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Heim / Album / Nashville, fall 1993 Opryland 45
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[This is a continuation from Image 812. See Image 812 for full transcription]
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Nashville Banner Tuesday, September 21, 1993 POLICE BEAT Glenn Henderson [Headline] A public relations nightmare Imagine four burly police officers on the ground subduing a frail young man whose legs don't work — a disabled man who has fallen from his wheelchair and is struggling with police. Imagine that on television and in color photos on the front page of the Nashville Banner. It's Don Aaron's worst nightmare. Aaron, public relations representative for the Metro Police Department, knows that scenario will look "real bad." He also expects it to happen. The American Health Care Association, which represents' nursing homes, plans a convention at the Opryland Hotel later this month. And where that group goes, so goes ADAPT. ADAPT — Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today is a group of wheelchair radicals who protest, block doors, chant, yell and generally try to disrupt the AHCA conventions. The two groups are at loggerheads because ADAPT wants federal money taken from nursing homes and placed into home attendant programs. Aaron worries so much about the possibilities of the police appearing "brutal" in dealing with the protesters that he took the extraordinary step of asking newspaper editors and television news directors to a meeting sort of before-the-fact damage control. Police know four officers can subdue a suspect without harm much easier than one officer can. The public, however, also knows four officers can manhandle a suspect a whole lot better than one can. Aaron wants the media to write and broadcast stories that explain the "subduing" angle. ADAPT, he says, would be gleeful were the media to play up visions of manhandling. At a training session last week where police were taught safe ways to subdue a person in a wheelchair the media were encouraged to attend one officer expressed the sentiments of most of his co-workers. "If they're breaking the law, we're going to arrest them. It won't matter that we're doing what we're supposed to do and that we're doing our best to do no harm. "When they show four cops on the ground 'subduing' a disorderly man with no legs, we're not going to look too good." [Local & State]
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Nashville Banner Wednesday Afternoon, September 29, 1993 Nashville, Tennesse 46 pages, 6 sections TODAY'S NEWS TODAY [Headline] Disabled threaten CMA show [IMAGE 1] Photos by Steve Lowry: Photo 1 - Four uniformed police officers in safety jackets and holding clipboards talk with five people in wheelchairs. Front row is Karen Tamley (left) with pony tail, Stephanie Thomas with bush hair and far right facing the camera head down looking at her communication letter board is Phillis Burkehead. Two men are behind them, one with a head pointer and the other, on the left, in a large manual wheelchair. He is talking with a man [Jim Glozier] kneeling on the ground beside them with his hands handcuffed behind his back. In the background are several plain clothes officers. Photo 2: A man [Bob Kafka] with a beard and mushtasche wearing a fishing hat with an ADAPT patch on the front, holds up his hand and looks out of a window. Caption reads: Metro police officers (above) obtain information from arrested ADAPT protesters during the group's demonstration at the Opryland Hotel. After his arrest, protester Bob Kafka (right) missing picture id uses sign language to communicate with people outside the school buses that were used to transport the demonstrators to jail. Trespassing charges were lodged against 97 protesters. ADAPT's next target: tonight's nationally televised CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry. Banner photos by Steve Lowry
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PHOTO by Tom Olin?: A large semicircle of ADAPT activists are in a foyer at the bottom of a fancy stairway. It appears to be inside the Tennessee Capitol building. They have posters taped to their wheelchairs with messages like: "ADAPT: Nursing Homes Kill Loved Ones", "Volunteer McWherter for a Nursing Home," and "FREE [Our People]." From left to right Verlon McKay sits with white ADAPT cap and hand held out. Behind him Tom Cagle is standing; beside Verlon in a scooter is Barbara Bounds. Beside Barbara standing in the center with arms raised is Spitfire with hands raised in her white sweatshirt that says "I don't get mad I get arrested." Beside her Sharon and LaTonya Reeves are talking. Behind them are many more protesters facing the center too.
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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.
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PHOTO [from Incitement] by Tom Olin: A woman [Marva Ways] with her hair in braids in a top-knot bun, sits in her wheelchair, legs crossed in front of her. She looks tired but assured as she gazes out in front of her. In her two hands she cradles a microphone. She is wearing black fingerless gloves and her fingers are extended so the microphone is between her palms. [caption below reads:] Marva Ways charged up the crowds at the Nashville action.
