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Strona główna / Albumy / Atlanta, Fall 1989 31
Data umieszczenia / 2015
ADAPT (511)
Gwinnett Daily News [Headline] Bush allows overnight protest [Subheading] Wheelchair-bound demonstrators demand equal access by Pat Murdock, Daily News Atlanta bureau Atlanta — A group of wheelchair-bound protesters were allowed to spend the night in the federal courthouse after President Bush came out in support of their demonstration over the government's failure to help the handicapped gain better access to buses and airports. Building security had been attempting to evict the estimated 150 demonstrators when a personal call from the president altered those plans around 8 p.m., said Gary Cason, a spokesman for the General Services Administration. “These people have an inherent right to demonstrate and a right to demonstrate in this building," he said. "They're free to stay here all night or as long as they wish." The demonstrators had staged a daylong protest at the downtown high-rise building and were being evicted by security when the president called. Members of the General Services Administration security force began evicting the protesters one-by-one when they refused to leave the Richard B. Russell federal building at the close of business. There were no reports of any arrests of the demonstrators, who staged a similar protest Sunday on the opening day of the American Public Transit Association Atlanta conference. During their eight-hour protest, the demonstrators blocked the street level entrances and exits to the building. Some wedged themselves in revolving doors while others shackled themselves to door handles. Members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) said they staged the protest to coincide with the appearance of Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner at the convention. They demanded that Skinner sign an executive order requiring that buses, purchased with federal funds, be equipped with wheelchair lifts to aid the handicapped. Such equipment is not mandatory now. Skinner did not speak to the protesters. The protesters also called for the implementation of a 1986 federal law requiring equal access for the handicapped in airports. "We feel that disabled people are still on the plantation," Wade Blank, a co-founder of ADAPT, said. “They've never been freed." While visitors to the Russell building had to use fire stairs and alternate entrances, the protest only caused minor inconveniences, GSA spokesman Fleming James said. “We‘re concerned with the safety of the people in the building and the building itself." he said. “We had no problem with their right to protest." After the president's call, General Service Administration officials left the lights on in the lobby of the building for the protesters. Prior to the president's telephone call, officials felt less comfortable with moving dozens of wheelchair-bound protesters, some of whom locked hands and clenched the wheels of one another’s chairs. Some protesters dropped to the floor when security officers approached. One protester, who already had been evicted from the building, threw himself in front of a double door in an attempt to thwart the removal of others. “The police are caught in the middle and they try to be as humane as possible." ADAPT co-founder Mike Auberger said. Photo (special photo): Mike Auberger and Bob Kafka sit in a revolving door with kryptonite locks around their necks attached to kryptonite locks attached to the revolving door handles. Mike faces the camera wearing his war braids, a coat, and an ADAPT bandanna headband; his arms are crossed in his lap. Bob, to his left, wears a fishing-type hat with an ADAPT bandanna and a thick sweater. Bob looks off to the left. Caption: Wheelchair-bound demonstrators chained themselves to the door of the Richard B. Russell federal building in downtown Atlanta Monday.
ADAPT (496)
Tues., September 26, 1989 [Headline] Disabled Try to Block Access To Elevators [Subheading] Protesters Continue Russell Building Sit-In By Alma E. Hill and Pat Burson, Staff Writers [This is the full text of the story that appears on ADAPT 496, 509 and 488.] Protesters in wheelchairs moved to block elevators in the Richard B. Russell Federal Building today in their second straight day inside the building, as federal officials increased security. Ed Driver, chief of law enforcement for the General Services Administration, said six security guards were brought in “so that we can maintain access to and from the building." “We're not going to do anything, we just want to be able to maintain an element of safety in the building," Mr. Driver said. At 11:50 a.m., leaders of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) gave the signal and protesters began to chant and roll their wheelchairs in front of the doors on the plaza level of the federal building to restrict access to and from the building, as they had done Monday. Moments later, in an apparent shift in tactics, the group moved toward elevators to cut off access to upper floors in the high-rise. Protesters said they will continue to demonstrate until President George Bush or Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner complies with their demands to issue a federal mandate requiring new buses purchased with federal dollars to be equipped with wheelchair lifts. Judges who work in the federal building avoided problems getting out of the building by leaving before the noon takeover. And the doors to the Peachtree Federal Employees Credit Union, located in the southwest corner of the building, closed as soon as protesters began to shout. Visitors are being