While the campers were swimming, Wright said, three of them came up to her and said they had heard club members asking what African Americans were doing at the club.
Although the children were upset, Wright said, they stayed at the pool for an hour more to complete their session. She said that she approached club president John Duesler while events unfolded that day and that he seemed apologetic.
On July 3, Wright said, the camp's $1,950 check in membership fees to the swim club was refunded, meaning the children no longer had access to the pool. She said Duesler gave no reason for the refund except that the membership no longer wanted the children at the pool.
Repeated attempts to reach Duesler, other club officers, and the club's management yesterday were unsuccessful. NBC10, which first reported the story, said yesterday that Duesler had given the station the following statement: "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion . . . and the atmosphere of the club."
Wright said she heard no racially charged comments when the campers were at the club but did hear a club member express displeasure that the children were at the pool. She said many parents made their children leave the pool after the campers arrived.
"There were no behavioral problems" with the campers, who were accompanied by eight Creative Steps staff members, Wright said. "They never gave a reason."
Club member Bernadette Sinnott, 44, said that although she was not at the pool on June 29, she had heard the club took back the campers' membership because of space issues, not race.
"I think they thought it was too crowded," she said.
Sinnott was at the club yesterday with her son Brandon, 14, who said he was biracial and had never encountered racism at the pool.
