All three sisters say the trip to the pool that sparked the controversy was not intended as a political statement; it was just an escape from a stiflingly hot summer day. "It never even crossed my mind to not go," Tina says.

"We loved going to that swimming pool. Growing up, we lived about five houses away," Lea says. "We went to the pool every single day."

Once they arrived, however, they say they could tell the other town residents did not want them there. "That's why I said [to Mike], 'On the count of three you'd better get in because we won't get back in,'" Tina says.