse showdown [Subheading] DISABLED ACTIVISTS STIR UP TROUBLE AND DRAW ATTENTION TO HEALTH FUNDING LEGISLATION by Jamie Pietras If the purpose of political protests is to grab voters' attention and newspaper headlines on the way to affecting change, hundreds of disability rights activists succeeded in dramatic fashion last week Amidst the election frenzy, a mass demonstration from national group American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) managed to stir the air in the normally reserved halls of Statehouse office buildings. Beginning with a day-long protest November 1 at the Riffe Center and continuing with a demonstration the following afternoon at the Rhodes Tower, ADAPT eventually elicited a total of 215 citations for criminal trespassing in a civil disobedience battle that was covered prominently by local and state media. The national collective of activists was in town to draw attention to state and federal legislation designed to funnel resources from nursing homes toward home health care. Condemning Ohio as one of the 10 worst states for attendant services, approximately 500 ADAPT members came to Columbus. And while the group considers its.mission successful in bringing an other-wise invisible issue to the public forefront, state legislators wonder whether the organization's brazen tactics did more to help or hurt its cause. For those with disabilities, the choice of home-based health care over nursing homes is one of personal freedom. "It means you get to choose what time to get out of bed; what you're eating and what time the TV goes off," explains Woody Osburn, director of the State Independent Living Council. ADAPT claims Ohio-spends 93 percent of its Medicaid funds on institutional health care, with the rest going to attendant services. Ohio Department of Human Services spokesperson Jon Allen said those figures include expenditures on the elderly. Speaking strictly in terms of people with disabilities, Allen said the numbers are reverted. Approximately 60 percent of expenditures for people with disabilities go towards home-based care, Allen said. Out of 250,000 people with disabilities, only 19,000 are in institutional or nursing home settings. ADAPT hopes to raise awareness of the federal Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act, which the group expects to be introduced soon in Congress. The bill would establish a national program of community-based attendant services for people with disabilities and let people choose where they receive services. Anyone entitled to nursing home or other institutional services would be eligible for community-based services. A bit closer to home is the state House Bill 215, introduced• by Representative George Terwilleger, a Warren Republican, last March. The state legislation would create a waiver program to fund home health care for people with disabilities. Terwilleger said in the long run this is the most cost-effective way to provide care for people with disabilities. ADAPT's Riffe. Center demonstration lasted. well after midnight, as Members chanted and crowded the floors that house the offices of Governor Bob Taft, and Speaker of 'the house Jo Ann Davidson. Activist J. "Quinn Brisben said the group had made seven requests to meet with Davidson, to no avail. The group had no luck with Taft either despite a letter the governor had sent a week before. "I am interested in hearing what you have to say and would be pleased to meet with representatives of ADAPT next week during your Columbus visit," the letter read. It further instructed the group to schedule a conference with Taft's aide Greg Moody. Taft Spokesman said the governor went out of his way to try to meet with the group. He said ADAPT made no effort to contact the Taft ahead of time--meetings are typically scheduled at least a month in advance—and the governor sent the letter as a gesture of good will after reading a previous article in the Columbus Dispatch about the upcoming rally. Despite a schedule that was packed early in the week because of the November 2 election, Milburn said Taft had suggested meeting with the group Wednesday evening, under the condition they abandon the Riffe building. Osburn said he tried to facilitate communication between the group and the governor last Monday, but after ADAPT members began to surround Taft's office, communications fell flat. "ADAPT felt that because of the urgency of the issue, he could clear some time Tuesday morning," Osburn said. "If that had occurred, ADAPT would have vacated that building. State Highway Patrol Spokesman Gary Lewis said at both the Riffe Center and Rhodes Tower protests, officers gave activists the option of whether or not to be cited. And while Brisben acknowledges that the State Highway Patrol was "simply following orders" when it made arrests, he had one serious gripe with the way the Riffe Center situation was handled. He said officers were blocking activists' access to public restrooms. Milburn explained that the restrooms being blocked. were in a "secure area" and , that the activists Were supposed to be contained