PHOTO by Patrick Forden/Gazette Journal; The photo is looking up at Mike Auberger in a non-ADAPT T-shirt and jeans, with a short beard and mustache, hands on his hips. His chair is somewhat visible and his left leg elevated. He is sitting in the doorway of a fancy Casino with a Nugget Casino sign over the door.
Caption reads: ORGANIZER: Mike Auberger of Denver says his cause is worth going to jail for.
TITLE: Disabled group plans protest at transit meeting in Sparks
By Susan Voyles/Gazette-Journal
Up to 150 wheelchair-bound people are expected to protest outside John Ascuaga’s Nugget beginning Sunday, and Sparks police say they are ready.
The protest is being staged by a national group called The American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, and its target is the western regional meeting of the American Public Transit Association. As many as 700 people representing public bus systems, including many that don’t have buses with lifts to handle wheelchairs, are expected to attend.
In protests at 16 other cities in recent years, disabled protesters have held marches, crawled onto or chained themselves to buses, and barricaded hotels where the public transit association held its meetings.
“We try to make their conventions as inaccessible to them as they have made transportation to disabled people ” said protest organizer Mike Auberger of Denver. “They can’t just come and have fun."
Auberger, 34, said he met earlier this week with representatives of Sparks police, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department and Nugget security. He was handed a 32-page list of possible violations, including felonious assault, that his group could be charged with.
“From what I heard, the police department’s tactic is going to be to intimidate,” Auberger said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see the police on Sunday in riot gear.”
Auberger, who arrived in town Monday to prepare for the protests, said he expects about 150 handicapped people from around the country to show up.
Auberger said he met with members of the Sparks and Reno police, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department and court marshals Tuesday.
“It’s definitely threatening but I think the people coming in here are well aware of what could happen to them,” Auberger said.
Already Auberger has had a confrontation, albeit a friendly one, with Nugget security and Sparks police. Monday when Auberger was casing the outside of the Nugget, with video camera in hand, a security guard and a police officer approached him and knew him by name, he said.
“It gave me a real feeling for how the police are going to respond and how the casino security will respond," Auberger said. “It was like the casino burped and the police said ‘Excuse me,’ and that’s not normal."
Auberger said his group has yet to begin drawing up strategy on how it will carry out its demonstration. However, Auberger predicted his group won’t be happy with being confined to B Street.
“(The location) is very visible to traffic on B Street but it won’t be visible to APTA members,” Auberger said. “The spot is perfect if your issue is with the public or if it's directed at the Nugget."
Auberger said his group is not violent although it is confrontational.
Zamboni showed the press a 10-minute video tape of an ADAPT demonstration held in San Francisco Sept. 28, 1987.
The video tape showed demonstrators blocking a SAMTRANS bus and tying their wheelchairs to the vehicle's wheelspokes and sitting on the Powell Street cable-car tum-around.
It also showed police handcuffing protestors to their wheelchairs and the protestors chanting "We want to ride,” and "We want access."
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- Author
- Gazette-Journal/Susan Voyles
- Created on
- Thursday 11 July 2013
- Posted on
- Wednesday 7 October 2015
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- ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, APTA - American Public Transit Association, APTA convention, arrest, buses, intimidation, jail, Mike Auberger, Nugget Casino, Organizer, police, protest, San Francisco, Washoe County, wheelchair bound
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