A crazy old man in a wheel chair was at the River Valley Financial Bank on Clifty Drive, the new bank Home Office on the hilltop. I believe it was yesterday, with a sign on the back of his motorized wheel chair saying "this bank discriminates against the handicapped".
You can imagine what a ruckus this would stir up because Matt Forrester the bank president also a member of MIDCOR is the guy you hear on the radio all the time saying River Valley Financial Bank is the hometown bank with people right here in Madison taking care of all your needs. Forrester says "you don't have to make a long distance phone call to reach somebody to take care of your questions we are right here in your community and we care about you and your needs" or something like that.
Well anyway, the crazy old man in his wheelchair says that he can't get the doors open to get in the bank. He said he drove up to the drive up window in his wheel chair and asks someone to come to the front door and open it so he could get in and they did. He said he explained to Mr. Forrester about how he couldn't get into the bank and asked him to address the board of directors to request they make the bank assessable to the handicapped and then reply to him on what they were doing to make River Valley Bank accessible to the handicapped.
He said when the bank ignored him and didn't reply he decided that he should get their attention with a picket sign. This got their attention alright. He said an employee of the bank("The Hometown Bank")came out and put his hands on his wheel chair and when he asked what he was doing he replied with "I'm going to throw your wheelchair into the street", he advised them this would not be a good idea and that they should call a cop. Shortly thereafter according to the crazy old man, the police arrived and threatened to give him a ticket if he didn't leave because his wheelchair was blocking the sidewalk and his car was also going to get a ticket or something like that.
In the end a senior police officer showed up, talked with the bank for a while and then came out and told the crazy old man he could stay.
So, what is this all about and why is the crazy old man running around town with his wheelchair saying he is being discriminated against.
I don't think it is about him, I think he has discovered how hard it is for people like him and people like our friend George to get access to public and private buildings when they are claiming they are accessible to the handicapped.
I read an ad in the legal notice's section in the paper a few days ago about the new dates for the City of Madison meetings. What struck me the most was that the City of Madison was giving notice to people who can't get in the door to City Hall to call ahead if they need assistance with getting through the doors. This is their attempt to say they are accessible to the handicapped. The problem with this is that my friend George can't read, has no phone and doesn't know that he is supposed to call somebody if he wants to get into city hall to check on his water bill or just to say hello to the mayor. You see, my friend George a WWII veteran has both of his legs cut off and has to strap himself into his motorized wheelchair to get around town to get groceries and things like that and he can not get the doors open. I saw him the other day trying to get into the post office, it can't be done without the proper accessible doors.
So who is crazy here? While the City of Madison and the banks are pretending to be accessible and maybe even violating the law my friend George continues to suffer because he is handicapped. This, in our opinion should not be and we applaud the crazy old man for doing his best to see that George can get in the damn door. If you would like to help George, call the Mayor or Matt Forrester. And, by the way, George fly's an American Flag on his wheel chair.
The crazy old man and George are dead now and you still can't get the doors open from a wheel chair. Add your thoughts here.