The Marcus Fiesel Fallout Is Beginning

Now the investigations begin.

The state and local officials are ramping up their investigations into see who dropped the ball in the case of Marcus Fiesel, the 3-year old with autism who was killed by his foster parents after they left him tied up and wrapped in a blanket in a closet in early August, while the parents went away for a two-day family reunion.

The local agencies says they followed protocol.

Butler County Children's Services officials say that for the 14 weeks Marcus Fiesel was in their care, he was seen 26 times by case workers, both county employees and case workers from Lifeway for Youth, the company responsible for placing Marcus with the Carrolls. Children's Services officials say they did everything they could for the child.

And, of course, here come the politicians:

Mike Fox, Butler County Commissioner: "What on Earth would cause someone to place an autistic child, one of the most difficult kids to deal with, into a home where the caretaker is bi-polar, which is in itself a stressful mental illness, it defies common sense."

DD Council Meets With Enquirer Editorial Board

I had the honor of representing the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council in a meeting with the Editorial Board of the Cincinnati Enquirer yesterday.

Also in the meeting were Mary Butler of the Omstead Task Force, Chuck Beatty of the Arc of Ohio, and Carolyn Knight of Ohio Legal Rights.

We were pushing three initiatives: the Family Opportunity Act, Money Follows the Person, and Medicaid Buy-In.

The Board was very gracious, interested, and supportive - and we appreciated the opportunity.

Q92 Apologizes for "Mongoloid Mike" Segments

Score one for the Arc of Ohio -- they sent out an "Action Alert" to disability advocates across the Buckeye State, asking them to contact Q92 in Alliance and put pressure on them to stop a contest they were running that was patently offensive to people with disabilities. And it worked.

Q92 ran a contest called "Mongoloid Mike" in which a on-air personality would sign a song as if they were a person with mental retardation, and contestants would try to guess the song title.

That's entertainment!

But advocates across Ohio got involved, started calling the station, and started putting the heat on companies advertising with Q92 - and the radio station got the message loud and clear.

To their credit, Q92 has apologized and pulled the spot.

To Gary Tonks and the ARC - nice work.

Marcus Fiesel Mystery Ends with Manslaughter Charges Against Foster Parents

Oh, dear Lord.

In the opinion of the county prosecutor's office, Marcus Fiesel is dead. He has been dead the whole time, and his foster parents are to blame.

Hamilton County Prosector Joe Deters announced earlier today that he was charging Liz and David Carroll with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Marcus Fiesel, a 3-year old foster child with autism. Mr. Carroll is also charged with abuse of a corpse.

In the opinion of Mr. Deters, the whole "missing child" story was a pre-planned hoax concocted by the Carroll's to cover up their crimes.

The Carroll's apparently left young Marcus in a closet for two days while they attended a family reunion in Kentucky. When they returned, the young boy was dead.

According to Deters, Mr. Carroll then took the young boy to out into rural Brown county and burned his corpse. They continue to look for the remains of Marcus Fiesel.

"You would not treat your dog like this," Deters said.

The Carroll's then concocted their story of "losing" young Marcus in a public park after Ms. Carroll allegedly passed out due to a heart condition. The Carroll's, it is asserted, then let the whole community search for the young boy, while they tried to paint themselves as sympathetic grieving parents.

Sign Language Going High Tech

The Ohio Alliance of Community Centers for the Deaf is unveiling a new sign language intrepreter service that can be utilized over the Internet.

The service uses Internet video conferencing and Web-based technology to link people who are deaf to 160 interpreters throughout the state.

Once the equipment is installed, a person simply makes an appointment and an interpreter will be available to facilitate communication using the video and camera equipment. To install the system, all that is needed is a high-speed Internet connection, a dedicated line and a TV or computer monitor. I.O. is affordable and easy to use. With the installed equipment, anyone can communicate across the United States. The costs associated with frequent live interpreters are much more than the cost of using I.O.

Operating hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information, call 266-4145.

