OFFICIALS PONDER ACCESSIBILITY FOR HANDICAPPED AT COURTHOUSES

Harold Kuehle remembers when he had to be carried up the stairs of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse at Jackson, Mo., to his second-floor office.

Kuehle served as county collector for 32 years, retiring last year. He was first elected in 1966. He took office on March 1, 1967. But it was around mid-summer that year before an elevator was installed in the courthouse.

"People had to carry me up the steps to my office," he said. "I think we used a couple of prisoners on a volunteer basis, anybody who didn't have a bad back," Kuehle said Monday.

Kuehle, who has been in a wheelchair since 1952, managed to work around building obstacles.

"When I first took office there weren't even any curb cuts. I had to jump the curbs," he said. "A couple of times I would flip over backwards."

Over the years things have improved, Kuehle said.

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act took effect 10 years ago.

But a recent inspection by the Missouri state courts administrator's office found accessibility problems at the Jackson courthouse and the Common Pleas Courthouse, as well as courthouses in Perryville and Marble Hill.

The Common Pleas Courthouse doesn't have an elevator, making its second-floor courtroom off limits for handicapped persons.

While the Jackson courthouse has an elevator, the study found a threshold makes it difficult to enter the ground-floor entrance on the north side of the building.

Miki Gudermuth heads up the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence. As a child she had polio. It has made walking difficult. She often uses a wheelchair.

Gudermuth said hoses for watering the lawn can be found in front of the north entrance in the summer. Getting over the threshold is hard enough. "My wheelchair cannot hop the hose," she said.

Kuehle, who was paralyzed by a high school football accident, said he can't serve on a jury in the Jackson courthouse because the jurors' bathroom on the second floor isn't accessible to those in wheelchairs.

"They need a new courthouse," said Kuehle.

But new courthouses are expensive. Most counties can't afford new courthouses, he said.

Kuehle said the federal ADA has improved accessibility for the handicapped. Public buildings and businesses today are built to accommodate the handicapped.

"We have come a long way," he said.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones has suggested that local historic-preservation advocates would oppose any effort to install an elevator in the 146-year-old Common Pleas Courthouse. But Barbara Port, who serves on Cape Girardeau city's Historic Preservation Commission, said she and other preservationists wouldn't oppose installation of an elevator inside the old, brick building.

"We can't have every building be a museum," she said. But Port said she and other preservation supporters would oppose any effort to install an elevator on the outside of the building.

"I would say what is important is to maintain the outside appearance of the building," said Port.

County Commissioner Larry Bock said the commission will take steps to improve handicapped accessibility at the county's two courthouses but primarily at the Jackson courthouse.

Bock opposes installing an elevator in the Common Pleas Courthouse. An elevator would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Bock said. The commissioner said it makes better sense to improve access at the Jackson courthouse, which already has an elevator.

"What we want to do is do what is feasible and realistic," Bock said.

Circuit Judge William Syler said he and other local judges rarely have handicapped residents who want to serve as jurors. "It may happen a couple of times a year," he said. When it does, the judges try to accommodate the prospective jurors by holding court in Jackson.

The judges routinely excuse prospective jurors who have handicaps that would make it difficult for them to get to the courtrooms or hear or view the proceedings.

A few years ago Gudermuth was a witness in a civil case. She said the judge in that case moved the hearing to the small, first-floor courtroom in the Common Pleas Courthouse so she could attend.

Both Kuehle and Gudermuth said the law requires reasonable accommodations be made for the handicapped.

Gudermuth said the county could improve accessibility by installing a ramp at the ground-floor entrance to the Jackson courthouse and an automatic door.

Gudermuth said fines vary for violations of the ADA law, depending on the case.

The law is enforced on a complaint basis. A complaint is filed with the U.S. Justice Department. The agency then tries to get the problem corrected.

If that doesn't happen, the agency would consider filing a lawsuit. Ultimately, a case could end up being tried in federal court.

Gudermuth said local governments increasingly will have to consider the needs of the handicapped.

As people age, walking can become more difficult, she said. "We are going to have to make things more accessible to accommodate age disabilities, if nothing else."