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Heim / Album / Stikkord Bob Kafka 80
- ADAPT (228)
Los Angeles Times 10/7/85 [This article continues on ADAPT 227 but the entire text of the story is included here for easier reading,] 3 photos by Rick Meyer/Los Angles Times: photo 1 is of a section of the march with men and women of various ethnic backgrounds and disabilities walking, rolling and pushing others' chairs. There is a sense of energy in the group and many wear buttons and carry signs reading "Access Now", "Restore 504", and "Our Time has Come -- CAPH." Caption reads: Disabled move eastward down Wilshire Boulevard toward downtown in protest parade. Photo 2 is another picture of the march, taken from above. The crowd is loosely organized, many in the front are looking up and smiling. There are children with disabilities, people in neckties, people with headbands. In the crowd you can see Bill Bolte, Bob Kafka, Gil Casarez among many others. Some carry signs on sticks reading "APTA oppresses", as well as "Transit for All" and one about ADAPT. Caption reads: Signs are carried along Figueroa Street by disabled protesters. Photo 3 (much smaller) is of a police officer pushing a man in a manual wheelchair (Jim Parker) to the side of the street while another officer seems to be stopping a car. Caption reads: Police officer wheels disabled protester out of traffic lanes. [Headline] Disabled Stage Protest Parade; 8 Arrested Oppose Transit Group Policy Against Mandating Bus Chair Lifts By GEORGE STEIN Times Staff Writer The halt and the blind converged on a public transit conference in downtown Los Angeles Sunday, parading through streets without a city permit and blocking entrances and stairways at the conference hotel in an effort to make the point that the disabled are denied the access to transportation available to the general public. Eight activists for the disabled were arrested on charges of failing to disperse an unlawful gathering and intefering with a police officer. The arrests —“a distasteful necessity," police said -- took place in and around the Bonaventure. They came after Los Angeles police had relented to an earlier stand to make arrests if any tried to parade along Wilshire Boulevard from MacArthur Park to the conference. “Listen, how could we arrest all these people?" Capt. Bill Wedgeworth said. During the procession, 131 wheelchairs, stretching more than a block, carried people with disabilities ranging from spina bifidia, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy to snapped spinal cords, congenital defects and postpolio paralysis. Many had the withered limbs and lack of body control that the more fortunate usually try not to stare at. But not Sunday. Motorists slowed to watch the sight. Some honked in support. “This is beautiful. I am proud to be a disabled person. I am tired of being closed away," said Bob Kafka, as he wheeled along. Kafka, from Austin, Tex., a spokesman for the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, has a broken spinal cord. He was among those arrested later. Once inside the hotel, the group headed for the reception area in an attempt to reach delegates to the annual conference of the American Public Transit Assn. However, police kept the demonstrators bottled up near the entrance, one floor above the main reception area. "Access now! Access now!" the demonstrators shouted. The crowd, which came from a spectrum of disabled activist groups in and out of California, targeted the transit convention because the organization opposes a national policy mandating wheelchair lifts on buses. The American Public Transit Assn.'s position is to let each transit agency deal with access for the disabled as a local decision. In Los Angeles, the Southern California Rapid Transit District, with 2,445 buses, has wheelchair lifts on 1,691 and is retrofitting another 200. The RTD hopes to have lifts on all buses in five years, which, according to a spokesman, would probably make it the first major urban bus system to be so equipped. After the demonstrators blocked hotel escalator wells for almost an hour, Wedgeworth told them their gathering was illegal. The actual arrests were an odd orchestration of defiance and cooperation. Escalator Well George Florom, a member of the disabled group from Colorado Springs, Colo., began thrashing as police tried to remove him from an escalator well. It took three officers to subdue him. “He began kicking and trying to bite me, so he had to go," Lt Ken Colby explained. One of the demonstrators grabbed an officer's gun, police said. Florom, lay quietly once handcuffed, and police gently placed him in his wheelchair and wheeled him to a lift-equipped van that had been arranged for the occasion. Trained medical personnel also were on hand. Edith Harris of Hartford, Conn., had earlier failed in an attempt to get arrested, tearing up American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit literature and throwing it on Figueroa Street. "Arrest me,“ she screamed to ‘no avail from her motorized wheelchair. The police only moved her to the sidewalk, and an officer went back to [unreadable] trash. Her wish was granted later, after she tried to herself down one of the blocked escalators. Then she calmed down, gratefully accepting a drink of water from a police officer, while waiting for a stretcher to arrive. Unhandcuffed, sitting upright, she was placed in the van. Her wheelchair was carefully handed in after her. Taken to Station The arrestees were taken to the Central Division station for processing. The seven men were later booked at County Jail, where bail was set at $500. Harris was booked at Sybil Brand Institute. Some police worried that the department's image would suffer from Sunday's action. “We look bad, no matter what we do," Sgt. Bill Tiffany said. After the arrests, a spokesman said, “It must be stressed that the Los Angeles Police Department has repeatedly tried to meet with demonstration leaders in the attempt to provide legal alternatives to accomplish their objectives and avoid the distasteful necessity of arresting handicapped citizens.” The police were not alone in their concern. Five months before the convention, according to Mark Johnson, 34, of Westminster, Colo., an organizer for the disabled group, RTD board member Jack Day flew to Denver to try to talk the organization out of civil disobedience. Negotiations foundered on an demand by the disabled group that the RTD introduce and support a proposal that the American Public Transit Assn. reverse its stand and back mandatory wheelchair lifts on buses, Johnson said. He said the disabled activists will be in town through Wednesday. The American Public Transit Assn. is a lobbying and policy organization. The five-day convention began Sunday. - ADAPT (197)
San Antonio Express News Tuesday, April 23, 1985 Metro, 9-A PHOTO by Jose Barrera: An angry looking Mike Auberger sits in his power chair holding a picket sign that reads "American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit" and the first letter of each word is dark so when you read down instead of across it reads ADAPT. Mike has on his no steps logo ADAPT shirt, and the large sign is taped to his wrist. Caption reads: MIKE AUBERGER OF THE DENVER CHAPTER OF ADAPT HOLDS SIGN WHILE BLOCKING DOOR . . . about 60 members of the group protested at VIA headquarters and held employees hostage. [Headline] Protesters hold workers hostage by Arthur Moczygemba, Express News Staff Writer Members of a group wanting improved access for the handicapped invaded the VIA office at 800 W Myrtle on Monday and used their wheelchairs to block all access to the building for about 90 minutes. Some 34 VIA employees held hostage inside their offices were released after police negotiated for a meeting with local and national transportation officials. The later session led to an airing of demands by about 60 members of the American Disabled tor Accessible Public Transportation. Police rented vans, in case the protesters were arrested. Bernie Ford of Chicago, president of the American Public Transit Association, and Wayne Cook, general manager of VIA, met with the ADAPT members Monday afternoon, but both sides stuck to their respective positions on public bus access for the handicapped. Ford was in San Antonio