era@ncar.ucar.edu (Ed Arnold) (09/04/90)
Index Number: 10042 It's not hard to get caught up in negativity when one sees three headlines like the following in one day. Please help make the next few weeks better for the person below, by sending a card to him: James Lundvall Room 2118 Porter Memorial Hospital 2525 So. Downing Denver, CO 80210 Now, the details: **************** CHAMPION OF DISABLED FIGHTS FOR LIFE Wood wheelchair ramp set on fire by arsonist [Denver Post, 8/29/90] James Lundvall has been fighting to protect the disabled for years. Now, the 46-year-old paraplegic, the victim of an arsonist, is fighting for his life. Firefighters found Lundvall unconscious in the front bedroom of his smoke-filled west Denver duplex about 4 a.m. yesterday after neighbors spotted flames dancing above the roof of the one-story house. Hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation. Fire investigators think Lundvall was a random victim of an arsonist who poured gasoline on the 40-foot wooden wheelchair ramp at the back of the duplex, then ignited it with a match. Investigators found a trail of flammable liquid that led from the top to the bottom of the ramp. Whoever set the fire "kept pouring all the way down the ramp. They doused it," said Fire Capt. Gregory Taft. The back of Lundvall's home caught fire and, with the doors removed to allow Lundvall to move through the house in his electric wheelchair, the smoke spread quickly. Firefighters groped through the house to find him in bed. "It doesn't appear he ever woke up," said Taft. [lines deleted] The fire was the latest misfortune for Lundvall, disabled by an auto accident when he was a teenager. His girlfriend, Debbie Tracy, was killed 2-1/2 weeks ago when her wheelchair was struck by a car in east Denver. Lundvall has been a champion for the rights of the disabled, participating in a lawsuit to win the right to live independently, and in demonstrations across the country to gain handicapped access to transportation and other services. [remainder deleted] **************** U.S. CUTS OFF FUNDS TO RIDGE HOME State to appeal $12 million loss [Denver Post, 8/29/90] Federal health officials said yesterday they have ordered a cutoff of more than $12 million in Medicaid funds to state-run Ridge Home for the mentally retarded [in Wheatridge, Colorado]. But the state said it will appeal, citing massive efforts to improve conditions. "We have done more than enough to demonstrate good faith and change," said Henry Solano, executive director of the Colorado Department of Institutions. "We believe all conditions are in compliance now, especially given the efforts we've put in in the past 90 days." [lines deleted] ... a fresh inspection earlier this month found insufficient "active treatment" being given to the 320 mentally retarded residents at Ridge, formally known as the Wheat Ridge Regional Center. State and Federal officials have argued for years about the concept of active treatment, with the state complaining that it is a vague and subjective notion. [lines deleted] Though federal inspectors have found fault with conditions at Ridge for years, the latest round of controversy began in April. Inspectors pronounced conditions a threat to residents' lives and safety, spurring emergency legislative action to appropriate funds for hiring staff. [remainder deleted] **************** ACTION ALERT from ARC/Colorado 8/22/90 The Office of State Planning and Budgeting has just reduced the Division for Developmental Disabilities budget for 1991 to an unacceptable low level. The proposed budget from OSPD will be only a $1.7 million increase. Originally, the Division asked for $10 million (the C3 Coalition [a coalition of DD agencies] asked for $20 million), then it got reduced to $4 million and now $1.7 million. ... community waiting list problems are not being addressed. ... Family resources services have been reduced by $150,000. [remainder deleted] **************** DEFINITION: Colorado: the state in which citizens with disabilities are crapped upon, while Neil Bush moves into his new $450,000 home after stealing millions from the taxpayers. Pbbbbttttt. -- Ed Arnold * NCAR * POB 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 * 303-497-1253(voice) 303-497-1137(fax) * era@ncar.ucar.edu [128.117.64.4] * era@ncario.BITNET era@ncar.UUCP * Edward.Arnold@f809.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG