Mothers planning 'nurse-in' at Elitch's

Woman posts park treatment to baby-feeding

Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 16, 2007 at midnight

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A group of mothers plans to stage a "nurse-in" at Elitch Gardens' main gate this morning as a protest of the treatment of a South Dakota woman while she was breast-feeding at the park earlier this week.

"The purpose of the nurse-in is not an attack on Elitch Gardens staff, but rather an opportunity to show the public that breast-feeding is nothing for a mother to be ashamed of or for the general public to be uncomfortable around," said Tirzha Zabarauskas, 23, of Denver, who is organizing the effort, and will be breast-feeding her 5-month-old daughter at the 11 a.m. demonstration.

The "nurse-in" came as a result of a posting by Kristin Skrydlak-simlai, a mother of three on a parenting Web site, mothering.com, on Thursday.

Under the discussion thread called "Harassed at Elitch Gardens for public breast-feeding," Skrydlak- simlai wrote that she visited Elitch Gardens during a family vacation to Colorado.

When she tried to nurse her 5-month-old son by the wave pool at the park, she said she was told by two security guards that she had to move or cover up.

"I repeated the state of Colorado breast-feeding law and informed them that I was not going anywhere or covering up (he hates being covered up), could they please stop harassing me and let me feed my child," Skrydlak-simlai wrote.

She says they threatened to kick her out of the park.

Colorado law allows mothers to breast-feed in "any place she has a right to be" and does not put any restrictions on when, where and how.

Skrydlak-simlai, 28, of Spearfish, S.D., said the guards later got a supervisor, who in turn, got two Denver police officers to talk to her. By that time, she said she had finished nursing her son and pulled her swimsuit back up.

"The Denver police then informed me that if I breast- feed in public in the park again, they would arrest me for trespassing as the park would want to kick me out," she said.

Elitch Gardens released a statement that breast-feeding at the park is allowed, but noted: "Our concern was not that she was breast-feeding her child, but that she was exposed while doing so, making several guests uncomfortable enough to bring it to the park management's attention."

The park also said that employees did not ask Skrydlak-simlai to leave and offered her an apology.

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