University Daily Kansan, April 13, 1983
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would after you came out," said Gary Conda, director of the project. "My opinion of nursing homes is high, but they're for people who need constant medical attention.
"They're filled with elderly people, some senile, who sometimes yell and are not always enjoyable companions. It's not the right setting for the mentally retarded."
Conndra's idea for the project developed during the 10 years in which he directed Cottonwood Inc., a Lawrence social service organization, which provides housing for the mentally handicapped.
His chance to try a new program came when the state decided a year ago that mentally handicapped people should not live in nursing homes.
But new legislation enabled Condra to set up his living home.
Some persons who were to be evicted from the nursing homes, Conra said, would have received a $500 reward.
THE 10 MEN AND ONE woman, who all have rural backgrounds, are housed at the O'Connell Youth Ranch, a mile southeast of Lawrence. The ranch opened in 1978 as a foster home for troubled boys.
the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services supervises the project. Condra gets up to $419 a month from SRS
for an individual's care, but part of that fee may be the individual's Social Security disability check.
Candra and his staff, including his wife and 19-year-old daughter, supervise work and play within the multi-roomed brick ranch house, set upon 140 acres of wooded land.
The goal of the project is to help its residents re-enter the community in as full a capacity as possible.
For some, that could mean moving into an apartment with only minimal supervision. For a larger percentage, Condra said, that could mean part-time jobs. Yet there are exceptions, who would need the first support of the congregate program for the rest of their lives.
CONDRA SAID HE hoped his program could be extended to other groups, such as the elderly.
He said that not everyone needed a nursing home, and that his type of living provided a halfway solution between dependency and independence.
Randy Kitches, a staff member, said the program had yielded good results already.
"Everyone here is happier and more relaxed," he said. "There's no substitute for a friend, and people's complete social needs can be cared for just keeping them barely alive."
But training the residents, said Kitchens, is only part of a larger problem.
"The men at the ranch need to be educated in some ways, but society needs to be educated to know they're human beings," he said.
Society, however, has been a slow learner.
BEFORE 1970. FOR instance, the mentally handicapped still were generally denied access to public education; they could be kept in institutions with little hope of release. And 10 years ago, programs like Cottonwood were still experimental.
Today, many of the mentally handicapped are leaving institutions, enrolling in schools and moving into group homes such as the one outside Lawrence and others.
In all of this, said Elaine Orch, director of the Douglas County Association for Retarded Citizens, the mentality handicapped are often those who have separated them from society.
"Loneliness and lack of support is a big problem for those with a disability." she cried.
problem (for those with a disability, 'she said,
'THE ONLY WAY THESE people are handicapped is by us. They're people first,
with all the human feelings — love,
enjoyment of films and the ability to appreciate a fine spring day.'
Frank Evans was still thinking about the Lawrence farm land and making his plans.
"Maybe we could get horses too," he said
Bingo
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the columns of numbers, snapping the red plastic shutters over the number called. The players' heads lift almost in unison.
THE PLAYERS REPEAT their motions as the number called flashes upon a lighted board, which displays all of the numbers that have been called so far.
Bingo used to be illegal in Kansas, although games were conducted anyway. In 1974, Kansans voted to allow the Legislature to pass a law that permitted nonprofit organizations to conduct bingo games.
The Legislature passed the bill in 1975, and Gov. Robert Bennett signed it into law.
About 300 bingo licenses were issued by the state during the first year after the law was passed. Almost 700 nonprofit organizations are now licensed to conduct the games.
THE STATE TAXES the net proceeds of bingo games at a rate of 3 percent. In 1980, that tax amounted to $660,489; in 1981, $730,115; and in 1982, $759,088.
Some state officials are concerned about what they consider abuses of the intent of the bingo game. Bingo parlorists have sprung up in urban areas of the state. These parlorists rent space for bingo games to nonprofit groups and charge up to 50 percent of the gross proceeds for rent.
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Attorney General Robert Stephan told a state Senate committee last month, "the loosely
regulated bingo industry in Kansas, with its millions of dollars in gross cash receipts, must be attractive prey for big-time crime." "10 60."
So the Legislature has been considering a bill that would prohibit bingo parlers from basing the rent they charge on the proceeds from the games.
THE BILL WOULD ALSO clarify requirements for financial records and give the Department of Revenue more authority to audit those records. And the bill would create a bingo license, one third of the bingo fees and taxes would flow for enforcement of the bingo laws.
"Bingo!" a delighted player calls out.
The tension in the room evaporates. Players sitting around the winner tease her. Others, who were waiting for the announcer to call the winner, begin to argue, matter, "Were you close? What did you need?"
The player won a game of straight bingo — five across, five down or five from corner to corner of the card. But most players say they like playing bingo at the halls that offer the greatest variety of games.
POSTAGE STAMP, WHERE four numbers in the corner of a card must be covered; four corners, where the four corners of the card must be covered; or games where the numbers covered must form a letter, such as E or M, are common regular games.
The cash prizes for these games range from as
But the law allows cash prizes of up to $500 for special games such as blackout, where all numbers must be covered to win. The law sets a maximum value of prizes in Value of prizes that can be awarded in one night.
low as $5, if several people win at once, to $50, the limit set by law for a regular game.
