The Whole Zorbas Restaurant Incident

October 7, 2000
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

copyright 2000 Durham Herald-Sun



PART ONE October 7, 2000

Kelley's aunt Joy and uncle Don were visiting us from Hawaii, and we had plans to go out to dinner. We were planning to go to Zorbas, the Greek restaurant that Kelley and a friend had been to. In fact we DID go there, went in, and were told that we couldn't bring the dog in. First by the waiter, then by the owner. She didn't believe David when he said it was a law (state and federal) that he be allowed to go anywhere with the dog. Nope, she was "concerned for the safety of her other customers", (most of whom, by the way, had apparently NOT arrived yet). She was afraid that Cooper was going to go mad and bite someone. You know how fierce he looks when he's laying flat on the floor. ;) About as fierce as a throw rug, someone said later. No matter how David tried to explain to this woman, she didn’t seem to hear him at all.  He managed not to get irritated or angry in the resteraunt, but was getting increasingly frustrated as his attempts to explain got nowhere.

Anyway, she wouldn't let us in, wanted us to leave the dog in the car, said he didn't need the dog because he had other people to assist him, and wouldn't put her refusal of service in writing. So, we went out to the payphone outside, called 911, and asked the Chapel Hill PD to send a car, because we needed someone in authority to explain to this woman that she was breaking the law.

15 minutes later, a squad car pulls up, and two officers get out, Officers Rhoades and Reed. We told them all about it, and Officer Reed went in to talk to the owner, while Officer Rhoades looked in the car for The Book, which he couldn't find. Then Officer Rhoades went in too, then they both came back out. Officer Reed was shaking his head, like he'd just been hit by a truck. Apparently she refused to believe that there was a law requiring her to allow him access with the dog. She apparently thought her own restaurant policy superseded the law, go figure. The officers didn't have the appropriate statute handy, so they couldn't write her a ticket or arrest her.

Uncle Don, being a child of the 60's, suggested that all the people in the area with service dogs get together and stage a dog-in.

However, the officers did file a report, which we got a copy of 10 days later. Of course, when we got home, I went to the source of all knowledge and found the statute, printed it, sent a copy of it to D, etc etc etc. It's a Class 3 misdemeanor to do what she did. The penalty for a Class 3 misdemeanor is up to a $500 fine or up to 30 days in jail.

Anyway, they couldn't FORCE her to let us eat there, so they took D's information and gave us a card with the police report number on it. Then we went over to a neighboring restaurant (Red Hot & Blue) and had a wonderful dinner.

When David got the police report, he went to the magistrate and filed a complaint.  He looked up the relevant statutes, and later that day they were served.   David got a subpoena to testify, and we're going to court on Monday the 13th. David sent a couple of emails to various people in the media, and has had an interview with WRAL TV Channel 5, which resulted in a news story on the 6:00 edition of WRAL (CBS) news on Thursday, Nov 9th, and related story on WRAL's website, with pictures. Click HERE to go to the WRAL website.

PART TWO November 13, 2000

We arrived at the courthouse around 8:45 on Monday November 13, and found the courtroom. After nearly an hour of waiting, things started to happen. The Zorba's people were there, but disappeared right after the docket was called, or sometime a little before that. Around 11:00 there was a break in the activities, and we managed to talk to the DA. She said that the case was continued at the request of Zorba's lawyer. He did this right before the docket was called, but nobody informed us. Basically they're stalling and hoping we'll just let it go. (silly them) We were then directed to an office across the street from the courthouse that may contain some good lawyers who do civil work.

A reporter from one of the local papers contacted us in the courtroom, and then interviewed David after we left the courtroom about the whole case. She was very nice and did a great job with the story. Click HERE to go to the Durham Herald-Sun newspaper story.

We talked briefly with two lawyers, and they said they'd look at the relevant law and let us know what their thoughts were, and whether they'd take the case. They seemed very nice, and they liked Cooper. (always a good sign). Since that time, David has been in contact with Kim Steffan, one of the two attorneys, on several occasions and she is pursuing additional options for us.

