ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997 TAG: 9704160053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
The Senate quickly saw the need to change the rule banning a blind staffer's guide dog.
Embarrassed by a blind congressional aide being kept off the Senate floor in a dispute over her guide dog, the Senate unanimously agreed Tuesday to make the chamber more accessible to people with disabilities.
A congressional fellow, working for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., was kept out of the Senate chamber because she insisted that her guide dog, a yellow Labrador named Beau, stay with her.
Tuesday the Senate realized its gaffe and engineered a delicate retreat.
The senators agreed unanimously to lift any prohibition against guide dogs.
``This is the right thing to do,'' said Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. He said the interim step was taken, pending a review of a proposed permanent change in Senate rules on access.
The issue surfaced Monday when Wyden had sought unanimous consent from his colleagues to allow Moira Shea, an energy policy expert, to accompany him onto the floor for a debate on nuclear waste.
But a Democratic senator, later identified as Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., telephoned the cloakroom to object.
Byrd issued a statement Tuesday saying he wanted to ensure ``proper procedures'' were followed before the Senate considered changing its rules on access.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB