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Alumni Profile A room
at the inn for all As a sociology major at Augsburg, Miriam Jacobson ’69 had been intrigued by the problems of diverse people living together within the limited confines of a city. Later, as a nurse working in Chicago in a variety of environments (including a rehabilitation unit, an emergency room, a hospice, and a mobile unit), she became professionally aware of physical accessibility issues, and how society can adapt to make places universally accessible. And more recently, she found herself personally involved with universal accessibility when her mother became paralyzed from a stroke and lived with her for nearly five years. In light of these experiences,
Jacobson and her partner, Marian Korth, left Chicago to open a bed and breakfast
in a century-old farmhouse on the outskirts of Cambridge, Wis., with the dream
of making their inn handicapped accessible. The pair opened the Country Comforts Bed & Breakfast in May 1998, with plans to build a 600-square foot handicapped accessible guest suite. However, their plans were quickly halted when they ran into a snag in the state law. By Wisconsin law, bed and breakfasts can have up to eight bedrooms. But bed and breakfasts were prohibited from adding on to their original house, unless they abided by commercial building codes. Residential codes, which are far less restrictive and expensive than commercial codes, didn't apply. Their problem caught the attention of State Rep. Martin Reynolds, who had run into the same building code dilemma when he wanted to make changes to his own bed and breakfast. He contacted Jacobson and Korth and encouraged them to take their problem to the state legislature. He also contacted fellow Assembly Reps. Cloyd Porter and Joan Wade Spillner about sponsoring legislation to change bed and breakfast building code requirements. Jacobson and Korth appealed to state regulators, but out of frustration (and fear of losing several advance reservations that had been made for the new suite) they went forth and completed the addition to state commercial codes. However, they still thought the commercial code requirements were too restrictive for bed and breakfasts, and they testified at assembly and state hearings on the legislature put together by Reynolds, Porter, and Spillner. The bill moved quickly through both houses, and in May 2000, Gov. Tommy Thompson signed legislation that allows bed and breakfasts in buildings 50 years or older to expand without having to follow commercial codes. Both Jacobson and Korth were present for the bill signing in Sauk City, Wis. Shortly thereafter, the Wisconsin State Journal featured the pair on its front page, and reported that the change in legislation could be "a boon to the growing bed and breakfast industry," making it easier to make modifications as well as to create interest in converting older homes into inns. Both Jacobson and Korth are happy that others won't have to endure the difficulties they faced. "If we had been intimidated one bit, we wouldn"t have gotten this done," Korth told the Journal. "Fortunately, we aren't easily intimidated." Jacobson added that the new bill will be very helpful. "Several B&Bs thanked us for helping to change the law."
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