Handicapped parking

On a Facebook group I am in, “Buffalo & WNY seniors group 55 and older” there was a debate going on about Handicapped parking places.The story started with a post by someone that said “I went shopping yesterday at a local produce market. I witnessed a SUV parked on the diagonal lines between the handicapped spaces. There was a sign stating No Parking Anytime. No sticker in the window either. I asked in the store if I could speak to a manager. The cashier asked if she could help so I indicated that maybe they should phone the police. The poor girl gave me a sheepish grin & confessed that the vehicle belonged to her manager… I was so stunned I just left.”

The post garnered 215 comments in the first 24 hours. One of the first comments was by someone named Rocky who said ”Nevermind , it’s not your business !!” and somebody else said “I think your a busy body who is just itching for trouble. I agree with Rocky mind your business. Most who have legal handicap stickers do not really need them. This is one of the most abused privileges ever.” (Misspelling is the way they were posted)

I take offense to this. In the interest of transparency, I have a handicapped parking tag due to multiple health problems. Two of which are COPD and Peripheral Neropathy. I am mostly limited to the first floor of my house and rarely get to go out, usually only going out to doctor’s appointments. If it is too hot or too humid, I normally don’t leave the safety of my home that has the air conditioner running because I can’t breathe. If it is snowy or icy I stay home for fear I am going to fall down breaking something. I have fallen or slipped on several occasions, one time breaking my leg.

Someone stated “(This) Frustrates me, too, when someone sits in the car in a handicap spot!! Very inconsiderate of those of us who truly need the handicap spot and one isn’t available.” A person who responded wrote “I’m sure it was only for a very brief time. Maybe (they were) making a bank run or whatever.”

This is frustrating for me also. One of the times I collapsed, I was going to a medical appointment in a building on a main street. All the street parking, handicapped spots in front of the building were taken so I went to the side parking lot.

All the handicapped spots were taken there also, some of them by handicapped mini busses. They were there because the company that owns them was also in the same building. That is where the busses are parked when they were not in use. Because of this I had to park at one of the farthest spots in the lot.

After I had parked, I had to take a long walk across the sun baked, blacktop parking lot causing me to overheat. I had walked within 10 feet of my destination when my body gave out and I collapsed. This necessitated a call for a very expensive ambulance trip to the hospital. If I was able to get a handicapped spot, I would have made it to my destination without a problem.

For some of us it is the whole difference between being able to shop and not being able to shop. I head out on a “good” day at a time the stores are less likely to be busy, only to find someone parking in the diagonal line area. This prevents me from getting in and out of my car because I need to be able to open the car door wide.

And yes, sometimes it is necessary for me to be out even on a bad day. People only see the cane I use. I see people thinking as I walk by, that I don’t look like I need a handicapped parking permit. But handicapped people are not all in wheelchairs.

According to the ADA, private businesses and public agencies must make available a stipulated number of handicapped parking spaces. They must be a minimum size and have the proper signs. The specified spaces can be used only by people with a handicap windshield placard or license plate that was issued by the state. Handicapped spaces must be located at a location that affords the shortest and most trouble-free route to an entrance of the building that is handicap-accessible.

I had discussions with my doctor about getting a handicapped hang tag for over a year. He felt I should have one but I saw it as giving in so I told him I didn’t want one. I knew in my heart I needed one but my mind was just not ready to accept that. Finally I broke down and had him fill out the paper work. I then took it to the city clerk who issued a permit.

By the way, if a doctor signs those forms without a viable medical diagnosis to back it up or just to collect payments from Medicare or Medicaid, it is called fraud. A doctor who commits fraud can lose his or her license.

Norb is an independent journalist and blogger from Lockport, New York.

Jury Duty

close up court courthouse hammer — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s a small piece of paper, usually the size of a postcard and it is easily hidden between the junk mail and the bills that crowd a mailbox, but it manages to create fear in many of its recipients. It is the jury duty summons. Jury duty is regarded as vital to the administration of justice and, as such, is considered a condition of U.S. citizenship.

Some people start trying to think up things to say that will guarantee they will get rejected as soon as they receive this notice. “The police never arrest innocent people”, “I’ve never met a government official that I trust!” and “I have no problem with (insert racial slur here). Others are reconciled to the fact that jury duty is just part of life for most U.S. citizens, age 18 or over. But serving on a jury is something that you should take graciously. I served on a jury once and I felt honored to serve.

There are a number of reasons why people hate jury duty. It can be a pain to get to the courthouse, find parking, go through the metal detectors, then wait, wondering when or even if you’re going to be called. I had never been on a jury so I had no idea what to expect and after the judge dismissed those with hardships, the rest of us were told to return the next day.

The day of the jury selection I showed up and was shown a seat in the court room. When my name was called, I went up and was questioned by both the prosecution and the defense lawyers. I was selected to serve and was assigned the job of jury foreman.

When we went back is when the real fun began. The judge told us not to feel bad if we weren’t selected. He explained that some people are just a better fit for certain cases. By this point, I was still just sitting there, in the audience area, questioning whether I would have a chance to serve.

We were chosen at random to go and answer several questions about our work, families, drinking habits and any brushes with the law. We were told this case involved driving under the influence. People were told had to answer truthfully and asked if they felt that they could treat the defendant fairly.

Right about then I was called. Some of the more outrageous people had been dismissed and it was my turn. I made it as the last member of the panel, and after two alternates were chosen. We went home and the following day we listened to the jury instructions and jumped into the trial.

The case we heard, a person said they had spent 5 hours in a bar and had “Two beers”. Upon leaving the bar, he then drove to Transit road, made a right turn and proceeded to swerve down the wrong lane of Transit for better than a quarter mile attempting to get his car under control before hitting another driver.

Just prior to the start of the trial, a lady came into the courtroom. She was on crutches because she had a broken leg. She took the witness stand and told the story of how she was headed north on Transit and saw him coming She said she moved as far right as she could and stopped her car to try and avoid an accident. Unfortunately, the suspect hit her head on while she was stoped there. She had to be extracted from her car by the Fire Department and the EMTs.

We heard testimony from the Lockport Police officer who was the first to arrive on the scene The police officer testified he used the standard field sobriety tests and determined the defendant was drunk.

It was hard not to discuss the case with my fellow jurors before deliberations. At night, when I went home, I thought about the trial, the defendant’s testimony, and the defense lawyer’s explanations for things. It was hard, especially since I couldn’t talk to anyone.

Once we started deliberations, it felt weird to suddenly to be allowed to discuss the case. To my relief there were no arguments and while presenting our thoughts, everyone stayed respectful.

We carefully looked over the evidence in the jury room and even asked the court reporter to come in so she could read back the testimony. We had one hold out but we managed to change her mind. I was proud and honestly amazed that this group of 12 strangers coming from completely diverse backgrounds would come up with a consensus.

We filed into the courtroom one last time and the defendant, his lawyer and the prosecutor stood up as we walked in. I read the verdict and the judge thanked us for our service and then we were done.

When you sit on a jury, you have someone else’s fate in your hands. That’s a mindboggling obligation and one I think gets forgotten by people trying to get out of serving. I thought about this the entire time. This duty shouldn’t be taken lightly and it shouldn’t be something to try and get out of

Being on a jury is an absolutely rewarding experience. When it was over, I felt like I had made a difference and that I was a part of something bigger.

Norb is a freelance journalist from Lockport.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” (MLK)

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The civil rights leader Martin Luther King was born Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929. In 1934, his father who was a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, journeyed to Germany and became passionate vis-à-vis Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation leader. Because of this, Mr. King changed his name and the name of his 5-year-old son.

Dr. King was such a very gifted student and he skipped grades 9 and 12. He enrolled at Morehouse College in 1944. This was the alma mater of both his maternal grandfather and his father. King was the son, grandson and great-grandson of Baptist ministers but he did not want to stick to the family vocation. Morehouse president, Benjamin E. Mays, a noted theologian, convinced him to do otherwise. Dr. King was ordained before he graduated college. He attended graduate school at Boston University, where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1955.

Dr. King once said, ““Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, ‘Wait.’ But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will, and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters…then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.”

This quote puts into words his resolve that segregation and violence had to be eliminated at once. He stressed that lives and the well-being of oppressed people were continuously at risk until those in power took the responsibility to change this issue.

Historians, political pundits and cultural critics, have seen how MLK was disliked and even feared by people in power. These include police officers, politicians, etc. while he was alive. Now they only embrace his work in a superficial way after his death.

Dr. King barely escaped an attempted assassination 10 years before his death. On September 20, 1958, he was in Harlem where he was signing copies of his new book, “Stride Toward Freedom.” This was in Blumstein’s department store. He was approached by a woman named Izola Ware Curry. She asked if he was Martin Luther King Jr. When he said yes, she said, “I’ve been looking for you for five years,” and she rammed a seven-inch letter opener into his chest. The tip of the blade came to rest right alongside his aorta. Dr. King underwent hours of very delicate emergency surgery. Surgeons later told him that if he sneezed, it might have perforated his aorta and killed him. Laying in his hospital bed where he recovered for weeks, he delivered a statement confirming his nonviolent values and said he felt no ill will toward his mentally ill attacker.

Dr. King was in Memphis during April 1968 to support a strike by the city’s black garbage workers. In a speech, on the evening before his assassination, he told an audience at the Mason Temple Church: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now … I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Dr. King was murdered by James Earl Ray using a single bullet fired from a Remington rifle. Dr. King was on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Ray had a history of criminal misconduct including armed robbery. He was prejudiced against black people and intended to flee to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), following the killing of King.

Ray, a career criminal, pled guilty to King’s assassination but later recanted. King’s son Dexter met publicly with Ray in 1997 and argued for the case to be reopened. Because members of King’s family did not think James Earl Ray acted on his own. King’s widow, Coretta, believed the Mafia and local, state and federal government agencies were deeply involved in King’s murder. She praised the result of a 1999 civil trial in which a Memphis jury decided the assassination was the result of a conspiracy and that Ray was set up to take the blame.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy has created a change in American culture. While he is currently viewed as an iconic civil rights activist and he has been regarded in this way since before his shooting, some may argue that his quotes and activism have been misrepresented in a way that softens his perspective on racism. His quotes are often shared or presented to solely imply that prejudice is wrong, but his quotes that address holding people with privilege responsible for changes are often ignored. He didn’t only think racism and race-based discrimination were inappropriate but he also wished for people in power to abolish oppression.

In 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor Dr. King. The holiday, is celebrated on the third Monday in January, close to the civil rights leader’s birthday on January 15^th.