COST OF SILC AUTONOMY: $600 A MONTH AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

INDIANA SILC SEEKS MORE AUTONOMY -- SPENDS $600 A MEETING FOR MINUTES BUT
CAN'T SEND COPIES OF PAST MINUTES WITHOUT FIRST GETTING THE STATE'S
APPROVAL

ICOIL VIOLATES THE FIRST AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION AGAIN --"NO POSTERS
OR INFORMATION SIGNS WILL BE ALLOWED" -- EVEN IF NO ONE SAYS A WORD,
BECAUSE IT WILL DISTURB THE BUSINESS OF THEIR MEETING

Beth Quarles, newly elected Chair of the Indiana SILC (Indiana Council on
Independent Living - ICOIL) has laid down the law.  No protest signs or
information signs of any kind will be tolerated at her meetings. 

A few minutes after the start of the Indiana SILC (Indiana Council on
Independent Living) meeting on February 12, 2003, Emma Sullivan and Teresa
Torres quietly began to unfurl a large banner in the back of the room. 

(Note: they couldn't hear much of what was being said around the table at
the front of the room, as usual, because despite having repeatedly been
advised to use a better system, the council uses 3-4 hand-held microphones
which lead to a huge speaker which is way in the corner and not aimed at
the audience.  Video tapes are taken by putting the recorder way over
there by the speaker, to be sure that at least the record is heard.)

The sign said: 

Stop the Fruad and Corruption.  
Give Us Our Money Now.  
Here Are The Perpetrators.  
They Gotta Go. 

This was the same banner that was up on the wall during the entire two
days that RSA spent in Indiana more than a year ago, in what they called
an "issues identification and clarification session." 

Although many ICOIL members stongly objected to the banner being up, RSA
had determined that since this WAS independent living, signs, etc. weren't
to be unexpected nor disallowed. 

At the February 12, 2003 meeting, however, before it was unfurled, before
anyone on the council even saw what it said -- for all they knew the
banner might have been STOP SUTTON or KEEP THE ADA or even HAVE A NICE DAY
-- Beth began to object, with Al Tolbert right behind her. 

(Note:  often it is noted that Mr. Tolbert's words are unclear.  Mr. 
Tolbert's disability does not involve any issue of difficult speech.)

Beth Quarles:  Excuse me, if you want to protest, please take that
        out into the hallway.

Teresa Torres:  We're not protesting, it's a public meeting, and RSA
advised us that we could bring a sign if we want. 

Beth Quarles:  Any signage or anything, I'm gonna ask that you take
        it outside the meeting, we're going to have fair game,
        so I don't want to see any, I don't mind anything
        outside the meeting, but --

Teresa Torres:  Miss Chairperson, the funding source advised us that
        we can bring a sign.  We're not protesting anything. 
        The funding resource advises that's not problematic

Beth Quarles:  Do you have documentation to that effect? 

Teresa Torres:  I can call if you like. 

Beth Quarles:  No, I want it on documentation. 

Teresa Torres:  Can you state for the record why we're being told to
        remove this sign? 

Beth Quarles:  Yes, I want a, I want the meeting to be a meeting, I do not
want, absolutely, any documenta - I mean, any posters.  You are welcome to
take the posters outside the meeting. 

Teresa Torres:  We're not protesting anything, ma'am, we're just holding a
sign up. 

Beth Quarles:  Okay, I appreciate it, but if you want to hold the
        sign up, you take it outside the meeting, that's
        what I request. 

Teresa Torres:  And may I ask by what rule that is? 

Beth Quarles:  That is by the chair's rule, I'm asking that the,
        that we want, we do not want any disturbance. 

Teresa Torres:  Are we disturbing you, ma'am?  We're just standing
        here. 

Beth Quarles:  I don't have any problem, I'll take it to the floor. 

Teresa Tores:  I'm just asking you if we're disturbing you.  We're being
very quiet. 

Beth Quarles:  Excuse me.  I will take it to the floor. 

Al Tolbert: Madam Chairman I support your decision, because (uncleear) it
could be a protest sign (words unclear). 

Teresa Torres:  I can't understand him. 

Beth Quarles:  So can you please put that into a motion? 

Al Tolbert: I make a motion that we not have any form of
        demonstration, (words unclear)

Teresa Torres:  I can't understand him. 

Beth Quarles:  Do I have a second? 

Teresa Torres:  Can I ask you to repeat what he said, because I can't
understand what he's saying.  Honestly. 

Beth Quarles:  Can you repeat the motion? 

Al Tolbert: I make a motion that we have those protest signs or
        information signs outside the meeting, so that it
        doesn't disturb the business of the meeting. 

Beth Quarles:  Is there a second? 

There's a second.  Is there any discusison?  Mark? 

Mark Bair:  I oppose the motion, I think it's a matter of free
        speech, they're not disturbing anybody. 

Al Tolbert: (words unclear) I could my signs up, and then put more
        signs up, to make a few statements that need to be said, if I'd
        have known it was allowed (words clear)

Beth Quarles:  Any other discussion?  Mark. 

Mark Bair:  I think that Ms. Torres repeated, and I'm aware of it
        as well, that our funding source, RSA, said that this
        is the independent living movement, and controversy is
        expected to occur, but is simply a sign, it isn't a
        disruption of the meeting.  So I don't see that we have
        the right to have her take her sign out into the hall,
        because that violates the Constitution. 

Beth Quarles:  Is there any more discussion?  Can I have a show of
        hands, all those in favor raise your hands. 

