Veteran, accompanied by service dog, denied service at Medford restaurant

MEDFORD, N.J. (WPVI) -- Atlas has become a lifeline for Mike Alcorn, an army combat veteran from Shamong Township, New Jersey, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, which he says has left him hyper-vigilant.

"It's exhausting, you know, trying to look at everything all the time to make sure that everything's gonna be OK," said Alcorn. "When I have him, I'm not alone. If I'm starting to feel anxious or I'm starting to feel anxiety, I can reach down and, you know, just give him a little love."

But yesterday, Mike and his wife Megan were told Atlas, his service dog, couldn't join them for lunch at the Fortune Cookie Chinese restaurant on the 200 block of Tuckerton Road in Medford.

"He's like if you would like food you can wait outside, and then he was like please move aside because I have a customer coming in," said Alcorn. "And I was like 'I'm not a customer?' And at that point I was furious."

The incident isn't unusual according to Lisa Berg, founder of Semper Fido, a nonprofit that trains service dogs for veterans like Alcorn.

"If you've been in business, we're familiar with this restaurant, 20 something years, you need to know what the laws are," said Berg.

She says business owners too often don't know the federal disability laws that allow service dogs in public places.

The owners of Fortune Cookie didn't want to go on camera, but said they didn't know the law and apologize, and will welcome the Alcorn's and Atlas.

As for the Alcorn's, they hope their experience can teach others.

"We want the community to be aware that people with service dogs don't have service dogs because they want to bring their pet somewhere," said Megan Alcorn, Mike's wife. "They have service dogs because they're essential to their livelihood."

The Alcorn's filed a police report, but a spokesman with the Medford Township Police Department said it's not much they can do since it doesn't have authority to enforce federal disability laws.