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SOUTH WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP — One of the country’s largest police unions is refusing to hold its annual picnic at Dorney Park after learning how the amusement park treated a longtime seasonal employee with special needs.

John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 in Philadelphia, said the union decided to move the picnic after staff learned that Chris Emery’s attempt to return for a 13th season at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom was initially uncertain after a change in the interview process for seasonal hires.

McNesby on Tuesday said the union has gathered at the South Whitehall Township park for the picnic every September for the last three years, usually drawing about 4,000 people to the park.

“It resonated with people. It really upset a lot of us,” McNesby said of Emery’s story, noting that a handful of his staff have children with special needs. “I understand that [Dorney Park has] a business to run and it’s their prerogative to do as they wish, but Chris should have been grandfathered in or something. It’s just a shame.”

Emery, 29, of Hereford Township, Berks County, was interviewed Thursday night for what had been his annual summer job since he was 16. But he was told he didn’t pass the first interview process. Emery, who has cleaned park restrooms for guests for more than a decade, was told he could come back in 30 days and interview again.

But his mother, Claudia Emery, feared she’d only be exposing him to a second round of disappointment.

A social media post by a family friend caught fire Friday, and the vice president of the park offered Emery a job for the 2016 season. His mother has said she is against Emery’s going back to the park to work after what she said was unfair treatment for a worker with a disability.

The Emerys said the interview process was different from years past, when Emery was interviewed one-on-one, with his mother present. This year, candidates participated in a group interview that included cooperative activities, such as building a train with Lego blocks.

Representatives for Dorney Park, owned by Ohio-based Cedar Fair, did not explain how or why the interview process changed. The park would only say that the interview was crafted to “help identify candidates who have the enthusiasm, engagement and problem-solving skills to give our guests the level of service they expect.”

McNesby said he doesn’t expect the picnic boycott to have a large impact on Dorney Park, but it felt like the right thing to do, given the circumstances.

“It’s probably not much of a difference to them, but we do spend a quarter of a million dollars of our budget on it every year,” McNesby said. “We just wanted to show that people really do care.”

Dennis Speigel, president of the Cincinnati-based consulting firm International Theme Park Services, said he doesn’t believe the incident will cost Dorney Park or its corporate parent, Cedar Fair LP, any long-term business.

“It’s a blip on the radar scale,” said Speigel, who has been in the theme park industry for more than 40 years. “Unfortunately, it’s not great PR. Fortunately, it comes in the winter and not the summer. And people tend to forget.”

But Speigel did say he’s never heard of a situation quite like the one unfolding at Dorney Park. In general, he said, the theme park industry is cognizant of hiring employees with special needs and placing them in the right positions.

“This is the first time I’ve really ever heard of an issue coming up like this,” Speigel said. “I can never remember that happening.”

He considers this to be an anomaly at Cedar Fair, which hires tens of thousands of employees each year at its 11 amusement parks, three outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels. But, Speigel said, this incident will force Cedar Fair to review its policies, which he said every park needs to do every once in awhile.

“Good will come out of that,” Speigel said.

Claudia Emery said her son continues to receive support from the public and offers from businesses and services wanting to rally behind him.

“As we try to get back to routine life, we’re not sure about pursuing another job at this point,” she said in an email.

A representative for Dorney Park did not return a message seeking comment.

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By Sarah M. Wojcik

The Morning Call