AUBURN – The manager of Denny’s Restaurant in Auburn woke up Tuesday with much less worry and angst.

On Monday, the Maine Human Rights Commission voted not to back allegations that he discriminated against a nursing mother by making inappropriate comments about her breasts.

“I knew the truth would come out sooner or later,” said Marcel Deschaines when reached at the restaurant Tuesday.

Stephanie York of Oakland filed a complaint with the commission, alleging that Deschaines made several comments while she was breast-feeding her baby at Denny’s on Nov. 21, 2003.

She claimed that he asked her if she were “drowning the boy” with her breast. Then, she said, he turned to another employee while walking away and said, “Every man needs a good boob every once in a while.”

Deschaines admitted that he made the comment about drowning her baby. But he defended it as a joke, and he claimed that all of the other statements attributed to him were false.

An investigator for the commission recommended a vote against Deschaines, after concluding that his “crude and juvenile” comments interfered with York’s right under Maine law to breast-feed in public.

But with a 3-2 vote Monday, the commission ruled against the investigator’s recommendation. They found no reasonable grounds to believe that discrimination had occurred.

York did not attend the hearing in Augusta, so the commission heard from only the investigator and Denny’s attorney. The fact that York wasn’t there angered Deschaines.

“You create all of this havoc and mayhem, then you don’t show up,” he said. “Why do it in the first place?”

The Sun Journal has been unable to reach York.

A vote in the other direction would have allowed York to sue Denny’s with backing from the commission. Although he is relieved that won’t happen, Deschaines said some damage has already been done.

“How do you get that credibility back?” he said. “I’ve served more than 3 million people, and all it takes is one person to make up some lies.”

Deschaines has worked at the Court Street restaurant for 15 years.