directed out of the basement and second floor exits. The Rev. Wade Blank, of Denver, said officials from the Urban Mass Transit Administration came over to the building to meet with pro- Disabled Group Stages Protest For Wheelchair Lifts on Buses from page A1 [starts on 496, continues here 509, ends on 488. Overlap with 509 and 488] ...test organizers. However, the meeting never took place. “They got on the elevator and didn't tell us what floor they were going to. so we said, ‘The hell with it."' the Rev. Blank said. The protesters began their demonstration Monday to coincide with an appearance by Mr. Skinner at the American Public Transit Association (APTA) convention at a downtown hotel. After occupying the plaza floor of the federal building for eight hours Monday, more than 100 disabled activists were evicted at the close of the business day, only to be allowed back inside after President Bush personally intervened. “We're here until the order gets signed." Michael W. Auberger, of Denver, one of the co-founders and organizers of ADAPT, said Monday. Mr. Auberger and other demonstrators from throughout the country lined their wheelchairs two and three deep near the doorways to the federal building. located at the corner of Spring Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, trying to stop anyone from leaving or entering. Mr. Auberger, who has been disabled since he suffered a spinal cord injury 17 years ago, and others blocked revolving doors by attaching chains and iron bicycle locks around their necks and locking them to door handles, a tactic used to prevent security from simply lifting protesters out of their wheelchairs to clear the doorways. At one point Monday afternoon Mr. Auberger, 35, said, “They'll have to carry everybody out or arrest them." At 6 p.m. Atlanta police and officers from the General Services Administration, who provide security for the building, ordered the protesters to leave and began carrying them outside. The guards used large bolt cutters to sever the chains holding some demonstrators to the doors. At about 8 p.m., as guards were removing the last of the demonstrators, Gary C. Cason, regional administrator of the General Services Administration, told police and maintenance workers to allow the protesters back into the building. “The decision is to let them stay in the building because of the president's deep commitment to the handicapped and their right to protest." Mr. Cason said. Mr. Cason said Mr. Bush also said he was concerned about the protesters sitting outside in the chilly overnight temperatures and rainy mist. Maintenance crews appeared a half-hour later with blankets. Mr. Cason said the protesters would be restricted to the lobby floor and would have access to the restrooms. Protest organizers credit White House counsel C. Boyden Gray for Mr. Bush's action. Mr. Auberger said they contacted Mr. Gray, who took their case to Mr. Bush. The president then called the head of the GSA, Richard G. Austin in Washington, telling him to allow the demonstrators back inside. The protest forced most visitors to the building Monday to use a basement entrance adjacent to an underground parking lot. Mr. Auberger said the group planned to stay in the building overnight and would block the entrances again at noon if the Transportation Department does not order changes in transit-access rules. “At noon the administration has to decide whether or not they are going to arrest us, or we’re closing the building down again,” he said shortly before 11 p.m., as the protesters ate Chinese food they had ordered and made themselves comfortable in the hallway on the Spring Street side of the building. The demonstration was the second in as many days held by ADAPT, a nationwide organization. The event was held in Atlanta to coincide with the annual conference of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), meeting this week in Atlanta, and to attract the attention of U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner, who spoke to APTA Monday morning. APTA opposes legislation pending in Congress — that ADAPT supports — called the Americans With Disabilities Act. The proposal would remove barriers in public transportation by requiring public transit authorities to have wheelchair lifts on any new buses purchased 30 days after the measure was enacted. APTA officials say they oppose that portion of the measure because it would cut into limited federal funds. While Mr. Skinner has said he supports the bill, ADAPT wants him to issue an executive order so the stipulation can take effect immediately — prior to congressional action. Protesters demanded to talk with Mr. Skinner while he was in Atlanta, but Mr. Skinner departed for St. Croix without meeting with them. Robert Marx, a spokesman for Mr. Skinner, said the secretary does not have the authority to issue such an order, only the president. Spokesmen for ADAPT believe Mr. Skinner is not championing their cause because of a lawsuit the group won against the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) two years ago, when Mr. Skinner was chairman of the city's Regional Transportation Authority. The court ruling required the CTA to purchase wheelchair lifts when ordering new buses. Photo: Looking down the long narrow glass walled lobby. In the foreground a man is lying bundled in a blanket on the floor. Beside him his motorized wheelchair sits empty. A little further back in the lobby several people sit in their wheelchairs and scooters by a cardboard box and some bags and papers. photo by ANDY SHARP caption: Woody Osburn of Tulsa, sleeping, and others, seen early today in the Russell Building.
