It’s too late for apologies.
A Wisconsin golf course is in hot water after insulting the memories of the nearly 3,000 people killed on the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, by offering a discount commemorating the 12th anniversary of the worst attack on American soil.
Tumbledown Trails placed an advertisement in Monday’s Wisconsin State Journal offering nine holes of golf for $9.11.
After receiving a slew of negative comments on their Facebook page for their insensitivity – “The anniversary is a somber one not a reason to offer cheap gold promotions,” wrote Kimberly Pearce Stapleton – the course attempted to rectify the situation with this message:
“We would first like to apologize to everyone that we have upset or feels we have disrespected in anyway. By no means did we mean to do this. Here is what we will do this Wednesday 9-11; we will still let all that have tee times booked play for the previous rates we posted. Then for all other golf that day we would like to donate the $ difference between our normal rate and the previous price for the day to the 9/11 Memorial. We hope that everyone will now see this as a positive as we really meant it to be. Again we do sincerely apologize for offending anyone & hope that you do accept our sincere apology. Thank you”
Now, the backlash may cause the course to shut down on Wednesday, concerned about the welfare of their staff.
“Please stay tuned to see if we will be open on Weds 9/11,” the course posted on their Facebook page. “We are now worried about what people will do/say to our staff & do not want anything to happen or get out of control. Sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused anyone.”