[nagdu] Man denied hotel room for bringing guide dog

[Ginger Kutsch]

NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee 
Man Denied Hotel Room For Bringing Guide Dog
By Brent Frazier 
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11942785
 
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A blind man claims he was denied a room at
the Clarksville Microtel Inn and Suites for trying to bring his
guide dog in, too. It appears to be a violation of the federal
Americans With Disabilities Act, passed in 1990. 
 
Michael Turner, 37, a Clarksville native currently studying in
Boulder, CO, said the hotel clerk called 911 on him August 10,
2009. Turner also called police since the hotel staff, in his
words, was violating his civil rights. 
 
The managing attorney at the Disability Law and Advocacy Center
of Tennessee, Martha M. Lafferty, could not comment on the Turner
case per se, but she was willing to talk in generalities. 
 
"Hotels are required to allow people who use service animals to
bring those service animals with them," said Lafferty. 
 
Turner said Microtel staffers likely thought his dog, Amberz, was
really a pet. Turner has leaned on assistance from guide dogs,
like Amberz, since 1999 when a motorcycle crash in Clarksville
claimed his eyesight. 
 
"Service animals are not pets, ever," said Lafferty. "Service
animals are like wheelchairs. You wouldn't refuse somebody in a
wheelchair. So, why would you refuse somebody with a service
animal?" 
 
The Center advises people with disabilities, who feel they are
being discriminated against, to call authorities and file a
police report. That's exactly what Turner did last year. 
 
"I did have a restaurant once where I did have to call the
police," said Tricia Griggs, senior advocate for the Disability
Law and Advocacy Center of Tennessee. "Another one where I was on
the phone, calling the police."
 
Griggs teaches tolerance and sensitivity to the corporate world
regarding people with disabilities. 
 
The front desk employee who allegedly denied Turner a room is
Becky Jo McHughes of Clarksville. She is still a Microtel
staffer, and did not return NewsChannel 5's call to her home. 
 
The management or the owner of the building on Holiday Drive also
did not return NewsChannel 5 phone calls. Microtel corporate
failed to comment, but did try to encourage the owner to contact
NewsChannel 5 regarding the controversy. 
 
"This type of discrimination has got to stop," said Turner in a
taped telephone interview Friday. "I do not want anyone ever to
feel like I felt the day, when I went into that hotel and had my
disability smack me straight in the face, and felt like less of a
person because of my disability." 
 
Turner continues to consider a civil lawsuit while the case is
set to go before a Montgomery County grand jury in March. 
 
A misdemeanor charge could be leveled against hotel clerk Becky
Jo McHughes, though it's not much more serious than a speeding
ticket.
 
E-mail: bfrazier at newschannel5.com
 
 
 
 

Ginger Bennett Kutsch
Morristown, NJ