Beach Lions president speaks on service dogs
To the editor:
As a member of the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club for 56 years, I was dismayed to read about the treatment Mr. Clark and his service dog received at Top O’ Mast.
Lions Clubs worldwide have long worked primarily in the area of sight preservation and restoration and have more recently been involved with the problems of deaf people and hearing loss. It is absolutely inexcusable for individuals who are handicapped by either problem to be treated as Mr. Clark was.
All restaurants in Florida are advised of the laws regarding service dogs prior to receiving their operational license. In spite of this occasionally some places of business either remain ignorant of the law or choose to willfully ignore it. A similar incident occurred a couple of years ago at another restaurant on Fort Myers Beach involving a blind person with a guide dog. In that case the owner of the restaurant was ordered to pay a sizeable fine.
I would hope that the same restitution might be made in this case. At the very least, an apology from the Top O’ Mast owner to Mr. Clark is in order.
Peter K. McCagg
Beach Lions Organization