New DeWine Bill To Help People with Disabilities Who Are Crime Victims

Senator Mike DeWine plans to introduce new legislation that will foster collaborations between criminal justice agencies and agencies providing services to people with developmental disabilities.

The name of the act will be the "Crime Victims with Developmental Disabilities Act of 2006."

There are an estimated 5 million crimes each year committed against people with disabilities, and over 70% of crimes against people with disabilities are never reported.

Only 3% of sexual crimes against people with disabilities will ever be reported.

The purpose of the act is to "increase the awareness, investigation, prosecution, and prevention of crimes against individuals with a developmental disabilities by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice system and social service agencies."

New Pictures of Marcus Fiesel Released

New pictures of Marcus Fiesel have been released, as authorities continue to search for the the 3-year old boy with autism from Cincinnati who has been missing for over a week.

Katie McCarron Update

An update on the case of Dr. Karen McCarron of Peoria, Illinois, the mother accused of killing her 3-year old daughter Katie, who had autism.

The coroner in Peoria has officially ruled that that the death of Katie McCarron was a homicide.

Also, it appears likely that the Dr. McCarron will use some sort of insanity defense at her trial.

... Defense attorney Ron Hamm said the "probability is high" that an insanity defense will be entered on McCarron's behalf, although he and co-counsel Jeffrey Flanagan are still reviewing the case.

Additionally, her attorneys are working to get her confession thrown out of court...

In a motion to suppress McCarron's statements or confessions, her attorneys said, "due to the physical, psychological, mental, emotional state, capacity and condition of the defendant, the defendant was incapable and unable to appreciate and understand the full meaning of Miranda, and any statement was therefore not the free and rational choice of the accused and was not made voluntarily . . ."

Family Moves - Father Fails Polygraph Test

Neither of these may mean anything.

Foster mother Liz Carroll also told reporters that she, her husband and their children moved from their Union Township home because they felt unsafe.

"We're missing our son, and by some people, we're being treated like criminals. It's normal, the detectives told us, to to put the parents through the wringer in something like this, and we've cooperated with everything -- every detail, with home searches," Carroll said.

And now it turns out, at least according to police, that Mr. Carroll has failed a polygraph.

She admitted that detectives told her husband he'd failed a lie-detector test, but Carroll said her husband believes the results were inaccurate.

Marcus' Foster Mother Speaks Out

Liz Carroll, the foster mother of a three-year old autistic child who has been missing for a week, spoke out yesterday for the first time.

She asked for witnesses to come forward, even taking the steps to wear the same clothes for the press conference that she wore that day in Julifs Park.

Carroll states that she and another adult made contact from afar...

Although no one has come forward to verify or dispute her claim that Fiesel was with her at the park, Carroll said Fiesel ran away from her toward a daycare group that was playing with buckets and shovels.

"The adult was waving and smiling, you know, like, 'I understand,' so I know she saw me (and) she saw Marcus," Carroll said.

Candlelight Vigil Held for Marcus Fiesel

Supporters, friends and volunteers who have been looking for Marcus Fiesel held a candlelight vigil for the missing 3-year old autistic boy.

The vigil included the first public statement by Marcus' birth mother.

"I hope he comes home soon. I hope he's very, very safe," said his birth mother, Donna Trevino of Middletown. "I really miss him. I love you, Marcus."

Ms. Trevino offered thanks to all the volunteers, the police, firefighters and park workers who have helped search for Marcus.

"She wanted the community to come together to make a way for that child to come home," Shepherd said. "She believes that prayer can make that happen."

Final IDEA Regulations Published

Thanks to the Arc of Ohio for passing this along....

The US Dept of Education has published the final IDEA regulations, set to go into effect in October. The document is available in .pdf format and is 307 pages long, and can be accessed by clicking here.

If you read all 307 pages, God bless you. And God help you.

Public Schools Give Charter Schools Poor Report Card

One thing I cannot do is wax eloquently about the charter school / private school / public school continuum that makes up Ohio's educational system. My kids go to public schools and the priest at St. Michael's would like me to reconsider. But after that, I get kind of lost.