to attend the western conference of APTA, meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel through Wednesday. About 15 police officers were on duty there, Toscano reported. Ford refused to grant the ADAPT members 20 minutes of speaking time before the general transit membership, saying that a scheduled Wednesday work session on handicapped access was sufficient for consideration of the problem. Laura Hershey of Denver and Jean Stewart of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. listed the ADAPT demands, which included a policy change by the mass transit system that all new buses purchased be equipped with lifts that allow wheelchair-bound persons to use buses. ADAPT claims that it costs $8,000 to $10,000 to equip a new bus with lifts for the handicapped, while air conditioning a bus costs more “and doesn't always work." “It's a question of priorities," said Mike Auberger of Denver, where ADAPT is headquartered. After a 30-minute session, the only agreement between the ADAPT members and Ford was allow the group to publish an article in the September issue of the association's monthly newspaper. Cook was grilled about the San Antonio situation by Bob Kafka of Austin, a Texas ADAPT official. Cook said the VIA Para-Transit system used in San Antonio, which uses specially equipped vans to transport the handicapped was implemented upon recommendation by a 26-member task force, which included handicapped persons. “This is why you don‘t see San Antonians join your cause,” Cook said. Kafka retorted that numerous San Antonio handicapped members have contacted ADAPT, and refuted Cook's contention that the majority of the local handicapped persons support the VIA Para-Transit program because it is segregationist. “This is not to say you're lying,” Kafka told Cook, “but you are distorting the truth." The ADAPT members then read a statement submitted by Willis Williams on behalf of the San Antonio Citizens Concerned about Handicapism. The SACCH statement said the group declined to participate in the ADAPT demonstration but added: “It is our long-standing position to support the concept of a multimodal system with both lift-equipped mainline buses and door-to door service vans as the best and most economically sound approach for San Antonio." The statement was issued on behalf of Larry Johnson, chairman of San Antonio Independent Living Services, and Joyce Jenks, president of SACCH. "Twenty (VlA) vans cannot possibly serve 50,000 mobility impaired citizens," according to Jenks. The 60-member ADAPT group was composed mainly of Texans, with - others from Colorado, Illinois, and New York. Three people attending the protest identified themselves as San Antonians who came as individuals because their organizations are tax-exempt and do not participate in demonstrations. Tommy Leifester, 1100 Callaghan, said the VIA task force did not represent the majority of San Antonio handicapped. Leifester assisted Toscano in the negotiated settlement. Leifester stated that although local handicapped persons were not very visible at the protest, "This will help get our story out in public. VIA has been putting out only one side of the story." During the shuttle diplomacy segment the protesters chanted: “We will ride! Access now!" and demands for Cook to meet with them. Cook was not in his office since he was attending the mass transit convention at the hotel. He arrived at 12:10pm. Although the VIA employees were released about 12:30 p.m. and given the rest of the afternoon off, ADAPT members stayed until Ford showed for the meeting about 2:30 pm. - ADAPT (196)
The Handicapped Coloradan PHOTO 1: Four police officer surround a man (Bob Kafka) in a manual wheelchair. Two are holding his arms behind his back, forcing his head and shoulders toward the ground as he is twisted in his wheelchair. Another officer is putting handcuffs on one of his wrists. Caption reads: BOB KAFAY [sic] is handcuffed from behind by police after being arrested at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles this past October. Kafay and other members of American Disabled for Public Transit were demanding mandatory accessible public transit. PHOTO 2: A woman in a power wheelchair, sits in the middle of the front of the bus, stopping it in the street. Someone is standing at the left front corner of the bus beside another person in a wheelchair [possibly Larry Ruiz]. In front of this group another wheelchair user with a lap board sits in the middle of the street. On the side of the road an officer with a radio is standing, and on the near side of the bus a woman also stands and watches. All the faces are in shadow so it is hard to tell who anyone is. Caption reads: TWO PROTESTORS managed to collar a bus during an early action In Dallas, Texas. "The laughed at us. They didn't think a handful of us could stop the buses." continued from p. 16? By January 1986 ADAPT Texas felt sure enough of itself to directly challenge transit providers in Houston and Dallas to reverse their policy on accessibility. Ironically, at one time Houston boasted more accessible mainline buses than any other city in the country. After intense lobbying by the Coalition for Barrier Free Living, the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) purchased 326 Grumman Flxible 870 buses equipped with EEC lifts in 1977. That represents 50 percent of the city's total bus fleet. The decision to purchase those buses came only after members of the Coalition staged a sit-in at the office of then MTA executive director Barry Goodman, who had earlier refused to meet with representatives of the group to discuss accessibility. Goodman declined to make a commitment to accessibility at the subsequent meeting. Coalition members joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a lawsuit that would have prevented MTA from purchasing any other buses until it had agreed to provide mainline service to wheelchair users. Coalition members took to the streets and blocked buses. MTA finally gave in to their demands but, according to coalition members, once the buses were on the streets MTA did nothing to publicize the routes. As a result few disabled passengers used the lifts. The death blow to accessibility in Houston came when cracks developed in the front frames of the new buses. MTA attributed the cracks to the EEC lifts, though the same cracks appeared in other buses in other parts of the country that had not installed lifts. MTA later admitted that the lifts did not cause the cracks, but when the Grumman buses were pulled out of service, Houston chose not to replace them with lift-equipped buses. The coalition's transportation committee had by this time disbanded, and accessibility ceased to be a front-page issue in Houston until some 20 Houston ADAPT members issued a Jan. 22, 1986, press release demanding that MTA proclaim its intention to purchase only lift-equipped buses. ADAPT gave MTA until July 4 to alter its position. ADAPT charged that MTA's Advisory Committee of the Disabled and Elderly was powerless and had done nothing to promote accessibility since it was formed. "The right to move freely in Houston usurps the recommendations of any committee," the ADAPT release said. A symbolic rally was held outside MTA's headquarters on Feb. l2 — Lincoln's birthday — to protest what ADAPT called a segregated transit system that makes slaves of the city's disabled population. Symbolism was also behind ADAPT's choice of Jan. l5, l986 Martin Luther King, ]r.'s, birthday — for its showdown with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART). Several of those same "outside agitators” who had irked the San Antonio Light made the 800-mile trip from Denver to participate in the demonstration. Among them was Mike Auberger, a quadriplegic community organizer for the Atlantis Community, who just may have been arrested more times than any other wheelchair activist in the movement. Auberger was not alone. Seventeen demonstrators, including several first-timers, were arrested. Denver's Kathy Vincent was among that group. Altogether the demonstrators managed to block l7 buses for more than six hours before the police stepped in and forcibly removed them from the streets. Not all the fireworks took place on the streets, however. The night before, at a regular monthly meeting of DART's executive board, ADAPT made known its intention to bring traffic to a standstill in Dallas the next day. "They laughed at us," Blank said. "They didn't think a handful of us could stop the buses." But Blank said DART's new executive director, Ted Tedesco, until recently a University of Colorado vice chancellor, knew different. “He knows what we can do. His face went white when we entered the room." At first, DART refused to hear from ADAPT. However, several ADAPT members began chanting "We will ride!", making it impossible for the DART meeting to continue. After making their presentation, several protestors showered the board with play money to symbolize the wasted tax dollars DART has put into non-accessible systems. Not all the news from Texas is bleak, however. ADAPT Austin has succeeded in winning 100 percent of off-peak hour accessibility from Capital Metro as of July 1, 1986. More than 50 percent of that city's peak hour routes will be accessible once l00 lift-equipped buses arrive this summer. Jim Parker reports that El Paso ADAPT is pushing the city to activate the 30 lift-quipped buses the system owns but has never operated. That would mean 50 percent accessible service during off-peak hours, according to Parker, who was among the first Texans to receive training from the Denver parent group. Auberger and other Coloradans had helped Parker block buses and stage a demonstration at a non-wheelchair-accessible McDonald's restaurant two years before. - ADAPT (191)
San Antonio Light 4/24/85 (This article continues on ADAPT 190, but the text is included here entirely for ease of reading) PHOTO by Roberta Barnes/San Antonio Light: Sitting in front of a VIA bus in her scooter, an older heavy set woman (Edith Harris) in a tank top and culottes looks ahead and spreads her arms wide at an angle, almost like a bird's wings. Her upper hand grasps the windshield wiper, while her other hand stretches toward the ground. Caption reads: CATCHING A BUS: Edith Harris of Hartford, Conn., blocks a VIA bus on Broadway. [Headline] Disabled may get aboard some buses VIA Cisneros By David Hawkings, Staff writer After wheelchair-bound protesters clogged downtown streets by placing themselves in front of city buses, Mayor Henry Cisneros vowed yesterday to press for improvements in local transit service for the disabled. The mayor made the pledge after meeting with protesters, who called off demonstrations scheduled last night. But a spokeswoman for the demonstrators refused to completely rule out further action. Before the mayor agreed to meet with the group, about 50 members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit had slowed traffic by creeping across intersection crosswalks and placing themselves in front of VIA metropolitan Transit buses. There were no arrests, though two misdemeanor citations for obstructing traffic were issued. The action by ADAPT marked the third day of protests, which included a demonstration at the VIA headquarters Monday afternoon that prompted 90 buses authority employees to lock themselves in their office. It began Sunday with a demonstration at the Hyatt Hotel, where the American Public Transit Association is holding a regional conference. In a statement, ADAPT said the transit association’s policies are “perpetuating discriminatory transportation systems in cities throughout the U.S.” At yesterday’s session with ADAPT, the mayor agreed to lobby the Reagan administration to reinstate a federal rule -- struck down as a result of a suit brought by APTA -- mandating all public transit be accessible to the disabled. He also said he would urge those in Congress representing South Texas to support funding to help cities pay for making all buses available to those in wheelchairs. The mayor would not, however, endorse an ADAPT position paper “as it is now written” calling for all new municipal buses to be equipped with wheelchair lifts. The devices cost about $10,000. Instead, Cisneros said he would work to get “some buses fully equipped on some routes” and would lobby to get a handicapped person appointed to the VIA board. “Cisneros is obviously someone who’s sensitive to minorities, but the problem is he needs a good deal of education that we are a minority,” Jean Stewart, a spokeswoman for ADAPT, said in an interview after the meeting. Stewart, also one of the two protesters cited, was ticketed near the Hilton Hotel. The other protester cited by police yesterday was Robert A. Kafka of Austin, who allegedly was blocking traffic near the Marriott Hotel. PHOTO by Roberta Barnes/San Antonio Light: A man in a power chair (Claude Holcomb) sits squarely in front of a bus in the middle of a traffic filled street. He is wearing shorts and hiking boots, no shirt, and his legs are tied to the leg rests of his chair. He looks to his left as a woman on a scooter (Edith Harris) rolls toward the back of the bus. Inside the bus the driver is just visible, and a paper sign on the windshield reads "APTA Western Conference" and at the top of the windshield a destination type sign with lighted letters reads "Sightseeing." Caption reads: BLOCKADE: Claude Holcom [sic] of Hartford, Conn. blocks VIA bus. - ADAPT (200)
The Handicapped Coloradan, vol.8, no.7, Boulder, CO February 1986 (This article is continued in ADAPT 198 but the entire article is included here for ease of reading.) PHOTO 1: Along a street a large line of people in wheelchairs and others move past a shady park with vendors with small umbrellas over their stands. Several of the protesters carry placards in their laps, one of which reads: A PART OF NOT APART FROM. Faces are too dark to tell who is in the line. Caption reads: In the shadow of the Alamo a wheelchair column moved along the streets of San Antonio, Texas in April 1985. Protestors were heading for the hotel headquarters for the regional convention of the American Public Transit Association. PHOTO 2: Mike Auberger, with his mustache, trimmed beard and shoulder length hair looks at the camera with his intense eyes. Wearing a light colored sweater and shirt with a collar, he sits in his wheelchair which is mostly visible because of his chest strap. Caption reads: Mike Auberger of Denver was one of some 16 Coloradans who went to Texas to protest the lack of accessible public buses. [Headline] The eyes of Texas are on outside agitators -- and a lot of folks from down the street There's never been much love lost between Coloradans and Texans, at least not since those folks from the Lone Star State first wandered into the Rocky Mountains and discovered deep powder in the winter and cool valleys in the summer. As Winnebago after Cadillac after pickup poured across Raton Pass, Coloradans greeted Texans with open cash registers and - increasingly -- ridicule. Our scorn for Texans even reached into the highest office in the state when Governor Dick Lamm greeted his Texan counterpart with this joke: A Texan died here recently and we couldn't find a coffin large enough, so we gave him an enema and buried him in a shoebox. Texans were not amused, though by now they should have come to expect such treatment. We've been squabbling ever since a detachment of Colorado militia turned back a Texas Confederate army at Glorietta Pass during the Civil War. Each summer now we give Texas a chance to even the score down near Alamosa in a rotten tomato battle. OF course we always make sure our army's bigger. That animosity, however, doesn't carry over to the disabled population of the two states. In fact, a dozen or more militant wheelchair activists from Colorado have been rolling onto the streets of several Texas cities during the past couple of years to aid their counterparts in the battle to force Texas transit systems to make their buses wheelchair-accessible. "After Colorado, Texas is out best organized state," Wade Blank, the long haired ex-preacher who helped found American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) in Denver two years ago. ADAPT chapters have sprung up in several other states, notably Illinois, Maine, and Connecticut, but none have garnered as many active members as Texas. Scores of Texans have blocked buses in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and El Paso in recent months to focus the attention of the state's media on the