CANFIELD TOWNSHIP Country club loses ruling on bias

A magistrate affirmed the state's cease-and-desist order in April.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Another legal ruling has come down against the Tippecanoe Country Club, which was ordered nearly two years ago to stop discriminating against women.
Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled Monday that a cease-and-desist order issued against the club by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission is valid and should be put into effect.
Atty. Marshall Buck, who represents the club, in Canfield Township, could not be reached to say whether he intends to appeal the decision.
What ruling says
The civil rights commission ruled in October 2002 that the club qualifies as a place of public accommodation so cannot discriminate against people based on gender.
The club appealed the decision to common pleas court, where Magistrate Eugene Fehr affirmed the decision two months ago. The club then filed objections to Fehr's decision, prompting a review by Judge Cronin. A hearing was last week.
Judge Cronin wrote in her decision that she found no errors of law or any other defects in Fehr's ruling, so affirmed it. Like Fehr and the OCRC already had done, Judge Cronin ordered the club to stop discriminatory practices.
She said her review of the case showed "reliable, probative and substantive evidence" to support the OCRC's determination that the club limits access to its facilities based on gender.
"The remedial actions incorporated in its cease and desist order are designed to remove the vestiges of past discrimination and make its victims whole," Judge Cronin wrote.
Women complain
The case is rooted in complaints filed in 1996 and 1997 by four women who said their access to the golf course and other club facilities was tightly restricted, while there was no such restriction on men.
The club argued that it is not a place of public accommodation so should be permitted to make and enforce its own rules without government interference.
The club did make some changes in 1996, but the OCRC, Fehr and Judge Cronin all said it's not enough.
The civil rights commission's 2002 decision ordered the club to provide all members the same access to golf outings and events regardless of gender.
Stock ownership
It also ordered the club to offer wives and widows who were associate members before 1996 an opportunity to own a share of stock. Judge Cronin affirmed those orders in her own decision.
She ordered the club to amend its membership handbook and code of regulations to reflect the OCRC's orders and distribute them to members before Oct. 1.
bjackson@vindy.com