Park Ranger rude to family of disabled person
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 7/6/09
I have been going to Ebenezer Park my whole life so when we bought my disabled son a boat this was the place we choose to put it in. We bought the season pass and as my husband works alot I take him by myself. The parks ranger Robert Thomas has harrassed me on at least 3 ocassions about taking too much time at the dock getting my sons wheelchair on or off and getting the boat pulled in or out , and the latest was July 4th night when I came back in to load the boat. He met me at the pier and said I could not park the boat at the pier to unload my son in his wheelchair and get my trailer. I told him I could not get the boat out without docking it and getting the truck.( of course he knew this as he could see I was by myself and my son was sitting in his wheelchair.) He did not care and I was directed back onto the lake to wait. I had already waited in line for about 45 min for the chance to load the boat. I ended up getting home at 1:00 am after arriving at the park at 10:30 pm. You do the math. The only way I got out then was to pull my boat in an area that was extremely shallow and would only accomadate half the boat (pontoon) to be tied up to the pier. Another boater with a handicapped son held the boat while I got my son off and got the truck. The ranger then had the nerve to come on the dock and ask me if I needed help. You can imagine my response! I know you will think this happened because it was July 4th and lots of boats were being loaded. I would have thought that too except the recent weekend I was there and a fishing tournament was going on that had at least 3 times as many boats as that night with huge traffic problems on the ramps and the parking lots and guess what NO RANGER IN SIGHT. He picks and chooses the people he harasses obviously. This is a shame because the park is great the camping is fun and the ramps are good. Now if they could just get a park ranger that didn't feel he had to harass women with disabled children just to feel powerful it would be perfect!