FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2007

CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003, Cell (505) 507 9898 or Joleen Youngers (505) 541-8000, Cell (505) 496-7422

ALBUQUERQUE – The corporation that manages Mesilla Valley Mall in Las Cruces, Jones Lang Lasalle Inc., and its local manager, agreed to allow a man with a disability to operate his Segway, a motorized transportation device, in the mall until a hearing on the requested injunction is held in the lawsuit filed against them on March 29th, 2007.  The defendants removed the case from state to federal court. The motion on a preliminary injunction will be heard on May 1st, 2007 at 1:30 PM before federal judge Judith Herrera in Albuquerque.

“Allowing Segways is an easy way the mall can accommodate people with disabilities, and in the process remove a barrier, enabling people with disabilities to more fully participate in society,” said Whitney Potter, Communications Manager of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico.

John R. Funk, who suffers from severe scoliosis and spinal stenosis, uses the Segway as an alternative to a wheelchair. The Segway allows him to remain vertical, rather than sitting, which has multiple benefits for his health and well-being. The ACLU of New Mexico claims Jones Lang Lasalle Inc. and the mall’s local manager have violated John R. Funk’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by prohibiting him from entering the mall on his Segway.

Funk seeks an order compelling the mall to modify its policy to allow Funk and other people with disabilities to use assistive mobility devices such as the Segway, and not only traditional, and less agile, devices such as wheelchairs.

Joleen K. Youngers of Almanzar & Youngers, P.A. and George Bach, ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney are litigating the case.

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Related Documents:

Stipulated TRO

Segway Complaint

Segway Motion for TRO and Preliminary Injunction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2007

CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003 Cell (505) 507 9898 or Joleen Youngers (505) 541-8000

Las Cruces, NM—A man with a disability is suing the corporation that manages Mesilla Valley Mall in Las Cruces and its local manager for prohibiting him from entering the mall on his Segway, a self-balancing, two-wheeled transportation machine.  The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico claims that Jones Lang Lasalle, Inc. is violating John R. Funk’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Funk, who suffers from severe scoliosis and spinal stenosis, uses the Segway as an alternative to a wheelchair as his principal assistive transportation device.

“Mr. Funk prefers to use a Segway over a wheelchair because it allows him to stay at eye level with other people,” said ACLU executive director Peter Simonson.  “The mall is penalizing him for trying to overcome the effects of his disability in this way.  Too often, people with disabilities are treated as second class citizens, shunned and segregated by physical barriers and social stereotypes.”

The local mall’s manager has refused to reasonably accommodate Mr. Funk’s disability and allow him access to the mall.  Funk has enlisted Las Cruces attorney Joleen K. Youngers and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico to sue the mall’s management.  Ms. Youngers and the ACLU have requested a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction so that Funk may be allowed back into the mall while the case is pending.

Segways have become popular among come veteran groups because of the advantages that they present over wheelchairs for severely injured servicemen and women.  In September 2005, a group called Disability Rights Advocates for Technology (DRAFT) launched a nation-wide campaign (Segs4Vets) to provide Segways to every U.S. soldier who has been disabled by an injury while serving our country.

As part of the lawsuit, Funk seeks an order compelling the mall to modify its policy to allow Funk and other people with disabilities to use assistive mobility devices such as the Segway, and not only traditional, and less agile, devices such as wheelchairs.

ACLU of New Mexico cooperating attorney Joleen K. Youngers of Almanzar & Youngers, P.A. and ACLU of New Mexico staff attorney George Bach filed the lawsuit yesterday in the Third District Court in Las Cruces.  The case has been assigned to the Honorable Robert E. Robles.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19, 2007
CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003 Cell (505) 507 9898

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Questions surrounding recent immigration sweeps in Santa Fe motivated the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico to request all records surrounding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in New Mexico.  A February 28th story in the Santa Fe New Mexican indicated that ICE may have entered immigrant homes illegally. Immigrant rights groups received complaints about racial profiling, local police involvement in ICE operations, and constitutional violations.

“In its zeal to hunt down people who were living and working in Santa Fe,” ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson said, “ICE may have over stepped the bounds of law and good judgment.  The FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request that we are submitting today will help us understand how the raids were organized and what safeguards were put in place to ensure that civil rights were respected.  Once we have that information in hand, we can determine whether or not our further action is warranted.”

