St. Louis Post Dispatch (Editorial Page), Monday May 16, 1988,Vol. 110, No. 137

PHOTO 1 by Jerry Naunheim Jr/Post-Dispatch: Three plain clothes police men in sports jackets surround a slight man in a wheelchair with grey hair in a pony tail (Arthur Campbell). He wears an ADAPT shirt with the no steps logo and a headband he created for the St Louis action. He has a resigned look on his face and his hands are clasped in front of his chest. One officer is trying to drive his wheelchair using the joy stick, and all three are holding onto the chair. Two have orange squares taped to their sleeves. Behind them on the left side of the photo stands Rev. Willie Smith of Chicago, wearing a white hat and white shirt. Between the police officers you can see part of someone else in a wheelchair and they have a poster about "taxation without..." Through the group on the other side of the picture you can see the legs of someone else in a wheelchair and a uniformed officer looking down on that person.
caption: St. Louis police officers pushing Arthur Campbell, of Louisville, Ky., toward a paddy wagon in front of the Omni International Hotel on Market Street. Campbell was one of 41 disabled people arrested during a protest Sunday.

PHOTO 2 by Jerry Naunheim Jr/Post-Dispatch: A long line of ADAPT folks mostly in red ADAPT shirts and mostly in wheelchairs with some folks pushing or walking along to the side. The line snakes from the bottom right of the picture to the mid left side and back to thte top right side. Over 30 people are in sight. Third from the front is a woman lying in her chair (Beverly Furnice), behind her is Joe Carle, behind him George Roberts rolls beside Lori Eastwood. Behind them is Chicago ADAPT's Rene Luna, then ET (Ernest Taylor), the Bernard Baker. Three women behind is Stephanie Thomas, then someone standing then Clayton Jones has his hand in the air, then Tim Baker, and many others. caption: Members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit - ADAPT - rolling down Market Street outside Union Station during a protest Sunday.

Title: Disabled Arrested At Omni By Robert Manor (Post Dispatch Staff)

Forty-one protesters in wheel-chairs were arrested at Union Station on Sunday as they demonstrated for equal access to public transportation.

The demonstration was non-violent, and there were no reports of injuries or of anyone resisting arrest. The protesters were booked by police on charges of trespassing and were taken to the City Workhouse in vans and buses equipped with lifts to accommodate wheelchairs.

Members of a group called the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, ADAPT for short, demonstrated against the American Public Transit Association, which is holding a convention at the Omni Hotel in Union Station. The association, which represents bus operators, op-poses efforts to require that buses be equipped with wheelchair lifts.

ADAPT has repeatedly carried out civil disobedience at meetings of the association, and police were prepared.

Scores of officers in uniform and plainclothes officers were waiting as about 150 people in wheelchairs and their able-bodied supporters marched from The Arch, up Market Street and into Union Station shortly after 1 p.m.

They blocked some entrances and hallways but were unable to close the hotel. Many chanted and called on the public for support.

St. Louis police Capt. Clarence Harmon spoke over a bullhorn and tried to order the demonstrators to disperse. But as he tried to speak, the demonstrators sounded portable air horns, drowning him out.

"I'll tell each one individually," Harmon said to an aide. He walked from wheelchair to wheelchair telling each person, "I am Capt. Harmon from the police department. You are subject to arrest if you don't leave.

Many did leave, but others remained in place, their wheelchairs side by side.

Among them was Barbara Toomer, who sat blocking the main entrance to the hotel. "I'm not going to move," Toomer said, as a van driven by a police officer pulled up to the curb in front of

See PROTEST, Page 9 [we don't have the rest of this article]

Created on

Thursday 11 July 2013

Posted on

Wednesday 20 December 2017

Tags

ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, air horns, APTA - American Public Transit Association, arrests, Arthur Campbell, Barbara Toomer, Bernard Baker, Beverly Furnice, blocking doors, Capt. Clarence Harmon, City Workhouse (jail), civil disobedience, Clayton Jones, ET Ernest Taylor, George Roberts, Joe Carle, Lori Eastwood, marching, Omni Hotel, paddy wagons, police, Rene Luna, Rev Willie Smith, Stephanie Thomas, The Arch, Tim Baker, Union Station

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