MADISON, WI -- Wisconsin has paid $25,000 in attorney's fees to settle a lawsuit filed by a blind businesswoman who lost the foodservice contract at the state's Fort McCoy military base.
Janet Dickey was reportedly hired in 2003 under the Randolph-Sheppard Act, a program that gives blind vendors preference at government buildings, to help run the foodservice operation for soldiers at the western Wisconsin military base. The Army canceled the contract in 2006, claiming that mismanagement of the dining facilities resulted in some soldiers missing meals. Dickey blamed poor state oversight and said she suffered lost income.
Under the settlement, the state has agreed to expand Dickey's existing vending operations at rest areas and award her at least two new sites, the Associated Press reported.
