Hey all
It's now late monday night. After the long bus ride down saturday and a day of great testimonials, today was the time for action.
The expected weather of the day was cold and wet and mother nature lived up to it. We started our morning line up late - 11am - in a heavy downpour. People were well bundled, covered in ponchos and powerwheelchait controllers were protected by shower caps! 41 degrees and a heavy rain as we marched to do a short press conference on Legislative Plaza, in front of the Tennessee Capital.
After the press conference, our total national group split into 6 teams and proceeded to carry out the real action of the day. In the matter of a few minutes we had shut down four intersections and blocked two parking garages! The cops were so unaware that they actually helped my group block half the intersection before they realizes what was going on.
Throughout the day, bruce and I were part of the negotiating team while shelly perrin was a leader in her group. The rest of the Rochester group did fantastic work that they can better explain than I.
Ultimately, Governor Bredesen refused any demands regarding ending policies that force our people into institutions. He even refused to even meet and discuss the issue. At that the police began to negotiate with us about arrest.
This was the craziest arrest negotiation I've ever seen! The cops plan was to arrest our able bodied people separetely from those with disabilities. Then the next nonsense they planned was amazing: people with disabilities weren't going straight to jail... First we would be transported to a hospital for a full physical! And if that's not enough, he indicated that at some point in that process they would be separating us from our wheelchairs. Then we could be taken to jail.
Nevermind that taking our wheelchairs away from us is illegal. Many of us wanted now to be arrested so that we could get the physical! The joke was that the police fine would probably be less than the copay for a similar doctor visit.
So of course ADAPT called the cops' bluff and after the first couple arrests, the cops realized how impossible their plans was on themselves. They immediately started issuing citations and realeasing us on the sidewalk. Our groups then made their way back to the hotel and after over 9 hours in the nasty elements we were back to the hotel.
My incomplete list of Rochester arrests includes Bruce, me, Pat Taggart and with her first ever ADAPT arrest: Erin Murphy.
The action got huge local coverage and has certainly increased the public's awareness of how bad Tennessee's long term care system is and shoould create a great deal more pressure on the Governor to do something!
More action tomorrow! G'night.
Chris