There is a lot of information to sift through about all these schools - and certain groups are selectively putting some of it out to help their cause. The Ohio Coalition for Public Education (at least their name is straightforward), for example, says that Charter Schools aren't pulling their weight.

The charter school ``experiment is a dismal failure,'' said Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers and a strong opponent of charter schools.

Not that he has an agenda or anything....

About 30 percent of Ohio charter school students attend schools in the state's lowest academic rating.

That's an improvement from last year -- when about 63 percent were in schools in the bottom rank.

What some people call lousy, others call progress. For example, the headline in the Toledo Blade was a little more upbeat -- "Some charter schools have improved:
But almost half of those graded are lackluster - earning a D or F" . But then the schools in the Toledo area did a little better than most..

The six charter schools privately operated in the Toledo-area by The Leona Group of East Lansing, Mich. - Eagle Academy, George A. Phillips Academy, Lake Erie Academy, Paul L. Dunbar Academy, Toledo Accelerated Academy, and Wildwood Environmental - each posted gains over last year on a composite of state test scores.

The stats in the article were interesting -but you probably need to consider the sources, on both sides.

I thought the information about the Summit Academy Schools was interesting...

Summit Academy

``Overall, I think we are very encouraged by the results of our report cards,'' said Jim Bostic, Summit Academy's executive director of academic services.

He said Summit Academy plans to do a better job of gauging students' progress with a new assessment tool developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association.

Students will be tested at the beginning of the year, in January and just before they take the state-mandated exams in the spring. Teachers will be able to quickly address gaps in learning by tailoring instruction.

``It permits directed, prescribed instruction exactly as the student needs it,'' Bostic said.

Bostic said that Summit Academy caters to students with disabilities -- specifically those with attention deficit disorder and Asperger's, a form of autism.

``We know that many of our kids come in from other districts two to three years behind,'' he said. ``Our job is to find a way to accelerate their learning. We are showing that happening. We will eventually get those students caught up.''

Lawrence Co. MR/DD Laying Off 10-15 Workers

Due to budget cuts, the Lawrence Co. Board of MR/DD announced it will have to lay off from 10-15 people. This represents a paring of up to 15% of county staff.

Spokesperson Sara Diamond Burroway said the cuts are because of reduction of subsidies from the state MRDD department and Medicaid. According to the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council, Ohio MRDD has had over $65 million cut from its budget in the past five years.

This year, Lawrence County MRDD had $630,000 cut from its over $4 million budget.

No Sign Yet of Marcus Fiesel

At 8:00 on Wednesday, police all but abandoned their active search for Marcus Fiesel in Juilfs Park in Anderson township.

Law enforcement personnel will continue to investigate and will "monitor" the situation, Anderson Township fire and rescue chief Mark Ober said.

"We have searched over five square miles up to eight times," he said. "We are asking that no volunteers respond any more."

Meanwhile, people are beginning to take a closer look into the life of Marcus Fiesel and the difficult road he as had to travel to this point. And the investigation of the Carroll's has begun - a fact the police have described as routine.

He came to live with the Carrolls as a foster child about four months ago. Just a few months earlier, police in Middletown were called to his biological mother's home because the boy fell from a second-story window. In April, officers contacted children's services workers when Marcus was found wandering alone on Charles Street in Middletown and was nearly hit by a car. Officers who went to the Grimes Road house where he lived with other siblings and his mother in April said the home was filthy and there was very little food in the kitchen.

They noted Marcus was sleeping on a 2-inch-thick foam mat and that the walls, carpet and a homemade gate installed to keep Marcus in his bedroom were smeared with feces.

At the time, Marcus' mother, Donna Trevino, told officers she did not know if she could care for her children, according to the police report.

What has confounded police is the total lack of leads - no one has called saying they saw a 3-year old boy wandering alone, something Marcus apparently has a history of doing. In almost any situation, someone would try to help or would call police. Yesterday, talk show host Bill Cunningham mused that all things need to be considered, including the possibility that the reason they haven't found him in the park is because he was never there.

