April 14, 2008

Our handicap spot denied

First of all I would like to thank Mayor Ted Ellis for all he done for us at our council meetings and for voting “yes” in our behalf for a handicapped spot for in front of our house. And also thank-you to our good neighbors for standing up for us.

As for James Phillabaum and Melanie Durr I think that you both have discriminated against the elderly and the handicapped in this matter. I feel that a handicapped spot here in front of our house would be no different then having one at a store or anywhere else.

As for the Reiff’s they need to get their stories straight before they tell stories. By that I mean in Wednesday’s story “South Morgan St. handicap parking request denied” the Reiff’s claimed that they saw my mother (Norma Garrison) carry a bag of groceries from her parking spot in front of her house to a neighbor’s porch and that is “wrong.” The only thing that she carries over to their porch in a Pak-a-Sak bag daily is Mr. Bob Barton’s News-Banner paper because he is still recovering from a broken leg. And my mother does not walk with a cane, I walk with a cane. Maybe Mr. Reiff needs to have his eyeglasses changed.

The Reiffs also said that we have a parking space behind our house in which we don’t. We have no driveway or sidewalk back there.

We have not caused any problems with the Reiffs in all the 12 years that we have lived here. We have even watched over their factory after work hours in which one time one of their doors was left open after hours and we called and reported it to the police and then they contacted their son Matt about the matter. Matt then came over to our house and thanked us for calling the police. I think that we was being a good neighbor.

To everyone in this matter, we should all remember that one day we all will be elderly or possibly disabled just as Norma Garrison and I are. Our lives could change in a blink of an eye.

Thank you for your time,
BARBARA GARRISON
Bluffton