A school bus full of Browning students and staff was turned away from a Flathead-area convenience store for the second time in a year.
The Missoulian reports about 40 members of the Browning cross-country team and coaches were on the bus as it approached Woody’s Country Store outside Kalispell. Store employees refused service to the students. The event has sparked a social media outcry, and charges of racism.
Woody’s owner Chuck Weis posted an apology on the store’s Facebook page, which has since been taken down. Weis denied that race had anything to do with the incident, and said store staff wasn’t capable of accommodating so many students.
According to a statement from Browning Public Schools Superintendent Corrina Guardipee-Hall, Browning students were respectful and courteous.
"I am recommending that our buses and teams not stop at this establishment in the future," she says.
According to a Blackfeet Nation Facebook post, the students were served at a different convenience store in Bigfork after being turned away.