Sign draws protest from disabled

[Guest guest]

This was posted in anther group I am in that helps mom coping with

children who have disabilities and it made me so mad!! I had to

share it and pass it along to show how horrible people can be and

not even know how stupid they look when they do things like this. At

the March of Dimes walk on Sunday Kim (Kate's mom) gave us one of

her daughters shirts for Eva and I LOVE IT!! It says " Ignorance is

the biggest DISABILITY " I am going to put it on Eva when we go

places I know people will stare at her and say stupid things. Please

read.....

Sign draws protest from disabled

Hercules Fence manager says store's owner chooses weekly joke to be

posted.

BY FRED HIERS

STAR-BANNER

OCALA - Carol Terrillion steered her motorized wheelchair under the

sign in front of Hercules Fence Co. and pointed as best she could

with a paralyzed arm.

" Can you show me the humor in that? " she asked.

The sign's message: " What has four wheels and flies? A dead cripple

in a wheelchair. "

Terrillion and a handful of others protested Tuesday at the fence

company, 4660 S.E. Maricamp Road, and demanded the message be

removed.

Terrillion, 52, had polio. Her body is twisted and shrunken from the

disease, which froze her muscles like stone. She is the project

coordinator at Ocala's Center for Independent Living, a nonprofit

group that teaches life skills to people with disabilities.

" I think it [the message] is distasteful and appalling, " Terrillion

said. She spoke slowly and angrily, as if the words on the sign left

a bitter taste in her mouth as she read them again.

The protesters didn't get very far. The store's commercial manager,

Rusty Buchkovich, told them the message would come down Friday and

the store's owner decided which weekly jokes to post.

State records show the building owner is Hercules Fence Co. Inc. Its

president is Buchkovich, and its vice president is Shirly

Buchkovich.

" There's not much I can discuss about it. I was told not to, " Rusty

Buchkovich told the group.

The Buchkoviches did not return telephone calls for this story. When

the Star-Banner called the store to ask about the relationship

between Rusty Buchkovich and the owners, the woman who answered the

telephone said the store manager was not in and hung up.

Hillcrest School Principal Steve said he was surprised at

the store's sign. In recent years, Hercules built fencing around his

school's retention pond and electrical panels to protect his

disabled students. The school's 175 students are all special-needs

children; about 35 use wheelchairs.

" They were very responsive and did good work, " said. " But I

guess the employees are not the same people who decide on the sign.

" It hurts, " said during a telephone interview. " It's sad and

I'm sorry to hear people think it's cute. "

Building fences for Hillcrest was not the company's only work for

the n County School Board. Until last year, Hercules had a

contract with the school system to provide fencing around other

school properties.

School District spokesman Christian said the company no longer

had that contract, but still had a purchase order to supply as much

as $500 in work at Dr. N.H. Elementary School to maintain its

entrance gate.

Christian said the school system followed state law that required

awarding contracts to the lowest bidder.

" We can't control what they put on their sign, " he said.

In 2005, the fence company was in the public spotlight when, during

Violence Awareness Week, its sign featured this message: " Take your

ex-wife out. One bullet oughtta do it. "

Employees at the fence company would not give their names Tuesday,

but said they didn't support the message.

" It's my boss' sense of humor. What can I say, " said one worker,

shaking his head.

Rusty Buchkovich said he did not want the sign to hurt his business

and allowed the protesters in the store to let them know the message

was his boss' doing.

Rusty Buchkovich said he did not want his name in this story,

warning a Star-Banner reporter that if it was reported, " I can do as

much damage as you guys can. "

The fence company's sign is shared by Good Guys Auto Service, which

also is owned by and Shirly Buchkovich.

Whether the sign will hurt business is unknown.

" It's no doubt that it's in bad taste, " said Chip Duffey, a local

contractor who was buying railing material at the fencing

company. " But turn your head as you go by if you don't like it. "

As for the protesters, Duffey said, " I think they're missing the

point. We've got a heap of people in Iraq dying for our rights. A

lot of people are paying a heavy price for people to put up signs

like that. "

Among the protesters was Kennedy, who uses a wheelchair. He

is executive director for the Center for Independent Living in

Gainesville.

" If they [the store owners] don't think anything is wrong with the

sign, why don't they come out and talk with us? Why don't they stand

by their sign? " he asked.

" Do they think disabled students having to pass the sign every day

think it's funny? How many of our troops are coming back

disabled .Ê.Ê. in wheelchairs? Do they think it's funny? " Kennedy

said.

As Terrillion prepared to leave the parking lot, she said the sign

reminded her of how others reacted to her 50 years ago.

" When I was playing in the sandbox, parents would yank their

children out, afraid they would catch what I had, " Terrillion

recalled. " It was devastating. Other children would pull my hair and

spit on me. Now I get slapped in the face with this sign... It's

like nothing's changed. "

Fred Hiers may be reached at fred.hiers@... and (352) 867-

4157.

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Carol Terrillion, left, and Kennedy, protest a sign located

at Hercules Fence on Southeast Maricamp on Tuesday .

JANNET WALSH/STAR-BANNER

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