Page A2 • CECIL WHIG, Tuesday, September 9, 2003
LOCAL

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[image caption] CECIL WHIG/Matt Given. 'Making their way along Route 40 in Elkton, members of the group ADAPT pass through Cecil County on Monday. Their destination is Washington, D.C.

[Headline] Group carries message to D.C.

By Mike Spector jnspector@cecilwhig.com

ELKTON — About 160 people An wheelchairs left motorists on Route 40 in the dust here Monday afternoon.

Escorted by state police and slowing down traffic beside them, disabled people "marched" approximately 10.4 miles from Elkton to North East as part of the "Free our People" march sponsored by ADAPT, a national grassroots disability rights group.

The group is marching to
send a message to Congress demanding the passage of the Medicaid Community-based Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA). The proposed legislation would guarantee disabled and older Americans a choice in where they receive their long-term care services and supports, according to ADAPT.

Current Medicaid regulations force elderly and disabled citizens into nursing homes, ADAPT charges, because such federally mandated programs aren't allowed to be cut. This means optional programs that
allow those people to receive services at home are first on budget cut lists, according to ADAPT.

The march began in Philadelphia and culminates in Washington, D.C., at a 20,000 person rally on Capitol Hill.

A few minutes before 4 p.m., marchers were near Nazarene campground, where they will spend the night before continuing to Havre de Grace.

Teams with 50 tents, 12 port-a-potties and a 350-gallon water tank set up and strike camp each night for the marchers, according to ADAPT spokesperson Bob Kafka. The group also carries a generator to charge power wheelchairs overnight. Monday night will be unusual, because the marchers will have an indoor facility at their disposal, Kafka said.

Kafka said most assume elderly and disabled people have to get their services in nursing homes, when they could be getting them at home. Kafka said up to 2 million people in those institutions don't have a real choice when it
comes to where they live and receive assistance. He believes MiCASSA is the answer.

"We're challenging Congress' leadership," Kafka said of the marchers, "saying this piece of legislation has to be the number-one priority of the 108th Congress."

The Maryland Department of Transportation's State Highway Administration, Maryland Transportation Authority, Maryland Transit Administration, Maryland State Police and local police agencies assisted the group, establishing right lane closures on Pulaski Highway to protect the participants. A pollee motor-cade, crash-attenuating truck and arrow board vehicle escorted the marchers.

Portions of Route 40 will be affected across the state Sept. 8 until Sept. 16, as the protestors continue toward Washington, D.C.

Marchers Monday afternoon were enthusiastic. Daniese McMullin. Powell, 57, of Newark, Del., carried an American flag and a message.

"For our people, our home is not nursing homes," she said.