Denied Entry to Church : Suit Says Man Was Frostbitten Waiting in Line for Free Food
A man who says he was severely frostbitten while waiting outside a church to get free government cheese and butter is suing both the state and a church agency for at least $10,000 each.
The suits were filed last week by Albert Bago, 61, of Southfield, who has been out of work since 1980, when he was laid off as a machinist at Tishkin Products. He is a diabetic and suffered a stroke shortly after losing his job.
On Feb. 7, 1984, Bago said, he was denied permission three times to wait inside Our Lady of Fatima Church in Oak Park while his son-in-law held his place in line for free cheese and butter.
He is suing Catholic Social Services of Wayne County and the Michigan Education Department, which administers the government’s dairy products giveaway program in Michigan.
“I’ll never forget it. It’s a day of infamy for me,” Bago said in an interview with the Detroit News.
The wind-chill factor that day was 5 degrees above zero. Bago said he spent the next six months and five days in the hospital, during which time two toes and part of one foot were amputated.
“Somebody (in the church) acted as if they didn’t want to bump shoulders with the people in line. That’s what really burned me up,” he said.
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