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The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the case of the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, which last month disinvited a group of black and Latino children who had gone to swim in its pool.
Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar said yesterday the review would determine whether the department's Civil Rights Division would officially investigate the matter. No timetable was set.
The department was asked to look into the case Thursday by Sonya Toler, executive director of Gov. Rendell's Advisory Commission on African American Affairs. She said in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Loretta King of the Civil Rights Division that the commission was "deeply troubled and concerned."
The letter says, "It is our opinion that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is implicated and a review by the Civil Rights Division . . . is warranted."
That followed a letter sent to the same office last week by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.), in which he asked the Civil Rights Division to review the matter.
Club president John Duesler did not respond to phone calls and e-mails yesterday.
Carolyn Nichols, an attorney for the children's Oxford Circle summer camp, Creative Steps Inc., said yesterday, "We certainly feel that it's the appropriate action to take. It's very significant that you have entities of this level undertaking this kind of investigation."
On June 29, children from Creative Steps swam in the club pool after paying nearly $2,000 in fees to use it on Mondays through Aug. 10.
After the children arrived, club members allegedly made racist remarks, in some cases pulling their children out of the water, according to Creative Steps executive director Alethea Wright.
Soon after, the children were disinvited from the club, and Wright said she planned to sue it.
The club, in a statement on its Web site last week, said its leaders were "deeply troubled by the recent allegations of racism which are completely untrue." The statement said they "underestimated the capacity of our facilities." Club officers have not been available to comment further and the club Web site has since been taken down.
In an interview yesterday, Toler said the incident was "an obvious violation of the Civil Rights Act."
She added that "in this day and time, black and Latino children should never be turned away from a service, especially one they paid for, because of the color of their skin."
"You'd like to think that everyone who stood on the line for civil rights had fought this fight already and won it."
She added that Rendell supported her request to the Department of Justice.
And, Toler said, many Pennsylvanians, "black and white, have been contacting my office, even stopping us on the street, saying they are outraged. This is something that is difficult to digest."
In his letter to Washington officials, Specter wrote, "If these allegations are true, then there appears to be a violation of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
On Tuesday, he wrote another letter to King, reiterating the need for the Justice Department to look at the matter.
He added, "This matter should put people everywhere on notice that racial discrimination is unacceptable in America."
Wright has said she plans to sue but no papers have yet been filed. The parent of several campers has filed suit.
Wright started Creative Steps in 1998 to serve special-needs children and has since expanded it into a state-licensed day-care facility with summer camp programs. It operates as a nonprofit.
Records show that the camp owes $79,094 in federal taxes and $31,426 in state taxes and unemployment insurance. As part of that, Philadelphia Municipal Court documents list Wright as guilty in July 2006 of not paying more than $9,000 in unemployment insurance. She was sentenced to probation and is making restitution, records show.
In an interview published in The Inquirer yesterday, Wright blamed an accountant for all of her financial problems.
Regarding Wright's financial matters, Nichols said, "This has nothing whatsover to do with what happened at the pool last month."
Contact staff writer Alfred Lubrano at 215-854-4969 or alubrano@phillynews.com.
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