antiquity
01-15-2003, 04:10 PM
Photo by: GREG FIGHT
Justin Kelley, 17, who has cerebral palsy and uses a walker or wheelchair, wants to show his pig Bacon at the fair. But fair officials told the family that liability risk would be too high.
Polk Youth Fair Blocks Disabled Boy From Showing Pig
By DEBORAH ALBERTO dalberto@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 15, 2003
BARTOW - Justin Kelley waited four years to show livestock at the Polk County Youth Fair. This year, his grades were good, so his parents allowed it. The Lake Wales High senior bought a piglet, named him Bacon and put lessons he has learned in four years of agriculture classes to work.
Now Justin may not be allowed to show his pig at the fair. He has cerebral palsy, and his parents were told last month that he could not participate because of liability concerns.
Justin uses a wheelchair and sometimes a walker. But it doesn't stop him from enjoying the outdoors.
He rides personal watercraft, tubes and went parasailing this summer.
The Kelleys went before the fair's swine committee Dec. 20 to find solutions. Instead, a committee member suggested Justin forgo the livestock competition and consider another category.
``They said I should bake a cake instead,'' Justin said.
The 17-year-old is not new to the youth fair circuit. He has volunteered for four years, often judging livestock competitions that put him in pens with 1,200-pound steer.
The Kelleys proposed what they thought were common- sense solutions.
``We offered to let Justin show separately,'' Tammy Kelley said. ``We also told them we would purchase our own liability insurance policy for him. We were told the decision was final.''
Tammy Kelley recently learned the topic will be discussed at a meeting of the fair's board of directors Thursday. Youth fair board member Jimmy Bolden said the topic will be discussed but declined to comment further.
The Kelleys, both Future Farmers of America alumni, don't want to tarnish the fair's reputation. ``They do a lot of great things for kids,'' Tammy Kelley said. ``I just want to open their eyes.''
The fair is in March at the county's agriculture center in Bartow - a public building owned by the state agriculture commission. Terry MacElroy, a spokesman for state Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, said he is looking into the matter.
Winter Haven lawyer J. Davis Connor volunteered to intervene on Justin's behalf. ``Legally, they couldn't be more wrong,'' he said. ``Both the [Americans with Disabilities Act] and the Rehabilitation Act of 1984 require that a person with a disability be given a reasonable opportunity to participate in every aspect of public life.''
Connor will attend Thursday's meeting to offer solutions but wouldn't elaborate until afterward.
``We are not threatening to sue. We just want to give them a chance to correct their mistake,'' he said.
Several phone messages left for Polk County Youth Fair President Freddy Summerlin were not returned Tuesday, and other board members declined to comment or deferred calls to Summerlin.
The Winter Haven News Chief quoted swine committee member Tommy Crowell last month as saying: ``It's a liability thing. For kids in a walker they can get hurt in a pen where there's 15 or 20 hogs in there at a time.''
Crowell, reached Tuesday, declined to comment.
Bartow native and U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, who says he is a ``product of the Polk County Youth Fair,'' expressed support for Justin and asked a staff member to call fair organizers.
``There are legitimate issues to address, but there are also legitimate ways to address them,'' he said.
Putnam offered two possible solutions - a smaller class with fewer animals, or letting someone else show Justin's pig.
``But there are probably 15 ways they can make it work,'' he said, adding that he is confident the fair organizers will reconcile the issues.
Justin said the worry of fair officials is for naught.
``Who are they to judge abilities?'' he asked. ``I went on a wild boar hunt this past weekend. I get around fine.''
http://tampatrib.com/News/MGA6Z2JRYAD.html
Justin Kelley, 17, who has cerebral palsy and uses a walker or wheelchair, wants to show his pig Bacon at the fair. But fair officials told the family that liability risk would be too high.
Polk Youth Fair Blocks Disabled Boy From Showing Pig
By DEBORAH ALBERTO dalberto@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 15, 2003
BARTOW - Justin Kelley waited four years to show livestock at the Polk County Youth Fair. This year, his grades were good, so his parents allowed it. The Lake Wales High senior bought a piglet, named him Bacon and put lessons he has learned in four years of agriculture classes to work.
Now Justin may not be allowed to show his pig at the fair. He has cerebral palsy, and his parents were told last month that he could not participate because of liability concerns.
Justin uses a wheelchair and sometimes a walker. But it doesn't stop him from enjoying the outdoors.
He rides personal watercraft, tubes and went parasailing this summer.
The Kelleys went before the fair's swine committee Dec. 20 to find solutions. Instead, a committee member suggested Justin forgo the livestock competition and consider another category.
``They said I should bake a cake instead,'' Justin said.
The 17-year-old is not new to the youth fair circuit. He has volunteered for four years, often judging livestock competitions that put him in pens with 1,200-pound steer.
The Kelleys proposed what they thought were common- sense solutions.
``We offered to let Justin show separately,'' Tammy Kelley said. ``We also told them we would purchase our own liability insurance policy for him. We were told the decision was final.''
Tammy Kelley recently learned the topic will be discussed at a meeting of the fair's board of directors Thursday. Youth fair board member Jimmy Bolden said the topic will be discussed but declined to comment further.
The Kelleys, both Future Farmers of America alumni, don't want to tarnish the fair's reputation. ``They do a lot of great things for kids,'' Tammy Kelley said. ``I just want to open their eyes.''
The fair is in March at the county's agriculture center in Bartow - a public building owned by the state agriculture commission. Terry MacElroy, a spokesman for state Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, said he is looking into the matter.
Winter Haven lawyer J. Davis Connor volunteered to intervene on Justin's behalf. ``Legally, they couldn't be more wrong,'' he said. ``Both the [Americans with Disabilities Act] and the Rehabilitation Act of 1984 require that a person with a disability be given a reasonable opportunity to participate in every aspect of public life.''
Connor will attend Thursday's meeting to offer solutions but wouldn't elaborate until afterward.
``We are not threatening to sue. We just want to give them a chance to correct their mistake,'' he said.
Several phone messages left for Polk County Youth Fair President Freddy Summerlin were not returned Tuesday, and other board members declined to comment or deferred calls to Summerlin.
The Winter Haven News Chief quoted swine committee member Tommy Crowell last month as saying: ``It's a liability thing. For kids in a walker they can get hurt in a pen where there's 15 or 20 hogs in there at a time.''
Crowell, reached Tuesday, declined to comment.
Bartow native and U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, who says he is a ``product of the Polk County Youth Fair,'' expressed support for Justin and asked a staff member to call fair organizers.
``There are legitimate issues to address, but there are also legitimate ways to address them,'' he said.
Putnam offered two possible solutions - a smaller class with fewer animals, or letting someone else show Justin's pig.
``But there are probably 15 ways they can make it work,'' he said, adding that he is confident the fair organizers will reconcile the issues.
Justin said the worry of fair officials is for naught.
``Who are they to judge abilities?'' he asked. ``I went on a wild boar hunt this past weekend. I get around fine.''
http://tampatrib.com/News/MGA6Z2JRYAD.html