[nagdu] More information on Taco Bell incident

[Allison Nastoff]

Reading this article, there should have been no reason for the 
Taco Bell Manager to remove the dog.  If the dog had just been 
picked up from the groomer, he was definitely clean and thus 
would not pose a health hazard, and it sounds like the family was 
just sitting at the table about to eat, and the dog was not 
misbehaving.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is a 
clear case of harassment of an innocent blind ferson on the part 
of both police and the restaurant.  I hope this woman stands her 
ground until laws are changed or people in Coppera Cove are 
better educated about guide dog access laws.
I do wonder though if guide dog schools should stick with 
traditional breeds like Labs and German Shepherds.  Maybe this 
would make it easier for the public to trust that a dog is, in 
fact a guide dog.  Theoretically, someone could get a harness on 
the black market, and put it on their pet poodle and say he's a 
guide dog.  The same could be true for someone's pet Lab of 
course, but I just think that sticking to a few standard breeds 
might make the guide dog access issue less confusing for the 
public.  Just my opinion.
Allison and Gilbert

>----- Original Message -----
>From: Wayne Merritt <wcmerritt at gmail.com
>To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog 
Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Sat, 6 Jun 2009 14:33:02 -0500
>Subject: [nagdu] More information on Taco Bell incident

>I did a search on Google for the woman's name and among the 
results
>that came back was this series of posts on a forum/newsgroup 
site.
>I've cleaned up the posts for better reading, but for more and to 
read
>comments from others, go to this link:

>http://www.topix.com/forum/city/copperas-cove-tx/T52KB3SEVEHKE3KQ
3

>This is interesting stuff.  Several times my eyes widened and I
>thought, "Wow." See for yourself.  Also, according to the below, 
Ms.
>Ballou, the owner of the Leader Dog, was not using a 
"traditional"
>guide dog breed, which might explain some of the manager's 
reaction.
>It doesn't explain the behavior of the police though.
>Wayne

>***

>new resident in Copperas Cove is considering legal action after 
being
>forcefully removed from a local restaurant.

>Nanette Ballou lost her sight 11 years ago due to multiple eye
>traumas.  She is assisted by Rusty, a white Berger De Picard or 
French
>sheepdog, who was trained at Leader Dogs for the Blind in 
Rochester,
>Mich.

>While she does have limited vision in her right eye, similar to
>looking through a straw, she can't process depth of field or see
>anything other than what she is directly looking at.  Also, any 
change
>in lighting like moving from indoors to outdoors causes her total
>blindness for five to 10 minutes until her eyes adjust.

>"He protects me," Ballou said about Rusty.  "He keeps me from 
bumping
>into things and from tripping over curbs.  But it's still scary 
to walk
>places like parking lots where not everyone is paying attention 
and I
>don't have any peripheral vision to rely on."

>On Thursday, May 7, after picking up Rusty from the dog groomers,
>Ballou and Rusty along with her daughter and two grandchildren 
went to
>Taco Bell.  The family placed their order, picked up their food 
and was
>about to eat when Cynthia, a night manager, approached their 
table and
>asked, "Is that a Seeing Eye," Ballou recalled.

>"No, he's a guide dog, a Leader Dog," Ballou said to correct the 
manager.

>Ballou said not all guide dogs are Seeing Eye's.  It depends on 
what
>school they go to and her dog went to the Leader Dog school.

>"It's like calling an A&M student a Longhorn," she said.  "I was 
trying
>to educate her that there are more kinds of guide dogs, not just
>Seeing Eye.  But she had no part of it."

>The manager told Ballou the health department would shut them 
down if
>they saw the dog in the restaurant and then asked for 
identification
>for the dog as a guide dog.

>Ballou showed her the special harness Rusty wears identifying him 
as a
>Leader Dog and stood her ground as she began to feel harassed.

>The manager said she was going to call the cops and Ballou said, 
"Go
>ahead, save me the call."

