Blaming the Victim

Hilton Hotels has decided not to renew the lease of Fran O'Brien's restaurant in the Washington Capital Hilton:

For the last three years, Fran O'Brien's has offered a steak dinner and beverage to our wounded heroes from Walter Reed and Bethesda.  Last week, I received a Mayday! call from another group of heroes - Vietnam Vets rallying around the guidon because of some corporate nonsense that will end Fran O'Brien's tenure.  Read on and help us by acting:

I'm Jim McDaniel, webmaster for the 174th Assault Helicopter Company's web site.  I refer you to one of our web pages that I put together back in 2004.  It is about Hal Koster, one of our 174th crew chiefs from Vietnam.  Hal crewed the UH-1C SHARK gunships that I flew 1967-68. Hal and I flew together.  Please see the page about his restaurant and his support of our veterans at  http://www.174ahc.org/koster-iraq.htm.

Now, having read the page, Hal has continued to host our veteran amputees every Friday night.  I have been to several of the dinners, and it is absolutely WONDERFUL what Hal has been doing at significant effort and personal expense (every dollar he spends on our veterans could be money he puts in his pocket).  You really have to be one of these dinners to fully appreciate what this means to these soldiers.

Well I received this message (below) from Jack Cunningham, and I couldn't believe it.  I was last in Hal's on St. Patrick's Day, and Hal didn't mention his difficulties to me then.  I just called Hal and he confirmed for me this report is TRUE.  Hilton has terminated his lease and the restaurant has been ordered closed on April 31 (just over TWO WEEKS from now).  Apparently Hal's support of our wounded veterans is playing a MAJOR part in Hilton's decision to shut him down.  Part of it is that Hilton has refused to put in wheelchair access to the restaurant and their concern over liability if one of the amputees should be
injured in the restaurant.

...

I have to take issue with one point: This is not "corporate nonsense."  This is bad law under a bright light.  If the Hilton has to worry about liability (you don't suppose they heard from their insurance company?), then you can blame politicians and the Plaintiffs' Bar for this bullshit, not Hilton.  Hilton should be held responsible for not building the ramp (if it's even possible to do so) and for not giving Fran O'Brien's decent notice and, but even with a ramp — again, if that's even reasonably possible — worries about liability are entirely reasonable.  And you know how a jury would react if a wounded vet showed up in court in his wheelchair.  The issue here is liability reform, not Hilton Hotels.

Update: Notice that the original letter only says that this "apparently" has much to do with the dinners.  He doesn't say what he's basing that on, and Hilton says that the liability has nothing to do with it.  Allowing for P.R. bullshit, of course....

Update II: Andi, bless her heels, and The Donovan have more.  (Still allowing for P.R. bullshit, however.  Kelleher's phrase "...the inability to reach a new lease agreement" sounds like a word game to me.)

Comments

[John of Argghhh!]

Man, we're a tough audience!

I'm about the only one taking a "be nice, give 'em a chance" stance on this one, simply because giving them a face-saving way out could be the fastest way to get what we want.

This is a case where ends justify the means without a moral compromise.

That said, all the rabid junkyard blogs out there make me look like sweetness and light! Which might help, when we get there next week and go vist...

[Mike]

I've learned, the hard way, how to smell out the P.R. wordgames. Bill Clinton helped a lot....