When we got home, there were 5 messages on the answering machine. Most of them were from ABC Channel 11, and they came out and interviewed me. The story ran on their 5:00 news, and ran in a shorter form on their 6:00 newscast. The story was pretty good, but I liked the WRAL story better. In the story, Zorba's refused to talk to the reporters, and referred them to their lawyer, who did not return their phone calls. According to the story, Zorba's is working on defending themselves against these charges. The case has been continued until December 11th. We'll see what they have to say then, though we just can't for the life of us think of what the defense would be.

PART THREE December 11, 2000

Today we went back to court, hoping that we'd get at least the criminal case settled. The first thing that happened was that when the case was called, the DA and judge sent it to the Dispute Settlement office, which meant that we'd talk to these nice people, and they'd talk to the woman from Zorba's and her lawyer, and try to come to some kind of an agreement.

As we explained what happened, and what we were looking for in the way of a way to settle this, we pretty much defined what we wanted and how much we'd be flexible on certain points. I'm not going to go into those here, but just say that the main points are these. First, plead guilty to the charges in district court. Second, a public apology, and third, during the public apology, announce that they would sponsor a Leader Dog at the Leader Dog school where I got Cooper, and the three dogs previous to that. If they agreed to the above, I would drop any pending civil actions. (One in Orange County via the Human Rights Commision, and one through the Department of Justice through federal court)

Needless to say Ms. Andros wasn't willing to do any of those things, though last week they did tell my lawyer they'd be happy to give me a free meal. My point here is to teach them a lesson that they'll "feel" and that makes a lasting impression on them. They broke the law, and they know it. They've also claimed in the media that nobody told them that I was blind, or that Cooper was a seeing eye dog. We know those things are false, and have statements from Kelley's relatives and the police officer that state the truth. This is now a matter of principle. I'm not in this for the money. Anything I happen to receive via a civil case I'll donate to the Leader Dog School.

Anyway, since no settlement was reached, the judge will hear the case on January 22 at 11:00. That will be very interesting.

PART FOUR January 22, 2001

We were all set to go, but the officer involved apparently didn't get his subpoena, and was about an hour or so away from the courthouse, and not reachable at the time. Rather than doing the case in pieces, (something our lawyer doesn't want to do at all) we decided to continue the case until we were sure the police officer could be there. His next scheduled court date is March 5th, 2001, and so we'll be back in court on that day.

I know everyone is going, "No, not again!" but this works out very well. It lets me get over my cold, (I sound terrible) and gives the complaint in Orange County more time to resolve itself.

So, the saga continues! Stay tuned.

PART FIVE March 5, 2001

The case was called right after 11:00, and I was the first to testify. Beverly Scarlett, the District Attorney, asked me questions, and basically took me through what happened on Saturday, October 7th. As you all know, it was pretty cut and dried. The defense lawyer cross examined me for a bit, asking me if I had registered myself or Cooper with the Health and Human Services Dept. in North Carolina. I had never heard of this, and if it was a requirement, Leader Dog would have told us about it at school.

Next, Kelley got to testify, (a big surprise to both of us) and she substantiated what I had said.

Next the police officers testified, and they told about their contact with the defendant. Their main point was that she said that she didn't care one way or the other what the law was, the dog wasn't going to be allowed in her restaurant.

The state rested and the defense then called Ms. Andros to the stand. Overall she maintained that she denied me due to "health reasons" and also said that I was "rude and mean." (I wasn't either one) They next called a Zorba's employee but he didn't have much to add to their case. He did say under cross that Cooper was well behaved and under control at all times.

The defense rested, and the defense lawyer restated his argument about the HHS registration, which the judge had already determined wasn't really relevant.

The judge quickly rendered a verdict of guilty, and continued the sentencing until Ms Andros completed her assignment, which is to read a book about the training and use of dog guides and their relationship to the people who use them. He then wanted her to write a book report of no more than 10 pages about what she had learned from the book. After reading the book report, to be submitted to the court in 30 days, he would pass the rest of her sentence. That will be on April 2, 2001.

There were 2 TV reporters there, and 2 newspaper reporters. If you'd like to see the story on WRAL's website, click HERE. The Daily TarHeel (UNC Campus Newspaper) published an article here.

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