ADAPT (507): 300 strong ADAPT waits outside APTA Hotel
PHOTO (by Tom Olin): Black and white photo looking up the street divided by the wooden barricades. The picture is taken from behind the ADAPT people behind the barricades which curve across to block the whole street in the foreground. A car comes down the empty side toward the camera. Metal barriers divide the other side of the street from the sidewalk where there are a couple of low temporary structures. A police officer in a helmet and leather jacket stands at one side of the picture, handcuffs and gun visible on his or her belt and radio on the shoulder. All the ADAPT folks seem to be looking up the street at the approaching car. The crowd is two or three people deep and seems to extend a city block or possibly more. Bernard Baker wears a “We Will Ride” sign on the back of his motorized wheelchair and Mike Ervin has a sign reading “On It or In Front of It” on his. In the far distance, beyond the car a policeman seems to be talking with some of the protesters.
ADAPT (499)
[Headline] Handicapped Demonstrators Block Building [Subheading] Dozens Of Disabled Protest Poor Transportation Access Alma Hill and Sandra McIntosh, Staff Writers 9-25-89 PHOTO (by Dianne Laakso/Staff): Paulette Patterson, lying in her manual wheelchair in a red top, yells and holds a power fist in the air while 4 police men push her down the street. The group is isolated alone in the middle of the empty street. Wooden red and white police barricades line the street on the left side and along the bottom of the picture, and behind them a mass of ADAPT protesters look on. Caption: A protester in a wheelchair is moved back behind a barricade Sunday at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel, where the the American Public Transit Association was meeting. About 100 demonstrators called for more accessible public transportation. **************** Dozens of disabled people blocked access to the Richard B. Russell Federal Building today by parking their wheelchairs in front of revolving doorways to protest the lack of handicapped accessibility on public transportation. The protesters converged on the federal building to demand that Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner sign an executive order requiring any bus purchased with federal dollars to have wheelchair lifts. They also want the Air Carrier Accessibility Act of 1986 implemented. The act requires equal access in airports for disabled people. The protest coincided with Mr. Skinner's appearance in Atlanta as part of the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) convention. The association has said local governments should be given the option of purchasing wheelchair lifts on buses, but the demonstrators want them mandated by federal law. “We're here and we aren’t going to leave until Sam Skinner signs the executive order," said\.Diane Coleman of Nashville. Ms. Coleman. who has been using a wheelchair since she was 11, said her disability is not the problem. “The problem . .. is discrimination,“ she said. “And behind that, the barrier is attitudes. We've been discriminated against for too long. and we‘re not going to sit for it any longer." The demonstrators forced scores of employees and people doing business at the federal building to exit from the basement. if they wanted to leave. All main level entrances to the building were blocked. After some people stepped over wheelchairs to get out, protesters lined their wheelchairs two and three deep to prevent people from walking over them. But some onlookers sympathized with the protesters. “I think these people have every right in the world to be concerned about their ability to gain access to public facilities. If it means I am temporarily inconvenienced, that's OK with me," said Edward Katze, a lawyer. The demonstrators vowed to hold their positions until Mr. Skinner comes to the federal building and suffered a spinal cord injury 17 years ago, and others blocked revolving doors by attaching chains and iron bicycle locks around their necks and locking them to door handles. a tactic used to prevent security from simply lilting protesters out of their wheelchairs to clear the doorways. At one point Monday afternoon, Mr. Auberger, 35, said, “They‘ll have to carry everybody out or arrest them." At 6 p.m., Atlanta police and officers from the General Services Administration, who provide security for the building, ordered the protesters to leave and began carrying them outside. The guards used large bolt cutters to sever the chains holding some demonstrators to the doors. At about 8 p.m., as guards were removing the last of the demonstrators, Gary C. Cason, regional administrator of the General Services Administration, told police and maintenance workers to allow the protesters back into the building. “The decision is to let them stay in the building because of the president's deep commitment to the handicapped and their right to protest," Mr. Cason said. Mr. Cason said Mr. Bush also said he was concerned about the protesters sitting outside in the chilly overnight temperatures and rainy mist. Maintenance crews appeared a half-hour later with blankets. and cots were promised. Mr. Cason said the protesters would be restricted to the lobby floor and would have access to the restrooms. Protest organizers credit White House counsel C. Boyden Gray for Mr. Bush's action. Mr. Auberger said they contacted Mr. Gray, who took their case to Mr. Bush. The president then called the head of the GSA, Richard G. Austin, in Washington, telling him to allow the demonstrators back inside. Mr. Auberger said the group planned to stay in the building overnight and would block the entrances again at noon if the Transportation Department does not order changes in transit-access rules. “At noon the administration has to decide whether or not they are going to arrest us, or we're closing the building do\vn again," he said shortly before 11 p.m., as the protesters ate Chinese food they had ordered and made themselves comfortable in the hallway on the Spring Street side of the building. The protest forced most visitors to the building Monday to use a basement entrance adjacent to an underground parking lot. The demonstration was the second in as many days held by ADAPT, a nationwide organization. The event was held in Atlanta to coincide with the annual conference of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), meeting this week in Atlanta, and to attract the attention of U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner, who spoke to APTA Monday morning. APTA opposes legislation pending in Congress — that ADAPT supports — called the Americans With Disabilities Act. The proposal would remove barriers in public transportation by requiring public transit authorities to have wheelchair lifts on any new buses purchased 30 days after the measure was enacted. APTA officials say they oppose that portion of the measure because it would cut into limited federal funds. While Mr. Skinner has said he supports the bill, ADAPT wants him to issue an executive order so the stipulation can take effect immediately prior to congressional action. Protesters demanded to talk with Mr. Skinner while he was in Atlanta, but Mr. Skinner departed for St. Croix without meeting with them. Robert Marx. a spokesman for Mr. Skinner, said the secretary does not have the authority to issue such an order, only the president.
