My 19 month old newphew is famous...fighting for his rights!

[rndmprsn]

My sister is fighting for his rights...because he is too young, she makes me proud!

http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/8823527.html

http://media.ohio.com/images/pool+02.jpg
19-month-old Lucas Malcom looks down from the balcony of his grandmother's condominium at the pool he is no longer allowed to swim in at the Seven Stories East condo complex on Monday, July 30, 2007, in Akron, Ohio.
-----------
An Akron mother and the Fair Housing Advocates Association have filed civil rights complaints against her condo association, saying the group is prohibiting infants and toddlers from the swimming pool because of fears over unwanted pee and poop.

The complaints were filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission this month after Suzanne Malcom was told twice this year that she wasn't allowed to bring her 1-year-old son Lucas to the outdoor pool at the Seven Stories East Condominiums on East Market Street.

''As a parent, it's my responsibility to defend his rights,'' she said Monday afternoon during an interview in her small, fourth-floor porch that overlooks the pool.

Malcom, 35, a full-time student at the University of Akron, claimed that a board member approached her in mid-June as she and Lucas were entering the pool and asked if the boy was potty trained. Lucas was wearing a swim diaper and is potty trained, she said.

''It was upsetting,'' said Malcom, who has lived at the brick, seven-story complex for about a year with her grandmother. ''He enjoys being down in the pool and it's embarrassing to have someone come up to you and ask if he's potty trained and say he's not allowed in there.''

It was the second time she was told not to bring Lucas to the pool, she said. She, however, was welcome.

The condo board then enacted a rule that bars children under the age of 3 from the pool, claiming it's a health and safety issue, Malcom said.

A woman who answered the telephone at the condo association declined to comment.

Seven Stories East has a spotty record with the Civil Rights Commission. The group was sued in 1995 for discrimination against a family and the case was settled out of court. Two years later, the group was sued again for discrimination against families with children and again it was settled out of court.

The commission also is investigating a complaint filed last month about accessibility for disabled persons.

''This association, based on past experience, has a stubborn mind-set when it comes to families with children,'' said Vincent Curry, executive director of the Fair Housing Advocates Association. ''I don't understand why.''...

[EFerrari]

1. Family values in action!

K&R

[MissB]

2. Have they ever heard of swim diapers?

:rofl: Are they not using chlorine?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

34. actually swim diapers don't hold everything

and some pools (like ours) use a chlorine free cleaning system.

sP

[Ex Lion Tamer]

3. Standing up for his rights is pretty cool . . .

but having a POTTY TRAINED 19 MONTH OLD IS F'KING MIRACULOUS!!!! Especially a boy. I genuflect in your sister's general direction.

And that's a heartbreaking picture, poor little guy.

[petersjo02]

8. It is unusual, especially for boys

I was absolutely stunned when I discovered that my 18-month-old grandson was completely and perfectly potty trained at 18 months. The really interesting thing is that he did it pretty much on his own. He'd watched his dad and had figured it out by himself. Usually takes a lot of work involving wheedling, bribes, etc.

Sounds like that, given the condo association's history, this suit will be settled in the mom's favor before it makes it to court. Swim diapers are a wonderful invention.

[rug]

4. First, they came for our diapers . . . .

[dkofos]

5. If you sue them, DON'T settle out of court.

[wicket]

6. Awesome!

:woohoo:

Good luck to you all.

[yella_dawg]

7. One question.

There's such a thing as wanted pee and poop?

[Behind the Aegis]

10. "There's such a thing as wanted pee and poop?" Answer: Yes.

But...it will cost you! $50 for the first hour, $20 for each additional hour and a $30 mandatory, non-refundable cleaning fee.

:evilgrin:

[MonkeyFunk]

9. OK, I'll bite

what "right" does he have to use the pool?

[Blue-Jay]

12. He's gotta fight for his right to PAAAAAR-TAY!

[Maddy McCall]

23. Haha..

That made me laugh out loud. :rofl:

[Cha]

31. Me too!

[rndmprsn]

14. my family pays condo fees every month for the pool's upkeep...

and we have a contract (we own the condo for over 30 years) that says our family members are authorized to use the pool...lucas was singled out and removed from the pool, he was playing with other kids and they kicked him out, which pissed off my sister...she like me does not put up with this kind of discrimination.

[Solo_in_MD]

18. If the HOA rules ban childern until they are 3, and it is uniformly enforced, I am not sure you have

a much of a case. There is nothing on a fiar housing laws that I know of that would cover this. What has your attorney told you?

[rndmprsn]

21. its out of my hands now...

the fair housing commission is continuing their work on this as age discrimination, my sister has been contacted by at least 6 lawyers urging her not to settle out of court...this story is running on all of the local TV stations evening news, so my guess is this pressure will force the condo association to change their rules or settle?

[stirlingsliver]

26. "Pissed Off" Your Sister?

I take it, then, you sister is barred from the pool.

;-)

[Ex Lion Tamer]

43. Well now, there's your problem

It was your sister pissing that started things.

:)

[TahitiNut]

17. Property rights ... ownership in common.

The question would be whether "due process" requirements have been met.

[theboss]

24. What process is due a toddler?

I think this is a real stretch of a case.

If the by-laws were presented before the membership and were approved and if they are enforced uniformly, I see no real cause of action.

There should be a kiddie pool though.

[Blue-Jay]

11. "unwanted pee and poop" as opposed to the much sought-after variety.

I wouldn't want little kids pooping in my pool either. Then again, I don't have a pool.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Well call me a spoilsport

But I wouldn't want to swim in a pool with a kid this young. However, it seems like the condo board could work at being more accommodating. They could put a wading pool in for the kids. They really aren't very expensive.

