State
AA News 10/25/95

[Headline] Protest comes to Engler's door
[Subheading] People with disabilities demonstrate at his home for 4 hours
BY SHARON EMERY
ANN ARBOR NEWS BUREAU

LANSING — About 200 people with disabilities —many in wheelchairs — took their demands for better services to John Engler's doorstep Tuesday, protesting outside the governor's residence for four hours.

Some 60 people made their way onto the property just before noon, when the gates were closed behind them by police. Verna Spayth, a state organizer from Ann Arbor who uses a wheelchair, was among those who got inside the gates.

"We want the governor's attention," she said. "We want to expand assistant services."

More than 100 people then lined the street in front of the residence, blocking the gates and chanting, "Just like a nursing home, you can't get out."

"The idea of terrorizing the first family and the kids is pathetic," said Engler spokesman Rusty Hills. "Their actions discredit their motives."

Hills called the protest illegal trespassing. One of the protesters said: "This is called free speech."

Four protesters were arrested, according to Sgt. Larry Woodbury, of the Michigan State Police.

The governor and Michelle Engler were out, but their 11-month-old triplet daughters were home. Wood-bury said they were never in danger.

It was the second day of protests in Lansing by members of the Colorado-based American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), which on Monday stormed Republican Party headquarters.

Calling Engler a national figure on the welfare issue, they want the governor to take the lead in ensuring that money is available to provide personal assistants for disabled people. By helping with activities such as dressing, bathing and eating, attendants allow disabled people to stay out of nursing homes, group members say. They want 25 percent of the Medicaid nursing home budget to be earmarked for community-based attendant services.

Protesters wanted to meet with Engler and push him to get U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich's support for the Community Attendant Services Ad, said Bob Kafka, a national organizer from Austin, Texas.

Representatives from the governor's office offered to have administration officials meet with the protesters, but they insisted on seeing Engler, said Maureen McNulty, a spokeswoman for the Department of Management and Budget.

[Image]
[Image caption] AP PHOTO. Dennis Jackson of Topeka, Kan., demonstrates outside Gov. Engler's home in Lansing Tuesday.

"The governor will not meet with this group," McNulty said. "Their pathetic and despicable actions ensured that the governor would not meet with them."

Protesters left, the residence around 4 p.m., but promised to stage other events.

"Groups who employ these types of tactics we won't meet with them," Truscott told a group gathered at the gate.

The Engler administration offered to have Chief of Staff Sharon Rothwell or other high-level officials meet with ADAPT representatives if the group would agree to leave.

The protesters refused.

Only one state trooper was on the premises when the protesters Came through the gates, Truscott said. He said Capitol security was concentrated at a Michigan Militia demonstration downtown when the group began its protest.

State officials will review security procedures at the residence, including the timing of the gate opening and closing, said Maureen McNulty, Department of Management and Budget spokeswoman.

The protesters were breaking laws by entering the property without permission and blocking entrances and exits, McNulty said.

"The governor will not be meeting with this group after this display of terrorism toward 1-year-olds," she said.

Michael Auberger, an ADAPT national organizer, said if the governor is going to play in a national arena, there's a price he'll have to pay.

"It shouldn't be comfortable for him to decide how people live," Auberger said.

Bob Kafka, an ADAPT national organizer from Austin, Texas, said the need for care for people with disabilities is growing as technology advances.

"Medical technology keeps us alive, but instead of giving us dignity, they'd keep us away-from society," Kafka said. "This is why people are willing to go to jail and are willing to stand out in the cold."

On Monday, the group took over the Michigan Republican Party headquarters in Lansing. They controlled that building for two hours before retreating to prepare for Tuesday's action.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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