In the summer of 2007, a family seeking a simple vacation at a family-themed RV park in rural Alabama was met not with hospitality but with exclusion rooted in fear and outdated stereotypes. Dick and Silvia Glover, of Saraland, brought their then-two-year-old foster son Caleb—later adopted—to Wales West RV Resort and Train and Garden Lovers Family Park in Silverhill. The boy loved trains. The park advertised itself as a wholesome destination with a swimming pool, showers, playgrounds, and its signature light railway. What should have been a month-long stay while the father received cancer treatment in nearby Mobile ended abruptly after park management learned Caleb had HIV.
Upon learning of the child’s status—reportedly after Silvia Glover mentioned it in conversation with staff—manager and owner Ken Zadnichek informed the family that Caleb could not use the common areas, including the swimming pool and showers, without a doctor’s note certifying he posed no risk to others. The family left early the next morning. Their money was refunded. A toddler with a treatable chronic condition, already facing other challenges including mild cerebral palsy, was effectively barred from the facilities other guests freely enjoyed.
This was not a close call involving actual risk. By 2007, more than two decades into the epidemic, public-health authorities had long established that HIV is not transmitted through casual contact, shared pools, showers, towels, or ordinary play. The Alabama Department of Public Health itself stated clearly that HIV is not spread by swimming in the same pool or using the same wash facilities. Yet Wales West treated a small child as a biohazard. The ACLU of Alabama rightly called the episode what it was: ignorance and prejudice directed at a defenseless two-year-old. “Mr. Zadnichek should be ashamed of himself for picking on a defenseless two-year-old,” said Christine Sun of the ACLU’s AIDS Project at the time. “Ignorance about the disease is no excuse for prejudice.”
The incident drew national attention and protests. Activists organized a Labor Day gathering at the park. Zadnichek maintained he was merely trying to protect other patrons and the boy himself, citing uncertainty about transmission. That defense collapsed under scrutiny. Federal law under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits public accommodations from discriminating against people with disabilities, including HIV, and from imposing eligibility criteria that screen them out. Requiring a doctor’s note as a condition of equal access was itself discriminatory.
The U.S. Department of Justice investigated and, in January 2009, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama (Civ. No. 09-29-CG-B). The complaint alleged that Wales West LLC denied the child and his family full and equal enjoyment of the resort’s goods, services, and facilities on the basis of disability. It further charged failures to make reasonable modifications, the use of criteria that screened out people with disabilities, and discrimination by association against the parents.
On January 19, 2010, U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade approved a consent decree settling the case. Wales West LLC agreed to pay $36,000 in compensatory damages to the family (in three annual installments) and a $10,000 civil penalty to the United States. The park was required to adopt written nondiscrimination policies and procedures (subject to DOJ approval), designate an ADA compliance official, post the policy prominently, train staff annually, and document any future denials of service based on disability. The decree explicitly affirmed that HIV is a covered disability and that unfounded fears do not justify exclusion.
Zadnichek’s attorney later described the settlement as a “business decision,” while the owner declined comment and continued to maintain he had done nothing wrong. That posture underscores the problem. Even after public education, national coverage, and federal intervention, the park’s leadership appeared more concerned with cost than with acknowledging that treating a toddler as a threat because of HIV was both medically baseless and legally forbidden.
The case stands as a clear illustration of how stigma outlives science. Wales West marketed itself as a family destination yet applied a standard that would have been indefensible in any other context involving a chronic, non-casually-transmissible condition. The Justice Department’s action and the consent decree enforced the principle that public accommodations cannot hide behind “precaution” when the science is settled and the law is unambiguous. The family received compensation. The park was forced to change its policies. But no amount of money or paperwork fully erases the message sent to a small child and his parents: you are not welcome here because of a virus that cannot harm the people around you in a swimming pool.
The outcome was accountability under the ADA. The episode itself remains a cautionary example of how easily fear can override both evidence and basic decency.