Special games are usually played on paper cards that cost $1 for three or four on one page.
"If I play 14 cards and don't win an airight,
Howell said. "I won't play the blackout."
THAT'S WHERE THE bingo paraphernalia comes in. Most bingo enthusiasts have special water color markers, called Dab-lits, to mark out numbers on their paper cards.
Dorothy Grinstead, wife of Hugh Grinstead,
said, "Chalk it up to entertainment. It's fun to win,
but if you come here just to win, you're crazy."
In addition to the American Legion and the Knights of Columbus, the Elks Lodge, 3705 W. Street, the Alumnae College, 18th St.; and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 138 Alabama, hold bingo games once or twice a week.
Most halls in Lawrence conduct 20 regular games and 5 special games each night. And after the last "Bingo!" is called, the players clear out in minutes.
BUT BEFORE HE LEFT the American Legion hall last week, David Allen, husband of Fern Allen, said, "What makes more sense? To come here or go to a beer parlor? You'd probably spend more money at a beer parlor and here you have a chance to win it back."
some neighbors of the proposed sites said they feared the homes would make their property values decline and increase traffice on their streets, so they said they feared for their children's safety.
Hasler said the neighbors' concerns were unfounded. Studies have shown that property values do not decline in areas where a group home is built, he said.
Cotton
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Traffic would not increase, he said, because the group homes are served by no more than two vans, and residents of group homes are carefully screened and closely supervised.
Laudick, coordinator for the Cottonwood six homes, said she felt frustrated when neighbors expressed fear of a proposed group home.
"I WISH I COULD explain it to them and make them understand," she said. "There might be some houses where the neighbors don't know we exist."
Laudick said, however, that because she grew up with a mentally retarded brother she did not have the fears of mentally retarded people that some people had.
"I think if I hadn't been exposed to that, I could be impregnate myself," she said.
Hasler, who has worked for eight years with the mentally handicapped, said, "I can understand some of the misconceptions some people have about me and still people live there, the fear goes away."
He said that if neighbors of the proposed sites for homes had fears, they should visit one of Cottonwood's group homes to see the program first-hand.
HASLER SAID THAT Cottonwood clients always started in level-one homes, but could move up to levels two, three and four if they wanted. If they could handle a less restrictive environment.
Clients living in level-two homes receive between 40 and 50 hours of supervision a week. Level-three clients are supervised 10 to 20 hours a week and clients at level four live independently and receive staff time only when needed.
Of Cottonwood's six homes, four are level one and two are level two Level- three clients live in an apartment complex and level-four clients live on their own in various parts of Lawrence
If the four houses are built, two of the present homes will be closed, Giving Cottonwood eight
Between four and nine people live in each of Cottonwood's six homes now.
HASLER SAID THAT cottonwood had a waiting list of people who wanted to live in the city.
In addition to operating group homes, Cottonwood's work activity program teaches mentally retarded people vocational skills. The program also sells to area companies, on a piece-rate basis.
Hasler said that clients generally earned an amount close to the minimum wage.
"The wages they earn are not subsidized by any federal, state or local tax dollars," he said. Hasler said that most level-one and two group home clients and about half of the
level three clients worked at Cottonwood. He said most level four clients worked in the industry.
"I really do believe in this." Hasler said "You see the people develop."
LAUDICK, WHO HAS WORKED as Cottonwood's residential coordinator for almost a year, said, "They develop a little more independence and learn to take more responsibility for their own actions."
She said that an "individual program plan" was developed for each client. Money management, personal hygiene and social inter- nal practices of the areas in which objectives are set.
"They can be as small as opening a can of peas or as big as paying their bills," she said.
She said that Cottonwood trained them in these skills and that the clients became more confident. "It's a big improvement."
JILL BAKER, A RESIDENTIAL trainer who has worked six years at Cottonwood, said that many Cottonwood clients came from homes and institutions in which they had received little or no training in how to take care of themselves.
"They really take pride in what they do and more pride in their appearance," she said. "I'm real proud of a lot of the progress they've made, gets to be almost like a second family."
She said group home residents shopping downtown and in grocery stores, and went to the park.
"A lot of them had never done anything like that." she said.
Rutherford Turbull, chairman of the KU special education department, said group homes were a better alternative for mentally retarded people than institutions.
HE SAID THAT institutions were impersonal and gave patients little opportunity to interact with non-handicapped people.
Turnbull, who has a mentally retarded son, said people who object to having a group home for elderly people.
"For me, it is a very real, personal matter." Turnbull said. "But I look at the evidence."
Group homes do not lower neighborhood property values, he said, because they are similar in many ways to other homes in the neighborhood.
"It's not a hospital, nursing home, clinic or something like that," he said. "So it's got a wart."
turnball said, however, that the main reason people objected to group homes in their neighborhoods was a misconception that mentally retarded people were dangerous.
He said that if properly supervised, mentally retarded people were less likely than other healthy ones.
"THEY ARE NO MORE prone to dangerous behavior than albybody else," he said.
"The thing that galls me the most is that people opposed to group homes are basically the ones who themselves have," Turbull said. "It is no different than segregation on race."
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