This makes me MADD

A woman with disabilities, Rose Harn, was asked to leave a fair exhibit and now no one can seem to agree who should take responsibility. In fact, this article lays out the three different versions of what happened.

The woman, who volunteered for MADD as an "example" of what can happen when people drink and drive, was evicted from the fair and now some from MADD are blaming fair officials and others are saying it was MADD that made the decision. Why was she told to leave?

Because the sight of her was offensive to people and they complained. And, after fair officials complained to MADD about the reactions of people, her husband was told not to return - with Rose- as volunteers by MADD.

In the two decades since Harn was left brain-damaged and paralyzed by a 16-year-old driver, her husband has taken her to numerous Mothers Against Drunk Driving events in Idaho as an object lesson in the consequences of drinking and driving.

But that was before MADD removed Harn as a volunteer at its booth at a state fair last month amid complaints that the sight of her was too disturbing.

The Harns have filed a discrimination complaint with the Idaho Human Rights Commission against MADD and the company that operated the fair. MADD is taking a closer look at its practice of bringing accident victims to public events. And the incident has stirred up townspeople in this community of 50,000, situated in a sugar beet- and onion-growing region 20 miles from Boise.

''People with all kinds of disabilities, disfigurements and challenges have the right to be at public events, no matter how queasy someone may be,'' the Idaho Press-Tribune in Nampa railed in an editorial.

Exactly what happened at the fair is in dispute, and the state agency is investigating. MADD, for its part, said it feared trouble at the fair and acted out of concern for Harn's safety. via NYTimes.com

MADD has issued a statement on its Idaho website.

Not that long since the last of the Ugly Laws were repealed, in the 70s.