in the lobby. While they had the option of restrooms in a downstairs lobby, ADAPT members were not allowed back up to the 14th and 30th floors to continue protesting if they did so. So the bottles came out. Because they didn't want tom lose their strategic positions for the sake of the restroom, several of the protesters instead urinated in bottles. Police reacted by showing up in gloves, surgical masks and goggles when dealing with the activists. Brisben called it an overreaction. "Of course it was it always is. They were using leather gloves, but in other cities they come in and make mass-arrests in rubber gloves. I always congratulate them for practicing safe search," he said. Lewis said officers acted for their own safety and health. "The use of those types of tools are no different than when we respond to an accident scene or anything," he noted. The next day at the Rhodes Tower, activists banged on windows and blocked entrances to the building. Highway patrol officers took ADAPT members to the Ohio Fairgrounds where citations were processed, and then gave them a ride back to their downtown hotel. All of the ADAPT bases were heard in Franklin County Municipal Court this week by Judge Charles Schneider. All were granted a continuance as attorneys try to work out a plea deal. All in all, last week's events cost about $53, 334 in officer overtime, with about another $1,000 needed to replace the carpet on the 30th floor lobby and another $1,000 to replace and install new plants at the Riffe Center, according to Milburn. Despite their setbacks with Davidson and Taft, five ADAPT activists were able to meet with Medicaid Director Barbara Edwards on November 3, trying to gain her support for the state issue. Spokesperson Allen said the department would first have to study the bill's fiscal impact before it could take a stance. Brisben told Columbus Alive the ADAPT members succeeded in what they came for. "The people-of Ohio are aware of our issue," he said. "The state authorities have been challenged to make good on their rhetoric or they've been exposed as liars if they don't make good on it." But Representative Terwilleger, who sponsored the legislation. ADAPT has championed, is dismayed at the group's behavior last week. "It hurt the cause," Terwilleger said. "I've heard several legislators say, 'George, you don't reward unruly children with favors.'" As Brisben points out, being unruly is often the only option for a community that generally doesn't have a lot of money. "You know we can't make big campaign contributions like the nursing. home chains. The only way we have of getting people's attention is mass action." Osburn agrees. 'They've planted some seeds. I hope the state government allows those seeds to blossom." - ADAPT (802)
[This article continues from image 810. Please refer to 810 for the full text] - ADAPT (803)
[TITLE] The Battle of Opryland! - ADAPT (804)
- ADAPT (805)
- ADAPT (806)
The Tennessean, Tuesday September 28, 1993 Local News [Title] Health-care plan too little, groups agree By-TAMMIE SMITH, Staff Writer Two health-care groups at odds over home-based care agree on one thing: President Clinton's plan for health-care reform doesn't go far enough in addressing long-term care needs. The 239-page draft copy of Clinton’s plan devotes 15 pages to long-term care, principally calling for creation of a new long-term care program under the Social Security Act. The new program would concentrate on: - Expanding home- and community-based services. - Improving Medicaid coverage for institutional care. - Improving the quality and reliability of private long-term care insurance and creating tax incentives to encourage people to buy it. - Creating tax incentives that help individuals with disabilities to work. - Piloting a study intended to pave the way toward greater integrjation of acute and long-term care. The American Health Care Association, an organization representing 11,000 nursing homes, thinks the plan is a first step but falls short of comprehensive reform. The association, which has drawn 4,000 people to its annual convention this week at Opryland Hotel, maintains Medicaid has been “masquerading as a long-term care system for far too long." Under the President’s plan, Medicaid would still be the main resource for taking care of the poor, but people would be encouraged to take out private insurance to pay for long-term care should they need it. Clinton’s proposals don't go far enough, said association representatives and members of ADAPT, a group representing disabled people, which has its own beef with the American Health Care Association. “He hasn’t really tackled the whole issue," said Linda Keegan, spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association. “He has taken two small areas — home health services and long-term insurance — and builds in proposals to deal with those issues. He doesn’t address respite care, adult day care, nursing home care, residential care, hospice care or subacute care." The association maintains a comprehensive plan would incorporate all these types of care. ADAPT, which is short for American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, agrees with the health care association that Clinton's plan fall shorts. - ADAPT (807)