God bless this little boy.

Crash Leaves Two Disabled: Let's Beat Coldwater!

This story has been all over talk radio in the eastern part of Ohio, and today it was featured in the Columbus Dispatch. And while it is technically not a disability story, it does speak to greater issues - especially in a football-crazy state like Ohio.

Jesse Howard and Dailyn Campbell from Kenton, Ohio, pleaded no contest to Vehicular Assault. The two placed a decoy deer on a dark road in November. A car, naturally, swerved to avoid it, and it had devastating results.

Driver Robert Roby is now physically disabled; his teenage passenger, Dustin Zachariah, is brain damaged. Three other teens still have court cases pending.

Judge Gary E. McKinley sentenced the two high school students to 60 days in a juvenile detention facility. But the sentence does not begin immediately - they both get to wait until after the high school football season. And this is not a coincidence - both Howard and Campbell are standout football players who may be good enough to qualify for college scholarships. And that is precisely why the sentence was delayed.

And the judge's sentence is splitting the town apart.

"It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard," said bartender Doris Legge as she served cans of beer to a half-dozen people gathered in The Bar. "The judge said ‘Hey, go play ball, have fun and don’t worry.’ What kind of punishment is that?"

Mike Mauk, the head football coach, has weighed in. He has picked up the mantra from William Devane in his famous role as head coach Mike Leak in "The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training": "Let Them Play! Let Them Play!"

In court, he made it clear that he faithfully supports Campbell and Howard staying on the field. He said they already have been practicing with the team as much as their court-imposed curfew would allow.

Mauk told the judge that what the boys have learned and will continue to learn as athletes will help build their character.

Meanwhile, there are two people whose lives have been forever changed.

I don't like to second guess a judge, and I hope these young men get on the straight and narrow. I truly do. But I doubt that if the fall extra-curricular activity in peril was the role of Tony in the Kenton High School production of "West Side Story," the judge would have been moved in quite the same way.

Go Wildcats.

Rep. Peterson Proposes Tax Relief for Seniors and People with Disabilities

This was just released from Representative Jon Peterson (R-Delaware).

Peterson Offers Property Tax Relief for Seniors and Disabled

Columbus, Ohio - August 16, 2006. Representative Peterson has introduced legislation which will provide long awaited property tax relief for Ohio's senior and disabled citizens. Specifically, this legislation will expand Ohio's property tax Homestead Exemption program to prevent eligible taxpayers from paying property taxes which exceed 10% of their income. This is referred to as a tax "circuit breaker".

The bill would enhance the current homestead exemption with a new property tax relief program that will provide meaningful tax relief for Ohio's low and moderate income seniors and disabled through a new circuit breaker program. If this bill becomes effective, the state will guarantee that eligible individuals with incomes of $50,000 or less would not pay more than 10% of their income on property taxes.

Circuit Breaker?

The concept behind the circuit breaker program contained in this bill is simple: ensure that property taxes do not exceed 10% of household income for disabled and senior citizens. For eligible households, the circuit breaker program will reduce the homeowner's property bill to ensure their tax liability does not exceed the 10% threshold.

The need to reform Ohio's property tax relief program is long overdue, and this legislation helps provide significant assistance to our disabled and elderly homeowners. As the financial demands on our seniors and other vulnerable citizens continue to rise, it is important that we look for new and innovative ways to provide low and moderate income homeowners with tax relief benefits that will reduce their economic burden. Peterson credited Westerville School board member Kevin Hoffman and Westerville Superintendent George Tombaugh for their assistance in conceiving and drafting the legislation. "This is additional evidence that educators and legislators can work together to develop public policy which will positively impact Ohioans" Peterson stated.

3-year old boy with developmental disabilities missing in Cincinnati

Marcus Fiesel is missing. His mother collapsed from a heart condition around 1:15 and he has not been seen since, despite a 9-hour search that included many community volunteers.