lack of accessible buses. Part of ADAPT's success in Texas lies in the fact that there are so few lift-equipped buses in this huge state. Some Texas cities did order accessible buses when the Carter administration's Department of Transportation ordered mandatory accessibility in the 1970s. However, most of these lifts were never used as the American Public Transit Association (APTA), a national lobbying and policy making organization for transit systems, successfully fought the regulation in federal appeals court. APTA maintains that the local transit provider is the best judge of whether or not accessibility is feasible. Adverse climatic and geographical conditions are generally cited as the chief obstacles to lifts. Texas ADAPT leaders point out that few areas in Texas experience severe winter storms and that the state's larger cities are generally laid out on flat plains. That was one of the points wheelchair activist tried to make when they picketed in April 1985 regional APTA convention in San Antonio. A sizable contingent of Coloradans joined those picket lines, leading to a charge by the local newspaper, the San Antonio Light, that the demonstration was the work of outside agitators and that most of the city's disabled population was quite happy with using paratransit. Spot demonstrations and bus seizures soon followed in other Texas cities, while some Texas ADAPT members turned outside agitators themselves by participating in demonstrations at the APTA national convention in Los Angeles in October 1985. Several Texans including Jim Parker of El Paso and Bob Kafka of Austin, were among The dozens arrested. Supporters of lifts point to cities like Seattle and Denver where most of the buses are accessible -- and increasingly free of breakdowns. Denver's Regional Transportation District (RTD) maintenance crew made a few simple changes in some of their lift systems and managed to operate experimental buses without a single breakdown. ADAPT argues that some transit providers have deliberately sabotaged their lift systems to justify removing them. Opponents of lifts argue that paratransit--usually vans that pick riders up at their residences -- is more cost effective. Supporters point to Seattle where the cost per ride on mainline buses is less than $15 a trip, which compares very favorably with the best deals offered by paratransit systems. Convenience is a major factor too, according to Mike Auberger of ADAPT-Denver, who points out that most paratransit systems require two days' advance notice and users might have to travel all day just to keep a 15 minute dental appointment. "Me, I like being able to roll down to the corner bus stop," Auberger said. ADAPT grew out of coalition of Denver disabled groups who were successful in battling RTD over wheelchair lifts. Protestors seized buses and chained themselves to railings at RTD headquarters before the battle was won. Two years ago they went national when their arch foe, APTA, held its national convention in Denver, APTA refused to allow ADAPT to present a resolution to the convention calling for mandatory accessibility until pressure was brought to bear by Denver Mayor Federico Pena, a pro-lift advocate. APTA declined, however, to vote on the issue, and ADAPT picketed the group's 1984 national convention in Washington, DC, in October. Twenty-four protestors were arrested during the demonstration, including Parker. Parker, who was joined in Washington by four other Texans, isn't through with APTA yet. When that group holds its Western Regional Convention in San Antonio April 20, Parker said they can expect almost as many demonstrators as went to Washington. "I can't think of any place in Texas where it (public transportation for the disabled) is as good as it is here in Denver -- in fact it's poor everywhere here. Dallas just decided to buy 200 or 300 new buses without lifts." The situation isn't any better in his home city of El Paso, according to Parker. "It's very poor here," he said. "There are 30 city cruisers here with lifts but the city has shown no desire to use them." Parker thinks too many people in wheelchairs are too passive. "They're not used to pushing people, but we're starting to see some changes." However, Parker points out that Texas is a very conservative state and people -- including the disabled -- are slow to change. People wishing to participate in the San Antonio demonstration should call Parker (915-564-0544) for further information. PHOTO: Two bearded, bare chested wheelchair activists (Jim Parker, and [I think] Mike Auberger) are in the foreground. Parker, his shoulder length hair tied back with a bandana, sits with his foot up on his opposite knee, hands in his fingerless gloves. The two are facing away from the camera and talking with another man who is kneeling down beside them looking up at them. Caption reads: Jim Parker (center) of ADAPT-El Paso meets with a newsman during a picket of McDonald's. Many disabled persons objected to the fast food chain's refusal to immediately retrofit all of its restaurants so that they would be accessible to wheelchair patrons. Parker is currently involved in helping organize a demonstration at the Western Regional Convention of the American Public Transit Association (APTA) in San Antonio Oct. 20 - 24 [sic]. - ADAPT (461)
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Monday APRIL 10, 1989 [Headline] 49 disabled protesters arrested in Sparks Photo by Cralg Sallor/Gazette-Journal: Two men in wheelchairs are being arrested by police in the middle of the street. The man on the left, Bob Kafka, is being bent forward in his chair and being handcuffed behind his back. Across his legs he has a poster but it is not readable from this copy. The man on the left, Bill Bolte, is sitting up hold a sign about Rights in front of his chest. The policeman is standing beside him bending forward to do something to his chair it seems. caption reads: CONFRONTATION: Sparks police arrested Bob Kafka, left, of Austin, Texas, and Bill Bolte of Los Angeles. Text box has the quote: 'My rights are worth fighting for.’ Bill Bolte/demonstrator [Headline] Public transit meeting draws demands for accessibility By Darcy De Leon/Gazelle-Journal Sparks police arrested 49 disabled protesters demanding accessibility to public buses during a protest Sunday aimed at national transit officials meeting at John Ascuaga's Nugget. About 75 wheelchair-bound members of Denver-based American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) rushed two entrances of the hotel—casino about 3:15 p.m., but Nugget security officers and police inside blocked the doorways. ADAPT activists chanting, “Access is a civil right,” struggled to open the doors an confront officials with the American Public Transit Association (APTA) attending a five-day convention through Wednesday. Bob Kafka of Austin, Texas, and Bill Bolte, a Los Angeles resident, were the first protesters to he arrested. "My rights are worth fighting for," said Bolte, 57. “APTA is discriminating against us," said Kafka, who has used a wheelchair since breaking his neck in a car accident at the age of 26. "We feel that APTA is to the disabled what the KKK is to the black community.“ At the height of the protest police dragged away three demonstrators lying in the casino entrance. No injuries were reported, police said. Sparks police Lt. Tony Zamboni said that as of late Sunday night, five of the 49 demonstrators arrested had been transferred to the Washoe County jail, after their arraignment in Sparks Municipal Court. They were being held in lieu of $1,025 bond for investigation of obstructing traffic, obstructing a police officer an blocking a fire exit, Zamboni said. Arraignments continued Sunday night for the remaining protesters. Disabled residents from Reno and 30 other cities throughout the country joined in the protest of an expected appeal of a federal court order that requires all public bus systems to be equipped for wheelchairs. ADAPT filed a lawsuit asking for the decision last year. