On a mission for disabled

By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
OSEPH POSCHNER SOMETIMES leaves a handicapped parking space vacant.
Though he has a disability that impedes his ability to walk, he knows there are others who need the spaces.
That's one reason he's started a campaign to warn those who needlessly take up the spots that they are breaking the law.
Poschner, 25, and his girlfriend, Shannon Raines, 26, both of Austintown, started placing yellow notices on illegally parked vehicles, letting drivers know they could face a fine of $250 to $500.
"I consider them criminals because they're breaking a law. If you're breaking a law, you're committing a crime," Poschner said. "It's rude that you would do that. To me, that's a form of discrimination."
In the nine days beginning Oct. 9, the couple placed about 30 of the notices, printed by the Governor's Council on People with Disabilities.
Poschner said they spend about an hour patrolling Austintown lots each day and find roughly three to five illegally parked cars. One evening, they found seven.
They said they've found offenders in Kmart and Wal-Mart lots on Mahoning Avenue and in the lots of Perkins restaurant and the Travel America center along state Route 46.
Poschner said he plans to take his statistics to the next Austintown Township trustees meeting.
"We're going to simply ask them, 'Why is this?'" he said.
His challenge
Poschner wants to challenge the trustees to spend a week in a wheelchair and learn to manage without handicapped parking spaces.
He said that Austintown police officers who patrol lots should be reminded to stop to issue tickets to illegally parked vehicles. Ticketing just four vehicles a day, he said, could raise at least $1,000 and limit tax increases.
"It's not a complete fix to any budget problems," Raines said. "But it's a step."
Austintown Police Chief Gordon Ellis said he has asked officers to be more cognizant of illegally parking problems in the areas that Poschner has mentioned. He said he had not been aware of the issue because he had not heard from Poschner.
Ellis said he is also working to help develop township parking citations that would make it simpler for officers to issue tickets than using state forms.
The Mahoning County Sheriff's Department employs one man, part time, as a handicapped-parking enforcement officer.
Deputy Richard Boyle said he has written 186 citations since he started the job in September 2000 and has confiscated three parking cards that belonged to people who have died. He works 24 hours each week.
"Americans are basically lazy," Boyle said. "They don't want to have to walk any farther than they have to. They don't understand that the disabled need those spots."
But Poschner said "the job is bigger than just one person."
How things are
Poschner said he'd be willing to volunteer to write tickets for illegally parked cars. But Boyle said anyone writing tickets must be commissioned as a police officer in Ohio.
Boyle agreed that it would be advantageous to have more officers like him out there, but the county cannot afford it. The officer is permitted to work 1,000 hours each year. He's trying to get government funding that would increase his position to a full-time job.
"A lot of people shake my hand and thank me for being out there doing what I do," said Boyle, who is disabled with fibromyalgia.
Boyle said his disability began after an illness and he lost the use of his legs. When the use returned, and he started driving, he wanted to use the handicapped spaces to get to the store with independence, not having to rely on others.
Poschner suffered damage to his left brain that has made his right hand and foot drop down since he was 18 months old. He uses a brace on his leg to help keep him from tripping. Handicapped parking spaces, Raines said, are most crucial to him in the wintertime, when slippery conditions make it more difficult to manage.
"I haven't fallen in a long time," Poschner said. "But I've fallen, I've tripped."
Poschner and Raines have seen able-bodied people park in the handicapped spots. Once a man parked across two of the spaces. Other violators say their handicapped parking cards are at home. Some who are elderly feel they should be allowed to use the spots without a parking card.
E-mail address
Raines is not disabled but said she understands the necessity of leaving the spaces open for those in need. Her mother was disabled but refused to get a handicapped parking card, even at the urging of her physician, until she was placed on oxygen and carried a tank. She had said there were others who needed the parking slots more than she did.
"If someone who needs one can be courteous enough to leave a space open for those who need it more, I don't see why those who don't need it can't," Raines said.
Poschner said they will keep placing the yellow notices "until the problem is fixed."
The pair seeks letters of support at ravensquest02@aol.com.
Already, they've passed along yellow warning cards to others who plan to help place them.
"The more of a force we have here, the better off the whole thing is going to be," Poschner said. "Come, show your face, don't be afraid."