This editorial appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008.
It's been hard to escape the nagging suspicion that the $880 million courthouse-building spree in Kentucky this past decade has been more about power and money and names on plaques than about giving citizens more and better access to the courts that affect their lives.
Now we know for sure.
Why else would the Harrison County Courthouse be functionally inaccessible to citizens with disabilities?
The courthouse pened in 2002 at a cost of $6 million, yet a citizen must climb 11 steps to get into the building. With no ramp, the only other option is to summon a guard (with a buzzer) to operate a mechanical wheelchair lift that's often broken, according to the report by reporter John Cheves.
All this long after the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act established a "national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities."
To read this entire commentary, go to The Kentucky Herald-Leader