[rndmprsn]

15. agreed...they should have offered to do something like this...

but they just said my way or the highway...we have had problems with them in the past.

my father was a disabled vietnam vet and they REFUSED to put in ramps so he could get up easier and they made him wait 6 months till they would approve a parking spot next to the building...etc

[Occulus]

16. A funny concern coming from people who swim in birdshit

:D

[OnionPatch]

19. Are incontinent people banned, too?

Maybe someone needs to check in case there's a Depends under some of those adult swimsuits. :shrug:

Edited: just can't get it right!

[Kingshakabobo]

20. It's OK. It's no big deal.....

Spaulding, noooooo!!!!

[nini]

22. uh.... this is a health issue not a kid issue

Sorry but I don't like to worry about pee and feces in my pool.

Now, if they refused to allow him to live there then the fight is on.

[Maddy McCall]

29. I agree, nini.

I don't trust those baby swim diapers in pools that are semi-public. It's one thing if it's your own pool and you want to take your own kid swimming, and are very vigilant about it. But to expect other people to have no problem with kids of non-potty trained age swimming in diapers in pools...it's a health issue.

As this article shows:

http://www.nbc10.com/newsarchive/13715163/detail.html

[Kingshakabobo]

40. Yikes.......

"""and spent $150,000 on a new ultraviolet system to kill the parasites"""

How would you like THAT special assessment?

I don't think restricting the pool to 3 years old and older exhibits any anti-children bias. Come on, they are ok with 3 and 4 year olds......it's not as thought they are restricting to 25 and older???:shrug:

[B Calm]

25. How many gallons of piss would a kid have to pee before the

chlorine in the pool wouldn't do its job?

[Maddy McCall]

I don't think that the pee is as big of an issue as the poop is.

Cryptosporidiosis is usually found in lake, stream and pond water, but now we're hearing about it in swimming pools, Bank reported.

Earlier this week, it was one of the pools at West Chester University, where about 90 people have been sickened.

The parasite is spread from human and animal feces, and it is often leaky or poopy diapers that lead to this problem.

Once a person or animal is infected, the parasite leaves the intestine and passes in the stool. The disease, known as crypto, is resistant to chlorine and can survive in it for days.

Common symptoms are: dehydration; weight loss; stomach cramps or pain; fever; nausea; vomiting; and some will have no symptoms at all.

Symptoms can start two to 10 days after becoming infected.

Many articles out there about people becoming sick in swimming pools because of leaky baby swim diapers. http://www.nbc10.com/newsarchive/13715163/detail.html

[B Calm]

28. Oh please! Now little kids are no longer allowed to go swimming

because people are overreacting!

[Maddy McCall]

30. 90 people sick in one pool is overreacting.

OK. :eyes:

[B Calm]

32. Maybe not for that ONE DAMN POOL out of millions!

[Maddy McCall]

33. This is not the only pool. If you'll do two minutes worth of googling news...

you'll see that this happens very frequently.

[B Calm]

37. Oh well, in the mean time I just took an hour swim in my farm pond.

Guess what... It didn't hurt me one bit!

[Maddy McCall]

42. Cool...I swim in the crystal-clear river behind my cabin all the time.

Neither your pond nor my river are semi-public pools, which have to have some restrictions to protect others who wish to swim there.

[PeaceNikki]

36. There was an outbreak of this in the municipal water supply in 1993 in Milwaukee.

Over 400,000 people were affected. It contributed to several deaths.

Kids are most at risk in a situation of contamination because ingestion usually causes illness. This potty-trained 19 month old is at risk if other kids who aren't as socially advanced could infect.

[B2G]

27. I love little ones

But the bottom line is not every parent is as vigilant as your sister. We were on vacation at a resort last month and the largest pool was unavailable to guests for 2 days because of an "accident". The child was not to be in the pool in the first place, as they had designated pools for babies and toddlers.

There are rules for a reason, and it's impossible to make exceptions for certain children to the exclusion of others. And it is a health risk. I'm sure they have liability issues in mind when they make such rules.

[AspenRose]

35. At our condo's pool

Diapered kids are welcome in the pool if they wear *both* rubber pants and cloth diapers (Little Swimmers won't cut it). That seems reasonable to me.

[SmokingJacket]

38. Kids shouldn't use a public pool until they're potty trained.

I say that as a parent of two boys who definitely *took their time* getting potty trained.

But poo and pee in a pool is disgusting. Kids can use a kiddie pool at home until they can hold it.

[KoKo]

39. Good for Him! Families with Children are always targets of RW Condo/Home Owners Associations..or

at least in my experience. One has to juggle "safety with REGULATION" always. But, in my experience the RW's always want to go for LOCK DOWN REGS over Discussion and working out Problems so that all can enjoy something..

[Kingshakabobo]

41. They are only restricting to 3 years and up. That doesn't sound draconian at all...

I mean, they ARE allowing 3,4,5 etc.?????

[bleedingheart]

44. twice I have been on vacation where teenaged pranksters pooped in a pool

they thought it was a riot...it closed the pool for draining and cleaning...some riot when they couldn't take a swim to cool off for about a week...

twice this happened at the same pool in the same complex at the beach...and I bet it was the same kids...

[rndmprsn]

45. TH E OHIO HEALTH DEPT HAS ALREADY COMMENTED ON THIS

they said this is NOT A HEALTH CONCERN, so any excuses by the condo assn using this line of attack is NULL AND VOID.

on a side note...MY SISTER AND LITTLE LUCAS WILL BE ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA THURSDAY MORNING TO TALK ABOUT THIS ISSUE.

thanks