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled in favor of the group in February. Demonstrators Sunday hoped to persuade the transit officials to work against the appeal, expected to be made by the U.S. Department of Transportation today. APTA spokesman Albert Engelken said the group's protests are “compelling and heart-rending." But he said APTA cannot afford a national mandate for the lifts, which cost $15,000 to install and even more to maintain. Engelken also cited low usage of the buses and suggested the lift requirement be a local option instead of a state mandate. “We're for accessible transportation for the disabled, and we do have it, but the local transit systems and the local disabled communities should decide what is needed because they know what's best." Reno’s Citifare would not be affected by the decision because transit officials already have made a commitment toward a 100 percent wheelchair-equipped bus system, said Bill Derrick, planning manager for the Regional Transportation Commission. All Citifare buses bought since 1984 are wheelchair-equipped, he said, and all non-equipped buses will be replaced by 1996. Mike Auberger, ADAPT founder and protest organizer, said the group has staged at least 14 demonstrations at APTA conferences during the last seven years throughout the United States and Canada. Auberger, 33, of Denver, who has been confined to a wheelchair since a bobsled accident 17 years ago, said demonstrators will follow APTA convention-goers for as long as it takes. “We’re not fighting Reno or any other city. We're fighting APTA,” he said. “We will go to jail, we'll get arrested, but so what — it's a misdemeanor. We'll do it again." Citifare accommodates the disabled more than some other cities, said Reno resident Dottie Spinnetta, 51, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and rides the buses five days a week. But RTC could improve the system by offering additional wheelchair space on the buses and bus pickups every 30 minutes instead of every hour. “I should be able to get around as everyone else can and not have to ask,” she said. “That’s what everybody wants — to be independent." The only drawbacks of using Citifare for John Civitello, 21, is that he has to get up at 4 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. bus that takes him to his job with American Handicapped Workers. He then waits outside the office another hour until his workday begins at 8 a.m. PHOTO by Joanne Haskin: Two policemen are standing one behind the other, facing a third and behind him is a fourth officer who is using what looks like a video camera. All the police wear hats and are looking down. From their midst, the wild head of Arthur Campbell sticks out, his long white hair flying in different directions, a strange grin on his face and his intense eyebrows above his dark eyes. The police seem to be cradling him, and look down at him. Caption reads: Protest scuffle—Sparks police detain one of the ADAPT protesters that blocked the entrance to John Ascuaga's Nugget during a demonstration Sunday afternoon. Sparks police made a total of 49 arrests during the protest. - ADAPT (476)
June 1989 ROLL CALL Page 11 [Headline] CORD Reps Join ADAPT in Philadelphia to Support Third Circuit Ruling Amy E. Hasbrouck & Kent Killam When the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia handed down its landmark decision in February — mandating lifts on new public transit buses, and eliminating the 3% cap on spending for access -— only three of the 12 judges ruled in the case. Usually such rulings stand unchallenged, but in this case the Bush administration chose to file a motion to have the decision reheard, according to Bill Henning, Director, and Kent Killam, an Organizer/Advocate at the Cape Organization for the Rights of the Disabled (CORD). On Monday, May 15, all 12 judges heard arguments in a suit filed by American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) demanding “meaningful” access to public transit for people with disabilities. Over 50 disabled rights activists turned out in Philadelphia over the preceding weekend to voice support for the original ruling, and objection to inaccessible public transportation. Many local activists were on hand for the weekend protests, including, Bill Henning, Michael Early, Killam and several others from CORD; BCIL member Leo Lucas; Fred Zepernick, an organizer for the Cape United Elderly; and Brian Shea, a member of BCIL’s Consumer Affairs Committee. Killam described what happened when the protesters arrived in Philadelphia on Friday afternoon. “We marched into the courthouse requesting to see the U.S. Attorney [Baylson] for the Philadelphia District," he said. “We could only get five people in through security, because they said the Attorney’s office was small. It got a little heated with security, and at one point we wound up blocking the metal detector and the gate. If they weren’t going to let us in to see the attorney and then we said ‘no one was going.’ They dragged chairs away, and we would wheel right back in.” Killam said the scene ended with Baylson phoning Attorney General Richard Thornburgh who was assisting the Department of Transportation (DOT) on the case. Baylson also met with the activists in the Ceremonial Court, an accessible courtroom on the first floor where the hearing would be held on Monday. “He said he had placed the call and expressed our concerns; how important this decision is for persons with disabilities to get out and be able to mainstream, the disabled term for integration. We were here showing our support and trying to express how important it was that this decision not be overturned.” Killam said Baylson sounded receptive. “On Saturday at 1 p.m. we gathered outside the courthouse on Sixth and Market streets," Killam continued. “We decided we wanted to ride the bus to New Jersey. To sum it up, we had three buses blocked." Bob Kafka of ADAPT crawled onto a bus at curbside, and as a second and third bus arrived, each was blocked and one demonstrator would leave his or her chair and climb onto the bus. Killam said when the second bus arrived, “The bus driver was holding up his hands saying ‘OH NO, not me!’ If they were smart they wouldn’t’ve let him through. We blocked that quarter of the intersection, traffic was blocked, people were pissed. They wound up having to let the motorists drive one at a time on the sidewalk. We plastered the buses with ADAPT stickers. “I didn't crawl on initially,” said Killam, who volunteered when another activist could not continue. “Toward the end I wasn't thinking much. I was thinking of what we had accomplished. And hoping it would make a difference, come Monday.” The police called the media, a press conference was held, then the demonstrators cleared the street. No arrests were made, and the police were very cooperative, according to Killam. “I felt people around were getting the point. I'm not sure if the proper people got the point." Killam said that one TV station gave the event limited coverage. “That night it was like a 25 or 30 second clip. ‘Bunch of radical gimps block buses’ that was about it." CORD Director Henning summed up the message of the action: “Without lifts on buses, the only way we can get on was to crawl.” On Sunday the group gathered in front of Independence Hall. Many people wore Revolutionary War costumes tri-cornered hats and white wigs. Someone also carried an ADAPT flag which resembles the American flag except that stars are arranged to form the international symbol of accessibility. The group marched around the two-block perimeter of Independence Hall. “When we were having the march a lot of people were applauding and taking pictures," said Killam. “Much better response on Sunday than on Saturday; we weren't blocking the buses." The march ended in the Liberty Bell pavilion. “We decided to rename it the Access Bell, as a lot of organizations have adopted it as their trademark. “We then marched across the street to the courthouse and did our all-night vigil. It started raining a little, but the building had an overhang. Different TV stations showed up. One station did a beautiful piece on the 11 o’clock news. One crew came at four in the morning to get footage for their 6:15 morning news on Monday. No one tried to make us leave. “Monday morning finally rolled around, and we went inside the courthouse to wait for the hearing. I'm told the hearing went well. Tim Cook, the attorney for ADAPT, did an excellent job! He was very to the point, well-worded, his thoughts were well organized, and he answered the questions very well. The DOT attorney was just mediocre." Bill Henning noted some highlights of ADAPT ‘s presentation. “Tim argued that federal statute guarantees access and so all buses must have lifts. Providing lifts is not a hardship economically and without lifts, there is extreme discrimination. The opposing attorney said it would be an undue burden to provide lifts." Henning wondered if crawling onto a bus is not an undue burden? He said it could be up to four months before the decision comes back, and described some possible outcomes. "They have a number of options, which range from accepting the original decision, to reconsidering it and issuing an entirely new decision." Henning said all the actions were designed to raise consciousness. “To that effect I think it was extremely well done," he said. “There was national attention on the event. This is an important decision because what it filters down to is that separate is not equal. It's vital that there be popular support. A lot of activists put themselves on the line for the cause." - ADAPT (475)