Fiesel was last seen at Juilfs Park in Anderson Township. Originally, police did not suspect an abduction, because he had wandered off before. Now, however, family members fear that he may have been taken.

Family members said that Fiesels foster mother passed out while with four
kids at Juilfs Park. When she was revived Marcus was missing.

The foster mother, Liz Carroll, is currently in the hospital. Marcus'
foster father David is traveling between the hospital and the park where the
rest of the family has remained since the Marcus disappeared.
Hamilton
County Sheriff Deputies have set up a command center in the park
office.

If you spot anyone matching Marcus Fiesel's discription you are asked
to call Crimestoppers at (513) 352-3040 or 911.

Ohio Disability Events Calendar

Here are some upcoming disability events, so mark your calendars.

Today
Ohio Working Together for a Better Future: 2nd Annual Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Conference
Greater Columbus Convention Center
7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

August 17, 2006
Ohio Governor's Council on People with Disabilities
Annual Meeting/Celebration
Statehouse
10:30 a.m.

August 21, 2006
Ohio Domestic Violence and Disability Task Force
A Meeting of Minds: Part 2
Hyatt Regency Hotel
Columbus
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

August 22, 2006
Governor Conference on Aging Planning Meeting
Ohio Department of Aging
50 W. Broad St., 10th Floor Conference Room A
(sign-in on 9th floor for visitor's badge)

September 28-29, 2006
Brain Injury Association of Ohio's
25th Annual Conference
Columbus Airport Marriott Hotel

October 19&20, 2006
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Children at Word and Play
First Ever National Conference
Embassy Suites River Center
Cincinnati, Ohio
* Sponsors: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), Marion Downs Hearing Center, Oregon Health & Science University and University of Northern Colorado

October 25 and 26, 2006
2006 Columbus Chidren's Autism Conference
"Understanding & Educating Children with Asperger Syndrome"
The Conference Center @ NorthPointe
9243 Columbus Pike Rd.
Lewis Center, Ohio

December 13, 2006
Governor's Conference on Aging
"The Challenge of Choice"
Noon
Statehouse Atrium

March 4-6, 2007
2007 Disability Policy Seminar
The Hyatt Regency Hotel
400 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001
* Sponsors: The Arc of the US, United Cerebral Palsy, AAMR, the Association of University Centers on Disability, and the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities.

March 27 & 28, 2007
Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council/The Arc of Ohio
Major Legislative Event
Renaissance Hotel/Ohio Statehouse

Come Out and See Blue Shoe Arts

Blue Shoe Arts is a fanstastic arts program comprised of artists with disabilities.

The art from Blue Shoe will be on display at the Art on Fair program at the Fairfield County Fairground.

BLUE SHOE ARTS WILL BE AT ART ON FAIR

When: Saturday, Aug. 19 (10 AM – 7 PM)

And

Sunday, Aug. 20 (11 AM – 5 PM)

Where: Fairfield County Fairgrounds

This will be a really wonderful juried art show featuring 85 talented artists.

Be sure to stop by Booth 16 and see all the funky art being created by our 15 Blue Shoe Artists!! We also have some new art products being produced….T-shirts, note cards, prints, and a new line of jewelry. Prices range from $5.00-$100.00

The Fairfield County Fairgrounds is located in Lancaster, Ohio on Fair Avenue between Rt. 158 (Columbus St.) and Rt. 37(High St.). Free admission and free parking. Food vendors available and live music performed each afternoon/evening.

For more information call Cheryl Fey at 740-756-7874.

Blue Shoe Arts
4465 Coonpath Rd. Carroll, OH 43112
www.blueshoearts.com

24 Ohio Death Row Inmates Pursuing Mental Retardation Claims

One of the toughest areas of our penal system is finding justice for people who may (or may not) have mental retardation. And Ohio is no exception.

Two dozen condemned Ohioans are pursuing claims of mental retardation, a pursuit that, if successful, would likely commit their death sentences to life in prison.

The next hearing is for William Thomas, who was convicted of killing his 87-year old neighbor Florence "Mollie" Newbirt.

