With its ancient stone circle, quiet crofts and white beaches, Great Bernera is a far cry from the dark humour of the American military comedy M*A*S*H.
However, the small island, in the Outer Hebrides, is at the centre of a bitter conflict after the adoptive daughter of Sally Kellerman, one of the film’s stars, complained of discrimination after claiming she was told her dog was not welcome in local cafes.
Two community groups say they are on the brink of financial ruin after Claire Kellerman – the niece and adopted child of Sally Kellerman – was told her dog was not welcome in a local cafe on Great Bernera in the Outer Hebrides.
Kellerman took legal action on the grounds that the cafe’s refusal to accommodate her counted as disability discrimination given her pet is an “assistance dog”.
Ms Kellerman said: “I want to support local businesses here and be part of the community but I have been victimised, bullied and harassed by the community and shouted at in the street.
“The cafe should hold their hands up and admit they broke the law and it was illegal discrimination by refusing me permission to come in with my dog. My dog is a disability dog and is internationally recognised as such by airlines and businesses the world over.
“The cafe said I couldn’t bring my disability dog in because they serve food but they simply don’t want to follow the law. And they don’t want me here.”
She said there had been an “environment of targeted hostility” towards her which had made it “unwelcome for those who are disabled with assistance dogs … despite the law protecting our human rights”.
Ms Kellerman has been in a year-long dispute with Bernera Community Association (BCA), which she accused of “intentional, targeted hostility and unwelcome for those who are disabled with assistance dogs”.
She claims that the community group is behind “unbridled abuses”, while island sources say there have been up to 16 disagreements between American-born Ms Kellerman and local businesses over her dog, a Queensland heeler called Tarkina.
Ms Kellerman is being supported by the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre, a Glasgow-based refugee charity, and has secured legal aid to fund her case.
The Stornoway Gazette said a legal dispute with another organisation, the Bernera Community Development Trust, had cost the trust £7,000, while the Bernera Community Association, which runs a cafe on a voluntary basis, was being sued by Ms Kellerman for £10,000.
Ms Kellerman claims that the community group is behind ‘unbridled abuses’
Last week, it was confirmed that the association was facing bankruptcy if its legal costs continued to rise after Stornoway sheriff court ruled that the case could continue.
Ms Kellerman, who describes herself as a “regenerative farming community designer”, is thought to have arrived in the Outer Hebrides four years ago, first staying on the Isle of Lewis and then moving north to Bernera.
On her LinkedIn profile Ms Kellerman wrote that she lived by “the guidance that follows my prayers”. She claims she has been contacted by individuals who have been “harmed in the past decade on Bernera” and she was grateful “for the opportunity to end the BCA’s unbridled abuses”.
Ms Kellerman claims the community café is behind ‘collective harassment’
Before moving to Great Bernera, Ms Kellerman had travelled between Hawaii, New Zealand and the UK, working in permaculture, and is also a writer, singer and songwriter.
She was a founding permaculturist for a 260-acre regenerative agriculture project in Makawao, Hawaii, and according to social media “trained for 12 years to facilitate Celtic Viking Mysticism”.
Ms Kellerman with her mother Sally, who starred in a host of 1970s and 1980s films
Sally Kellerman was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress in M*A*S*H, the 1970 war film, and had an illustrious career throughout that decade.
The Scottish Legal Aid Board said no payments had yet been made to the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre, and that the application was “handled thoroughly, properly and entirely in line with all legal aid rules and guidance”.
Donald Mackinnon, an MSP, said: “The decision to award legal aid to fund this action has potentially devastating consequences for the organisations involved.
“Bernera Community Association is a small charity, doing important work in a rural community in Lewis. This absurd case is putting the survival of their organisation at risk. The Scottish Legal Aid Board should urgently review their decision.”
The Ethnic Minorities Law Centre was contacted for comment.