Witness at Pool told Smerconish the Creative Step kids were well-behaved

[RamboLiberal]

The camp kids arrived and got into the pool. Valley Swim Club member and eyewitness Jan told talk radio host Michael Smerconish that the campers were behaving nicely and were well supervised:.

"We came in as the campers were there. I joined campers with my grandson (6). The children were playing. It was very crowded. ... It was important for me to watch him because there were so many children there. It was crowded, but there were at least two adult counselors. The pool had 2 lifeguards on either side of this area of the pool, which is only 3 feet deep. And there was also a supervisor who called these children out when it was time to leave. It was a very orderly dispensement. She called first for the female campers and then the male campers. It was so orderly and so well regulated both by the part of the staff of the camp and the pool, I knew of no problems.

The children were speaking so nicely with one another. They were conversing back and forth in such a nice manner. ... I don't think it would be a big problem that there were a lot of people there."

-----

"The kids were well-behaved and have every right to be here," swim club member Amy Goldman told The Philadelphia Daily News. "It's shameful."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2009/07/black_children_kicked_out_of_p.html?hpid=news-col-blog

[Cha]

1. That's pretty neat that there

were witnesses who thought there was no problem with the kids!

[Mind_your_head]

2. The kids were "cool"....are"cool"

It is the adults who *FREAK OUT* over absolutely NOTHING. *sigh*

[nc4bo]

4. That's usually how it works. nt

[patrice]

3. "shameful" is exactly what it was. I feel sad for the children whose feelings MUST have been hurt.

Too bad there aren't some deep-pockets around to sue the crap out of the pool operators for damaging those kids.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Consider the source here -

Michael Smerconish is a smalltime Rush Limbaugh - not nearly as nuts, but rightwing enough to be batty -and suspect. I wouldn't believe anything he published............................

[RamboLiberal]

6. Oh yeah - a wannabe Rush Limbaugh defends the black kids

:rofl:

Uh huh - are you a member of Valley Swim or their lawyer? You sure are defending them.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. I'm defending no one -

I am waiting to hear the whole story. The lessons learned in the Duke lacrosse team matter weren't lost on me..............

[RamboLiberal]

9. Nope - you're defending - you've been busy arguing the other side

Not taking a "let's wait and see" attitude.

Personally I think what happened is the members of the club complained because of a combination of racism by some, classism by some, and I pay for this pool and I don't want my peace and quiet or my kids "endangered" by this horde from the city. They bitched to the board. The board knee-jerk reacted to the members and not to the contract they had signed with the daycares. They may have been smart enough or they may have decided they had to yank the contracts of all the daycares.

Then the president makes some ill-advised remark.

Now they are in big time CYA mode knowing an investigation is happening and probably a lawsuit as well. They already got a shitload of bad pub.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

12. Nope -

you're completely misinterpreting what I've written. I am saying that things are never what they seem, and, at first blush, there is a lot to question here.

Duke lacrosse team is the perfect example. People here at DU were all for lynching those damn rich jocks, and then the real story finally came out, the DA went to jail, and not a word of apology for their reverse racist positions.

I have no dog in this race, but I am curious ot see how it evolves.

I think it's interesting that have a "... what I think happened..." take on something about which you personally know nothing. Taking a stance like that could conceivably keep you from seeing the situation from other perspectives as they emerge. And they will emerge. They always do........................................

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. So he made up direct quotes from people he interviewed?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. People say things

that aren't realistic reflections of what actually happened all the time. Consider the unreliability of so many "eyewitnesses" to simple events. We've all seen that exercise. One or two people making comments does not a case for racism make, especially when they're made to someone like Smerconish.

So I'm just watching, waiting to learn more. These stories have a way of expanding as time goes on, and that's a good thing............

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. A slap in the face over color of kids in pool

That day, those kids felt bigotry howling like a frigid wind. Wright said she saw white families pulling their kids out of the swimming pool and crossing their arms over their chests in defiance. She said the kids heard people asking "what are these black kids doing here?" They were made to feel as unwanted as ants at a family picnic.

Two days later, Wright was informed by club president John Duesler they couldn't come back. He told Wright he'd like them to stay, but that the membership overruled him at an emergency meeting. He told them their money would be refunded.
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Order - and color - was restored in the 'burbs.

NBC 10 reported on Wednesday that the club had released a statement from Duesler saying that "there was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion" and "the atmosphere" of the club.

"This is a slap in the face," Wright said. "The club is saying publicly we weren't thrown out because of race, but there's no other way to see it. Read the quote from the club about not wanting us there because they don't want to change the complexion of the pool. The complexion of the pool! What else could that mean?

"When our kids see this, what hope does this give them? Every time I think we're making progress as a society, this kind of thing happens."

The Valley Club's statement on its Website says it underestimated the capacity of its facility. Are these guys kidding me? Don't tell me they didn't do the math beforehand. Don't tell me they didn't know that adding 65 kids and eight counselors on a Monday to a pool of a certain size and membership might or might not be a problem. The numbers were right; it's the color that was wrong for many club members.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/28/2009/july/10/a-slap-in-the-face-over-color-of-kids-in-pool.html

[Yupster]

13. Back 30 years ago I was a lifeguard at one of the resorts

in the Borscht Belt in the Catskills.

There were four lifeguard rotations, the outdoor pool (most guards here) , the indoor pool, the staffpool (the worst assignment - rowdy and no hope of tips) and the rowboats at the lake (best tips).

The indoor pool was the one that scared me to death everytime I was assigned there. They would bring the kids camp there and there would be 50-60 kids aged 4-12 jumping around in the pool. I couldn't see the bottom of the pool and I stayed the entire time they were there standing at the side of the pool constantly walking around trying to keep track of what was going on.

Sure enough that same summer (while I was at the outside pool) a kid 5-6 years old drowned in the indoor pool. When the campers got out, she was on the bottom of the pool. I felt so bad for that family coming up from NYC for a vacation and going back home with a dead daughter.

I could easily see how it happened.

PS - that same summer there was a fire in the dorms where the workers lived and one kitchen worker was killed. I can still see the body being hoisted out the window on a crane.

My memories of my summer job at age 19. The lifeguards got an extra $ 5 a night for doing spotlights at the show, so I did spotlights for Milton Berle, Henny Youngman and Cab Callaway.