Amputee soldier denied access to club

[Texsox]

Abby Jackson, wife of Spc. Robert "B.J." Jackson, 22, who lost his legs in an explosion last August while serving with the Iowa Army National Guard in Iraq, says her husband was denied access to an upscale nightclub in Clive on Friday night because his shoes weren't fancy enough.

 

"Both of us told (an employee) that those were the only shoes he can wear with his prosthetic legs," Abby Jackson said Saturday. "I even told them he lost them in Iraq."

 

But Tom Baldwin, owner of Crush, 2249 N.W. 86th St., says the couple did not explain to his bouncers that Jackson has to wear his tennis shoes with his prosthetic legs. The club, which calls itself a "casually swank joint," prohibits tennis shoes and hooded sweat shirts, Baldwin said.

 

"We make exceptions for people all the time," Baldwin said. "There's no reason why we would deny entry to someone with prosthetic legs."

 

Baldwin was one of four nightclub owners who in 2002 paid an undisclosed sum to Duane Pack and Michael Ward, two men who challenged the legality of bar dress codes. The owners of the three bars, two of which are defunct, had to formally apologize to blacks and pledge to treat patrons equally as part of the settlement for the class-action lawsuit brought against them.

 

"It's certainly disappointing to see . . . after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, this type of treatment not only to a person with a disability, but also a veteran," said Sen. Tom Harkin's spokewoman, Allison Dobson. Dobson said the senator feels the nightclub should consider changing its policy and apologize for the incident.

 

Jill Fulitano-Avery, administrator of the Iowa Division of Persons with Disabilities said she has never heard of such a case. If the Jacksons' story is accurate, she said, "it sounds outrageous; people with disabilities have the same rights as anyone else."

 

Fulitano-Avery, who is also the mother of a double amputee, said the shoes made for prosthetic legs are hard to find and very expensive. "I would not be surprised at all if he only had one pair."

 

The night out with friends was one of the couple's first since Jackson began learning to walk again in early November.

 

"I was upset," Jackson said Saturday from an airport on his way back to San Antonio where he's receiving medical treatment.

 

"We all thought they were kidding," said Abby Jackson. "He had his cane with him and everything. I don't even think he knew how to react to it. . . . He was really upset."

 

Jackson was wearing a pair of black suede Nike tennis shoes, specially inclined to fit his prosthetics. "They're actually pretty dressy," Abby Jackson said. "He wanted to pick a pair of shoes that he could wear with everything."

 

"It was very insulting," said Brandon Beveridge, a close childhood friend of Jackson's who, along with his wife, Stephanie, was out with the couple. "B.J. pulled up his pants to show them; I remember seeing the steel," he said.

 

Abby Jackson said the couple and their friends went to the Sports Palace and Nightclub in Des Moines after leaving Crush. "Everybody recognized him. They gave him a T-shirt and bought him a drink on the house," she said. "They told him to come back any time. That made it a little bit easier for him."

 

The Jacksons said they have no desire to return to Crush.

 

"A guy goes to war and loses his legs, and this is the thanks he gets," Abby Jackson said.

 

She also said she had considered talking to an attorney about what happened.

 

Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin said the couple has a case if they choose to pursue it.

 

"There is simply no excuse for this," said Conlin, who has represented numerous cases of discrimination in the past. "This violates both state and federal law in my opinion. Iowa law forbids discrimination on the basis of disability in public accommodations."