Rights of Hikers

[Number Six]

The Appalachian Trail hikers usually have excellent interactions with business people and residents of the towns they pass through from Georgia to Maine. Their spending provides a boost to towns with lackluster economies in some cases. Not quite so in the town of Kent, CT. The selectwoman at one point sought to reroute the trail away from town to discourage smelly hikers coming through town. The A/T was rerouted off the Mohawk Trail in the Cornwall area years ago because property easements could not be negotiated through that appealing part of Connecticut.

One of the major hassles for hikers involves the laundromat in Kent and the manager who is fairly dictatorial about how it is run. This thread documents some of the unpleasantness: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthr ... Laundromat

I would think that customers have certain human rights connected to their use of such necessary social facilities as laundromats and bathrooms, no?

[Judge Roy Bean]

...
I would think that customers have certain human rights connected to their use of such necessary social facilities as laundromats and bathrooms, no?

It varies from state to state and in counties and cities. Generally, it is unlawful to refuse entry / service or be segregated within a restaurant or other public establishment because of race, sex, disability, or any other protected classification.

As far as I know, being a hiker isn't a protected classification.

[Arthur Rubin]

It varies from state to state and in counties and cities. Generally, it is unlawful to refuse entry / service or be segregated within a restaurant or other public establishment because of race, sex, disability, or any other protected classification.

As far as I know, being a hiker isn't a protected classification.

IIRC, being a lawyer isn't a protected classification, either. Supposedly, a housing development had a "restrictive covenant" not to sell or rent to lawyers. It held up in court.

[Number Six]

There are numerous ways to inform other consumers about problem treatment by businesses and other organizations; some of the businesses have clear oversight by business managers and the workers causing the problems can be spoken to or disciplined, the "chain of command" rule, go over the head of the problem causer. The chamber of commerce could be informed. Many businesses are listed on the web and reviews can be done to inform other consumers. Politically those who have jurisdiction over commercial, legal, and other regulated activities can be made aware or reminded of the problems. The state attorney general can be quite good on dealing with problems within its jurisdiction. Anytime money is getting exchanged for services, legal regulations follow. And I would think that in a "cash" business like a coin-op laundry, there may well be untaxed or understated income where in the case of an obnoxious manager, certain authorities may have increased interest as a remedy to deal with it.

I spoke with a female hiker today, who was cursed out by the "mat" owner yesterday. A few went in to wash their clothes there in spite of the "no hikers" sign. I contacted the state AG to alert them to the issue, they directed me to the Human Rights Commission which got back to me with this set of rules on discrimination:

"If you believe you have been the victim of discrimination because of race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability or physical disability you can file a public accommodation complaint at:

"An owner of a business can refuse to serve anyone unless such refusal is based on the any of the protected classes list above. For instance she could turn away a group of mixed race hikers if the refusal included everyone. She could not allow all the African-Americans to use the facilities while refusing equal treatment to non-African-Americans.

"I hope this addresses your concern to the extent that Connecticut law applies."

There is a new law in the state which may impact hikers, though technically not homeless in many cases: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/0 ... -homeless/

[Number Six]

http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/ ... 738977.php