PHOTO by Tom Olin: A crowd of ADAPT protesters in various items of Revolutionary War Patriots garb surround the Liberty Bell. Park Rangers stand on either side of the bell. A man in a manual wheelchair wearing a wig and rainbow suspenders sits with his back to the camera, a Disabled But Able to Vote bumper sticker across the back of his chair. Bob Kafka in a colonial jacket and tri-cornered hat faces the camera, to his left Mike Auberger is talking with a person with a small child on their hip. In the center of the picture, partially obscuring the Liberty Bell is a poster that reads "We Need to Get There Too!!" In the background green trees can be seen through a huge plate glass window. - ADAPT (473)
PHOTO by Tom Olin: George Roberts, wearing an UMTA name badge, an ADAPT headband and black and gold ADAPT "no steps" T-Shirt, looks down as Bob Kafka and he chain their wheelchairs together. Bob is bent forward, doubled over, using his arms to hide the lock as they attach their wheelchairs. - ADAPT (481)
14—Rocky Mountain News., April 25, 1989, Denver, Colo PHOTO by KEN PAPALEO/Rocky Mountain Naws A group of ADAPT people in wheelchairs and sitting on the ground form a blockade in front of a major entryway to the Radisson Hotel. The hotel doormat is visible in front of the group. Behind them a single cop, with his arms folded across his chest, stands to one side of the door. From left to right the group includes: a woman in a manual chair, Bob Kafka sitting on the ground, Barb Guthrie facing out and behind her someone in a wheelchair facing in, next to that person is a person on the ground and in front of that person is Anita Cameron in a cap and holding her white cane, in front of her is an empty wheelchair facing the group. Next to Anita is Stephanie Thomas on the ground with her chair facing her, and behind her is Bernard Baker. Next to Bernard is Mike McTimmus and beside him is Joe Carle in his manual chair. In front of Joe, George Florum sits sidways and looks out at the camera with a pissed off expression intensified by his dark sun glasses. Behind and to the side of him is Chris Hronis in a power chair, and someone stands behind him. Caption reads: Members of ADAPT protest at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Denver. They were there yesterday as the Urban Mass Transportation Administration held its fifth annual Symposium on Public Transit and the Private Sector. - ADAPT (479)
Two articles included here: Denver Post April 26, 1989 [Headline] Disabled protesters physically removed from the Federal Building By Peter G. Chronis Denver Post Staff writer More than 40 disabled demonstrators in wheelchairs jammed the lobby of U.S. Attorney Mike Norton's Denver office Tuesday to protest U.S. Justice Department action in a transit-access lawsuit. About 30 members of Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation and a few non-disabled protesters stayed from noon to 5:30 p.m., when officers of the Federal Protective Service began removing them from the 12th floor of the Federal Building at 19th and Stout streets. All the demonstrators were physically led from the building, but no one was arrested. Protesters from Texas, Georgia, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and elsewhere have converged on Denver to demonstrate this week during a federal Urban Mass Transit Administration meeting. They blocked lobbies and doorways of the Radisson Hotel on Sunday night and on Monday; on Tuesday, they targeted Norton’s lobby. The group's grievance is rooted in a Philadelphia lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation in which a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals mandated that all new public transit buses be equipped with hydraulic lifts for the handicapped. ADAPT member Diane Coleman, a Los Angeles lawyer, said the Justice Department has asked the appeals court to vacate the decision and rehear the suit before the entire 12-member court. The full court agreed to do that, and it has has set oral arguments for May 15. Demonstrators demanded that Norton set up a conference telephone call with U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, but Norton told the group that Thornburgh was traveling and could not be reached. Norton, shouted down several times as he spoke, promised to write a letter to Thornburgh expressing the protesters‘ concerns. He also gave the demonstrators Thornburgh’s Washington telephone number. About 4 p.m., after calling Washington, Norton also told the group that the administration appealed the court decision because it felt a policy calling for $270 million a year in additional spending should be made either by the administration or by Congress — not by a federal district court. Coleman said federal regulations allow decisions on disabled transportation to be made locally. “As a practical matter, that meant no transportation," she said. “We want a nationwide policy — we don't want to fight city by city." Bob Kafka, an ADAPT member from Austin, Texas, added, "Disabled kids in school today are being sold a bill of goods that they‘re going to be integrated into society." Transportation is the key to integrating the disabled, he said. Ironically, he also said that Denver's public transportation facilities for the handicapped offer relatively good access to the disabled. The end of first article; second article below: Rocky Mountain News LOCAL BRIEFS Rocky Mountain News Staff April 26, 1989 [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 (469)
PHOTO (by Tom Olin?): A group of ADAPT activists sit on the front entrance to a public building. Some are in wheelchairs, some sit on the steps. From the left: Lonny Smith, Bob Kafka, unidentified man standing, Barb Gurthrie (smiling), unknown man in wheelchair with back to camera, unknown woman in wheelchair, Bernard Baker (with sign saying Access is a Civil Right), unknown woman in wheelchair sitting sideways in front of door, Stephanie Thomas on ground, Mark Mactimmus in red ADAPT shirt, Diane Coleman, and Joe Carle. An Access NOW poster is taped to the railing on the steps. - ADAPT (589)
