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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Deborah Kendrick: Blind vendors
fear effort to commercialize highways | The Columbus</P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Jeff Tolle is living a version of
the American dream. He has his own business and loves his job. His wife,
Michelle, is his No. 1 employee. Family time</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">consists of frequent trips to the
Columbus Zoo, Kings Island and Cedar Point. Tolle takes his sons, ages 8 and 13,
fishing whenever possible at one of</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">two ponds near the family’s
Delaware home. They don’t spend much time worrying about the fact that both boys
have inherited Tolle’s eye condition because</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">life is good, and Tolle always
has provided the family with a more than respectable income.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Tolle is just one of thousands of
blind Americans who have benefitted from the Randolph-Sheppard Act, a law whose
75th anniversary was recognized in January</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">by a memorandum from President
Barack Obama, encouraging more federal agencies to participate.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">If you’ve ever bought snacks or
beverages in a post office, courthouse, military base or any other federal
agency, chances are you’ve supported blind business</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">owners.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Tolle’s business, like hundreds
of other entrepreneurs in the program called Business Enterprise, consists of
vending machines adjacent to rest areas on</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">interstate and secondary
highways.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Under the law, priority is given
to blind entrepreneurs in food-service facilities on government properties and,
since 1982, vending machines at highway</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">rest areas. About 40 enterprising
individuals in Ohio service the machines that dispense coffee, beverages, snacks
and ice cream at rest areas up and down</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">our major and minor corridors.
They buy the supplies, fill the machines, buy their own vehicles to transport
goods and equipment, hire others to drive</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">those vehicles, pay all the
necessary taxes for self-employment and balance their own books.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I spoke with several of those
Ohio business owners last week, and there were definite refrains in every
conversation. They love the work they do. They take</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">pride in providing a service to
the public. And they are terrified that an amendment to the
surface-transportation bill, Senate Bill 1813, proposed by</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Sen. Rob Portman could have
devastating consequences.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">If approved, the amendment would
render the highways open country for commerce. Historically, commerce on
interstate and secondary highways has been permitted</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">only in the form of the vending
machines operated by blind and visually impaired merchants.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The National Federation of the
Blind, the National Restaurant Association and the National Association of Truck
Stop Operators are just a few of the many</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">organizations representing both
business and disability sectors who are vehemently opposed to any change in the
law.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Brendan Flanagan, a spokesman for
the National Restaurant Association, said, “This legislation threatens private
businesses of all sizes and their employees</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">who rely on drivers exiting the
highway in order to purchase food and conveniences. .?.?. It is anti-competitive
and will kill jobs.”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Julie Russell, president of the
Ohio Blind Vendors, says that even though her own business is a bank of machines
at the Ohio Department of Job and Family</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Services, the proposed
legislation would have a negative impact on her and others whose businesses are
not on the highways.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Everyone in the program pays a
percentage of profit into the statewide fund, operated by the Bureau of Services
for the Visually Impaired, which is used</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">for training, maintenance and
repair.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Because the rest-area businesses
are among the most profitable, those operators pay a much larger share into the
statewide pool, thus enabling smaller businesses</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">such as Russell’s to stay in
operation.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">“It sounds like we’re just a
small number of people,” Tolle said, “but many of the vendors have other
employees, both with and without disabilities, and</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">then there are all those people
who are hired on a different contract to clean and empty the trash.”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">He is referring to the scores of
people, many with developmental disabilities, who are hired for cleaning and
general maintenance in the rest areas, whose</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">jobs depend on the status
quo.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">An unemployment rate of nearly 70
percent among people with disabilities is something of a national disgrace. The
Randolph-Sheppard Act was a big step forward</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">75 years ago and is one of the
smartest things we’re doing to alter that reality. To create any law with the
potential to displace hundreds of gainfully</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">employed people with disabilities
— people who are providing a service and taking pride in the work they do —
well, it just doesn’t make sense.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Deborah Kendrick is a Cincinnati
writer and advocate for people with disabilities.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">dkkendrick@earthlink.net</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">List of 2 items</P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Columbus Dispatch</P>
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