ADAPT (559)
Rocky Mtn. News Local Briefs [Headline] Wheelchair-lift issue in court’s lap, lawyer says U.S. Attorney Michael Norton yesterday told a group of disabled activists that the federal government’s appeal of a court ruling on bus wheelchair lifts was out of his hands. Norton appeared before 40 wheelchair-bound members of ADAPT, American Disabled for Access to Public Transit, who had camped several hours outside his 12th floor offices in Denver’s federal building. ADAPT members are angry about an appeal by the U.S. Justice Department on behalf of the Department of Transportation. The appeal seeks to overturn a federal court ruling requiring all local transit buses to be equipped with wheelchair lifts. Thirty protesters were arrested Monday for blocking the doors of the Radisson Hotel, where their target, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, was holding a conference.
ADAPT (540)
PHOTO (by Tom Olin) Slightly on angle, this picture is filled with people and a sense of motion. It focuses an elevator in a fancy building and the struggle at that elevator door. Inside the elevator you can see the head of some kind of police officer with a gold badge on his hat. Behind him, deeper in the elevator you can barely make out a woman with a white necklace standing back from the door. In front of the officer a young woman (Rhonda Lester), with an ADAPT bandanna tied like a headband, body-blocks one of the elevator doors as she holds the rim of the doorway with both hands. Next to her a man in a power wheelchair (Arthur Campbell) fills the rest of the doorway. He is wearing a peach colored ADAPT T-shirt with the no steps ADAPT logo and is bracing his body in his chair and against the woman's back. To his right, just outside the doorway of the elevator a young man in a manual wheelchair (Kent Killium) in a Chicago ADAPT "ADAPT or Perish" T-shirt (with the evolution series from ape to man and ending in a wheelchair) sits holding onto Arthur's power chair and looking at the struggle in the doorway. In front of Kent's chair is another power wheelchair user (Rick James) with a dark beard and and a red ADAPT bandanna tied around his black hat; he too is watching the struggle over his shoulder, hand on his joy stick ready to make a move. Behind Kent is a sign that reads Plaza Level and some other words that are not really in focus, and next to that sign is a camera person shooting footage of the struggle. Another camera person is in front of Rick, with his back to the photographer. Both of these cameras look like the large professional kind with lights and microphones attached to the cameras. Two women stand with their backs to the camera filling the bottom of the picture, one seems to be holding onto the back of a manual wheelchair. Someone's arm is fulling extended from out of the picture and he is holding a small box of some kind out toward the elevator.
ADAPT (621)
PHOTO (by DIANNE LAAKSO/Staff): A tall African American man dressed in a casual clothes and carrying a baby in his left arm is extending his right leg forward to step over two people in wheelchairs who are attempting to block a glass doorway which is open. The man and the child have calm expressions and are looking down. The man holds the arm of one of the people in wheelchairs who is facing away from the camera. This person has a bumper-sticker on their battery box that reads "End USA Apartheid" and this person has both arms bent at the elbows and raised and is dressed in a warm jacket over a hoodie. To this person's left is a woman (Christine Coughlin) sitting with her wheelchair facing the first wheelchair so her feet touch the other chair's wheel. Both protesters look somewhat tense and rigid. On the back wall of the lobby is a abstract mural. Caption reads: Members of ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation block the doors of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building this morning as they protest lack of accessibility on public transportation. The protesters want Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner to sign an executive order requiring any bus purchased with federal money to have wheelchair lifts. [Headline] Handicapped Protesters Block Russell Building In Demonstration Over Transportation Access From Page Al [we do not have the first part of this article. Also, the bottom of this page is torn so parts of the 6th paragraph and last 2 paragraphs are missing.] agrees to their demands. Sen. Sam Nunn‘s office, which is located in the federal building, was asked to relay a message to Mr. Skinner, who was at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel, that his presence was wanted. In the meantime, protesters, using bullhorns and their strongest voices, shouted “What do we want? We want Skinner!" This morning a protest followed a demonstration Sunday in front of the Hilton Hotel as the convention started, Stephanie Thomas, a spokeswoman for the group ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation), said the protesters were angry over the transit group's continued opposition to federal legislation that would prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. The protest was timed to coincide with the opening of the convention of APTA, a trade group representing a majority of public transit systems in North America. The bill, known as the Amer[icans] with Disabilities Act, would [make it] illegal to discriminate against disabled people in employment and places of public accommodations, would assure those with speech or hearing impairments of special equipment allowing them to communicate with anyone and would remove barriers in transportation. It is the latter part that upsets the members of APTA. “We assume it will become law, and if it does we'll implement it," said Albert Engelken, APTA‘s deputy executive director. “But that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it." Mr. Engelken said he does not want to sound cold-hearted, but with shrinking federal transportation funds it sometimes does not make sense to use those funds to install seldom-used wheelchair lifts on buses. “We're not harsh people, but our job is to offer the most people the most mobility for the best possible price," Mr. Engelken said. Ms. Thomas said her group does not expect the transit systems to refit all their buses immediately. nor make all the train stations immediately available to the disabled, ' “We realize it's a longtime goal, and we're willing to wait. We know the costs involved," Ms. Thomas said as other members crowded around. "All we're asking for is a commitment that they‘re willing to do these things, and they won't give us that." The Sunday protest, which closed part of Courtland Street, lasted about four hours and was watched by nearly as many police officers as there were pro[testers.] Police Maj. W.W. Holley [... ar]rests were made. ADAPT member [...] to hold Sunday [...] Holley said n[...] issued. The gr[...] protests in oth[er...] years. TEXT BOX INSERTED IN MIDDLE OF ARTICLE reads: The Americans With Disabilities Act would make it illegal to discriminate against disabled people in employment and places of public accommodations and remove barriers in transportation.
ADAPT (506)
PHOTO (by Tom Olin?): The scene is diagonally divided by a line of red wooden barriers with white stripes. A single slight policeman, with a bullhorn on his hip, walks toward the barriers. On the other side of the barriers a mass of wheelchair users, as well as people standing, face mostly toward the barriers but some face in other directions. People are bundled up for the most part, and behind them is a low dark building. Toward the center of the barriers is a large dark blue banner with red writing that reads (something unreadable on the top line) “WE WILL RIDE.” At the far end of the group there is another policeman partially visible and ADAPTers at that end of the crowd hold a red flag and an ADAPT flag (an American flag with the stars arranged in the wheelchair symbol on the blue part of the flag.)
ADAPT (505)
PHOTO (by Tom Olin): Mike Auberger lies, knees bent to fit, in the baggage compartment of a Greyhound bus. The compartment and the one beside it are empty except for him. His empty wheelchair with its raised leg rest sits by the bus. You can see the compartment would not really be tall enough to sit up in and it is not long enough to lie down in with bending at the knees. The metal walls and door mechanisms are visible. Outside Mike's compartment a sign is taped, it reads Stop your lying! Tell the Truth!
