European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 4, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse On borrowed time with extended family by John Platero associated press. Deep in thought. Iho dying Man gaze across Iho Green Fields behind his trailer House in Davenport. Fla. The Only Bounds arc Whoso of Summor Birds an several puppies yapping in a nearby pen. Ignoring the pan o Black bears pacing in their steel enclosure -.-. Immobile in his wheelchair. Mike aria lakes a deep breath Cau wig the weakened Muscles of his neck 1o bulge slightly it takes All his strength just to talk. 50 he chooses tvs words car Fuffy. Aria a 38 year old Lormor animal trainee is dying of al5 amyl trophic la Cral sclerosis commonly called Lou Gohng s disease. Even in i Loel completely Down in Iho morning when i see the kids i m animated. A Load has been listed Oil me he says in strained slurred speech a Smilo covering his face. The child in aria Speaks 01 Are 300 handicapped Studon Sal Roosevelt vocation school in Lake wafts 16 Miles South of this Rural Community in Central Florida. The seventh through 12ltvgraders. Explained. Principal Harold Margady have learning disabilities emotional problems hearing impairment or Are mentally handicapped. What began As a student Christmas project in 1985 to help the needy Maready says became a Bond bal Wen these ally cited children and Miko aria when they Learned that aria was paralysed irom the neck Down and dying and that he and his wife Janice and their 8-year-old daughter. Amber existed on 1575 a month social Security benefits. They made a decision. Afler that Christmas in was the kids decision to keep in going Maready recalls. They turned it into an adoption through cake and Candy sales car washes auctions and fund raising the handicapped children have provided aria with a motorized wheelchair and an electric Page Turner 1o help him read. When they Learned of aria s love for nature hey Laid Pebble trails Lor his wheelchair through his family s 10 acres of greenery. Then they bought lumber and built a ramp so he could manipulate his wheelchair in and Mil of his trailer House last year they built an outside bathroom and Shower making it easier Lor his Wile to help aria Bathe. He s one d my friends said one of the providers Donna Ellzey 18, a senior irom Barlow who visited aria on vacation i feel i be done something real Good Lor somebody when i help him.". Another Way she helps is by writing a newsletter to keep Roosevelt students informed of aria s activities. He gives us so much in return by letting these kids be part of his life Maready says. Mike leaches the kids that they have something to give Mike and Janice both from new Jersey were High school sweethearts. In her senior year Al new York University Janice look an Independent study course at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey s circus s Clown school in Venice Fla. Though joining the circus was never an original goal she soon became a featured performer. After College Mike an athletic 210-Pounder, Mike aria terminally Iii with who lateral to Claro to with i joined her and took up training wild animals body and their circus bears elephants leopards icons they were with two favorite bes married in 1974. From their act they it in 1978, mrs. Aria s brother Gil Gillespie left his Gillespie lives in a in Job As a schoolteacher and the three of them. The area As a stage a formed their own act using North american Black aria family. Bears and Well on Lour. Mrs. Aria provides in 1983, aria began to experience an occasional they appear As Youni slurring of speech. Then the strength in his hands we were so right Deler she reflects. That december they Lold us Mike had a motor thing to Neuron disease causing the Muscles to atrophy Amber their Daugul his wife says. There s no known cause or Lake up painting a co the following year paralysis consumed aria s seen him use a pane clowning to resolve c by Leslie Zganjar associated Pressw Hen they got the Call to investigate a Domestic disturbance the iwo cops in Cincinnati Ohio went into their act. Cincinnati police officer Michael Gardner teaches humor to new recruits. They pulled Down their hats to make their ears protrude loosened their lies buttoned their shirts Askew and rapped on Iho door playfully with a shave and a haircut beat. Is that your car Down there with the lights on the Ollices dead panned As an angry Man opened the door. The Man seeing the oddball cops forgot he. Was angry and broke into a smile. It s a Rick the Cincinnati police department Learned irom a psychologist in Troy , police arriving at the scene of a Domestic dispute for instance should try performing a bugs Bunny impression or try raiding the refrigerator before in hollering their nightsticks says Robert a Baron chairman of the psychology department at Reri Selaer. Are experiencing Stic polytechnic Institute in tr6y"we11-timed.thinking decreases " clowning often deters violence More effectively this. To try to pull pc than the Threal of Gardner says Bare Cincinnati police Olli dals concede that they Domestic disputes were sceptical when they first heard Baron. The More Emolion explain his idea on a focal Laft show. Bui since. More effective it they began trying it in 19b3 thay re finding it person can be so Loc works they can have Blind our Bottom line goal is to resolve conflict " Baron explains Ida with the least amount of Force says Michael he i ack their anger Gardner a Cincinelli police officer who teaches concedes that this it the humor technique to new volatile or Talion Only having the police show up does t necessarily the idea is to gel gel attention process he says Baron was leaching Al Purdue University in process Whan Argei Lafayette. Ind. In the Early 1970s when he lire powerful tale in the p came up with the idea of using humor to Delus want to potentially violent situations. Gardner was the d the Basic idea of the research entered on clowning but he sop incompatible responses he says. If someone is join him. He says the angry you do something Effial will make them eel Wott often Knock Good. You la reduce their anger and the things Beal to in says Gari that follow it like . The Basic Rule of thumb is that when people once inside if the Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday d
