06:43 AM CST on Sunday, February 15, 2004

By Chau Nguyen / KHOU-TV

Wherever they’re serving up Mexican food, the Campbell family is sure to come.

“It’s funny. We go to places and they bring two menus and I say ‘that’s okay we just need one’,” said Candace Campbell.

They only need one menu because Dale Campbell is blind. Left in the dark by a car accident nine years ago.

“No light perception. No nothing. Total darkness,” said Dale Campbell.

KHOU-TV Kelsey lies near the Campbells feat while they dine out.

Enter Kelsey. “Just like anybody else, nobody goes without their eyes,” said Dale Campbell. “He is my four-legged eyes. My furry eyes.”

But what happened to the Campbells one week ago at a restaurant is no laughing matter.

“We were discriminated against,” said Dale Campbell. Discriminated, the Campbells said, because of Kelsey. The Campbells said Las Haciendas’ manager approached them just as they had sat down.

“He told me we were going to have to take him outside and I said ‘no we don’t’,” said Candace Campbell.

“I can’t even put into words how demeaning it was the way he treated us,” said Dale Campbell.

”I was real angry, said Candace Campbell. “I just stood up and said ‘I guess you’re telling us we have to leave’.”

The Campbells left the restaurant.

Dogs are not typically allowed into restaurants, but guide dogs are. It appears this might be a case of cultural confusion.

“I’m sorry for that what happened,” said Asuncion Escobar, Las Haciendas manager. “I’m sorry. That is the first time what happened.”

Asuncion Escobar said the language barrier kept him from communicating with the Campbells. Not to mention, not knowing the law.

Sorry or not, Dale Campbell says he plans to sue Las Haciendas for violating his rights and his right to have Kelsey by his side wherever he goes.

Seeing eye dogs are allowed access to public places under The Americans with Disabilities Act.