Man in a wheelchair [Frank McNeal], in pink shirt on left, looks at the camera while blocking the entryway to Opryland Hotel. Two security guards behind him try and keep a man on the floor [Erik von Schmetterling] from getting inside. One looks at the camera. To the right of Erik a woman in a wheelchair [Barbara Bounds] wearing sunglasses and a sign that reads "Dismantle AHCA" blocks another door shut. Behind her a woman in a power chair [Robin McGee] is tilted back and wears a sign that reads "people not profits." Someone else in a wheelchair is behind Robin so everyone is jammed in. - ADAPT (808)
[This is a continuation from Image 812. See Image 812 for full transcription] - ADAPT (809)
THE TENNESSEAN, Friday September 17, 1993 [Headline] Activists vow to disrupt Opryland care convention By BRAD SCHMITT, staff writer "If we're blocked out...we'll respond in kind." --Diane Coleman ADAPT coordinator A group of about 300 disabled home health care activists has warned that its members might disrupt a nursing home operators convention at Opryland starting next weekend, one of the giant hotel's busiest times. Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, called ADAPT, likely will try to block Opryland Hotel doors it members are stopped from going into the American Health Care Association convention inside, said Diane Coleman, ADAPT's Tennessee coordinator. “lf we're blocked out we'll respond in kind," Coleman said yesterday. Opryland officials said the timing couldn‘t be worse as the convention, slated for Sept. 25-28, comes at the beginning of Country Music Association week, an annual industry event culminating in a nationally broadcast awards show. But the conflict appears unavoidable. ADAPT wants to address conventioneers to ask them lo join in ADAPT's efforts to get 25% of all Medicaid dollars for nursing homes diverted to home health care. But Claudia Askew, spokeswoman for American Health Care Association, said, "The convention program is pretty well set." The groups have had run-ins for years, with ADAPT protests leading to arrests at the past two annual conventions of the nursing home operators. In September 1991, ADAPT members blocked doors at the Opryland Hotel during a Tennessee Health Care Association convention. This year, protesters also plan to link their wheelchairs with chains, Coleman said. But this year, Metro police will be waiting inside and outside the hotel. The police intelligence unit will have a suite inside the hotel with surveillance camera monitors, computers, photocopiers, fax machines, phones and radio equipment, Maj. John Manning said. Detectives have developed computer intelligence files, including photographs, about some of the protesters expected to show up, information that can quickly be disseminated to hotel security and patrol officers, Manning said. Police also began a sensitivity program yesterday that teaches officers how to physically arrest disabled people. "Because of the possibility of inadvertent injury to disabled persons, supervisors will ensure that specialized training is completed by all officers involved," the department's mission statement for the convention says. Coleman applauded the concern, adding that the safest thing officers can do is ask the protesters what is the best way for an officer to move them. - ADAPT (810)
[Title] 97 arrested at hotel Photos by Nina Alexandrenko, staff: Four police officers, two in uniform and two plain clothes, carry a man (Frank Lozano) by his arms and legs, away from a large columned building (Opryland hotel). All you see is Frank's head and shoulders because he is in a lying position. [Caption reads:] Metro police Officers Don Adcox and Terry Maracle carry ADAPT demonstrator Frank Lozano of Las Cruces, N.M.. from the Opryland Hotel. [Second photo] Two people in wheelchairs sit facing away in aisles leading to doors. They are touching hands through a barrier, and in front of Cathy is what looks like chains. [Caption reads] Protesters Cathy Bruce, left, and Doug Chastain shake hands after stopping Opryland Hotel security officers and Metro police from moving them away from the hotel entrance. Second title: Rights group for disabled leads protest By TIMOTHY CORNELL and TINI TRAN, Staff Writers A police helicopter buzzed over the Opryland Hotel, roads to it were closed and more than 130 officers surrounded hundreds of shouting, spitting, chanting demonstrators yesterday calling attention to the need for in-home health care for the disabled. Ninety-seven demonstrators, many in wheelchairs and all members of Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, ADAPT, were arrested for criminal trespass alter they stormed the hotel in frustration when a scheduled meeting with American Health Care Association officials fell through. The association is holding its 44th annual convention, involving about 4,000 participants, at the hotel. Protesters rushed the hotel's front