ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990                   TAG: 9005300418
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Medium

ARLINGTON VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS ACT

Arlington International Racecourse discriminated against families with children by prohibiting those under 14 from living on the track's backstretch, the Illinois Appellate Court said Tuesday.

In a unanimous ruling, the court said the course's 1982 policy banning children from track housing violated the Illinois Human Rights Act, said Alan K. Chen, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued the case.

"We are pleased with the court's decision which broadly interprets and applies the Human Rights Act to protect families with children who need housing," Chen said.

Lawyers for Arlington didn't return phone calls Tuesday night.

Tuesday's ruling stems from a complaint filed by the ACLU in 1982 after track management said children would no longer be able to live in housing rented to trainers, grooms and other backstretch workers.

The ACLU said most of the backstretch employees are migrant workers who travel to racetracks around the country. The workers generally live at the course for five months a year, the length of the racing season.

In the complaint, workers said they could not afford to live elsewhere.

Management argued that housing accommodations at the track could not be considered "rental" units within the meaning of the human rights laws. And managers said the area was dangerous for children.

The court rejected the argument, saying there was no evidence to show management prohibited the children "because of a concern for the health, safety and welfare of those children."

The original complaint was filed with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, and Tuesday's ruling upholds an Illinois Human Rights Commission decision against the track.

After the original complaint was filed, the track, then known as Arlington Park, was ordered to delay implementing a policy which would have affected 20 to 30 families with 30 to 40 children, Chen said.

Workers with children under 14 were allowed to continue living on the backstretch until last summer, when management successfully petitioned the appellate court to stay the order while the case was on appeal.

Keywords:
HORSE RACING 


 by CNB