[nfbmi-talk] Lawsuit: Disabled protesters were barred from Capitol lawn event

Sun Feb 12 04:42:53 UTC 2017

The Capitol area center for independent living worked in concert with state
officials to commence, request, and put in place the prohibited acts that
violated the Constitutionally protected rights of the protesters. 

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMI-Talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of JohnC.
Scott via NFBMI-Talk
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 12:42 PM
To: 'NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List' <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: JohnC. Scott <jcscot at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Lawsuit: Disabled protesters were barred from
Capitol lawn event

I am okay with the litigation.  Partticularly to bring light and focus on
the so called sheltered workshops paying sub-minimum wages.  What I don't
understand is naming State Centers for Independent Living as co-defendants.I
served on the board of the one in detroit.  One of my NFB board members is
presently on its board, and pressently one of my chapter members is employed
by  it. 

John C. Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMI-Talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Christine Boone via NFBMI-Talk
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 4:42 PM
To: Mary Ann Robinson <brightsmile1953 at comcast.net>; NFB of Michigan
Internet Mailing List <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Christine Boone <christineboone2 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Lawsuit: Disabled protesters were barred from
Capitol lawn event

This is fantastic!!!

> On Feb 3, 2017, at 2:43 PM, Mary Ann Robinson via NFBMI-Talk
<nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
>    Lawsuit: Disabled protesters were barred from Capitol lawn event
> 
> Paul Egan ,
> 
> Detroit Free Press 12:44 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2017
> 
> Disabled protesters file lawsuit,
> 
> ada_celebration_7
> 
> A small group is kept behind barriers as they protest over various
concerns outside the celebration of 25 years of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
> 
> at the Capitol in Lansing on Sept. 17, 2015.(Photo: Rod Sanford, Lansing
State Jour, Rod Sanford | Lansing State Jour)
> 
> LANSING - Seven demonstrators -- six of them disabled -- filed a federal
lawsuit Friday against Michigan State Police officers and organizers of a
2015
> 
> Americans with Disabilities Act anniversary celebration at the Capitol,
where blind activist Joe Harcz was arrested for obstructing police.
> 
> The criminal charge against Harcz
> 
> was dismissed last year.
> 
> He and the other plaintiffs say their constitutional rights to free speech
and equal protection under the law were violated when they were barred from
the
> 
> outdoor event, held on the Capitol lawn on Sept. 17, 2015.
> 
> "The Michigan State Police and Capitol personnel - having agreed ahead of
time with two non-profit organizations hosting the event . to keep
plaintiffs
> 
> out - barred (their) entry," the suit alleges. They "wanted to suppress
plaintiffs' speech and prevent them from expressing disagreement with the
messages
> 
> advanced by the event's organizers," the suit alleges.
> 
> The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, seeks legal fees
and costs and unspecified damages.
> 
> Defendants in the lawsuit are nine Michigan State Police officers, the
former Capitol facilities director, and two non-profit organizations that
helped
> 
> organize the 25th anniversary ADA event -- the Michigan Association of
Centers for Independent Living and the Capital Area Center for Independent
Living.
> 
> E-mails to the Michigan State Police and the Michigan Association of
Centers for Independent Living, and a call to the Capital Area Center for
Independent
> 
> Living were not immediately returned Monday.
> 
> Harcz, 64, of Mt. Morris Township, was arrested when he tried to cross a
police barricade to enter the event, after police identified him as a
protester
> 
> they believed was intent on disrupting it. Harcz, who organizers confirmed
was a member of one of the committees that planned the celebration, was
charged
> 
> with resisting and obstructing police, a 2-year felony. Minutes before his
trial was scheduled to begin in August, Ingham County prosecutors dismissed
> 
> the charge.
> 
> "For more than 25 years, I've fought for the Americans with Disabilities
Act to be implemented, and on that very day I was kept out of our very own
celebration,"
> 
> Harcz said Friday.
> 
> Although the plaintiffs wanted to celebrate the ADA anniversary, they "
> 
> harbored serious concerns about several aspects of the event,
> 
> including private sponsorship of the event by a company that paid disabled
employees less than minimum wage," and the fact the venue for the event, the
> 
> Capitol Building, was itself not fully ADA-compliant, the suit alleges.
> 
> The suit includes counts of false arrest, false imprisonment, and
malicious prosecution on behalf of Harcz. But the other plaintiff
demonstrators, who were
> 
> not arrested, allege their rights were also violated by being kept away
from the ADA celebration.
> 
> Protesters Mark Eagle, Terry Eagle, David Robinson, and Joseph Sontag, who
are all legally blind; Eleanor Carter, who uses a wheeled cart to help walk;
> 
> and her husband Brian Dian, allege they were deprived of their First
Amendment rights to free speech and their Fourth Amendment rights to equal
protection
> 
> under the law.
> 
> "Literally, the police officers formed a wall with their bodies, later
supplemented by metal barricades, to deny plaintiffs access and prevent them
from
> 
> participating in the event," the suit alleges.
> 
> At a preliminary hearing in 2015, Lansing District Judge Hugh Clarke, Jr.
said it was reasonable for police to establish a buffer between ADA
celebrants
> 
> and protesters, and Harcz and the other demonstrators were never told to
leave the Capitol grounds, only to stay in a certain area, a distance from
the
> 
> ADA celebration.
> 
> But Julie Porter, a Chicago attorney representing the plaintiffs, said
Harcz and the other defendants weren't even given a chance to join the
event. They
> 
> were instead singled out and kept away on the basis of the views that
organizers and police perceived them to espouse. "This was really surprising
and
> 
> completely wrong," Porter told the Free Press Friday.
> 
> Porter points to a 2015
> 
> ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals,
> 
> in a case involving Wayne County and a group called Bible Believers. The
court ruled officials violated the rights of Christian evangelists by
keeping them
> 
> from preaching and handing out leaflets at the Arab International Festival
in Dearborn, which draws significant numbers of Muslims.
> 
> The court said "it is easy to understand Dearborn's desire to host a
joyous festival celebrating the city's Arab heritage in an atmosphere of
hate and negative
> 
> influences." However, "the answer to disagreeable speech if not violent
retaliation by offended listeners or ratification of the heckler's veto
through
> 
> threat of arrest by the police."
> 
> The ADA, passed in 1990, prohibits discrimination against people with
disabilities in jobs, schools, transportation, and public and private places
that
> 
> are open to the public.
> 
> "I want to send a message that they cannot continue to suppress the First
Amendment rights of people with disabilities, and no one should be treated
the
> 
> way they treated us," Canter said Monday.
> 
> Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan at freepress.com. Follow him on
Twitter @paulegan4.
> 
> Source:
> 
>
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/02/03/lawsuit-disabled-p
rotesters-were-barred-capitol-lawn-event/97408982/
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