Stigma Of Welfare Heckled State Workers Want Welfare Logos Taken Off Cars

State Health and Welfare workers have had rocks thrown at their cars. They’ve been threatened, heckled, harassed - even shot at, department official Joyce McRoberts told a House committee Monday.

That’s why the department has asked the Legislature to free it from a requirement that all its cars be labeled with logos on the doors.

The bill already has passed the Senate.

On Monday, the Health and Welfare Committee voted 7-4 to send the bill to the full House. Rep. Tom Dorr, R-Post Falls, was among the opponents, citing what he labeled “the hypocrisy of it.”

Dorr, who owns a trucking company, said he is required to have his company name on his truck doors. “That’s a legal mandate I’ve adhered to for years,” Dorr said. “If it’s going to be a requirement for the private sector, it ought to be for the public sector.”

McRoberts, a former state senator, said neighbors object when marked Health and Welfare cars park in front of their homes, because they think it looks like they’re under investigation for child abuse.

School officials don’t like marked Health and Welfare cars parking in their lots. Youngsters participating in agency programs don’t like to ride in marked vans.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is why should we embarrass our people, traumatize our kids and put our employees at risk?” she asked the committee.

Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden, also spoke in favor of the bill. State employees are being placed in “dangerous and even life-threatening situations because of the car they drive,” he said.

In the Senate, the bill passed on a 29-6 vote, with Crow and Sen. Mary Lou Reed, D-Coeur d’Alene, co-sponsoring it.

, DataTimes