ADAPT (504)
Court Says Yes Again Bush agrees to back lifts, allows ADAPT to occupy federal building [This is part 2 of the story that starts on ADAPT 508, the full text of the story appears on 508]
ADAPT (503)
Handicapped Coloradan [Headline] The night they drove old APTA down Photo: About a half dozen folks in wheelchairs and one standing person sit together in the parking lot by a van and the entrance to the Holiday Inn Days Inn. Some are in manual wheelchairs, others in electric wheelchairs. They are faced toward the hotel and away from the camera. Caption reads: In our motel parking lot. By RENATE CONRAD Special to the Handicapped Coloradan Friday, Sept. 22-Arrived at the Days Inn in Atlanta at 9:15 p.m. Got room assignments and collected luggage. Saturday, Sept. 23-Bob and I went to the Hotel Hilton at 10:45 pm. to request press passes. We were told to come back between l p.m. and 6 p.m. to talk to Albert Engelken, PR person for APTA. 5:15 p.m.—Returned to the Hilton. Mr. Engelken had left for the day, We were asked to return in the morning at 9a.m. l-5:15 p.m.-First meeting. Topics discussed included the ADA bill and the Air Carriers Act. Some comments: "Everyone thought it was a joke when 35 people started ADAPT, but now no one is laughing. . . You’ve created a Utopia."-Wade Blank “Paratransit is a gun to disabled persons’ heads . . . We've taken the bullets out of the gun."-Arthur Campbell, Jr. "We've sent a message to Bush that we are serious." There was a good deal of applause and then the conversation shifted from the ADA bill to transportation. Julie Farrar from Los Angeles said that she had been to a large human resources conference given by APTA. In the course of the conference it was stated that “everything would be accessible if it wasn‘t for ADAPT." This was greeted with obvious boos and hisses. Later Julie Farrar told the group that Fred Curry of the Greyhound Company said, "If the ADA passes as it is the private bus industry will go broke." After that introductions were made and strategies discussed as to the next day. It was decided that there would be a march beginning at l:30 from Hurt Park to the Hilton Hotel where APTA is staying. Sunday, 9:15 a.m., Hilton Hotel - Albert Engelkin, PR for APTA, met with us. We asked him if he thought the ADA bill will pass "Yes " he said. “I feel that it will. Now we must ask that ADAPT join with us to go to congress and get monies to pay for our effort, the cost being $6 billion. This is a 20-year plan. Now we must come up with a marketing plan." Received press packet and pass with very little difficulty. The only problem was finding the correct elevator. We got a few strange looks entering and leaving the elevators, and many people were noticeably relieved to see our yellow press passes. The only comment we got from the PR director was that “APTA was a little nervous about people in wheelchairs." 11:30 Amid cries of “Access now!" "We will ride!" and "Access is a civil right!" a large flag is unfurled, with red and white stripes and stars on a background of blue that form the shape of a wheelchair. The march to the Hilton begins. lt is a long pull. Atlanta is a very hilly city, which comes as quite as a surprise because I had always envisioned it to be a rather flat place. Cries of “We will ride!" ring out along the way as approximately 200 people make the long haul to the Hilton. When we reach the front of the line and look down the street, we see a four-block-long procession of bumper to bumper wheelchairs. l spoke with four different police officers and was given an estimate of between l8 and 150 police pulling extra duty for this "parade." We reached the hotel and within minutes the barriers were in place. At that point the press was informed that NO press was being allowed inside. The question was then asked, "When will the press be allowed in?" The answer, from Major Holly of the Atlanta police, was: “That depends on the hotel." Later press members were allowed to talk to Jack Gilstrap of APTA, who stated that “there is a great deal of opposition to the ADA bill." NO ARRESTS were made. Monday, Sept. 25, 11 a.m.—At the Hilton Hotel, Secretary Samuel Skinner gave a rousing speech. He said they had completed the outreach portion of their policy, that the needs and problems of the population concerning transportation were discussed, and that they had spoken with citizens and businessmen alike and that early January was the projected time for the policy to be released. "We must look at the forest rather than the trees." The first priority is that 40 percent of the unemployed are in the cities, the second priority is finding a way to get people to jobs. “There is a greater need for state and local moneys,” he said. “[The ADA] is not a new issue, but an issue that has been around too long. We need mainstream access as soon as possible. There has been a lot of give and take. It's not perfect, but we support the legislation. "l ask how can we achieve our goal of total access? We must find a way to make it happen. We need to be concerned about dollars, but this legislation is not a sham or a shell. Access for personal and business reasons is our goal. "Why should a skilled worker be left at home because we are not smart enough to get them to work?" Bob and I chase Skinner through the kitchen area after his speech and catch him as he is getting into the elevator. As we were attending the meeting at the Hilton, people had gotten into the Federal Building and blocked it off with 125 people inside. Tuesday, Sept. 26, 7 a.m.-By executive order President Bush asked that blankets, food and cots be brought into the Federal Building to accommodate the protesters. No arrests were made. Amid chants of "Access now!" and horns blasting, protesters who have been up all night block doors into the Federal Building. 12:50 p.m.—ADAPT members capture the elevators. 1:50 p.m. - l have been told that they are trying to get the President's office on the phone. 2:01 p.m. - Police ask for cooperation to get a meeting set up. 2:07 p.m. - People are meeting with UMPTA now. 2:15 p.m.- Agreement has been reached . . . no arrests have been made. (See text reprinted elsewhere in paper.) 12:45-4:30 p.m.—Went down to the cafeteria. At that time elevators were again shut off and we could not get b[ack] to the first floor lobby. 4:30 p.m.—Maintenance personnel turn elevators back on. 4:45 p.m.—Back to the hotel. Wednesday, Sept. 27—Chanting "We will ride!" 27 people were arrested at the Greyhound Terminal after blocking and chaining themselves to buses. They were taken to jail in a lift-equipped bus and released on their own personal recognizance. Criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct were the charges filed. The bus station and buses were in turmoil for five hours, starting from 3:30 when the protest began. Thursday, Sept. 28 - Home!! Photo 2: In a low-ceilinged room with folding partitions pushed back the big group of ADAPT folks is gathered, facing approximately in a circle. Wade Blank is standing on a chair or something so he is above the crowd, with his right hand held up, he is speaking. Behind him Lincoln is standing. In front Bernard Baker is looking over his shoulder at the camera. Kate Jackson has her back to the camera as do many others in the room. Through these people you can see Mike Auberger's head and someone else's head. A line of people sit across from Wade. There are a couple dozen people visible in the meeting. Caption: Everyone thought it was a joke when 35 people started ADAPT.
