[nagdu] FW: Article: Council approves service animals ordinance

PICKRELL, REBECCA M (TASC) REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com
Tue Mar 8 15:44:30 UTC 2011


Julie, 
Can you explain? Write me off list if we're too off-topic. Wouldn't the general lack of understanding be canceled out by knowing you as a person? 


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie J
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 10:05 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] FW: Article: Council approves service animals ordinance

I just don't know what to say.  It's sad and sort of funny in a way that 
you'd only understand if your familiar with small town local politics.  They 
don't seem to understand disability law or really much about disabilities at 
all.  Once again it's only the green that matters in the end.  Sad.

Julie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steven Johnson" <blinddog3 at charter.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 5:43 PM
Subject: [nagdu] FW: Article: Council approves service animals ordinance


>
> Hesperia Star (Hesperia, CA)
>
>
> March 3, 2011
>
>
>
>
>
> Council approves service animals ordinance
>
>
> Councilman Blewett vows to repeal if ordinance leads to lawsuits against
> local businesses
>
>
> Beau Yarbrough <mailto:beau at hesperiastar.com> , Staff Writer
>
> The American with Disabilities Act will become more restrictive in its
> definition of service animals this month, but the changes won't apply in
> Hesperia.
>
> At their meeting Tuesday night, the Hesperia City Council voted to allow 
> any
> sort of service animal to be used by the disabled in Hesperia public
> buildings and businesses, so long as they're accompanied by a doctor's 
> note
> certifying their status as service animals.
>
> On March 15, new federal guidelines will tighten the definition of service
> animals in the ADA to just dogs. The act was signed into law by President
> George H. W. Bush in July 1990 and never previously defined what 
> constituted
> a service animal.
>
> The city ordinance was drafted in response to a request from local 
> resident
> Danni Moore, who uses two rats riding on her shoulders to help control her
> seizures.
>
> "All I ask is that the city council allows me to continue to come to pay 
> my
> bills [at city hall] and volunteer at the library," Moore told the council
> on Tuesday.
>
> Disabled residents "have a right to be a person, to go to a store, to go 
> to
> a restaurant," argued resident Kim Jones. "There are some things that
> [service] dogs can just not do."
>
> But not everyone agreed with Jones.
>
> "The needs of the many have to outweigh the needs of the few," said
> Councilman Bill Holland. "It unnecessarily places Hesperia's businesses,
> which quite frankly pay our way, in harm's way."
>
> "If I end up in a lawsuit over this, I'll move my business out of the 
> city,
> I'll be real honest with you," said Century 21 owner Don Jensen, the 
> brother
> of planning commissioner Bill Jensen.
>
> The ADA "hasn't affected Hesperia's businesses for the past 20, 50 years,"
> said Councilman Thurston "Smitty" Smith, "And this doesn't change 
> anything."
>
> "I've never seen a service animal other than a dog in a restaurant other
> than one time in Mexico," said Mayor Pro Tem Russ Blewett. "We have 18
> percent of the people in this community unemployed, and we're talking 
> about
> service animals."
>
> The ordinance passes 4-d, with Holland dissenting. Although he voted in
> favor of the measure, Blewett said he'd vote to repeal it if any business 
> is
> sued under the city ordinance.
>
> The next regular meeting of the Hesperia City Council will take place on
> March 15 at 6:30 p.m. at Hesperia City Hall, 9700 Seventh Avenue.
>
> Source: 
> http://www.hesperiastar.com/news/service-3999-animals-council.html
>
>
>
>
>
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> Steven C. Johnson, B.S., CIRS
>
> Social Service Specialist
>
> Aging and Disability Resource Center
>
> of Western Wisconsin
>
> La Crosse County Human Services Department
>
> 300 4th Street North, La Crosse, WI 54601
>
> 608-785-6055
>
>
>
> Our purpose is to provide information and assistance in accessing benefits
> and services to adults and families relating to aging, disability, mental
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