| Mobility Unlimited attempts to lift burden after Route 4's closure
When a bus route past his workplace closed earlier this month, Mark Towery took a week off the job just to plot how he would get around town. Wheelchair bound, Towery is relying on friends, co-workers and taxis while a local nonprofit agency readies a van for him to drive. The 33-year-old is just one in a group of disabled riders formerly reliant on Rogue Valley Transportation District's Route 4 that Mobility Unlimited can assist, said executive director Glory Cooper. "The services have been cut where they're most needed," Cooper said. A $1.2 million shortfall in RVTD's budget coupled with low ridership prompted the Sept. 1 closure of Route 4 past Rogue Valley Medical Center. RVTD's Valley Lift also was discontinued in that area because federal funding for the service is directly linked to the proximity of bus routes.
Disabled hit the buffers
A GRANDMOTHER has spoken out about the lack of provision for wheelchair users at a train station and The Comet can reveal only one out of seven stations investigated in Comet country has step-free access to all platforms.Wendy Crawley, of Wilbury Road, Letchworth GC, is angry her 18-year-old granddaughter - who she did not wish to name - cannot board a train at Letchworth GC station because there is no working lift there.Mrs Crawley said: "There is no access to the platform for the disabled."They run a taxi to the nearest station with a lift, which is usually Stevenage, but that's discrimination and people should be treated the same. .
Getting back to basics
His career as a professional hockey player had stalled and Duncan Milroy knew he had to do something to jump start it again. So when Hamilton Bulldogs head coach Don Lever suggested to him at the end of last year that the best thing he could do to impress the Montreal Canadiens was to start by getting in the best shape of his life, Milroy took the message to heart. The 23-year-old Edmonton native spent two months this summer in St. Louis working with the Blues strength and conditioning coach Nelson Ayotte. His weight is down about eight pounds but Milroy has added muscle and reduced his body fat by about 4 per cent. The new, svelte, Duncan Milroy says he feels better both as a person and as a hockey player. "That's the reason he got in a game in Montreal during training camp," said Lever, who feels that Milroy has to continue to build on his apparent new commitment to his career.
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