Jul 15, 2009 5:17 am US/Eastern
Philly Camp Rejects Offer From Suburban Pool
PHILADELPHIA (CBS3/AP) ―
A lawyer representing a Philadelphia day camp says to accept an offer to return to a suburban swim club, the club's entire board must resign.
Attorney Michael Kuldiner represents the day camp, Creative Steps, and the families of majority of the children who swam at the The Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley on June 29. He says in addition to the board members stepping down, the club should expel those members who used bigoted language that day.
Creative Steps director Alethea Wright says several children reported hearing racial comments and parents pulled their children from the pool.
The club maintains it wasn't about race but was a matter of safety with so many children appearing at once.
Amy Goldman, a member of The Valley Club, said those able to attend a hastily called meeting Sunday afternoon voted unanimously in support of reinstating the memberships of the Creative Steps day camp and two other camps as long as safety issues, times and terms can be agreed upon.
"We reached a mutually agreed upon way to address the safety concerns so that we could all come back together and find a way to make this work," said Valley Club President John Duesler.
The Creative Steps camp previously paid nearly $2,000 for 65 campers, made up mostly of black and Hispanic children, to swim at the pool every Monday afternoon.
The camp's $1,950 was refunded a few days later.
The president of the swim club's board of directors, John Duesler, has said the decision was made out of safety considerations, not racial concerns.
The swim club has claimed it has a diverse, multiethnic membership, but Goldman, a member for two years, said she couldn't remember seeing a black member this year.
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission has reportedly opened an investigation and will make a fact-finding visit to the club July 30.
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., said Friday he had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate "to determine what action, if any, is warranted by the Civil Rights Division."
Others to criticize the club include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the United States' highest-profile black swimmer, Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones, who said Thursday that "hearing about what's happened to these 65 kids is both disturbing and appalling."
Wright, the camp director, didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Sunday evening. She said earlier that other institutions had offered to host her group at their pools for the summer.
Camp parent Silvia Carvalho said she hadn't heard about the club's action but didn't believe her 9-year-old daughter, Araceli, would be willing to return.
"She has already said so," Carvalho said Sunday night. "She doesn't want people to look at her the same way."
A racial discrimination lawsuit was filed against the club Friday. Attorney Brian Mildenberg said the suit may be dropped if both parties can reach an agreement.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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