A sign posted on the front door of their cabin cuts a family vacation in Wimberley.
Kevin Burrell and his family left 7A Ranch after someone put up a racist sign cutting their vacation short. But one woman who lives nearby is doing what she can to show this family this incident does not represent her hometown.
Here’s what the front of the sign read:
“White lives matter too!! Us people have a noise curfew in this town noise out at 10 pm or get your a**es out of town you people have a nice day now! [sic].”
And here’s what the back read:
“To the late night A****les Big Mouth up to 2:00 AM [sic].”
The Hays County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case, and management with the resort issued an apology.
According to Burrell, he was playing games all night, but the noise was not high enough to warrant a noise complaint or a racist sign.
“That’s the most terrible thing you could possibly do, is plan a trip, and then you have to put in the front of your mind – not the back – that I need to prepare myself and my family in case something horrible happens,” he said. “It’s so upsetting and hurting you can’t enjoy yourself peacefully, law-abiding, taxpaying individuals. You’re just going to have fun, unwind, let your kids have the opportunity to breathe fresh air out in the countryside, and enjoy life without knowing that right around the corner or in the same area you’re in, you’re going to be dealing with bigotry and racism.”
More details of this story from Opposing Views:
Wimberley Mayor Gina Fulkerson, together with some city council members, visited Burrell to apologize for the incident, and so did 7A Ranch management.
Burrell’s family had planned on staying until Sunday, but left on Saturday, fearing for their own safety, even after they were offered the services of an off-duty police officer standing guard at their cabin.
“It was going to be in our best interest to leave because we didn’t know who left the sign. They were even willing to give us an off-duty police officer, just the whole nine, but we just weren’t going to be comfortable with that, with the kids and we had some older family members with us. We weren’t going to be able to enjoy ourselves. Once you experience something like that, you’re no longer in a comfort zone,” Burrell stated. “To me, that was just a statement saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to get your attention.'”
The management at 7A Ranch stated that they has reviewed surveillance footage from the time and saw an individual drive in and out of the ranch, but they got no clear shot of the person. They stated that they were currently working on procuring better cameras for the property.
Tina Pennington who lives nearby and said her heart sank when she heard about this.
“I was shocked. I was disgusted. I thought, ‘Oh heck no.’ That’s just down the street from my house, and I think that everything is theoretical when you hear about horrible things happening in the world. It’s theoretical until it happens in your backyard, and then it becomes very real for you,” Pennington said.
Just days later, Pennington came up with an idea to try and show the Burrell family – and others – the people of Wimberley are not like the person who posted this racist sign.
She drew up flyers that say, “We Love You Burrell Family,” and passed them out to businesses on Wimberley Square to hang them up – which sees a lot of traffic from tourists on the weekends.
Watch the video report below for more details:
Sources: OpposingViews, Fox26