BEST FOR DISABLED TOPIC OF MEETING WITH SB 40 BOARD

FRUITLAND, Mo. -- In a meeting that was mildly confrontational but mostly congenial, 16 people tried to clarify how to make conditions better for the physically and mentally disabled in Cape Girardeau County.

Eight members of the county's Senate Bill 40 board, which appropriates over $500,000 in tax money annually, conducted a group dialogue Tuesday with an audience of eight made up of the handicapped, their parents and others at VIP Industries' sheltered workshop.

One parent said that after more than 20 years of operations the best solution for the handicapped would be to kick VIP Industries out of the workshop.

Hillary Schmittzehe, operator of VIP Industries, has taken advantage of the disabled and should be replaced as contractor for the county's sheltered workshops, said Ella Jean Pleasant of Jackson.

Pleasant spent several minutes reading a letter to the board describing how her son, Joel, has been treated at the Fruitland workshop. She spoke of an insensitive VIP bus driver, demands for personal medical information and misuse of her son's Medicaid status by VIP.

"If you're so against the VIP and Hillary, why does your son work here?" asked Billie Roth, a board member.

If Joel did leave, Pleasant said, she and her son would be letting those still in the workshop down. She said she simply wants a new workshop operator.

"I'm here, my son's here, and there are going to be changes," Pleasant said.

Overall, questions from those attending the meeting did not produce much friction.

Margaret Grant, whose disabled son worked in the Cape Girardeau workshop for 10 years, asked the board if it could offer some assistance to parents whose children are too handicapped for the workshops.

The state provides educational opportunities to the handicapped through age 21, but after that few local options exist, Grant said.

"There's nothing for them when they graduate from school except to be cared for at home 24 hours a day," she said.

Grant's request that the board look into funding an adult day care in the county was dismissed but not because the board is unsympathetic, Bob Landgraf said. Senate Bill 40 money is strictly for sheltered workshops and group homes, the board chairman said.

"The law as passed doesn't give us the room to do anything about adult day care," he said.

If anyone wanted to change the statutory law governing Senate Bill 40 boards, they should petition their state legislators, Roth said.

In his more than 10 years on the board, Don Hanscom said this was the first time the public meeting has had an audience.

VIP Industries has drawn attention lately from conflicts with some Perry County residents and officials over its operations of a sheltered workshop in Perryville. VIP's contract to operate the workshop ended in June after a new Perry County Senate Bill 40 board chose not to renew the contract.

But those attending the Fruitland board meeting were not hostile. As the meeting closed and conversations between people in the audience and individual board members continued, Landgraf suggested that the guests buy a soda from the VIP vending machine.

"It only costs a quarter, and you won't find a better deal than that," he said.