"We expect that the evaluation will, in fact, say that William Thomas does have mental retardation," (court-appointed attorney Jeffrey Gamso) said. A psychologist testified at Thomas' trial that his IQ was probably in the low 70s. The American Psychiatric Association and the American Association of Mental Retardation define mental retardation as a "significant sub-average general intellectual functioning." Typically, "mild" mental retardation describes people whose IQ level is measured between 50 and 70.

The jury apparently wasn't swayed, because they found him guilty of first-degree murder, and sentenced to him to death.

In my opinion, there are many reasons to be against the death penalty. One reason to be for it would be in the case of a person who murders an 87-year old female neighbor by "repeatedly striking her with a hammer in the head," in order to steal her television.

It's tough to cognitively understand a supposed grey area in the law where a person is "smart" enough to form the requisite intent to commit a crime, but upon conviction will attempt to have their sentence commuted or reduced because they have mental retardation.

I guess their argument is that he only "kind of" knew what he was doing, and that should be the factor that spares his life.

It's difficult when you make mental retardation the "high jump bar" for life or death - where either you clear it or you don't. And it is very tough to get an accurate clinical diagnosis when the ulterior motives and secondary gains are so obvious and dramatic.

Judging by the quick history of Mr. Thomas' case that I have read, I don't think he's going to "win" this one either.

Ohio Company Trains Dogs to Help Children With Autism

A Xenia, Ohio company has been getting a lot of national attention for its program of training dogs to help children with autism. 4 Paws for Ability has had a recent boom in the number of requests for autism-related service dogs.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal just profiled an elementary school student with autism in Waukesha, Wisconsin who will be attending school with a 95-pound labrador.

This inevitably raises the issue about standards for having a service dog and whether or not a service animal can be part of the educational services for children with disabilities.

"There are a lot of questions about a service animal," said James Haessly, director of special education for the Waukesha School District. "Is it truly a service animal, or is it just someone's dog that they call a service animal?"

The owner of 4 Paws for Ability says that they are receiving 20 requests a month for autism service dogs, and it accounts for 80% of their current business, but most of them do not end up in elementary school classrooms.

Haessly also said he expects conflicts to arise when students who can't afford to purchase service dogs - which can cost upward of $10,000 - attempt to train their own and bring them into classrooms.

Schools also must confront issues when classmates are allergic to the dogs - or scared of them. In Mequon and Cedarburg, schools are reviewing policies on animals in class to deal with the rising popularity of service dogs.

Schools also must confront issues when classmates are allergic to the dogs - or scared of them. In Mequon and Cedarburg, schools are reviewing policies on animals in class to deal with the rising popularity of service dogs.

Hobson, DeWine working to save jobs for people with disabilities in Dayton

I spent all day Thursday over at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. Wright-Pat participates in the Javits-Wagner-O'Day program (or JWOD), where people with disabilities are hired to clean office space and other areas at the expansive base. The folks at Goodwill / Easter Seals of the Miami Valley brought me in to see the program up close. I met a group of people with disabilities who don't just have a job - they have a career -- in cleaning offices. Without question, it is the best job many of them would ever find.

Many have worked there for more than 10 years. I met a deaf woman with two children who was homeless and living out of her car before the Goodwill program allowed her to have a career providing a valuable service at Wright Pat.

The program is run through a complicated system that requires applicants to send contract proposals to an "independent" government committee that helps determine what fair-market value is for each type of contract. Disability groups can be vulnerable to private sector companies that can underbid for the contract while making no assurances they will hire people with disabilities.

Wright-Patterson has been a part of this program for 16 years and would love to keep the program in place. They enjoy having the workers from Goodwill at the base. But the government also has rules in place for giving out contracts, and cost must be considered. So, there is a lot of work to be done.

The program at Goodwill was given a one-year extension, and will be up for bid again next year.
The officials from Goodwill expressed thanks for the work of Congressman Dave Hobson of Springfield and Senator Mike DeWine. Both Hobson and DeWine have been champions of the program, helping Goodwill and WPAFB by working the Washington end of the program.