Mark Bair:  May I have a roll call, please? 

Beth Quarles:  I'll roll call the vote.  Cynthia McPheeters? 

Cynthia McPheeters:  Forgive me, but I just walked in, I missed out on
              what's going on and I'm not sure what all's going
                  on.  Forgive me. 

Beth Quarles:  Okay.  Could we repeat the motion, please? 

Al Tolbert: The motion was that we have banners and information,
        (words unclear) all the protesting and signs (words
        unclear). 

Mark Bair:  Madam Chair, can you have the court reporter read back
        what the motion was? 

Legal Transcriptionist:  I make a motion that we have those signs, protest
signs, do it outside of the meeting, so that we can continue without
interruption. 

Beth Quarles:  What is your vote? 

Cynthia McPheeters: Yes. 

Beth Quarels:  John? 

Cynthia McPheeters: Yes. 

Beth Quarles:  Bill? 

Bill Swiss: Yes

Beth Quarles:  Tom? 

Tom Bailey: yes. 

Richard:  Yes. 

Mark?  A strenuous no. 

Beth Quarles:  The motion carries. 

Teresa Torres:  Madam Chairman, may I ask that since is a government
building, may I ask that you to ask the Government employee who is here if
it is his request that we leave, that we remove the sign from this public
meeting. 

Beth Quarles:  There is a motion made to take the sign out. 

Teresa Torres:  I understand that.  I'm asking if you'll ask the DDARS
        person that. 

Beth Quarles:  It has been made by the decision of the board. 

Teresa Torres:  So are you saying that --

Beth Quarles:  Thank you. 

Teresa Torres:  So are you saying that you will not ask the DDARS
        person, is that what you're saying? 

Beth Quarles:  Correct. It's by the decision of the council. 

Teresa Torres:  So then by that are you --

Beth Quarles:  Thank you.  Now we will go on with the meeting. 

After a quick huddle, it was decided that it was more important to get
some things on the record than to allow either of the sign holders to get
arrested (given past history, that's likely what would have happened.)

And everything that we said most certainly should be on the record
somewhere, even if not the minutes, because these days just about every
meeting is audio taped by two or three people and video taped by one or
two people (often some of the council members have retained a professional
video company). 

A new addition at the February meeting was the presence of a court
reporter, retained at $75 an hour with a 2 hour minimum fee, with an
additional cost of $4.00 a page, with an average of one page per minute
depending on the flow of the meeting (figure 100-120 pages, so it could be
as high as $480).  That amount to around $600, or $7,200 a year. It was
reported that Beth Quarles had just retained those services for the next
12 months. 

When Mark Bair questioned when that decision had been made, and by what
authority, he noted that it seemed an exorbitant cost. Beth told him that
it was necessary as reasonable accommodation for Tom Bailey, the newly
elected secretary, to help him take notes, because he had limited upper
mobility, and she didn't think that anyone would object to it. 

Now, the previous secretary has no use of his hands whatsoever.  That
didn't pose too much of a problem because a chunch of the council's Part B
money goes to pay part of the salary of not only Nancy Young, the DSU
staffperson who identifies herself as the IL Program Director, but also a
DSU secretary who faithfully attends every meeting.  The council secretary
has never actually TAKEN the minutes, he or she has always reviewed the
minutes that the secretary prepared, and when necessary used the audio
tape as back up to clear up any questions. 

In response to Mark's continued objections, Beth advised him that this was
a step that the council was taking to become more autonomous from the
state.  Yet the secretary was still sitting at the table, still being paid
out of Part B funds. 

When folks in the audience asked for copies of the documents being
disseminated to council members (such as the financial report, the letter
Beth said she had just received from Commissioner Joanne Wilson verifying
RSA's position that the Governor indeed has the right to overturn the
election of the council's Chairperson, Beth told them that she would mail
copies later to anyone who contacted her.  Someone then asked for copies
of minutes from the last year, because she hadn't attended all of the
meetings.  Beth told her it would cost 9 cents a page, and they would have
to put that request in writing. 

"Don't you have it on the computer?" the woman asked? 

"Yes, but I'm not sure that DDARS will let us do that, I will have to
check with the state to see if that would be okay," responded the Indiana
SILC Chair. 

Meantime, the council passed new by-laws over the objections of Mark Bair,
who questioned why the committee had never met.  He was told that they had
been prepared in conjunction with an attorney from Versailes, Indiana.  Al
Tolbert is looking for office space to house the council once they achieve
their 501-c-3 status.  Nobody has figured out what to do about how to hire
new non-DSU staff while the state is still using Part B money for a
portion of DSU staff. 

They're hiring Doug Uziak to do some training for the council to help them
gain a new vision and direction.  Uziak is the person RSA identified as an
independent consultant who helped to prepare the long-awaited report of
findings from RSA's review of the Indiana IL program 8 months ago.  The
Alliance has suggested that his being paid by the Indiana SILC before that
report is even issued (and there may be an appeal) nullifies his
objectivity. 

(Note: The council paid a different consultant for 3 full days of
"facilitating" meetings about a year and a half ago, to help them do some
visioning and gain direction.  Those sessions included no discussion of
the Rehabilitation Act, the independent living philosophy or the State
Plan for Independent Living. 

They have sent as many as 4 council members to regional and national
trainings for a decade. There are still no policies or procedures for
general operation or for conducting public meetings. 

The entire budget for the council is just under $70,000. 

FURTHER REPORT ON OTHER 'BUSINESS' CONDUCTED AT THIS MEETING WILL FOLLOW



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