Physically handicapped people apparently do not have certain legal rights that I was under the impression they did have.

As of the March 13 meeting of the Bangor Democratic City Committee, only the secretary of the committee will be allowed to tape record the BDCC meetings.

I questioned the legality of such a vote, since it would prohibit a handicapped person such as myself from taping meetings as I had been allowed to do for several years in both the City Committee meetings and the Penobscot County Democratic meetings. My protesting the vote on the basis of my handicap, namely arthritis in my hands, was to no avail and the question of legality was ignored.

My arthritis prevents me from doing a number of things but the point is that I cannot write without pain. Simply reading the minutes that are handed out at the following month’s meeting has never been my practice and by tape recording I have been afforded the same opportunity as anyone else to make notes during a meeting. Now, due to this vote that was taken by the BDCC, I will no longer have that right.

I protested this vote again at the April 10 meeting of the Bangor City Democrats on this basis and was invited to remain at the meeting, but only if I would shut off my microcassette recorder. I left the meeting and certainly did feel unwelcome and probably discriminated against although there were people in attendance who I thought should know about Ext. No. 504 of the Federal Civil Rights Law, a locally prominent lawyer and a deputy sheriff.

Unfortunately, many people with handicaps are not involved with support groups, nor aware of their legal and civil rights.

Do we have rights or not? If we do, we should all know what our rights are as I have suddenly realized. Linda E. Cole Bangor