In a message dated 11/09/1999 8:18:12 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< Betty, Mr. Zwyer's forwarded synopsis of the events are more in line with
 what I saw.  I find it amusing that Mike Shoemaker would send up this red
 herring:

 "He continued: "The citizens of Ohio should be ashamed of the fact that we
 have secured the comfortable offices of the state's royal leaders and
 arrested those seeking more independent living options. Perhaps a speeding
 wheelchair is more dangerous than drug traffickers or drunk drivers on the
 highway."

 It's suprises me that he feels so strongly about dealing with drug
 traffickers and drunk drivers.  One couldn't tell by his legislative voting
 record, that's for sure!
 "Comfortable offices of the state's royal leaders..."???
 Ok, Mike, whaddya say you give back the big raise you voted in for yourself
 and give up the nice new, remodeled office in the statehouse?  What a
 maroon! >>

I had a few thoughts about this too.  One from the perspective of my fire
service background, and the others from having been a federal employee in the
fire service and occupational safety offices in DC military installations of
interest.  First: There is bad potential when exits are blocked either by
humans or things.  A group of people can't move as quickly as one might think
when a building is evacuated in a fire emergency, even under normal
circumstances.  Second: Causing damage to a state official's office isn't
going to be treated lightly.  They may not realize that this kind of activity
catches the eye of federal law enforcement.  If ADAPT wants attention and
doesn't care what kind, they can probably be very happy right now.

Hopefully, people on the federal level who decide which groups should be
investigated as possible sources of domestic terrorism know ADAPT does not
represent the whole tribe.  I'd be willing to wager that they will be
categorized as such a group, if they haven't already been.  In fact, by
not-so-loose definition, they have already committed an act of domestic
terrorism.  It may not be apparent to the casual observer, since they didn't
use weapons or explosives, but ADAPT has made itself a target for ongoing
federal observation.

OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regards this kind of
incident as an event of workplace violence.  Workplace violence can be caused
internally, such as by an employee or relative of an employee; or externally,
such as by protesters blocking exits and causing physical damage.  The sharp
increase of workplace violence occurrences in the United States has prompted
OSHA to cite this as one of it's top priorities.

Finally, being trapped in a building by protesters is a psychologically
stressful event.  You don't know what's going to happen, you don't know what
the protesters are capable of.  There are frightening unknowns to contemplate
while you are sitting around wondering what will come next.  Does anyone in
that group have a gun?  Did they plant a bomb in the building?  It seems
plausible to expect a case or more of post-traumatic stress disorder as a
result of this incident.

Editorial comment:
It really galls me to think that ten years from now, one of the people who
protested that day will be tooling around town, happier than a lark, while a
victim of his actions is sitting in a psychiatrist's office because he has a
flashback of being trapped every time he sees somebody in a wheelchair.
Maybe it won't happen either.  Maybe he will just resent disabled people for
the rest of his life.  Maybe all the people who were trapped in the building
will only resent disabled people for the rest of their life.  Maybe they
won't pass that resentment along to their children.

Tribally,
Betty