THE DENVER POST
LEGISLATURE 1999
Wednesday, April 7, 1996

[Image]
[Image caption] Gil Casarez protests outside the Capitol against Colorado's support of a Georgia law allowing disabled people to be treated in nursing homes rather than community-based treatment. The Denver Post / Dave Buresh

[Headline] Capitol closed to protesters in wheelchairs
By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Capitol Bureau

Wheelchair access to the Colorado Capitol building was cut off Tuesday afternoon to block potentially disruptive disabled protesters.

The State Patrol security detail locked the two doors that allow people in wheelchairs to enter the building because it had heard that members of the protest group Denver ADAPT were heading to the Capitol. Members of the group have been arrested at several sit-ins this year at the attorney general's office and the governor's office.

[Headline] Lawsuit sparks protest

The group was protesting Colorado's support of a Georgia law al-lowing disabled people to be treated in nursing homes rather than community-based treatment. The law was overturned by a federal appeals court, and Georgia is taking its case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ADAPT group says if Georgia wins, disabled people could be forced into nursing homes.

Gov. Bill Owens and Attorney General Ken Salazar decided Colorado will remain a signatory on a friend-of-the-court brief filed by several states in the Georgia case. They say they are worried about the potential financial impact of the appeals court's ruling, which says community-based services must be used regardless of cost.

[Headline] Blocking draws criticism

The blocking of access drew criticism from one Democratic law-maker, who said the Capitol should remain open to all. "Just because someone is handicapped shouldn't mean they can't get in to the Capitol," said Rep. . Ken Gordon of Denver, who leads the Democratic minority in the House, "Everyone else is allowed into the Capitol."

He said the protesters should have been allowed in, then removed only if they broke the law .

Sgt. Don Smith, who is in charge of the patrol at the Capitol, said blocking of access was justified because the group has been disruptive in past protests He said some even got out of Their wheelchair* and urinated on the floor.

"The attorney general's office and the governor's office aren't gal' ing to tolerate that kind of behavior," Smith said.

Troopers were stationed neat' the doors to allow disabled people not part of the group to enter and! exit, Smith said. For at least some; time, when a reporter checked it the north door of the Capitol was unmanned.

During the protest, at least one Capitol staffer in a wheelchair had to be allowed in. Protesters yelled at her as she wheeled in.

[Subheading] Governor's office consulted

Smith said the patrol consulted with Owens' office but made the decision to lock the handicapped access doors on its own.

Joe Ehman, a leader of the ADAPT group, said he had never heard the accusation of any pro; testers urinating on the floor duq ing a protest. He said if it happen. ed, it wasn't intentional, but possibly the result of the paralysis that keeps some members in wheelchairs.

The ADAPT group first protested in front of the Governor's Mansion on Tuesday, then made its way to the Capitol, where security and locked doors awaited. Protesters brought a coffin filled with names of people who they said had died in nursing homes. The State Patrol allowed one person from the group to go inside with an escort and deliver a letter to the governor's office. A while later, the group left. No one was arrested.

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