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[This article continues from image 810. Please refer to 810 for the full text]
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[Headline] Country stars soothe ADAPT activists [Subheading] Trip a success, group believes By Rob Moritz Banner Stan Writer [Image] Banner photos by Laura Embry: A man [William Lee Golden] with below shoulder length gray hair and a long gray beard and mustache in a black suit, hugs a woman [Anita Cameron] in a green ADAPT jacket, headband and hat. Both are smiling. They are in a parking to and behind and slightly out of focus you can see lots of other ADAPT folks, a camera people, and others milling around. Caption reads: William Lee Golden (left) hugs ADAPT protester Anita Cameron of Philadelphia after the country artist met with the group. Three noted country artists"sympathize" with the goals of disabled activists who have protested in Nashville this week, including a violent disturbance at the Opryland Hotel. "We are here to try to help and help you every way we can. We want to bring attention to your cause and your fight," Grand Ole Opry member Porter Wagoner told about 150 members of the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) on Wednesday. "These people need to be heard. We hope we can bring people's attention to it," Wagoner said. Wagoner, Bill Anderson and William Lee Golden met with the protesters in a parking lot on Music Valley Drive across from the Opryland Hotel. The meeting occurred about an hour before the nationally televised Country Music Association Awards. The meeting was Nashville disabled fear backlash arranged by Opryland officials who feared that ADAPT might stage a disruptive protest at the CMA event. The group threatened such an action after 97 protesters were arrested Tuesday for trespassing at the hotel. ADAPT members have been in Nashville since Sunday to protest and try to meet with the American Health Care Association, which is having its annual convention at the Opryland Hotel. The group is demanding that 25 percent of all Medicaid dollars be diverted from nursing homes to home health care. ADAPT protesters demonstrated Sunday at the entrance to the Opryland Hotel before being told they'd be able to meet with [ Please see PROTEST, page B-3] (unavailable at this time) [Headline] Nashville disabled fear backlash By Glenn Henderson Banner Staff Writer [Image] Photo 2: A curved line of people in wheelchairs and sitting on the ground curves from a woman in a wheelchair [Paulette Patterson] who is raising her fist and yelling. Behind her stands a main in a black suit with long gray hair and bear [William Lee Golden] and another man in working type clothes [Porter Wagoner]. Both are holding black and pink ADAPT shirts rolled up in their hands. They are outside in a parking lot. [Image caption] ADAPT's Paulette Patterson cheers the group on. Golden and Porter Wagoner (right) look on. Disabled activists who converged on Nashville to loudly promote their cause have left local disabled residents holding the bag, they claim. "They're going to leave Nashville, leaving the ones of us who live here to deal with the backlash," Mary McDonald says of the protesters who disrupted operations at the state Capitol and the Opryland Hotel this week. McDonald, 43, who has multiple sclerosis, uses a wheelchair. She's not the only member of the local community of disabled people who disagrees with the tactics of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT). Rick Slaughter, a 31-year-old man whose legs, in his words, "don't work," says the group has gone too far. Slaughter volunteered when Metro police needed someone to teach them the proper way to subdue a disabled person. "These, people come into town and stir things up and then leave town," Slaughter says. "Today, I couldn't help but feel awkward whenever I encountered a stranger. It makes me look bad." They should get what they're after, Slaughter says, but they're going about it the wrong way. "They're making a lot of people in town uneasy-- they're making a mess in Nashville," he says. "If they want to raise Cain, they need to take it to the top. Why don't they go see Hillary?" While McDonald, Slaughter and Mollie Ingram are critical of ADAPT's tactics, they do support its cause in wanting 25 percent of Medicaid money now going to for-profit nursing homes to be diverted to at-home care, or attendant programs. They've chosen the American Health Care Association, currently holding a convention at the Opryland Hotel, as their primary target of protest. AHCA represents most of the nation's nursing homes. "I believe in what they want," McDonald says. "No one wants to live in a nursing home. But I'm very much against the way they're trying to get it." [Please see REACTION, page B-3] (unavailable at this time)
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PHOTO by Tom Olin: A man [Quentin Williams] is lying on his side on the ground, partially in his manual wheelchair which is also on it's side. His feet are strapped to the footrests and he is raising his head slightly from the pavement of the road. His right arm is extended and his left hand is raised above his hip. He has an expression of concern and pain. In the back of the photo at some distance other wheelchairs and a couple of people's legs are visible. They are all moving away from him.