A-12 /The Houston Post/Wednesday, February 15, 1989 NATION & WORLD [Headline] Disabled hail ruling on bus access [Subheading] Court requires transit agencies to install wheelchair lifts ASSOCIATED PRESS PHILADELPHIA — Advocates for the disabled Tuesday hailed a federal court ruling requiring wheelchair lifts on new public buses, but a spokesman for transit agencies said the ruling doesn‘t address vexing problems. “We've been grappling with this for a long time," said Albert Engelken, deputy executive director of the American Public Transit Association in Washington. He said wheelchair lifts receive limited use where they exist and are an added expense to transit agencies at a time when federal subsidies are dwindling. A 3rd U.S. Circuit Court ol Appeals panel ruled 2-1 Monday that Congress has made its wishes on accessibility clear, and lift-equipped buses are part ol that mandate. The court ordered the Department of Transportation to rewrite a regulation allowing communities to offer alternative paratransit service, such as van rides. James D. Fornari, a New York City attorney for a group of veterans with spinal cord injuries, said the ruling will force transit systems to look for the most efficient means of serving disabled people. He said the ruling also could influence DOT regulations on light rail and commuter rail systems. Transportation department spokesman Bob Marx said DOT attorneys had not seen the decision and would not comment. Officials of Houston's Metropolitan Transit Authority also had not seen the decision, but MTA spokeswoman Carol Boudreaux said the authority would comply with any new regulations. Representatives of the disabled community in Houston lauded the ruling. “The disabled community is excited and we hope Alan Kiepper, manager of Houston Metro, hears this message from the courts and the disabled community. Access is a civil right," said Vicki Harris, executive director of the Center for Independent Living. Currently, Metro's MetroLift program provides scheduled curb-to-curb transportation for mentally or physically disabled persons who are unable to ride regular buses. Bob Kafka, an American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation representative who joined Harris at a news conference, said he believed the cost of retrofitting buses with wheelchair lifts would be too costly, but said he hoped the ruling would force Metro to buy new buses with lifts. "Disabled people are part of this community, and they should have access to mainline transit," he said. Engelken said his association's board, which comprises the heads of transit agencies across the nation, believes agencies should be able to decide on a local basis how best to serve disabled people. lt costs $15,000 to equip a bus with a wheelchair lift, and buses cost about $200,000, said Joaquin Bowman, a spokesman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. - ADAPT (588)
Fort Worth Star Telegram handwritten: 3-26-89 [sic] [Headline] An Easter sit-in by activists in the Federal Building [This story appears in 588 and continues on 587, but is entirely included here for ease of reading.] PHOTO (by Fort Worth Star-Telegram/ RICKY MOON): In a fairly fancy office with leather chairs and wooden bookshelves and table, a group of disabled people sit in a semi circle. On the left side of the picture is a small man (Paul Alexander) in a grey suit and small, personally adapted wheelchair; his head is back and he is kind of looking over his shoulder at some of the others in the room. Next to him in a comfy padded chair sits a man with black hair, mustache and beard (Frank Lozano) in an ADAPT no steps logo shirt. Over his head he holds a poster that says "Access not excuses DON'T APPEAL." Next to him is a man in a manaul wheelchair (Bob Kafka) who is also wearing an ADAPT no steps logo shirt, suspenders and blue jeans. Beside him is a doorway and someone is standing in the doorway, on the other side with his back to the group. On the other side of the door is a woman in a wheelchair (Kathy Gaines) with curly hair and a pink blouse; she appears to be in a wheelchair as well. She is holding a sign but you can't read it from the angle it's at. Beside her, and at the front of the picture is a man (Joe Carle) sitting in an armchair with his legs up in his wheelchair; one leg is amputed below the knee. He is wearing a vest and ADAPT T-shirt on the arm of which you can see the list of cities where ADAPT has held actions. He is holding up and looking at a poster that reads "Bush says Mainstream Disabled." Caption reads: Paul Alexander, left, and Kathy Gaines, second from right, tried to negotiate for Frank Lozano and Bob Kafka, center, and Joe Carle, right. [Headline] Disabled demand better access BY Bob GWIZDZ Fort Worth StarTelegram Four people lobbying for better access to public transportation for disabled people refused to leave the Federal Building in downtown Fort Worth last night, promising to stay until Monday. Members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation earlier in the day had demanded that a local Department of Transportation official call the White House in support of their cause. Similar actions were planned in other cities today. “We plan to stay through Easter and welcome Wilbur Hare Monday morning.“ said Bob Kafka, a community organizer with the group. “On Monday we'll decide where we go from there.“ Hare, regional manager of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, refused the group's request that he call White House chief of staff John Sununu in support of a recent federal appeals court decision requiring wheelchair lifts on all new public buses purchased with federal money. Group members say they think the Department of Transportation will appeal the decision. ln Philadelphia, eight people were escorted from a federal building that contains the regional transportation administration office when the building closed at 5 p.m. Sieglinde Shapiro, who headed the delegation of disabled people, said she read a statement to the official in charge. The statement noted that similar meeting had been scheduled with regional directors in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Ariz., and Salt Lake City, she said. The Associated Press office in Dallas said it had no reports of meetings with federal officials there. The Fort Worth office of the transportation department serves the Metroplex. Shapiro said “our sources in Washington tell us that the U.S. Department of Transportation is poised to appeal” the Feb. 13 decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling requires that every bus newly purchased with federal assistance be wheelchair accessible, and that those unable use buses be provided with adequate transportation. The Fort Worth protest began when between 20 and 30 demonstrators, many in wheelchairs, arrived at the Federal Building around 1 p.m. after assembling at nearby Burnett Park. Hare, who said he received word Wednesday that a protest was planned, asked the protesters to meet with him downstairs at the Federal Building. The demonstrators refused. “That’s how you treat the disabled separate,” Kafka said to Hare. “We want to see you on the ninth floor, in your office, like everybody else. It’s the same thing as transportation — we want access like everybody else.” After a few protesters entered the building, Federal Protective Service officers locked the doors, forcing more than half of the demonstrators to remain outside. Hare said his office would not accommodate all the protesters. He declined to say who ordered the officers to lock the doors. About 10 protesters met with Hare in his office. “I’m not calling Mr. Sununu, but if you have a message for him, I’ll do my best to get it delivered,” Hare said. “lf you’d like to make a call, then go where you conduct your business and make the call. I’m sure you’ve made your views known to (President) Bush and if you haven’t, there are better ways to do it than tying up this office all afternoon.” Hare did call the Washington headquarters of the transportation administration and said he relayed the protesters’ message to officials there. When Hare left at 4:45 p.m., his normal quitting time, four protesters decided to remain. “We weren’t anticipating Mr. Hare being so obstinate,” Kafka said. “We expected a quick reaction and a phone call. It just shows their real arrogance toward disabled people.” At 6 p.m., Casey Bowen, director of building operations with the General Services Administration, told the protesters that he would prefer they leave, but that he had no intention of forcibly removing them. But Bowen said he would not allow them to have food sent in, and he had the telephones removed from the office. “Quite frankly, our intent is not to encourage this sort of protest,” Bowen said. Reporters could not contact the protesters later in the evening and building guards declined to comment. The protesters, who had no provisions other than a couple of granola bars and soft drinks, have access to the building's snack and soft drink machines. Besides Kafka, 43, of Austin, the protesters who remained in the building last night were Joe Carle, 50, and Frank Lozano, 39, both of Dallas, and Tim Baker, 26, of Austin. Kafka has used a wheelchair since he suffered a broken neck in an auto accident 10 years ago. Carle suffers from a circulation disorder, has had part of one leg amputated and has used a wheelchair for nine years. Lozano is blind, the result of an auto accident five years ago. Baker suffers from severe cerebral palsy. Paul Alexander, a Fort Worth lawyer who uses a wheelchair, arrived late in the afternoon to try to negotiate a settlement. When it became apparent that the protesters were determined to stay, Alexander tried to arrange for permission for food delivery. Alexander said arrangements could not be made. “Us being locked up all weekend symbolizes the thousands of disabled people who are locked up in their homes," Carle said. “Will it do any good? Or will it make you look like a jackass? l don’t know the answer. I honestly don’t." Staff writer Betsy C.M. Tong contributed to this report. - ADAPT (583)
