COURTHOUSES TOUGH ON HANDICAPPED

If you're handicapped, it could be difficult to get your day in court in the courthouses in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties.

There are handicapped accessibility problems with the courthouses in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Marble Hill and Perryville, said Phyllis Launius, who works for the Missouri state courts administrator's office.

Launius coordinates the office's access-to-courts program. As part of the new program, she has started inspecting county courthouses to point out where they are not in compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

The law took effect 10 years ago, and the regulations governing public entities like the courts took effect on Jan. 26, 1992.

Launius said the biggest accessibility problems in the 32nd Judicial Circuit are at the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau and the Bollinger County Courthouse at Marble Hill. Neither courthouse has an elevator, making it impossible for those in wheelchairs to reach the second-floor courtrooms in both buildings.

There are elevators at both the Jackson and Perryville courthouses.

But there are handicapped accessibility problems at all four courthouses, including everything from witness stands to restrooms, Launius said. Tiered jury boxes also pose problems for the handicapped.

Launius met in Jackson Thursday with the Cape Girardeau County Commission and Circuit Judge William Syler to review her findings. Syler is the presiding judge of the three-county circuit.

She said the county needs to install an elevator in the Common Pleas Courthouse so that handicapped persons can get to the second-floor courtroom. There is a small courtroom on the first floor that is accessible to the handicapped, but that doesn't eliminate the need for an elevator, Launius said.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said any proposal to install an elevator in the 146-year-old Common Pleas Courthouse would likely meet opposition from the local historical society.

There is one, marked handicapped parking space on Lorimier Street near the Common Pleas Courthouse. There are two other handicapped parking spots in the courthouse parking lot, but those who have difficulty walking would find them of little use, Launius said.

That's because concrete steps must be climbed from the parking lot to reach the courthouse. Individuals in wheelchairs would have to roll their way across the parking lot and proceed uphill on the sidewalk to more level ground to get to court.

"The parking situation needs to be addressed," she told the commissioners. Reserving more on-street parking along Lorimier Street for the handicapped would help, Launius said.

The court clerk's office at the Common Pleas Courthouse is too cramped to allow for easy maneuvering of wheelchairs, she said.

Syler said there is limited space in the building. "We have outgrown the place," he said.

There also are accessibility problems with the county courthouse in Jackson, Launius said.

When she inspected the courthouse, she found that the only ground-level entrance to the courthouse was locked at 4:30 p.m. even though court proceedings can extend past that time. That poses a problem for handicapped persons seeking to enter or exit the building, Launius said.

The threshold at the ground-level entrance makes it difficult for those in wheelchairs to easily enter the building. She said a ramp would help.

Syler said the few handicapped parking spaces on one of the streets bordering the courthouse are some distance from the ground-level entrance. Persons in wheelchairs have to take a winding route along sidewalks to get there, he said.

County commissioners said the handicapped spaces also could serve the new county archives center. But that building sits across busy Washington Street. U.S. 61 travels along that stretch of street.

There isn't a stop sign at the intersection. Syler said it would be difficult for wheelchair-bound persons to cross the street safely.

"You just are going to have to be quick," said Jones.

Syler replied, "I don't think there is a quick-and-a-dead exception."

Launius said some doorways in both courthouses need to be widened to accommodate wheelchairs, and witness stands need to be moved or enlarged to accommodate the handicapped.

Some of the public seating in the courtrooms needs to be replaced with removable chairs to accommodate wheelchair users, she said.

Syler said Launius has suggested "a blueprint" to bring the circuit's courthouses into better compliance with ADA requirements.

But he acknowledged that funding remains a problem. Bollinger County, for example, doesn't have the money to install an elevator or make other improvements, Syler said.

But Launius said some improvements can be made at little cost.

Syler told the Cape Girardeau County Commission that counties that have courthouses that aren't easily accessible to the handicapped run the risk of being named in citizen complaints to the federal Justice Department.

Making some improvements now could head off future complaints, he said.

The judge said it is also important to follow the law. "We are not doing this to avoid being sued. We are trying to do the right thing," he said.