entrance while a team of off-duty Metro police officers frantically tried to chain the doors. About 14 angry demonstrators in wheelchairs made it inside, struggling with police and cursing at guests. Some jumped out of their chairs and tried to slide on the ground to get inside the doors. One protester, who was not in a wheelchair, jumped on detective Stan Marlar's back as he tried to chain the doors. Marlar quickly removed the man, said Capt. Henry Rogers, who directed off-duty officers inside the hotel. The protester then ran away and was not caught, Rogers said. AHCA officials had originally agreed to meet with the protesters at the Ramada Inn across from the Opryland Hotel yesterday afternoon, but they backed off, after encountering demonstrators in the Ramadas parking lot. "It probably would have gotten into a chanting, shouting thing in the parking lot," said Claudia Askew, spokeswoman for AHCA. "I think they came here to protest." When they heard they were not going to meet, the protesters moved to the Opryland Hotel. Demonstrators were trying to reach the AHCA's convention area inside the hotel, but none did, police said. Instead, they were systematically arrested, booked, and hauled off in buses equipped to handle wheelchairs by police and Opryland security guards. One demonstrator, Quinten Williams of Detroit, was taken to a hospital after a scuffle with police. The arrested protesters were taken to a Corrections Corporation of America building off Harding Place, which was set up as a makeshift night court. Bond was set at $1,000-$1,500. Demonstrators said before the attests they intended to make bail and be released. An additional 150 protesters gathered at the hotel's driveway entrance, blocking traffic into the area. Several demonstrators threatened a similar protest at tonight's Country Music Association Awards at the Opry House. "It shouldn't be comfortable for any hotel to have" AHCA people, said Michael Auberger, co-founder of ADAPT. "Business can't go on as usual. We're saying we won't let this continue without disruption. With the CMA tomorrow, its certainly the way to put the message out to them." Metro police and Opryland security said they would keep officers on the grounds to prevent protests from happening again. Opryland officials also obtained a temporary restraining order against the group last night. Opryland spokesman Tom Adkisson said he felt both the hotel's and the city's reputation were damaged by the protests: "Nashville doesn't deserve a black eye for this incident. We offered them options, and they didn't avail themselves of It. This whole situation Is regrettable, uncomfort- [type is cut off in this scanned image]" [text continues] now go to nursing homes to be reallocated for in-home healthcare needs. AHCA agrees with the concept of more in-home care, but doesn't want to take Medicaid funds from nursing-home patients to do it. "It's just a few simple things we're asking for. It's disgusting," said ADAPT members Irene Norwood of Chicago. The demonstrators had come from across the country to protest at the AHCA convention. Many of them have experience from other demonstrations. "We know that getting arrested is a possibility. Every who [text is cut off in this scanned image] was canceled. When the protest ended, 97 ADAPT members had been arrested. The protest exploded after AHCA rescheduled a 3 p.m. meeting with ADAPT representatives to 3:45 p.m. and moved it from the Opryland Hotel across the road to the Music Valley Ramada Inn. Then the health care association's president and vice president were substituted for the executive committee and ADAPT was forbidden to bring the 50 members it wanted--one from each state. The group instead was limited to six representatives. "This is us bending over backwards to accommodate you," Auberger told AHCA spokeswoman Claudia Askew. "If the issue was important to you, you'd get the executive committee over here and meet with us in the parking lot. "You lied to us," he said, adding there would be no meeting so long as AHCA remained inflexible. Askew countered that the disabled-rights activists really just wanted to protest and that her group wanted the meeting. And, she added, there were no lies. "It, unfortunately, may have appeared that way," she said, "but we didn't lie to them." But ADAPT believed they did. Group members waited in the Ramada Inn parking lot until 4 p.m., hoping Askew would get the AHCA's executive committee to meet with them. She didn't. "It doesn't look like there's go- ing to be a meeting here," Auberger said. "If there's no meeting here, we're going to go make a meeting." And at 4 p.m., the wheelchairs rolled, spilling out onto Music Valley Drive and crossing McGavock Pike at the entrance to the Opryland Hotel. Opryland security personnel waited in the driveway, determined to stop any wayward protesters from entering the property. The mass of protesters, most rolling, some walking, split at hotel driveway, some going left, some going right, lining up in what appeared to be the beginning of a peaceful, lawful protest. But then a huge