My name is Jeanie Oldenburg and my 12 year old daughter is Cambria Oldenburg and her service dog is Milo.We are the ìfamilyî that was accused of the backlash and the social media flub (in the article).In June, my daughter and I were meeting some friends at Suri Ridge Coffee House. I walked in a few minutes before my daughter and her service dog, and sat down with my friends, waiting to order until my daughter came in.When my daughter came into Suri Ridge, I immediately saw a woman stare at our dog and then she walked right over and said, ìYou canít have a dog in here because we serve food.î I stated that he is a service dog (he also was wearing his vest). She insisted that she was waiting for approval from the Health Dept. on whether or not she can have service dogs in her establishment.I again tried to educate her further on the law but she was not having it, so without a fuss we decided to leave, and my daughter was crushed.I got into my car and called our friend and owner of Tattle Tail Service Dogs (where we got Milo) for advice. We decided to go home and print off the ADA Law and personally take it to Mrs. Donaldson. I went back a few hours later, without my daughter and her dog for respect to Suri Ridge and presented the paper work îADA Lawî and some other helpful information. I pointed out a few things like how the Federal Law overrules the State and County Laws, and the two questions they as business owners are allowed to ask. She took it from me without a glance and put it in a folder and gave me the Health Department Lawyers phone number.In the conversation on the information I presented, she said, ìThe only service dogs I know of that we can have in here are for people who are in wheelchairs.î At the time a woman was standing at the counter and overheard the conversation. She told Mrs. Donaldson that she could be fined for not allowing my daughter in her establishment. Again, Mrs. Donaldson stated, ìUntil I know further, I will not allow dogs in here.î At that point I said, ìWell, then you have just lost mine, our friends and families business.î Never did I say I would see her place of business shut down. That was a false statement on her behalf. The whole reason we went there in the first place was to support a small business.Mrs. Donaldson said it was a misunderstanding. If it was a misunderstanding then why didnít she acknowledge that to our family?I then left again, and called the number of the lawyer she gave me. He got back to me the following Monday and apologized for Suri Ridge. He stated that they did not know the law, but will make sure that they were educated on it and that this would never happen again. I took no further action until now.Jason Gray, the writer of both articles in the September issue was wrong in publishing these articles without our statements. We were never contacted by him.*The article about the service dogs was wonderful in educating our community but the statement made by Mrs. Donaldson (that I would see her business closed) was untrue and I would like it retracted.There were two articles published in the September issue: the first about the service dogs and the other about Suri Ridge closing. In both, Mrs. Donaldson put blame on the social media and my family. I personally know they were struggling to stay in business before this happened. It didnít help them at all with the refusal to support service dogs, which i really didnít understand because they are veteran supporters, and a lot of veterans have service animals.As for the social media, they had a Facebook page that my sister Joanni Perez, and friend Toni Teeples found so they made a review on the review site, which was followed with more reviews from friends and family (and others), along with supporters of Suri Ridge. I think Suri Ridge, as business owners in a small community like ours, could have made better decisions on their behalf. We are small business supporters and would never want to see anyoneís place of business close.Jeanie Oldenburg – Falcon*Editorís note: Jason Gray, the NFH writer of the above-mentioned stories, tried to contact Jeanie and Tad Oldenburg through Facebook messages dated Aug. 20. He did not have other means to contact them. Although social media has its place in many peopleís lives, the NFH does not consider Facebook a good avenue for contacting people for interview purposes. It is too easy to have a message fall through the cracks. Our apologies to the Oldenburgs for stating that no one got back to us for comment.
