Breast-Feeding Mother

Re “Breast-Feeding Mom Goes Public Over Scene,” July 26.

I am one of the managing partners of the Oxnard Ice Skating Rink, a family recreational business that has been open for a year and a half. We are not a large national corporation but a small local business owned by people who wanted to make a difference in the community by providing a place where children, teens and adults can spend quality time together, learn to skate, improve existing skills and have fun.

While we sincerely apologize to Stephanie Simpson for any misunderstanding caused by our efforts to provide her with suggestions for alternative locations where she could feed her child on their next visit, we did not try to stop her from breast-feeding her child, nor did we ask that she leave the premises.

Our concern was to provide a place where she could have privacy, if she wished, as well as a warmer and perhaps more comfortable place for her and her baby. Temperatures in an ice skating facility get as low as 40 or 50 degrees. Our staff person was offering one of our warmer areas for her use and was not in any way trying to stop her from breast-feeding, deny her right to do so, or cause her any embarrassment or humiliation.

In fact, the staff person waited until Ms. Simpson was finished before she quietly explained that there were alternative places available for her use.

While it is true that most members of our staff were unaware of the laws concerning women who are breast-feeding, we have undertaken an employee awareness program to rectify such an oversight. We are completely sympathetic to the rights of mothers to breast-feed their children when and where they choose. In fact, one of our partners is a lactation consultant.

What saddens us is that the author of this article made it appear as if we did something that was against the law or disrespectful when in fact, our focus was and continues to be on acting in the best interest of our customers.

If the reporter wanted to discuss the upcoming World Breast-Feeding Week, she did not need to create a slanted, one-sided, controversial article and harm the good name of a local business.

PAUL SHANE

Oxnard Skating Center