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thanks for celebrating the 4th, again |
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I wake early with a lot on my mind. It's the day of our big ADA anniversary celebration or, as we call it, another "4th of July." There is still a lot of work to do before we "Celebrate the 4th again" at one o'clock and we must be at the Optimist Club meeting at Noon to introduce Trish Farmer. We've got to get the PA system from the Bandstand, get the Happy Birthday ADA cake, get the food from Honey Baked Ham, and get the exhibitor's tables moved out to the tent. That is, if we have a tent. It was to be put up by six yesterday evening. I waited for them till after seven to tell them where I wanted the tent erected. Then I gave up on them and went home. But the first thing I must do is try to solve the really big problem left over from yesterday, the $10,000 problem. The grant we lined up to help Larry buy a house is in jeopardy because of a misunderstanding or lack of communication between Nashville and the bank. An announcement on the radio says that a tragic accident has occurred on I-40. The eye witness account describes an eighteen-wheeler ramming into the rear of a State Trooper's car causing the gas tank to explode and engulfing the car in flames. The voice on the radio says the Trooper didn't have a chance. What a horrible thing to happen. Because of Larry's grant, I was already having trouble getting my spirits up for the ADA festival. Now this. The radio says I-40 is shut down in both direction and will be for hours. If Trish gets caught in that she won't make it to the Optimist meeting. I am almost to the office. I will call her first and then call Michelle about the grant. The tent is up in the middle of the parking lot where I wanted it placed. I call Nashville to tell Trish to get off I-40 before she gets to Jackson to avoid the tie-up. I call too late. Her office says she is already on her way. That means she will probably be late for the meeting. I may have to wing it until she gets here. I call Michelle and get an answering machine. I hate answering machines and only speak to the (deleted) gadgets when I have to. "Hello. This is Glen. I must speak to you about Larry's loan. They set Monday as closing and they know nothing of the $10,000 grant. Call me, please." The idea is to work with this ambitious young chair user in getting his mortgage down so he can afford a home of his own. The radio now says they are trying to move I-40 traffic onto 412 but 412 is getting grid-locked. Whoops. That means Mayor Scott could have trouble getting to Jackson. Benny is the mayor of Lexington and he is the mayor who is almost getting the JCIL Community Service award. It was my bright idea to recognize Benny at the "Celebrate the 4th, again" party. A chair user doesn't get elected mayor every day, not even every other day. Then Benny agreed my second idea was even better. Madison County Mayor Alex Leech has agreed to make the presentation to Benny but when he reads the inscription on the plaque he will see his name, Mayor Alex Leech, instead of Benny's. Here comes Bobby Swift, a JCIL board member and President of the Jackson Chapter of the Tennessee Association of the Deaf. It's good to see him. We need help getting everything together. I head out to the Optimist Meeting with just enough time to get there by Noon. Whoops. The traffic is backed up from I- 40 onto 45 Bypass. Thank goodness Gerri went earlier to interpret. She can tell them I will be late telling them that Trish will be late telling them all about the ADA. Good turn out for the meeting. I am especially pleased to see Jane Mathis and our other friends from the Deaf Community. We talk a little and eat a lot and finally start the meeting without Trish. It goes OK. I know very little about the ADA compared to Trish Farmer who has been preaching the gospel about the Americans with Disabilities Act of years. But I know a little about it and I am good at exaggerating. The best part of the meeting came from Irene Shock, Harry Williams and Gerrilyn Caudill when they answered questions about ASL. At 1:15 we are back at the office or should I say back at the circus? Mazie made me wear my red, white and blue American Flag necktie today. But Bobby Swift, to out-do me I'm sure, is now decked out in a red, white and blue Uncle Sam, maybe Yankee Doodle, costume. I unload my red scooter and hear something like, "Bring on the clowns." It's looking good. While I was doing my "I'm not Trish Farmer but I stayed at Holiday Inn Express" routine, the staff brought everything together. The exhibitors are set up in our big forty-foot tent. The JCIL banner and the flags are visible a block away. And look at those new vans with the lowered floors and the automatic ramps. I must be in disability heaven. What's that? You say there is no disability