[blparent] [Bulk] Re: Blind Parents Meeting

Wed Jun 3 13:45:50 UTC 2009

I have a suggestion.

When this woman threatens to call DCF on you write it down.  Write the date, the time if you can, what was said by her and you, and have it close at hand.  I don’t know for certain but this may be considered harassment.  I had an incident here that was similar and a friend had a situation that sound sort of the same.  I will state them so you can see what I am saying.

My situation.
I took my older daughter out back of our patio on a Friday night to help set up a moon garden.  A moon garden is a garden with plants that bloom at night so I was having her help me prep the soil and we made markers to identify the plants.  On the cards we had included what the plant was and some of the ways it could be used.  We have a woman above us who is extremely religious and has mental issues.  She called down from her patio how I was keeping my daughter up too late, it was nine, and that we were being loud.  First we were talking at a normal volume and the noise ordinance doesn’t kick in till ten.  I told her we would talk quieter and apologized if we disturbed her.  She mumbled something I couldn’t hear and went inside so I finished with my daughter and we picked up our things and went inside to go to bed.
The next morning I was contacted by a woman who handles disputes on the property.  She informed me that the woman upstairs complained that I had my child running by the lake all night and that I was using public property for religious purposes.  I informed the caller that first off I can use public property for religious purposes its protected under the first amendment, and that I wanted an example of what this woman felt made what I was doing a religious practice.  I also stated that we were inside at nine forty five, and the noise ordinance set by our county started at ten.  I then asked her if she would like to have a written copy of what happened because I wrote it down.  She said no and then stated that it must have been a misunderstanding.  We hung up and I added the call to my file just in case more came of it.  Nothing did and that woman hasn’t said a word to me since.

My friend’s situation.
A friend of mine got a guide dog and returned home to his condo that normally didn’t allow dogs.  One of the other tenants saw the dog and flipped out.  She had this tantrum about the dog being there and wouldn’t let him explain what the dog was for.  She called the condo board and he met with them and explained what the dog was and all was fine.  This woman was relentless, she would tell him every time she saw him that the dog shouldn’t be there and he wrote each event in a file.  One day he walked his dog and the dog wouldn’t stop picking his feet up.  So he felt around the grass and found tacks.  Now this woman would follow him and see where he took the dog to walk so he did the only thing he could.  He called the police and filed a report.  He had an officer come out and he showed him the file of what the woman said to him and told about her following him when he walked the dog and about the tacks.  The officer informed my friend that even though there was no proof about the tacks he could file a report do to harassment.  This report would place this person as suspect if any thing happened to his dog or him.  Two weeks later she was having a fit and when he opened his door to see what was going on she walked back in her unit slamming the door. He found out later from some one that she had received a letter from the board informing her that a report had been filed with the police for harassment and if her behavior continued she would be breaching guidelines for the complex and her unit could be seized.

So write down every thing even if it sounds like nothing.

Hope this helps.
Kate

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (IS)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at ngc.com>
>
> My husband and I were talking about this last night. He had a couple
> suggestions and thoughts which I'll pass on. 
> 1. This woman threatened you which is probably illegal. (note, he is not
> a lawyer). 
> 2. Her threats are keeping you from using a service provided by the
> condo a service that you are expected to pay for. 
> 3. Consider talking to the condo board (which probably won't work as
> those boards seem to do nothing but collect money) and/or a lawyer. 
> 4. The woman made a threat and referred to what is generally a protected
> class, i.e. disability, race sexual orientation, religion) and that type
> of speech (might even be considered hate speech) is generally taken a
> lot more seriously then "Your car is parked in the wrong place" type of
> neighbor contact. Husband suggests you talk with a lawyer or even a
> police officer if you know one and basically let her know her comments
> were out of line. 
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf Of Tammy, Paul and Colyn
> Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 12:39 AM
> To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [blparent] [Bulk] Re: Blind Parents Meeting
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Tell her go ahead and call them if she wants.  You're not doing anything
> wrong by taking Sara anywhere you think she's safe, and she's just a
> nosey busybody who should mind her own business.
> 
> Tammy
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at pcdesk.net>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 12:49 PM
> Subject: [Bulk] Re: [blparent] Blind Parents Meeting
> 
> 
> > Sarah's father can see, and we've had one round with Social Services 
> > already.  Then the other day, someone I know saw me carrying a baby 
> > flotation device into my house from the trunk of the car.  It's an
> inner 
> > tube with a seat built in for the baby's legs.  Anyway, the person
> said 
> > that of course, I would only take the baby in the pool if there was a 
> > sighted person to watch.  There's a pool for the condos where I live.
> I 
> > said not necessarily, because if I were right there, with my hands on
> the 
> > baby the whole time, I would be satisfied with that.  She said she
> would 
> > call Social Services if she ever saw me taking the baby in the pool by
> 
> > myself--which means, I guess, that I'll only go when there's a sighted
> 
> > person to watch.  I don't want those people knocking at my door again.
> >
> > Jo Elizabeth
> >
> > "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be
> changed 
> > until it is faced."--James Baldwin
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (IS)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at ngc.com>
> > To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 6:46 AM
> > Subject: Re: [blparent] Blind Parents Meeting
> >
> >
> >>I don't think any of us are excluded per sea, but putting out these
> >> stats with no other data is nothing more then fear mongering in my
> >> oppinion. What value is to be gained in that?
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> s.com 
> 
> 
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