Parents at Western Center rally show gratitude

The state of Pennsylvania might want to close Western Center, but yesterday parents of the roughly five dozen remaining residents sought solace in the fact that the Canonsburg institution was still open.

The Western Center parents group chose "gratitude" as the theme for its latest prayer rally, which unfolded on the institution’s grounds in the dining area of Cedar Lodge. The room was decorated with red, white and pink streamers and balloons for Valentine’s Day.

"I’m just so glad for every day the Western Center is still open because it means that my sister will be taken care of properly," said Laura Mooney of Dormont, president of the Western Center parents group.

Mooney’s sister, Susan Riley, 48, a Western Center resident since 1972, yesterday helped Mooney to lead the prayer rally and encouraged those in the crowded room to join in singing a handful of hymns.

By coincidence, attendance at the rally nearly mirrored the number of residents, 64, who remain at the institution for the mentally retarded.

The parents and other family members of Western Center residents made it clear they were placing their faith in a power greater than Harrisburg, the seat of state government and bane of the Western Center residents’ families.

"God Help Us, Gov. Ridge Won't" read a sign hung on a window in the room where the rally occurred.

And while there was considerable talk of prayer and thanksgiving for the center's continued operation, there was no mention of forgiveness for Ridge or his Department of Public Welfare, which announced two years ago it planned to shutter the center’s doors.

Daniel Torisky, president of the Western Center board of trustees and father of an autistic son who is a resident at the institution, criticized the "Charlatans and social engineers" whom he said were behind the plan to close Western Center and move its residents to group homes.

Audrey Smith of Belle Vernon said she has had to rely on faith to get through the past few weeks. Smith's son, Larry, 43, was one of two Western Center residents state officials planned to moved to a Robinson group home on Jan. 31 before the plan was shelved after a mass protest by Smith and other residents' family members.

Smith made clear by the biblical passage she chose to read yesterday that she and the other parents believe their cause is just.

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" she read from Romans.

The state welfare department has for the moment put on hold its plans to transfer Western Center residents to group homes. Meanwhile, the state will "examine its options," a spokesman said recently.

The state is supposed to respond by Feb. 23 to a motion about why it has not complied with provisions in a 1992 settlement of a federal lawsuit that provides for all Western Center residents to be moved to community treatment facilities that are appropriate to their conditions. The state will respond to a motion filed last week by Mark J. Murphy, an attorney with the Disabilities Law Project who represents Western Center residents in the class action lawsuit.

The parents group, in response to Murphy's motion, last week asked U.S. District Judge William Standish to stay any action in the case until the 3^rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided whether they have a right to intervene in the case before Standish.

Seeking additional help, Torisky entreated those in attendance yesterday to pray that God would "enlighten the judges."

While others around him sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," Frank Soldano bowed his head and cried silently to himself.

Soldano, like Audrey Smith, two weeks ago stayed with his son, Keith, in the Sherwood Towers lobby at Western Center to prevent the state from proceeding with the planned transfer to a group home. The Soldanos and Smiths said they planned to wrap their arms around their sons to prevent any move.

Soldano said he prays daily for Western Center to remain open so that Keith, 39, blind and severely disabled, will remain at the institution.

"God, you don't know how much I prayed," he said. "I pray to the Lord and the blessed mother to please let Keith stay at Western Center. It's happened so far. I don't know for how much longer, but it happened."