in heaven? Well, with a van like that (and a little bit of ADA) I will proclaim no disability on earth. The crowd - what a beautiful crowd. I see no strangers, just friends. If you want to know who your friends are, count the miles. Trish, if she ever gets here, clocks a hundred and twenty one way. Our van driving buddies Ron Tate and John Gay each traveling over a hundred miles to be with us. Ron is an artist from Dyersburg. John was a state trooper until a drunk driver broadsided him in Nashville a few years ago. David Castile brought his chair on a two-wheel trailer behind his car. There's Jim Futrell, the Memphis teacher with too much hair. He came up in one of the new vans with the people from Access Industries. And Larry Sipes moved his lunch break back to 2 PM to be here. Shane Hall tells us about the Wheelin' Sportsmen organization. Tim Robinson entertains us with some of his great All-American songs. NewsCenter7 arrives in time to video the Great-American Scooter-Wheelchair Race. Randy wins the race but only because he is riding the fastest scooter and runs me off the track. The reporter remarks, "It's amazing. You disabled people are carrying on and having fun just like everyone else." I reply, "Yeah, it is amazing. We're just like you broadcasters. You're probably normal on your days off." "Mayor Leech," I say, "thank you for coming. Here's the plaque we were going to give to Mayor Scott but he is undoubtedly caught in that traffic mess on 412. "Would you read to us the words on the plaque?" "Yes Glen," the Mayor replies. And thank you for inviting me here today." The mayor begins reading, "The Jackson Center for Independent Living presents the Community Service Award to Mayor Alex Leech for his support of JCIL, the ADA and Independent Living in West Tennessee this day July 26, 2000." "Mayor," I ask, "when did you know the award had your name on it instead of Mayor Scott's?" ""Thirty seconds ago," he replies. The fact is, we throw the mayor a curve ball and he hits it out of the park without a fumble. I tell the Mayor and everyone present why JCIL wanted to recognize Mayor Leech today, the 10th anniversary of the ADA. The mayor has made sure Madison County was ahead of the curve on accessibility. And as we think back we remember the Mayor has never let us down. When we call on him he does his best to work with us. He cut the ribbon at our opening in 1996. He has helped us with fund-raisers. He is here today. Thank you, Mayor. The party is almost over and here comes Mayor Scott. "Hi Mayor. 'Lexington still thirty minutes away?" "It's two hours away today," he replies. Karen tells me Trish is on the phone. Finally we hear from her. Trish says, "I am at mile marker 87 where I have been for four hours. I am burning up not just from the sun but I am wedged in between eighteen-wheelers and the heat from those engines is killing me. I am so weak I can't stand up. I need water." She then tells me other motorists out there are also having some real problems. "Some parents are letting their children play on the Interstate and they are running in and out and around and under these big trucks." I don't know what to do but that has never stopped us before. We'll do something. Karen gets me the Highway Patrol number. I tell them our hearts and prayers are with them because for their loss today and then tell them of the trouble Trish and others are having on I-40. They say they are doing all they can do. I am sure they are but something has to be done for the motorists. Last week I had car trouble and stranded just twenty minutes I thought I was going to die in the heat. I call the media and tell reporters what's happening on I-40 with hope they might be able to influence the authorities. What else can we do? Department of Safety? Why not? I tell a woman in Nashville named Jane what Trish had told me. Jane connects me with a trooper back here in Jackson. He says he is sending two cars out there to check on people having trouble. I thank him. I feel much better. I call Trish with the good news. She has now been in that one spot five hours. Trish calls back. Thank God. The traffic is moving, slowly, but moving. She exits and heads for the nearest Cracker Barrel and water, water, water. Trish calls back from Cracker Barrel which is filled with people who were also stranded out there on I-40 all day. "Your calls might have saved a life," she says. "What do you mean?" I ask. "The people at the next table were a few cars behind me on the Interstate and they are telling of a man on oxygen who was running out of oxygen and a trooper got him out of there. You might have saved his life." No. The trooper saved his life. Besides, "it was your life, Trish, we were concerned about. You owe us an ADA presentation." |
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Mayor Scott |
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