Veteran, Council Bluffs restaurant owner meet up to discuss service dog incident

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – An encounter at a local restaurant has “lit up the internet in the past 24 hours” — but not the way they’d prefer.

“I think that things have gotten out of hand,” Kevin Doncaster said in his own Facebook Live video on Thursday, noting that he posted his video to educate people, not to harm the business or the people who work there. “The ADA is a 30-year-old law, and it needs to be updated,” he said. “And I’m going to side with restaurants — all restaurants — that it’s really not clear what they should or should not do.”

The Council Bluffs resident runs the nonprofit Warhawk PTSD Service Dogs, helping connect other vets with these skilled canines. The seven-year Marine Corps veteran says his 6-year-old service dog, Lacie, helps him cope with PTSD.

Brian Kev Wallader, the owner of The Salty Dog Bar & Grill, posted to Facebook on Wednesday saying the situation last week was not handled well, and that he had apologized to Doncaster.

But after seeing how things played out online, the veteran said he reached out to Wallader to talk more about all of it, and ask for forgiveness.

“It’s really important that everybody calm the storm right now,” Doncaster said, and encouraged others to “stop the hate messages — on both sides of the fence.”

So both parties came together to try and stop what’s going on on social media. They sat down and had a conversation, making a video — together — about what happened.

“What happened at The Salty Dog didn’t go the way either one of us would’ve like it to, but it really did light up everyone’s passion for veterans and service animals,” Wallader said in the video. “I think there’s a lot to be learned here; I’m not sure we are the two people to teach you in this video about how to handle the situation. But what we are here to do is to let you know that Kevin and myself, we’re dropping the hatchet. We get along. We’ve had a nice conversation this morning, and we believe that everyone should move forward.”

It was nice to see everyone passionate, they said, minus the politics. Encouraging his audiece to give the restaurant a second chance, Doncaster said that everybody’s allowed to have a bad day.

“We just really hope that everybody can stop, move forward, and try again,” Wallader said.

The two ended their video together with a handshake and an invitiation from the two of them to come down to the restaurant to see what they’re really all about.

“Brian’s been real gracious with his time, I’m grateful to be here,” Doncaster said in the video alongside Wallader. “And I think what everyone had failed to understand is this is all about education. It was never about hate speech. And then the hate speech came out, and Brian doesn’t advocate for that, I don’t advocate for that.”

Doncaster said he’s a big fan of the establishment, giving them a shout-out to one of his favorite things on the menu there.

“Salty Dog is one of my favorite places to come to,” he said. “They’ve got the best wings hands down in the Council Bluffs-Omaha area. So you should definitely give it a shot.”

If you watch Doncaster’s videos, one of the phrases you’ll hear is that he loves God, he loves people, and he serves both. He said he does like the people at the Salty Dog, from the wait staff to the kitchen.

“We’re not here to hurt anybody and we’re burying the hatchet. And I think that I’ve just made a great friend right here,” Doncaster said. “I’d like a lot of forgiveness, and I’d like for you guys to come out and support this local business. They’re good people.”

For his part, Wallader said he supports veterans and loves dogs — that it was just a misunderstanding that got out of hand.

“If I was in his shoes,” Doncaster said, “I probably would’ve responded the same way to me as what happened because they’re right next door to a truck stop and people bring their dogs in all the time and then make false claims about it being a service dog.”

Now that Wallader has had the opportunity to meet Lacie, he gets it, Doncaster said.

“It’s really a double-edged sword, and it’s just not fair the way things have gone down. I meant to have this as an educational moment, not to shut a business down,” he said.

They have had a couple of bad days at the restaurant, but Doncaster said that isn’t what he advocates for and that he wants to restore the town and unite people too.

“It’s okay to have differences, but what makes it great about having differences is when you respect one another,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Brian and The Salty Dog; he’s got a lot of respect for me. We just want to move forward and bring everybody back together. Come have a meal.”

Wallader said he learned, among other things, that the two of them are on the same page with many things.

“Kevin and I have a lot more in common than we don’t — and I think that most of you do, too. So come have a meal with us at the Salty Dog Bar and Grill and let’s let this go.”

Doncaster is also having a concert benefit for his service dog group Thursday night at Benson Theatre.

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