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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE TENNESSEAN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1993 [Headline] ADAPT negotiators accept help on issues from trio of music legends By BRAD SCHMITT, MARK IPPOLITO and TIMOTHY CORNELL Staff Writers They said they couldn't say what the acronym ADAPT stands for. But three Grand Ole Opry stars, with kind words, handshakes and hugs, last night defused the disabled-rights group's plans to try to disrupt what is arguably Nashville's most important night of the year. Porter Wagoner, Whisperin' Bill Anderson and William Lee Golden brought a close to intense day-long negotiations between ADAPT and Opryland officials trying to head off any trouble during the nationally televised Country Music Association Awards show. An army of Opryland security and Metro police stood by in the event the negotiations failed. Opryland Hotel put chains across entrance roads, ready to block vans carrying protesters. Chain-link fences went up on sidewalks, though they remained open. [Image] [Image caption] Paulette Paterson of Chicago chants at the ADAPT rally. Behind her, country entertainers William Lee Golden, Porter Wagoner and Bill Anderson appear in support of the rally participants. Rex Perry • Staff The three entertainers showed at a 6 p.m. meeting across from the Opryland Hotel with about 150 protesters, mostly in wheelchairs, from ADAPT, Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today. A day after the protesters stormed the Opryland Hotel, knocking down a front door, the stars said they would try to help ADAPT push its platform of diverting 25% of Medicaid dollars for nursing homes to home health care. "We're proud and honored to be here with you," Wagoner told the group. A day after Opryland security un-successfully tried to herd protesters off hotel property, Opry stars signed autographs and posed for pictures with them. "I believe what they said was genuine," said ADAPT's Mike Auberger. The group had considered interfering with the CMA Awards show for attention, said Auberger. But after meeting with officials from Gaylord Entertainment Co., Opryland's owner, the group agreed to a press conference with the stars behind the Ramada Inn, across from Opryland Hotel. "We are not here to take away people's fun. We're here to make a point," said Diane Coleman, a Tennessee ADAPT organizer, who uses ‘a wheelchair. "Our opponent is the nursing home industry, not country music fans." ADAPT came to Nashville because the American Health Care Association, made up mostly of nursing home operators, was having its convention at Opryland Hotel. Yesterday's peace was shaky, though. When some groups of protesters entered the hotel afterward as "tourists," security personnel called out on hand-held radios how many entered at one time and where they were going. "We got two WCs [wheelchairs] and a walker, and they're headed to the presidential ballrooms," a radio crackled after one group entered. But the white limousines and Mercedes-Benz sedans driving in were greeted by waving Opryland security and suit-wearing maintenance managers. They were told to wave, several said, to show Opryland is a friendly place. Opryland spokesman Tom Adkinson said company officials tried all week to negotiate with ADAPT, even offering the group a demonstration site: "We've never allowed demonstrations on our property, but we offered it this time." Coleman defended ADAPT's tactics: "I guess it's like any other civil rights movement. When you've tried all the meetings and the phone calls, then there's nothing left but to take it to the streets." [Subheading] What other stars said Kathy Mattea: "We live in a world where there's a lot of need. There's so many people out there trying to do something, to get things done on behalf of so many great causes that sometimes it's just overwhelming. It's overwhelming how much we don't take care of each other." Joe Diffie: "I think any kind of violence is not the right way to go about things. I hope that doesn't happen; I hope they don't disrupt the show for our sakes and for their sakes, too. I think it would bring more embarrassment to them than anything else. If I knew more about it, I'm sure I'd be sympathetic to their cause, as would most people." Radney Foster: "I'm glad those people can exercise their right to protest. I don't know enough about the issues. As far as access for the disabled, I have two friends who live in wheelchairs. I'm all for it."
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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.
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[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
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[Headline] Activists at Opryland shrug off court order By Glenn Henderson and Jeff Wilkinson Banner Staff Writers Disabled activists who have disrupted operations at the Opryland Hotel and the state Capitol are threatening to take their civil disobedience to the Grand Ole Opry tonight during the star-studded Country Music Awards. A decision on whether to try to disrupt the nationally televised CMA show (7 p.m. on WTVF-Channel 5) will be made later today, said Mike Auberger, co-director of Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today. Opryland officials said the CMA show will go on protest or no protest. ADAPT this week has been picketing the 44th annual American Health Care Association convention being held at the Opryland Hotel. The group is demanding that 25 percent of all Medicaid dollars be diverted from nursing homes to home health care. Auberger said that disrupting the televised CMA show would bring national attention to the group's cause. "It would be a good format to raise the issue," he said. Auberger added that the public protests are necessary to offset the power and money of nursing home lobbyists. "The industry is so powerful," he said. "It comes down to the fact that dollars are more important than people." An Opryland spokesman said park officials are not worried about possible disruptions at tonight's CMA Awards. "The show will go on smoothly no matter what," Tom Adkinson said today. "They (ADAPT members) are under a restraining order issued last night to stay off of our property. "We have no concern about the conduct of the show." Auberger said the restraining order will have no effect on his group's decision: "We have to get our message across." Adkinson would not comment on security arrangements but expressed frustration with the demonstrations. "This whole situation is both reprehensible and unnecessary," he said. "We at Opryland have tried to be accommodating . . . and, frankly, Opryland and Nashville are being victimized in this whole situation. "We don't have a dog in this fight; we're just caught in the middle." On Tuesday, a melee broke out at the Opryland Hotel when a scheduled meeting between ADAPT and members of the American Health Care Association [text cuts off here] Please see ARRESTS, page A-2