>Six Copperas Cove police officers in three patrol cars arrived on 
the scene.
>When the police arrived, Ballou said they did not identify 
themselves
>and the first officer, whose name she was never given, told her 
"Lady,
>you and the dog have to get out."
>She told the officer Rusty is a service dog and Texas law allows 
him
>to be with her.  She showed him a law book she carries with her 
with
>all the state and federal laws for the blind across the country, 
but
>said the officer would not look at it.
>She told the officer she just moved to Copperas Cove and said she
>can't believe they don't know what the law is.  She said the 
officer
>told her "Welcome to Copperas Cove, if you don't like our laws,
>leave."
>She said the same officer told her, "You don't look blind" 
because she
>was looking at him while he spoke to her.  She said it is common
>courtesy in the visual world to look at someone when they speak 
to you
>and you don't have to be sighted to do so.
>A second officer on scene Cpl.  Shane Kieltyka did read her law 
book,
>she said, because she believes he understood she was trying to 
diffuse
>the situation.

>"When the first officer approached me, it flustered me," she 
said.
>"But I stood my ground."
>Her daughter, Jennifer Warden, said when the police arrived they
>crowded around the table
> enlarge
>making it difficult for them to leave like they were being told.  
One
>of the officers also followed Warden to her car, speaking in a
>confrontational voice while blocking her in the corner of her 
car's
>open door, Ballou said.
>"We felt closed in," Warden said.  "There was me, a 10 year old 
and a
>nine year old and a blind woman with her dog.  How dangerous did 
we
>look? They did everything short of calling in the SWAT and 
spreading
>us out on the ground like an episode of COPS."
>Her oldest child, age 10, has cerebral palsy and said the 
incident has
>had a negative impact on her trust in the police and how disabled
>people are treated.
>Warden, who said the police have been called before because of 
her
>mother's guide dog, said this is the first time they were treated 
this
>way.  All the other times the police said they were allowed to 
stay,
>she said.
>"They didn't do anything but make us the victim," she said about 
the police.
>Warden said her husband is being stationed at Fort Hood, but 
after
>this incident, said her family will look for a place to live in 
Belton
>or Harker Heights.

>"We weren't impressed at all with the attitude the people in 
Copperas
>Cove have, especially the police department," Warden said.  "If 
we're
>not living on base we need to know we can rely on the police
>department, and that was a big no."
>Now Ballou, an advocate for the blind, is searching every avenue
>available to her to make sure this does not happen again.  She 
said she
>is afraid this incident has labeled her as a troublemaker by 
everyone
>who saw the incident.
>"Everyone who drove by and saw me and my very identifiable dog 
doesn't
>know what happened," she said.  "In a way, I was slandered across 
the
>community as a troublemaker.  I'm very vocal about what happened
>because I want the public to know the laws that protect my civil
>rights were not protected by the police department or Taco Bell."
>Ballou contacted the police department several times to speak 
with
>Police Chief Tim Molnes, but said he wouldn't return phone calls.
>Another officer did eventually speak with her and take a report
>filling official charges against the Taco Bell manager for 
non-access.
>Ballou said she could have also pressed charges for interfering 
with a
>service animal's job and for harassment, but has not.
>She then contacted the district attorney's office where an 
assistant
>told her this is a civil manner and they don't handle those 
cases.  She
>told them it is not a civil manner and she said he repeated 
several
>times "we're not going there" and then hung up.
>She has also called City Attorney Charles Zech and left a 
message, but
>has not heard back from him.
>"Everyone at the city has shut me off," she said.  "They are 
afraid I
>might sue.  I don't like to fight.  If the police chief had made 
them
>apologize, I probably would have dropped all of this."
>She said she just wants to see the laws enforced.  She also said 
there
>are grants available through the ADA civil rights section of the
>United States Justice Department for entities to have someone 
come in
>and teach them ADA laws.
>City Manager Andrea Gardner said "The City's policy is not to 
comment
>on ongoing investigative matters" and would not answer questions 
about
>the city's ADA training or this incident.
>Lt.  Danny Austin said the file on this case is still open and 
could
>not release information without an open records request.  The 
request
>was sent to the Copperas Cove Police Department earlier this 
week.  The
>file has not yet been received.  The May 7 police blotter has no 
report
>of an incident at Taco Bell.
>Taco Bell representative Don Barton has also been contacted by 
the
>Leader-Press office about the incident.  He said he would send a
>prepared statement by e-mail.  The statement was not received by 
press
>time.
>Texas law on service animals states any violations of a person's 
right
>to use a guide dog is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable 
by a
>fine of not less than $300 or more than $1,000.
>"They know they stepped over the line," Ballou said.  "They are 
just
>hoping it will go away."

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