The 1,614 bars, clubs and fraternal organizations around the state that operate limited video lottery machines will have to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act beginning next year.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The 1,614 bars, clubs and fraternal organizations around the state that operate limited video lottery machines will have to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act beginning next year.
The Lottery Commission has adopted a rule that goes into effect Jan. 1 that will require all state Lottery retailers - including the four racetracks and all limited video locations - to comply with the ADA.
Traditional retailers of scratch-off and online tickets have had to be ADA accessible for the past 12 years - under a 1996 state Supreme Court ruling which held that the Lottery falls under Title II of the ADA, which mandates that government services must be accessible to persons with disabilities.
Lottery counsel John Melton said he didn't know how many limited video locations will be out of compliance with the ADA requirements, which includes being wheelchair accessible.
However, the Lottery received at least three letters from retailers saying they could not afford to upgrade their establishments.
Charles Hammons, the "owner, operator and only employee" of Charlie Bob's Bar in Charleston, said he simply cannot afford to renovate or rebuild the circa-1940s cinderblock building that houses his tavern.
"Over the last several years, it has appeared that the state of West Virginia has, through regulation, attempted to ensure that the small business owner who holds a license for limited video lottery will soon be out of business," he wrote.
At the other extreme was American Legion Post 114 in Newell, housed in a three-level building with four flights of stairs.
"We would have to widen all of our doors, install an elevator or put lift chairs on our stairs, make our restrooms handicap accessible, along with many other repairs which would run into the tens of thousands of dollars," Commander Thomas E. Cline told the Lottery Commission.
nn
Meanwhile, four health-care advocates - state Bureau of Public Health Commissioner Chris Curtis, Robert H. Anderson and Valerie Frey-McClung of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at West Virginia University, and Bruce Adkins, director of the Division of Tobacco Prevention for the Bureau of Public Health - all urged the Lottery Commission to use the ADA requirement to ban smoking at all racetracks and video gaming parlors.
As the WVU researchers noted: "The ADA, which took effect in 1992, was adopted to provide a comprehensive national mandate to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities.
"The ADA may be used to protect people with asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, lung disease, women who are pregnant, youth of all ages, and others whose daily activities are substantially limited by secondhand smoke exposure in private and public work places and in other places of public accommodation."
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The 1,614 bars, clubs and fraternal organizations around the state that operate limited video lottery machines will have to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act beginning next year.
The Lottery Commission has adopted a rule that goes into effect Jan. 1 that will require all state Lottery retailers - including the four racetracks and all limited video locations - to comply with the ADA.
Traditional retailers of scratch-off and online tickets have had to be ADA accessible for the past 12 years - under a 1996 state Supreme Court ruling which held that the Lottery falls under Title II of the ADA, which mandates that government services must be accessible to persons with disabilities.
Lottery counsel John Melton said he didn't know how many limited video locations will be out of compliance with the ADA requirements, which includes being wheelchair accessible.
However, the Lottery received at least three letters from retailers saying they could not afford to upgrade their establishments.
Charles Hammons, the "owner, operator and only employee" of Charlie Bob's Bar in Charleston, said he simply cannot afford to renovate or rebuild the circa-1940s cinderblock building that houses his tavern.
"Over the last several years, it has appeared that the state of West Virginia has, through regulation, attempted to ensure that the small business owner who holds a license for limited video lottery will soon be out of business," he wrote.
At the other extreme was American Legion Post 114 in Newell, housed in a three-level building with four flights of stairs.
"We would have to widen all of our doors, install an elevator or put lift chairs on our stairs, make our restrooms handicap accessible, along with many other repairs which would run into the tens of thousands of dollars," Commander Thomas E. Cline told the Lottery Commission.
nnMeanwhile, four health-care advocates - state Bureau of Public Health Commissioner Chris Curtis, Robert H. Anderson and Valerie Frey-McClung of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at West Virginia University, and Bruce Adkins, director of the Division of Tobacco Prevention for the Bureau of Public Health - all urged the Lottery Commission to use the ADA requirement to ban smoking at all racetracks and video gaming parlors.
As the WVU researchers noted: "The ADA, which took effect in 1992, was adopted to provide a comprehensive national mandate to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities.
"The ADA may be used to protect people with asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, lung disease, women who are pregnant, youth of all ages, and others whose daily activities are substantially limited by secondhand smoke exposure in private and public work places and in other places of public accommodation."
Wrote Adkins: "It stands to reason that state and local government agencies have an obligation to protect the citizens within their jurisdictions against exposure to secondhand smoke inside buildings in which government services are rendered.
"In light of the indisputable and overwhelming medical evidence that secondhand smoke is harmful to all, and extremely harmful to some, the West Virginia Lottery Commission should require that retailers ... abide by a blanket smoke-free policy."
However, Melton said the commission decided not to extend the ADA compliance rules to ban smoking in Lottery establishments.
He said the Supreme Court ruling compels the Lottery Commission to comply with Title II of the ADA, to provide the disabled with access to governmental services, including lottery games.
The issue of whether secondhand smoke poses a barrier to persons disabled with heart or lung diseases falls under Title I of the ADA, Melton said. In other words, that fight falls to the health-care advocates, not the Lottery Commission.
I'd say it's a safe bet that, once the video lottery parlors fall under the ADA requirements as of Jan. 1, one or more of the aforementioned advocates will be in court seeking an ADA order to ban smoking in those establishments.
nnFinally, a brief comment regarding allegations by fired Supreme Court magistrate administrative counsel Pancho Morris that he was dismissed, in part, because he complained about the use of racist language by court Administrative Director Steve Canterbury.
I don't have much occasion to cover Canterbury now that he's at the Supreme Court, but I covered the Regional Jail Authority extensively during the eight years he was executive director.
From that experience, I can say that Steve Canterbury may be a lot of things, but racist is not one of them, and that's the consensus from others I've talked to who know Canterbury.
In fact, in the most recent conversation I had with Steve, he was eagerly laying out a scenario (overly optimistic, as it turned out) where a combination of low voter turnout in southern counties and high turnout in north-central counties and the panhandles would allow Barack Obama to carry West Virginia.
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 348-1220.
Post a comment