President Bill Clinton                                     November 24, 1993
The White House
Washington, D.C. -20500

Dear Mr. President, (b)(6)
 My name is   XX   and I am a single parent of two children, ages ten and
eight years.  I am writing to you on behalf of these children and a law that I
believe actually endangers my ability to provide for those children.
 The law in question is the Americans with Disabilities Act. As I understand
it, the ADA is a blanket type of law. I have a unique circumstance for which,
I believe, the law can be made more definite for.
 I am a funeral director and embalmer who owns a small (two employees besides  
myself) funeral home       XX        I have been under fire by local AIDS 
activists for helping refer families of people passing away who have the AIDS 
virus to funeral homes in my community who have no problem with the HIV virus. 
My decision was based upon three main criteria. First, and foremost, I do not  
believe that I should have the right as a parent and small business operator
to be able to choose what risks I should take in my profession. I need to be  
around  this world to be able to take care of my children and I do not relish 
the fact that I may become even a tenth of a percentage point in some
statistic.
  My second reason was that my own state board of funeral directors and 
embalmers told me that they (the board) had no law which forced me to handle 
such a risk as the HIV virus presents. Thirdly, the other funeral
establishments in our community do accept cases involving HIV virus and I
believed that I could help families by working with them in finding another
establishment of their choice and in any other way possible.
 A local physician who is also head of her own local AIDS activist group asked 
me if I would like to be on the list of funeral homes in the area who extend  
services to persons passing away from AIDS.  She had held a seminar at a   
competitor's business that I was unable to attend as it coincided with my  
children's open house at school. When I tried to explain my reasoning for  
declining her invitation to be an the list, she launched into a tirade and  
threatened that if I did not bend to her opinion she would ruin my and my  
families reputation by going to the media, have my state board revoke my
license (thus removing my ability to support my children) and have me 
investigated by the Federal Government.
 Knowing that she was not well informed about the state law regarding my  
circumstances, I doubted how valid the rest of her argument was. She never  
offered to how me any of these laws. Shortly thereafter, a press conference
was held and I was blasted along with a large local hospital and a large
insurance company. After that, I found that it was basically me, the little
fellow with the kids who, having the most to lose, was singled out for a
vendetta of attacks  by the physician and some of the media.
 I always held by the principle that unless there was a law, I should not be  
threatened or bullied because I failed to be "politically correct" and instead 
put the welfare of my children first.  After much press, I found, in a news  
story the name of a spokesperson from the United States Department of Justice. 
As everybody else was so busy going after me with such terms as "bigotry" and  
"ignorance", I searched for the very part of the law that could even be in  
direct opposition to my position.  As I told my children, if here is a law,
one must obey that law whether you do or do not agree with it. I did, through
the ADA folks, find that portion of the law which covered the argument against
my concerns for my children. Yes, as the law is written, though not specifying 
embalmers or funeral homes specifically, I must accept the risk of handling  
persons passing away from the HIV virus as those people are covered under that 
law as having a disability and that the protection of the law extends to their 
families.
 I was told by some, the morning that I found this out that it would be best
to "wait" until I needed to make it public. Well, that didn't set well with me
as I  figured since nobody cared enough to find the answer to all of the
arguing and  fighting but me, I should make public what I found out and my 

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what it meant for me. To wait would only hurt everyone involved. So I did  
notify  the media as to the law and the fact that, I had always maintained, 
given the  law, I must abide by that law.  We are a society of laws and must 
obey them,  but  we do not need to agree with all of them. That is why, laying 
the circumstances  that I am now in, I come to you for counsel and help.
 I do not have powerful, if any, political connections. I am not a large  
company with dozens of attorneys. I am Mr. President, just one single voice
who is trying to speak up for the rights of his children. My children have a
right to have me around to love and guide and raise them. No law, I believe
should force any man or woman to take any risk, albeit one which is not yet
fully understood as the large gulf between statistics that I have been given
reflects, that would  imperil their right to be around for their children.
 To me a blanket-type law has the ability to be changed or modified for
special circumstances.  I believe that this applies to the ADA. What can I, as
a single voice who so deeply loves his Children, do to get changes made? What
can you do to help insure the future of a ten-year-old girl who's sole
ambition in life is to serve her country as a fighter pilot and an astronaut
and of her eight-year-old brother who sees law enforcement as a possible goal?
 Mr. President, I ask you to consider this matter from both your position as  
head of the Nation and also as parent yourself.
 This matter is, I admit, small when put against the situation in the world 
today, but my children and the world to me.

                                                       Respectfully,

                                                       XX
                                                       (b)(6)

cc: Congressman Howard McKeon (U.S. Congress)

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