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THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE ARTICLE IN ADAPT 492. See ADAPT 492 for the complete story.
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Photo Only (By Tom Olin): (Right to left) Mark McTimus, Barbara Toomer, Mike Auberger, Stephanie Thomas, Frank Lozano and Frazier block the front of a Greyhound bus. Mark is on a tiny yellow scooter holding a yellow sign that says "Lifts Not Lies." Barb is in a manual chair and short sleeved shirt holding a camera; her red sign - taped across her legs -- reads "Go Greyhound And You'll Leave Us Behind! Mike has one long braid and a beard and mustache, his hands are on his hips and like all the others he is chanting; his left leg is elevated in front of him on a padded footrest with no shoe, only a sock (this is to protect an injury he got in the LA County Jail). Stephanie is facing slightly away from the camera with several buttons and stickers on her sports wheelchair and overalls. She is wearing blue-rimmed mirror sunglasses and her sign, also taped over her legs, reads "ALL Aboard." To her left Frank stands wearing his backpack and an ADAPT headband. He and Frazier, his white lab dog guide who sits in front of him, have the same noble expression on their faces. Frank's sign which he holds in one hand, reads "We Will Ride."
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ON THE MOVE [Headline] Disabled Win Partial Victory in Sit-In Over Bus Access By Alma E. Hill Staff Writer The second day of protests by disabled persons — who blocked the main entrances and elevators of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building — ended Tuesday afternoon when an agreement was reached between officials of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) and leaders of the demonstration. American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) protested a lack of access for the handicapped to public buses and demanded an immediate order from the federal government that all new buses be equipped with wheelchair lifts. In an impromptu meeting on the front steps of the building with protest leaders, Steven A Diaz, chief counsel for UMTA, said it was not within U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner's authority to issue such an order. However, he agreed to ask Transportation Department officials to meet with the protesters to establish a process to identify public transit authorities that are deliberately speeding up purchase of new buses to circumvent a bill pending in Congress mandating that such buses have wheelchair lifts. The Americans With Disabilities Act would require new buses purchased with federal dollars to be equipped with lifts. The equipment would add about $12,000 to $15,000 to the cost of a new bus and an additional $2,000 per year to maintain, according to John A Cline, associate administrator of UMTA. Without the lift, a bus costs about $155,000. UMTA also agreed to relay to Mr. Skinner ADAPT‘s concerns about the slow implementation of the Air Carriers Access Act of 1986, which stipulates that airports be accessible to the handicapped. The agreement fell short of demands protesters had made at the start of the demonstration, but ADAPT leaders said ... DISABLED Continued on B5 [we do not have second part of this article] PHOTO 1 (by Andy Sharp/Staff): A wiry grey haired man in an ADAPT T-shirt, raises himself in his motorized wheelchair, using his arms and legs to push out of the seat, mouth open yelling. Behind him a young woman with an ADAPT headband around her forehead looks at him and yells. Someone's hand is grabbing the armrest of his wheelchair. The two are trying to hold an elevator door open to block the elevator. Behind them a policeman in a hat with a tattoo on his arm tries to push them out and close the door. Caption: Police try to stop Arthur Campbell of Louisville, Ky., from blocking an elevator in the Federal Building Tuesday; at right is protester Rhonda Lester. PHOTO 2 (by Marvin Hill, JR/Staff): A woman, yelling, presses her motorized wheelchair up by the glass doors. There is a "Do Not Enter" sticker above her head. Beside her a man sits in his wheelchair with his back to the door, blocking it. Behind them several other protesters are visible through the reflections on the glass of the door. PHOTO 3 (by Andy Sharp/Staff): A disabled man lies on the floor on his side by a wheelchair while another young man with a backpack stands beside him holding a sports chair over his head as if ready to carry it over the man on the ground. Behind them a man stands on one side and on another a woman stands with her arms akimbo as if trying to balance. A small crowd is visible through the confusion. caption for photos 2 & 3: Christine Coughlin of Phoenix, Ariz. (above) joins in Tuesday's protest; Bob Kafka (right) lies on the floor to help block access to the building's elevator.
