MAHONING COUNTY Country club discrimination ruling upheld

The country club has 14 days to appeal the ruling to a judge.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- An Ohio Civil Rights Commission ruling that ordered Tippecanoe Country Club to stop discriminating against women has been upheld in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Magistrate Eugene Fehr handed down a 38-page decision Friday in which he said the civil-rights panel was correct when it issued the order in 2001.
The club has 14 days to file objections to Fehr's decision and ask that it be reviewed by Judge Maureen A. Cronin. Atty. Marshall Buck, who represents the club, could not be reached to comment.
Four women complained about the club's policies in 1996 and 1997, arguing that their access to the golf course and other club facilities was tightly restricted, while there were no such restrictions on men.
The club countered that it is not a place of public accommodation and therefore should be permitted to create and enforce its own rules without governmental interference.
The club did make some changes in 1996, but Fehr agreed with the commission's ruling that it's not enough.
2001 ruling
The civil-rights commission held in 2001 that the club does qualify as a place of public accommodation and so cannot discriminate against people based on gender. The club appealed the commission's decision to common pleas court, resulting in Fehr's ruling.
The commission's decision ordered the club to provide all members the same access to golf outings and events regardless of gender. It also ordered the club to offer wives and widows who were associate members before the changes were made in 1996 an opportunity to own a share of stock.
"Only as shareholders will women have voting rights and be eligible to serve on the board," Fehr wrote in his decision. "The remedial order ensures that there will be both sufficient female candidates and persons likely to vote for them."
The current policies ensure that only men hold regular memberships at Tippecanoe, Fehr wrote.
Factors in status
He said Tippecanoe claims private status to ensure regular membership only by men, but the club's policies were not selective enough to support private status. For instance, the club rents its facilities and sells food to nonmembers.
He said many clubs across the state have already changed their practices, allowing women to participate in activities on an equal basis with men.
"That is exactly what the public accommodations law was intended to accomplish," Fehr wrote. "The time is long past for clubs that qualify as places of public accommodation to end discriminatory practices."
bjackson@vindy.com