group rushed from the center and charged the Opryland Hotel. [Subheading] Protester hurt Quentin Williams, 38, of Detroit was at the front of the group. His effort was stopped when an unidentified Opryland security guard from the hotel, tossed him from his wheelchair, causing his head to hit the pavement. Williams lay on the pavement, blood pouring from the side of his head, while Opryland security guards chased other protesters. Bystanders helped Williams back into his chair, and he was transported to Memorial Hospital to be treated for lacerations to the head. Despite guards' efforts, almost 100 protesters reached the front of the building. Security staff managed to close the doors — one was broken down in the process — and keep most of the protesters outside. Chains went up, doors were locked, and huge buses were parked at the entrance to the hotel, essentially barricading the place. "We wouldn't be here if they weren't here," Auberger said, referring to AHCA. At the front door, protesters chanted and refused to leave. "We didn't come here to beat up on Nashville. But we're not going to let them do business as usual. Their convention is not going to be fun," Auberger said. Metro police, after complaints from the hotel, took over. Each protester was asked to leave and, if the protester refused, was arrested. Police used techniques learned in the classroom last week to subdue the protesters without a single injury, said Don Aaron, Metro police spokesman. No police officers were injured, either. Those arrested were loaded onto buses and taken to the Metro Detention Facility at DeBerry, where they were booked. All were charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing. Banner Staff Writer Steve Cavendish contributed to this report. [Subheading] Few pleased with security For all of Opryland's efforts to keep protesters away from its guests weren't too pleased. "I expect to see tanks and armored cars out there next," said Frank Linden, a nursing home director from York, Pa. "They're coming out here with helicopters and paddy wagons, and, find for what?" he asked. "Where are they going to go? Don't they have a right to say what they want to say?" Linda Lippiatt, another nursing home association member from York, said the protesters had some valid points to make and that more people should be cared for at home. But the protesters' complaint should not be with the association, she said: "It's all part of a lousy health-care system. It's a problem, and not just for them." Another guest, Jim Hawkins, from Dayton, Ohio, said he had wanted to go outside to hear what the protesters had to say, but was blocked by Opryland security guards: "They won't even let us hear them. This is just outrageous." --TIMOTHY CORNELL - ADAPT (811)
3 B Tuesday, September 28, 1993 —— THE TENNESSEAN PHOTO by Rick Musacchio, Staff: Two police officers stand over three protesters in wheelchairs, two of whom are holding hands. [Caption reads] Tennessee Trooper Amos Claybrooks, left, and Capt. Paul Tackett try to keep protesters from entering a door to the governor’s office. [Title] Disabled demand to see governor By REAGAN WALKER, Staff Writer About 300 members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, or ADAPT, lined the first floor of the state Capitol yesterday demanding to talk with Gov. Ned McWherter. The national organization is in town to bring attention to the lack of Medicaid funding for home health care. The group follows the American Health Care Association, the nation's largest lobbying group for nursing homes, to its annual convention each year to protest a system that group members say unfairly dumps disabled and elderly people into nursing homes. The healthcare association is meeting this week at Opryland Hotel, and its executive board will meet with members of ADAPT today. Last week ADAPT asked to meet with McWherter this week. But he was already scheduled to be in Germany, where he met with officials of Mahle GmbH yesterday regarding plans for an expansion of its Morristown plant. Mahle Inc. is the U.S. arm of Mahle GmbH, one of the world's major suppliers of pistons. Even knowing the governor was out of the country, the group began crowding into the first floor hallway of the Capitol shortly after noon yesterday demanding Mcwherter talk with them by phone about their concerns. McWherter did not call, but his staff set up a meeting with the group for Oct. 11. Diane Coleman, a member of the Tennessee chapter of ADAPT, declared the protest successful about 5 p.m. “We call upon Governor McWherter to put human rights before state rights, to put people ahead of profits," Coleman said. The group said McWherter's health-care plan, TennCare, does not address long-term care. The state also does not pick up the Medicaid option to provide some money for those people choosing home health care. Because Tennessee doesn't provide that Medicaid option, LaTonya Reeves, 29, said she moved from Memphis to Denver. Colorado provides Medicaid coverage for home health care. “My choice was to either move or go into a nursing home," Reeves said.