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The Atlanta Constitution For 121 Years the South's Standard Newspaper TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1989 SPORTS FINAL Photo: A tall man holding a toddler in one arm stepping over and between two motorized wheelchairs blocking the passage. One woman [Christine Coughlin] in a red jacket and headband faces the camera, while the other wheelchair user, in a blue jacket and hood, faces away. Photo by DIANNE LAAKSO/Staff Caption: A man steps over protesters in wheelchairs blocking the doors of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building on Monday. Bush Order Lets Disabled Resume Courthouse Sit-In Protesters Demanding Access To U.S.-Funded Transit Systems By Pat Burson and Alma E. Hill, Staff Writers After occupying the plaza floor of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building for eight hours Monday, more than 100 disabled activists were evicted at the close of the business day. only to be allowed back inside alter President Bush personally intervened. Boxed quote on the side: "The decision is to let them stay in the building because of the president's deep commitment to the handicapped and their right to protest" -- Gary Cason, GSA Main story: The protesters, who formed a human blockade near the main entrances to the 26-story tower about 10 a.m. Monday, vowed to remain until federal regulators require wheelchair lifts on all buses purchased with federal dollars. “We're here until the order gets signed," said Michael W Auberger of Denver, one of the co-founders and organizers for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). Mr. Auberger and other demonstrators from throughout the country lined their wheelchairs two and three deep near the doorways to the federal building, located at the corner of Spring Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, trying to stop anyone from leaving or entering. Mr. Auberger, who has been disabled since he suffered a spinal cord injury 17 years ago, and others blocked revolving doors by attaching chains and iron bicycle locks around their necks and locking them to door handles. a tactic used to prevent security from simply lilting protesters out of their wheelchairs to clear the doorways. At one point Monday afternoon, Mr. Auberger, 35. said, “They‘ll have to carry everybody out or arrest them." At 6 p.m., Atlanta police and officers from the General Services Administration, who provide security for the building, ordered the protesters to leave and began carrying them outside. The guards used large bolt cutters to sever the chains holding some demonstrators to the doors. At about 8 p.m., as guards were removing the last of the demonstrators, Gary C. Cason, regional administrator of the General Services Administration, told police and maintenance workers to allow the protesters back into the building. “The decision is to let them stay in the building because of the president's deep commitment to the handicapped and their right to protest," Mr. Cason said. Mr. Cason said Mr. Bush also said he was concerned about the protesters sitting outside in the chilly overnight temperatures and rainy mist. Maintenance crews appeared a half-hour later with blankets. and cots were promised. Mr. Cason said the protesters would be restricted to the lobby floor and would have access to the restrooms. Protest organizers credit White House counsel C. Boyden Gray for Mr. Bush's action. Mr. Auberger said they contacted Mr. Gray, who took their case to Mr. Bush. The president then called the head of the GSA, Richard G. Austin, in Washington, telling him to allow the demonstrators back inside. Mr. Auberger said the group planned to stay in the building overnight and would block the entrances again at noon if the Transportation Department does not order changes in transit-access rules. “At noon the administration has to decide whether or not they are going to arrest us, or we're closing the building do\vn again," he said shortly before 11 p.m., as the protesters ate Chinese food they had ordered and made themselves comfortable in the hallway on the Spring Street side of the building. The protest forced most visitors to the building Monday to use a basement entrance adjacent to an underground parking lot. The demonstration was the second in as many days held by ADAPT, a nationwide organization. The event was held in Atlanta to coincide with the annual conference of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), meeting this week in Atlanta, and to attract the attention of U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner, who spoke to APTA Monday morning. APTA opposes legislation pending in Congress — that ADAPT supports — called the Americans With Disabilities Act. The proposal would remove barriers in public transportation by requiring public transit authorities to have wheelchair lifts on any new buses purchased 30 days after the measure was enacted. APTA officials say they oppose that portion of the measure because it would cut into limited federal funds. While Mr. Skinner has said he supports the bill, ADAPT wants him to issue an executive order so the stipulation can take effect immediately prior to congressional action. Protesters demanded to talk with Mr. Skinner while he was in Atlanta, but Mr. Skinner departed for St. Croix without meeting with them. Robert Marx. a spokesman for Mr. Skinner, said the secretary does not have the authority to issue such an order, only the president. [This is a combination the story on ADAPT 498 and 497]