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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Hi Cheryl,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>This email has the response from Assistant City Attorney Rick Tast attached. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none'> markmurraycoleman@gmail.com <markmurraycoleman@gmail.com> <br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, April 12, 2026 6:31 PM<br><b>To:</b> 'Rick W. Tast' <RTast@lincoln.ne.gov><br><b>Subject:</b> Regarding Animal Control and discrimination against blind Lincolnites<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Mr. Last,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Thank you for your response to my concerns regarding an incident in which a blind Lincoln man was discriminated against and did not receive services he otherwise would have had he not been blind. I apologize for initially missing the response you sent to me by mail. As this communication originated via email, I was not expecting the response to arrive by USPS. Because I am blind and paper based print communication is difficult for me to access, I would appreciate receiving any further communication electronically. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>In the letter you provided, there was no mention as to whether the essential facts that Mr. Heyen reported were verified or disputed. According to an email I received from Animal Control Manager Denise Bollwitt on November 12, there are indications that the phone conversation between Mr. Heyen and Animal Control were recorded and the recordings were available for verifying the incident. My natural belief is to assume that because Mr. Heyen’s account was not disputed, it was verified, or at the very least was not contradicted. Can you confirm this?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>If in fact Animal Control had indicated they were able to assist Mr. Heyen in this particular case, but withdrew any offer for assistance based on Mr. Heyen telling Animal Control that he was unable to keep an eye on the bat because he is blind, then the information you led off with in your letter regarding who bears primary responsibility for wildlife removal or the limited ability of Animal Control to assist private citizens bears no relevance to the specific question of whether Mr. Heyen was discriminated against in this particular instance due to his inability to keep “eyes on the wildlife the entire time”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>In my November email to Animal Control, I specifically asked, “Can you confirm whether Animal Control has a policy or practice of requiring residents to keep an eye on a bat as a requirement for receiving assistance from Animal Control?” In Ms. Bollwitt’s email response, she stated unequivocally that this was not Animal Control’s policy. Your letter implied the opposite stating “However, Animal Control cannot do so unless the individual has eyes on the wildlife the entire time”. Your response left some ambiguity, because it was not clear why Animal Control “cannot” do so. Is there a written policy that they cannot assist somebody unable to keep their eye on the animal? If not, then what does “cannot” mean in this context and how did you arrive at your assertion that they cannot assist?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>The ADA has undue hardship provisions that may allow a government entity like Animal Control some latitude in failing to provide equal services to those with disabilities. A proper understanding of this case would seem to require both an understanding of whether Mr. Heyen was discriminated against and separately, whether such discrimination may be justified under the law. Your email seems to contain an implied assertion that Mr. Heyen was not being discriminated against because the policy of requiring vision based tracking pertains to both those with and without vision. Is it accurate that your position is that Mr. Heyen was not discriminated against?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Regarding the question of whether providing equal service to a blind person unable to keep an eye on the wildlife the entire time creates an undue hardship for Animal Control, your response seems to imply the answer is yes. This is supported by your dubious assertion that keeping an eye on a wild animal “ensures a safe, efficient response.” As you may know, the purpose of the ADA is to prevent people with disabilities from being discriminated against based on tropes or stereotypes about what their abilities are or on their presumed incompetencies. Yet your letter appears to justify Animal Control’s policy(?) of specifically requiring that the monitoring of the wildlife be done visually specifically on stereotypes and tropes of what blind people can or cannot do competently. Do you have any actual data or other evidence besides stereotypes and presumptions either to justify that a sighted person can ensure “a safe, efficient response” by keeping an eye on the wildlife or that a blind person is substantially less likely to effectively track a bat using nonvisual means. Many years ago, when I had a substantial amount of vision, I lived in a residence where bats would get into my home. The bats would dart around from room to room, making continuous visual observation impossible. However, the location of the bat was easily tracked by the high pitch chirps combined with the fluttering of the bats wings. As noted in the email I copied you on a few days ago, I am very dubious that a sighted person, regardless of what they claim on the phone, is likely to successfully keep their eye on the bat at all times. When the ability of visual techniques are substantially exaggerated at the same time that the nonvisual techniques of blind people are not being taken into account, then the deck is stacked substantially against the blind, resulting in what I believe to be illegal discrimination. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Heyen has expressed no interest in seeking any type of compensation for the discrimination that seems to have taken place. When I heard of the incident of Mr. Heyen being denied services on account of his blindness, I approached him and asked if he was okay with me inquiring about the circumstances of his being denied services. As an office holder in Lincoln’s premier civil rights organization of the blind, I am interested in preventing future discrimination or maintaining discriminatory policies within city government. Provided these aims can be achieved without incurring significant legal costs, I also have no interest in resolving this matter through punitive means or in requesting compensation. In other words, we are providing Animal Control and the City of Lincoln the opportunity to fix a mistake without facing repercussions. Future victims of discriminatory policies may not be so forgiving. It is in the best interest of everybody for Animal Control and the City Attorney’s Office to take a forward oriented approach to bring themselves in accordance with the law and community standards rather than a backward oriented defensive response. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Thank you for your time and I look forward to a response.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Mark Coleman<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>