[Headline] Michelle Engler livid about protest [Subheading] Handicapped people at governor's mansion went over the line
BY HUGH MCDIARMID
Free Press Staff Writer

She'd had two days to cool off, but on" Thursday, Michigan's first lady, Michelle Engler, was still furious.

"It was frightening. I felt totally helpless," she said. "And I am still outraged and appalled by these the tactics."

She was referring to Tuesday's raucous, surprise, midday demonstrations by more than 200 handicappers --most of them from out of state — at the governor's residence in Lansing.

Neither Michelle nor Gov. John Engler was at home. But their triplet daughters, whose first birthday comes in 18 days, were there being cared for by a nanny.

Sixty-seven protesters, many in wheelchairs, pushed through the outside gate and massed on the front porch, periodically shouting and chanting slogans and, for a tune, pounding on the doors and windows. The others demonstrated on the street and curb out front.

"These people were banging on doors and windows . terrorizing innocent people inside," said Michelle Engler, who, at the time, was attending a Cobo Hall luncheon in Detroit she was honored for her work on breast-cancer awareness. "When they called me and told me what was happening, I was terrified...frightened. All I could think about was my 11-month-old babies."

Engler, a 36-year-old attorney, described herself as "an avid advocate" of the First Amendment, including free speech and the right to peaceably assemble, but she said Tuesday's demonstration was "over the line."

"If they want to picket, they should stay outside the gate. They can picket me, they can picket him," she said, referring to the governor. "But just stay away from my family."

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Dienstag 16 Juli 2013

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Montag 23 September 2019

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• Lansing, fall 1995

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