Stu Bykofsky: Valley Club scandal conjures up the Three Stooges
IT TOOK JUST more than a week for the Valley Club of Huntingdon Valley to do an about-face, in the heat of (bad) publicity and under pressure from many of its own members.
IT TOOK JUST more than a week for the Valley Club of Huntingdon Valley to do an about-face, in the heat of (bad) publicity and under pressure from many of its own members.
Why the U-turn? The membership either didn't want to be wrongly thought of as racist, or couldn't stand being exposed as racist.
You make the call.
When I think of the Valley Club's leadership three names come to mind: Moe, Larry and Curly. Throw in Shemp for good measure.
Remember Valley Girls? We have Valley Stooges. No wonder Board President John Duesler offered to resign. The whole board should join him for giving the swim club an eye poke. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
First, the Stooges took money from three different day camps without thinking about whether the number of kids would swamp the facility.
Second, they canceled the deal. That was wrong, no matter what.
Third and fourth they made dumbass Stooge-like statements explaining why.
It began with minority kids changing the "complexion" of the club. Woody Allen wouldn't dare write a stupid and insensitive line like that for one of his bumbling characters.
Then it was space not race, meaning the number of kids in the pool created a "safety" issue.
This was like watching a pumpkin roll down a flight of stairs.
I was not alone in wondering how the club could reverse itself without downgrading safety concerns, although I can imagine how. Valley Club might limit the number of kids in the pool at any one time, for instance, or increase the number of lifeguards. Or fill the pool with buoyant marshmallows.
Instead of calling the day camps to try to work it out, Duesler, like a Charles Dickens villain, booted the kids out.
Then came the pickets and the inevitable lawsuits.
So the Stooges invited the kids back, but the Creative Steps day camp has lawyered up and says it won't return. Though that's understandable - it's how I would feel, but maybe not how I would act - the day camp now appears to be more interested in money and vengeance than in splash time for the kids.
The arrow of public sentiment may swing from "sympathy" for the day camp to "why not accept the victory?"
One parallel that comes to mind is the venerable Union League, which for generations legally discriminated against almost everyone. Its bias was breathtaking - women, Catholics, Jews and blacks, to name a few, were prohibited.
When the dawn came and the WASPs finally opened their sanctum, those previously and grievously banned became members. Why be a sore winner?
After the Valley Club caught the spotlight, other local people saw the wrong and stepped up to do right.
The Klein branch of the Jewish Community Center offered its pool, the kids enjoyed an outing at the Cherry Crest Adventure Farm in Lancaster County and the Delaware Valley Gymnastics Academy had the kids in. There may have been others, but I can't get Creative Steps Executive Director Alethea Wright on the phone.
I'm not trying to make this a Happy Meal moment about finding silver linings in dark clouds.
Well . . . maybe I am.
What's wrong with that?
Some of the kids who were rejected by the Valley Club may carry a stone in their gut for life because of how they were treated. I hope not and I hope they do not judge all white people by the few at the Valley Club.
Every race has Stooges. It's a shame and it's a pity.
The kids aren't a minority.
The Stooges are. *
E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. For recent columns: