Couple's love survives court ruling

Barred from traveling by golf cart, duo faces limited options

By CHAD SMITH

Fighting an uphill legal battle is difficult for anyone. But it's even more so when you have trouble simply walking out of the house.

That's what Morris Steinheimer and Mandy Fugate are facing.

Both sustained severe head injuries decades ago, long before they met, and have several disabilities. For them, the key to some sort of normalcy and independence over the past several years has been a golf cart.





Normally reserved for toting golfers around 18 holes, the cart carries Steinheimer, 45, and Fugate, 32, to the grocery store, to Anastasia Baptist Church and the YMCA, all several miles from their Treasure Beach Road home.

That is, it used to.

After a St. Johns County Court judge on July 10 upheld a state law that bars golf carts from sidewalks, the couple has had a difficult time adjusting back to immobility and dependence on Fugate's mother, Sandy Middlemiss, on top of trying to figure out the next step in the legal arena.

In March, Steinheimer was arrested after refusing to sign a citation for driving on a sidewalk He was hoping to get the judge to rule the law unconstitutional and wipe the citation off his record.

Middlemiss lives with the couple and said since the ruling they have been worried about what lies ahead in a world where they can't just pick up and go.

"It's been upsetting," Steinheimer said. "We're trying to survive, and for us we don't feel like we're hurting anybody."

For them, there are few alternatives.

There are motorized scooters. But Middlemiss said she bought one for her daughter, who is paralyzed on her left side, years ago, and she crashed it.

Driving is another option. But Steinheimer's injury stems from an automobile accident in which a friend died, and he has been fearful of driving since. Also, Middlemiss and the couple's attorney said it's unlikely he'd be able to get a license because of his disabilities.

There are taxis. But that would become too costly.

And there is the bus. But Middlemiss said the St. Johns County Council on Aging bus that would take the pair to eat with senior citizens on Fridays would come earlier and earlier. The driver would honk the horn when they weren't on time. Middlemiss said that caused them to rush.

"And when Mandy and Morris rush around, they fall," she said.

The Sunshine Bus stops on A1A at the end of Treasure Beach Road. But Steinheimer said that's a long walk from their home, especially considering he needs a walker and Fugate needs a cane to get around.

Tom Cushman, one of the couple's lawyers, said a hearing on Steinheimer's citation is scheduled for Friday. But after that, he said he would have to talk with his clients to determine whether they would appeal the judge's July 10 ruling.

"I think we pretty much have to appeal it, or otherwise they're pretty much stuck in their house," Cushman said.

The couple met at an Atlanta conference for people with brain injuries and got married shortly after in September 1998. They legally divorced last summer so Fugate could get the health insurance benefit from her father's Social Security because she had trouble finding a provider, Middlemiss said.

"In God's eyes, they are still married," she said.

Steinheimer and Fugate have been in separate states visiting relatives since early July but will be back home early this week.

In a telephone interview from Michigan, Fugate said she was upset by the judge's ruling. But, she added, she and her partner would press on no matter what.

"What? Do you think we're just gonna lay down and die?" she said. "I don't think so."

From his parents' home in Kentucky, Steinheimer said that, though this has been a difficult time for the couple, their bond has eased the tension.

"I'm her better half, and she's my better half," he said. "Love survives even after complications."

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