I was recently swimming at the Pool with some friends and my brother. We had a dog with us, in the pool area. I am aware you cannot have a pet in the pool, but this dog is a service dog for a physically disabled person, my brother. Because of this, there is no exception to areas this dog can go--restaurants, the white house, the pool, the moon, etc. No exceptions at all. As we were swimming, a rather elderly woman quite rudely told us we could not have dogs in the pool, and once again rudely told us to leave. I explained to her the situation, with him being a service dog, but she persisted to harass us and tell us to leave. While all this was going on, she was making remarks about whether or not the person was infact disabled. She continued to stand outside of the gate, staring at us and harassing even more. Because of this, we became uncomfortable and went home. While walking home, the dog went to the bathroom in the grass. Because we had no bags with us, we continued walking home, with the intent of coming back to clean it. A man, claiming to be the "president of the HOA" followed us, shouting and swearing at us, telling us "THERE IS DOG SHIT IN THE GRASS!!!!" and things like that. He also grabbed my friends shoulder (obviously without permission) and told her she couldn't leave. We told him that we HAD to go home to get a bag, due to the fact that we weren't cleaning up dog fecies with our bare hands, but he persisted to be quite rude and extremely irrational. Within 5 minutes of the dog going to the bathroom, we had cleaned it up and thought all was fine. Apparently, we are being fined 60 dollars and have lost all pool privilages. This seems a bit ridiculous for us not doing anything wrong. We were harassed, followed, discriminated against, and now being punished. Not to mention, during the whole service dog pool incident--neither the elderly board member, nor "the president" tried to speak with my brother about the situation, but rather treated him like he wasn't worth speaking to. I find it rather obsurd to have the president of a family neighborhood chasing, yelling, and swearing (especially with a pool rule being--no obscene language) at a group of teenagers / young adults.
We weren't trying to make a big deal about this whole situation, but now that the HOA is trying to make us feel like we did wrong, we are fighting this full force. Please show a little support. We aren't afraid to get the news involved with this either. We just find this very ridiculous and want a little justice.
Ian Rhoat
cras.irhoat@gmail.com
