Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry sends kids who were snubbed by swim club to Disney World They’re going to Disney World – and it’s all thanks to Tyler Perry. After learning that 65 kids from a minority Pennsylvania day care center were turned away by a mostly white swim club, Perry is sending the snubbed youngsters to the happiest place on Earth.

The beloved playwright is footing the entire bill for the kids from the Creative Steps day care center in suburban Philadelphia, including their airfare, food, accommodations and admissions for a three-day visit in sunny Orlando, after the children were kicked out of the Valley Swim Club in Huntingdon Valley, Penn., on June 29.

Perry, 39, in such stage and screen hits as "Medea Goes to Jail" and "Meet the Browns," recalls seeing one of the Creative Steps kids crying on the news about being shunned and humiliated at the club. CNN reported some of the children complained that white club members made racist comments to them.

Battle of Aiken

Battle of Aiken kicked off Friday with 3,000 school children slated to watch almost 1,000 Confederate and Union re-enactors portray the 1865 Civil War battle. That battle saw Confederate forces defeat a Union cavalry feint on Aiken and Graniteville before the Union troops turned on Columbia, capturing the state capitol, just months before the Confederacy collapsed.

That battle saw Confederate forces defeat a Union cavalry feint on Aiken and Graniteville before the Union troops turned on Columbia, capturing the state capitol, just months before the Confederacy collapsed. The re-creation — with more than $1 million in uniforms, tents, cavalry charges and equipment, including 15 dueling cannons — continues today and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. off Interstate 20 in Aiken. "It's interesting how he was cutting bones with that knife," said Dylan, who has aspirations of becoming a doctor himself some day. "That's pretty neat."

Dylan Hunt, an East Aiken Elementary School fourth-grader, took a keen interest in the mannequin that Ebersole used to discuss amputations that were necessary all too often following battles. The formal Battle of Aiken re-enactment is scheduled today and Sunday, with the gates opening at 9 a.m. Events during the day include Confederate camp tours, lectures and programs and cannon fire demonstrations. Part one of the Battle of Aiken is scheduled today at 2:30 p.m., with part two slated at the same time Sunday.