All parties, including Wright Pat, are hopeful that the Goodwill can get a new contract and keep a program in place to preserve the important jobs for Ohioans with disabilities.

AAMR Undergoes Name Change

The American Association on Mental Retardation voted to change its name last month to the American Association on Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities.

Name changes are not a perfect solution, but are probably necessary. While Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities may be more clinically and socially correct, I'm sure many people will not know exactly what it means. For all of its faults, "mental retardation" was a term that was at least marginally understood by most people. It's going to take probably several years, if not decades, for the populace to make the conversion.

Of course, if you don't change your name, the newly named AADID would still be going by its original name -- The Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions for Idiotic and Feebleminded Persons.

Forget about it being insensitive - imagine being the receptionist!

Maryland Man Wants "Dummy" Hoy in the Hall of Fame

Rex L. Bishop, a professor at the College of Southern Maryland, wants William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Dummy Hoy was the first deaf player to make it to the major leagues. He played for several teams, including the Cincinnati Reds, in the 1880s and 1890s. His lifetime batting average was .288 and he still ranks in the top 20 in career stolen bases.

Hoy, many believe, is responsible for many things baseball fans take for granted, such as the umpire using hand signals to denote balls and strikes.

Many believe Hoy's situation led directly to umpires raising their right hands for "strike" and "out" calls, although that's not verified.

Steven R. Sandy, a deaf Ohio man who's a longtime Hoy fan and researcher, is firmly convinced that Hoy not only is responsible for today's umpires' signals, but saw them put into use when he was active.

His never-say-die outlook on the field and off and his flat-out refusal to see himself as a victim made him many friends in baseball.

Sandy said Hoy was so admired by his teammates that the Reds all learned sign language. He said there were times when players would be having dinner and would communicate exclusively by sign language to avoid being interrupted by autograph-seeking fans.

Blind Woman Running for Lt. Governor in Maryland

Disability groups are always encouraging people with disabilities to get involved with politics by running for office. Hats off, then, to Kristen Cox.

Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) is running for re-election in Maryland and has chosen Kristen Cox to be his running mate. (Current Lt. Governor Michael Steele is running for the U.S. Senate). Cox, who is blind, has worked as a presidential appointee in the U.S. Department of Education and as the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Disabilities.

Before becoming a policy maker, Kris coordinated the National Federation for the Blind's legislative agenda at their national headquarters in Baltimore. During this time she met then Congressman Ehrlich as an advocate on behalf of individuals with disabilities.

A devout Christian, Kris spent eighteen months as a missionary serving the people of Brazil before graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in educational psychology and a certificate in special education.

Today, Kris lives in Baltimore County with her husband Randy and two sons, Tanner and Riley.

Washington Co. Board Looking for Help to Modify Homes for People With Disabilities

The Washington County Board of of MR/DD is looking for contractors, electricians and plumbers who are willing to help modify homes in Marietta and the surrounding communities to make the accessible for poeple with disabilities.

State-certified handiwork specialists have assisted in previous years by installing roll-in showers, wheelchair ramps, electrical upgrades, widened doorways and various other projects engineered for those with developmental disabilities, Bateman said.

Those interested can complete a state certification application at 1701 Colegate Drive or by visiting http://odmrdd.state.oh.us.

Contractors are paid in full for their efforts upon completion of the project and after acknowledgment of the state, Bateman said.

Main Claims Abusing Children with Disabilities is a "Sacred Ritual"

Phillip Distasio of Rocky River is charged with over 70 counts of rape and pandering obscenity to minors. His victims were boys with physical or mental disabilities. Distasio believes that having sex with children is a "sacred ritual" of his religion and is protected by civil rights laws.

Distasio says he is the leader of a church called Arcadian Fields Ministries and that some of his congregants are among the victims in this case. He is accused of molesting two disabled boys he tutored at his home and raping seven autistic boys at a Cleveland school for special-needs students where he was a teacher's aide.

I think he's about to learn a lot more about sacred rituals.