Fort Worth Star Telegram / Sunday March 26, 1989 [Headline] Disabled evicted by guards [Subheading] Fort Worth protest at courthouse ends BY Whitt Canning, Fort Worth Star Telegram Bob, Joe, Frank, Tim and Frazier spent a quiet evening Friday on the ninth floor of the Federal Building nodding off occasionally between friendly chats with the guards. Having arrived earlier in the day to take part in a protest by a group of disabled people against the Urban Mass Transit Administration, they hadn't really planned on staying the night. Things just sort of worked out that way. Their strange vigil ended abruptly about 1:15 p.m. yesterday when they were evicted by Federal Protection Service officers, who explained that it was being done for their own good. “They physically picked us up and carried us out," said Bob Kafka, admiring a skinned place on his right forearm that was bleeding slighty. “At least," said Joe Carle, “it was reassuring being in the hands of the kinder, gentler Bush administration." Kafka, 43, Carle, 50, Frank Lozano, 38, and Tim Baker, 26, are members of a group called American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation that staged a nationwide protest Friday in an effort to dissuade the administration from appealing a recent decision in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals (ADAPT vs. Burnley). The decision requires wheelchair lifts on buses purchased with federal money. The Fort Worth protest involved 20 to 30 people, but Kafka, Carle, Lozano and Baker managed to reach the ninth-floor office of the administration's regional manager, Wilbur Hare. There, they requested he telephone White House chief of staff John Sununu and voice his support for the court decision. Joining the small group in its audience with Hare was Frazier, an amiable pooch who serves the visually impaired Lozano as a guide dog. Hare refused the request, and went home at 4:45 p.m., leaving the intrepid little band stuck on the ninth floor, vowing to stay through Easter weekend. “We were in the outer office, and he (Hare) came out once about 3:30 and told us he was leaving at his normal time," Carle said. "Then at 4:45, he came out, shook our hands, wished us happy Easter, and left. "We wished him happy Easter too." So the group was left occupying the building, along with several guards. At 6 p.m., Casey Bowen, director of building operations with the General Services Administration, told them they would not be forcibly removed, but he would not allow food to be brought in. As an added precaution, Kafka said, all the phones were removed. “I don't mean just in Hare‘s office," Kafka said. "lt looked to me like they removed every phone on the ninth floor. They didn‘t just disconnect them. They TOOK the phones off.“ The group settled in for the night. "Mostly, we tried to sleep as best we could, sitting in our chairs (Kafka, Carle and Baker use wheelchairs)" Kafka said. "I got the couch, since l'm the oldest," Carle said. “Frank slept on the floor because he doesn't have a wheelchair.“ "There are some vending machines up there," Kafka said, "and we ate some candy bars and drank some cokes that was about it. "The guards were very nice to us -- until today, when they evicted us." [Subheading] PROTEST About 6:30 a.m. yesterday, Kafka said, they asked the guards if they could send out for food and were refused. About 11 a.m. the group's attorney, Paul Alexander, arrived with the same request and also was refused. Then about l p.m., the group made another request — that Hare appear at a 6 p.m. news conference and agree to make the call to Washington tomorrow. ln return, they would end their occupation of the building. "That's when they evicted us," Kafka said. “They said they were acting on Bowen's orders and it was for our own good because we hadn't had anything to eat. “They picked me up out of my chair, because l wasn't going to leave, and carried me. That's how I got skinned up." “They had a little trouble getting Frank into a wheelchair," Carle said. “But Frazier went quietly when ordered to leave." Baker, who is severely disabled, did not fare so well, group members said. “When they were pushing him out in his chair, they didn't know how to operate it, and they tore up the motor and the clutch,“ Kafka said. “They did about $1,000 worth of damage to it." Guards at the building refused to comment. Hare did not show up at the news conference. And the I3 activists held up the starting time of 6 p.m. to wait for additional supporters who did not arrive. “We came here to fight for transportation, but we couldn't get the troops over to fight for them," Carle said, adding that none of the disabled could ride the bus downtown so only those who could afford a car could come. Kafka said that the group will examine legal recourse for injuries and damages incurred while being evicted. However, the group's lawyer, Paul Alexander, had advised the four that they might not have legal grounds because they were on federal property, Carle said. As to whether the demonstrators felt they had accomplished anything by the protest, Carle said, “We hope that somewhere along the line this wakes up the able-bodied community" and shows members of the disabled community that “they don't have to knuckle under." He said the group's impromptu occupation of Hare's office had probably amazed them as much as anyone else. “When we got here (with the other protesters), I was telling Bob that Mr. Hare was a pretty nice guy and would probably make the phone call fairly quickly," Carle said. “We were trying to figure out what we were going to do with the rest of the afternoon.“ Carle said other protests are planned soon, including one against Greyhound Corp. on Monday in Dallas. Greyhound, he said, has indicated it does not wish to adapt its buses to the handicapped. “I think this was an abomination," Kafka said. “As a Vietnam veteran, l am embarrassed for my country. But it's just another example of how the govrnment views the disabled. They don't want us to be people — they want us to sit down and shut up, or be put away in institutions. “I think a lot of people have a fear of the disabled." “They're trying to put us back where we've been for ... eternity," Carle said. "Instead of doing this, they should help us with job training so we can carry our own weight. “It's the only way we will ever become . . . people." The occupying force at least had a clear view of its immediate objective once it was back out on the street: friends who arrived to help were immediately dispatched to find food (“double burgers, chicken, and big milkshakes"). When the food gathering force hurried off, Carle offered one last observation on the situation. "Frazier," he confided. “is extremely upset about all this. “He says they treated him like a dog." Staff writer Betsy C.M. Tong contributed to this report PHOTO (by Ricky Moon, Fort Worth Star-Telegram): From left to right Frank Lozano kneels on the pavement, his hand on his dog Frazier's neck. Frazier, a white lab, sits calmly in harness, looking serenely off into the distance. Beside him is Joe Carle in a denim vest, ADAPT shirt, gimmie cap and dark glasses, he sits in his wheelchair and smiles. Next to him, Tim Baker, face partially obscured by his chin operated wheelchair control stick, looks over at Bob Kafka. Kafka, next to him is in his manual wheelchair and is talking to Tim. Behind them is the stark facade of the federal building. Caption reads: Frank Lozano, his dog Frazier, Joe Carle, Tim Baker and Bob Kafka, from left, sit outside the Federal Courthouse after their eviction.