Pa. swim club defends self against race accusation

Pa. swim club defends self against race accusation

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. — The head of a private suburban Philadelphia swim club defended its cancellation of the memberships of dozens of minority children, saying safety, not racism, was the reason.

“We deeply regret this whole situation,” John Duesler, president of the board of directors of The Valley Club, told reporters Friday afternoon at the entrance to the club in the leafy suburb of Huntingdon Valley.

The Creative Steps camp had arranged for 65 mostly black and Hispanic children to swim each Monday afternoon at the club this summer. But director Alethea Wright said that shortly after they arrived for their first visit, some children reported hearing racial comments, and the camp’s $1,950 was refunded a few days later.

Duesler said the number of children in the shallow section of the pool, many of them unable to swim, convinced officials that there was a problem. “It was definitely an unsafe situation,” he said.

The club’s actions have prompted an investigation by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and made headlines across the country. Much of the attention has focused on an earlier statement by Duesler voicing concern that so many children would “change the complexion” or atmosphere of the club, which he acknowledged was “a terrible choice of words.”

Brewery names beer after N.J. turnpike exits

CHERRY HILL, N.J. — A New Jersey brewery is using the state’s congested and often-derided turnpike to promote its beer.

Cherry Hill-based Flying Fish Brewing Co. (motto: “Proudly Brewed in New Jersey: You Got a Problem with That?”) has undertaken an ambitious project of releasing a special beer in honor of turnpike exits, one at a time.

The beers are being made in limited runs and sold in 750 milliliter wine-size bottles.

The first, a Belgian-style ale, came out earlier this year in honor of Exit 4, the exit nearest the suburban Philadelphia industrial park that Flying Fish calls home.

The next beer, Exit 11 Hoppy American Wheat Ale, is scheduled to start hitting bars and stores in the region Wednesday. The intersection of styles is a tribute to Woodbridge’s exit, where the Turnpike meets the Garden State Parkway.

Joe Orlando, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, said it’s a bad idea to associate a highway with alcohol.

Black cemetery closed because it’s a crime scene

ALSIP, Ill. — Authorities are closing the grounds of a historic black cemetery near Chicago where four employees are accused of digging up bodies to resell plots after more bones were found on the property.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said Friday that families can no longer wander through Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip to check loved ones’ graves because more of its 150 acres are now considered a crime scene.

Dart says law enforcement and families alike have found more bones while walking around the cemetery, which is the burial place of civil rights-era lynching victim Emmett Till.

The suspects are charged with dismembering a human body.

Families still will be able file inquires at the cemetery. Dart says he hopes to reopen Burr Oak to visitors in five to seven days.

Mexico to give group guns and training

MEXICO CITY — Authorities in northern Mexico will give arms and training to members of an anti-crime group in a Mormon community after two local residents were killed by hitmen with ties to organized crime, residents said Friday.

In a step similar to deputizing local residents, members of the hamlet of Colonia LeBaron say authorities in northern Chihuahua state are helping them create a community police force.

Julian LeBaron, whose brother Benjamin was shot to death Tuesday by gunmen believed to work for the Juarez drug cartel, said the local force is needed because of extortion and kidnapping threats by gangs, and a lack of confidence in local police.

Strict gun-control regulations in Mexico restrict the use of most weapons mainly to police and soldiers, although powerful weapons have proliferated the country through the drug trafficking business.

No date has been set for creating the force, and state police and soldiers have been dispatched to provide security after the killing of LeBaron and his brother-in-law, Luis Widmar, who helped organize protests against the kidnapping of a community member in May.

Associated Press