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Title: 'It’s a historical sign': 'White Only' pool owner tries to defend sign that defies civil rights commission by claiming it was antique
Source:
Daily Mail
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... ing-antique.html#ixzz1gd3to3v2
Published: Dec 15, 2011
Author: Daily Mail Reporter
Post Date: 2011-12-15 17:41:02 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 43
The Ohio landlord who put a sign saying ‘Public Swimming Pool, White Only’ claims that the 1931 sign from Alabama decorating the entrance to a public pool is an antique and nothing more. ‘I don’t have any problem with race at all,’ landlord Jamie Hein, 31, told ABC News. 'It’s a historical sign.' Ms Hein, who is white, said she’s an avid collector of antiques and was given the historical sign as a gift. She added that though the sign states the pool is public, the pool is on private property and ‘everybody has to ask before getting in my pool.’ Michael Gunn, 40, originally filed a complaint against Ms Hein. He said his African-American daughter swam in the pool over Memorial Day. He was a tenant in one of Ms Hein’s buildings. ‘The owner, Jamie Hein, accused my daughter of making the pool “cloudy” because she used chemicals in her hair,’ he said in the complaint. ‘Days later, she posted a sign on the gate to the pool which reads, “Public Swimming Pool, White Only.”’ Ms Hein defended herself by saying the sign was already up, and that it wasn’t clearly in view because the gate to the pool was open at the time. ‘I’ve never said anything to that child,’ Ms Hein told ABC News. ‘If I have to stick up for my white rights, I have to stick up for my white rights. It goes both ways.' The sign has since been stolen. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission found on September 29 that Ms Hein, who's white, violated the Ohio Civil Rights Act by posting the sign. The commission said: 'The parents filed a discrimination charge with the commission and moved out of the duplex in the racially diverse city to 'avoid subjecting their family to further humiliating treatment.' The commission's statement said that its investigation concluded that the posting of such a sign 'restricts the social interaction between Caucasians and African-Americans and reinforces discriminatory actions aimed at oppressing people of color.' Commissioners were scheduled to hear Ms Hein's request for reconsideration at a meeting Thursday in Columbus, commission spokeswoman Brandi Martin said. If the commissioners uphold their original finding, the case would be referred to the Ohio attorney general's office, which would represent the commission's findings before an administrative law judge, Martin said. Penalties in the case could include a cease-and-desist order and even punitive damages, but the administrative law judge would determine any penalties, Ms Martin said. She added that It still would be possible for the parties to reach a settlement before resorting to legal action. Any decision by the administrative judge could be appealed to Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in Cincinnati, according to Ms Martin. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission will make a final ruling January 12, a spokeswoman said. Poster Comment: 'Freedom of association' is just an uncomfortable footnote in history books....
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