The Santa Fe sweeps appear to have been part of a nationwide strategy dubbed “Operation Return to Sender” that produced raids and raised alarm in other cities around the country.  Last week the ACLU of Northern California sought records from ICE after abusive practices in San Francisco and nearby areas were reported extensively in the press, including illegal entries, conducting round-ups near schools, and leaving minor children unattended upon parents’ arrest.

Simonson said, “Nationwide, the ICE raids exhibit a pattern of recklessness and disregard, not just for basic civil rights, but also for the fundamental welfare of families that are broken apart by these operations.  The ACLU isn’t disputing whether or not ICE can enforce immigration laws, we just want to make sure that they are doing it in a fair and humane way.”

The ACLU is requesting expedited processing of the FOIA request in order to head off possible civil rights problems in future raids.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2007

CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003 Cell (505) 507 9898

Rio Rancho, NM—The ACLU raised objections on Tuesday to the participation of Rio Rancho School Board member Kathy Jackson in a January 22 vote not to offer alternatives to the district’s abstinence-only sex ed curriculum.  According to the NM Secretary of State Office Website, Jackson currently is a registered lobbyist for Best Choices Educational Services, Inc., the organization that contracts with the district to provide abstinence-only teaching.  Jackson’s husband and Rio Rancho Mayor Kevin Jackson also lobbies for Best Choices.

“There is an appearance of impropriety when a school board member votes for a policy that is going to benefit the corporation for which she works,” said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson.  “When Jackson cast that vote, was she thinking like a school board member or like a lobbyist?  Whose interests was she intending to serve?”

“The citizens of Rio Rancho deserve to know when factors like this might be motivating the vote of a school board member, especially on such a sensitive issue as sex ed.”

The school board decision is especially momentous because it rejects a requirement by the NM Department of Public Education to offer comprehensive curriculum when teaching secondary students about sex education.

The board’s vote also rejected recommendations by the district’s School Health Advisory Council, made up of 25 to 30 principals, nurses, counselors, parents, and teachers.  The ACLU is investigating legal strategies to challenge the board decision.

Simonson said, “The school board could have voted to give families options about the kind of sex education their children receive.  Instead they voted to prescribe certain teachings based on a narrow set of moral assumptions that not all of the families in Rio Rancho share.  Now we see that their vote may have been imprudent as well as dismissive of the diversity in Rio Rancho.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 13, 2007

CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003 Cell (505) 507 9898; or James Scarantino (505) 366-7873

Albuquerque—A federal judge struck down Albuquerque’s Voter ID law yesterday “because it imposes a significant burden on the fundamental right to vote, and because that burden is not narrowly tailored to meet the City’s interest in preventing voter impersonation at the polls.”  The ruling results from a lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico filed in October, 2005 on behalf of the League of Woman Voters and Bernalillo County, Inc., among other plaintiffs.

“The law created an unfair, unequal system of voting,” said ACLU Executive Director, Peter Simonson.  “It treated people who voted in person as suspicious, but exempted people who voted absentee from any ID requirements at all.  Ironically, it gave a pass to the very type of vote that is most susceptible to fraud.”

In her ruling, Judge Christina Armijo noted that the City of Albuquerque failed to present “evidence of voter fraud or voting irregularities among Albuquerque voters who vote in person at their precinct polling place on election day.”  Indeed, the most convincing evidence of voter fraud lay with absentee voting.  Testimony by former NM State Election Director Denise Lamb “cite[d] several examples of schemes or ploys that reportedly were used to defraud or disenfranchise voters using absentee voting procedures.”

ACLU attorney James Scarantino said, “The judge underscored the truly cynical nature of this law.  The people of Albuquerque were sold voter ID as a preventive measure for voter impersonation, when in fact the law fixed what didn’t need fixing.  And it left the only real source of fraud—absentee voting–unchecked.”

Scarantino noted that the Albuquerque City Council was warned in June 2005 by City Councilor Michael Cadigan that the disparate treatment of in-person and absentee voters would prove to be unconstitutional.

“They should not have blocked Cadigan’s efforts to plug the loop-hole for absentee voters,” Scarantino said.

ACLU Director Simonson said, “With this decision I think we’ve started a trend in which the courts are looking with much greater skepticism on laws that impose burdensome ID requirements on voters.  Hopefully our state legislators will take this into account in the next several weeks as they consider bills proposing new voter ID requirements.”

The ACLU recognized Scarantino in 2006 as its “Cooperating Attorney of the Year” for his outstanding work on the voter ID lawsuit.

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