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9news.com | News | Woman wrongly ticketed for breast feeding in public

Woman wrongly ticketed for breast feeding in public
written by:  Paola Farer  Web Producer
reported by:  Roger Wolfe  9NEWS Northern Reporter
7/28/2005 11:32 PM MDT

9NEWS Northern Reporter Roger Wolfe says a mother in Larimer County wants other women to know it's legal to breast feed in public. 4 p.m. July 28, 2005.

LARIMER COUNTY - A day at the beach almost turned into a crime for a Larimer County woman who got a ticket for nursing her baby in public.

"I was completely embarrassed and humiliated," said Dorian Ryan about the summons she received from a park ranger.

It happened at the swim beach at Carter Lake.  Ryan says the same park ranger had warned her the week before not to breast feed.

"We were shocked and asked why that is and they said it's to protect us from perverts and peeping toms," says Ryan.

It turns out there was no law violated and the ticket was dismissed.  Carter Lake supervisor Dan Rieves says the ticket was a mistake; he called it poor judgment by a new park ranger.

"They do have officer discretion to make some decisions and sometime that decision is made poorly," he said.

Besides voiding the ticket, Rieves says he will send a letter of apology to Ryan.

Ryan says she's speaking out because she wants to spread the word that it is legal to breast feed in any public place in Colorado.

"Personally I'd like to be able to go to the beach and not be hassled - and let my kids have great memories of sand castles and playing in the water - not of a park ranger coming up to mommy again," she says.

The Colorado legislature passed a new law last year affirming the right of mothers to breast feed in public places.  The park ranger who issued the citation was reprimanded by supervisors.

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