Florida Eden Winery turns away disabled Iraq veteran over his service dog

Wounded veteran claims he was turned away from business
WINK
Story Created: Apr 03, 2013

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- A combat-wounded veteran of the Iraq war is claiming he and his service dog were turned away from Eden Winery near Alva in Lee County. 27-year old Alex Brown says he is embarrassed and upset by what happened.

"Us veterans are a proud group. It is one thing to walk around as a combat wounded vet, and to have your service dog with you all the time. To have someone point that out, and dismiss you, well that can be embarrassing, especially in front of your family. I don't want anybody else to go through that," says Brown.

The Army veteran says he and some relatives went to Eden Winery on Tuesday afternoon of this week. Brown says he was getting his service dog, Skip, out of the car, when he heard the manager of the winery store.

"He was screaming, 'that dog is not coming in here, that dog cannot come in'," says Brown. "My cousin said, 'it's a service dog', and still he said, 'that dog is not coming in', and he shut the door."

The Brown party left the winery, and later in the evening, Alex posted his version of events on Facebook. Since then, hundreds of people have responded, mostly with very negative comments toward Eden Winery.
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