GARDEN CITY – Ada County commissioners responded Thursday to allegations that a fair employee asked a man and his disabled wife to leave the Ada County fairgrounds.

They say it never happened.

"I want the community to know that ... the allegations that Mr. Harn are making are tough for me to hear and in my mind they just have no basis because that's not how we operate county government," said Paul Woods, an Ada County commissioner.

But the Idaho Human Rights Commission says it's looking into the matter and that they have witnesses that back up Michael Harn’s claim.

The allegations stem from the local resident who says a fair employee named “Carla” came up to him and said that they had to leave because she was “too graphic.”

Twenty two years ago, Harn’s wife, Rose, was hit by a drunk driver and was paralyzed and suffers from severe brain damage.

"I said 'you're joking' and she says 'no I'm serious, my boss wants you to leave the fair grounds' and I said 'tell your boss to come down here and tell me that,'" Michael said Wednesday.

He said they barely gave an explanation.

"They didn't have any, they said it's too graphic. They said my wife is too graphic because she's paralyzed," Harn said.

Woods and Rick Yzaguirre, also a county commissioner, said they conducted numerous interviews with fair staff and its management to come to a conclusion.

“It’s in our opinion that it never happened,” Yzaguirre said.

When told of the commissioner’s findings, Harn said he’s standing by his claims. While the fair employee never forcibly removed him and his wife, he says he was still asked to leave because of his wife’s condition.

“I swear on my life,” Michael said Thursday.

People working at surrounding booths said Harn's presence at the fair was tough to watch. They said families should not have to see people who look like Rose.

"I lost my best friend last year in a car accident and I saw her in that vegetative state a week before she died and it was really offending I actually had to end up leaving work early because I couldn't handle it," said Alicia Neuschwanger, who was working near MADD's booth and felt Harn had his wife on display.

MADD says while it happened at their booth they were not involved in Tuesday night's incident. After speaking with fair officials the next day, however, they agreed to remove the Harn's from future volunteer appearances.

“They have been a part of our fair booth for six years,” said Miren Aburusa, MADD director.

One booth operator working that night outlined both of the fair operator’s concerns. She says young children were scared of Harn’s presence and she was also worried that Rose was possibly being neglected by her caretaker.

“I never saw him give her any water or check to see if she had soiled herself,” said Amanda Johnson, a booth operator.

After talking to fair operator Bob Batista, Aburusa said she agreed to remove the Harns as volunteers for the remainder of the fair.

”I was (concerned for her) safety,” Aburusa said. “It sounded like there was going to be a lot of ugliness surrounding this. I wanted to make sure she was safe."

Here's the email that Aburusa sent fair operators:

"First, I apologize for the problems and inconvenience our booth has caused you. Second, we removed Mr. Harn from tonight's schedule as a volunteer and we have vocalized this to him. So should he come to the fair it will not be as a volunteer for MADD."

Yzaguirre said Ada County would never ask a person with a disability to leave the premise – soley based on his or her condition.

“We take great pride in allowing access to those who are disabled,” he said. “We would never limit anyone…”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho said it also was looking into the incident.

"To our detriment, people with disabilities are still far too often treated as second-class citizens, shunned and segregated by physical barriers and social stereotypes, and this is unconstitutional," the organization said in a statement.