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The owner of the Red Hen explains why she asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave
The Washington Post ^ | 06/23/18 | Avi Selk

Posted on 06/23/2018 1:56:12 PM PDT by Simon Green

Stephanie Wilkinson was at home Friday evening — nearly 200 miles from the White House — when the choice presented itself.

Her phone rang about 8 p.m. It was the chef at the Red Hen, the tiny farm-to-table restaurant that she co-owned just off Main Street in Lexington, Va.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders had just walked in and sat down, the chef informed her.

“He said the staff is a little concerned. What should we do?” Wilkinson told The Washington Post. “I said I’d be down to see if it’s true.”

It seemed unlikely to her that President Trump’s press secretary should be dining at a 26-seat restaurant in rural Virginia. But then, it was unlikely that her entire staff would have misidentified Sanders, who had arrived last to a table of eight booked under her husband’s name.

As she made the short drive to the Red Hen, Wilkinson knew only this:

She knew Lexington, population 7,000, had voted overwhelmingly against Trump in a county that voted overwhelmingly for him. She knew the community was deeply divided over such issues as Confederate flags. She knew, she said, that her restaurant and its half-dozen servers and cooks had managed to stay in business for 10 years by keeping politics off the menu.

And she knew — she believed — that Sarah Huckabee Sanders worked in the service of an “inhumane and unethical” administration. That she publicly defended the president’s cruelest policies, and that that could not stand.

“I’m not a huge fan of confrontation,” Wilkinson said. “I have a business, and I want the business to thrive. This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: 1moretime; bakethecake; civilrights; discrimination; doublestandard; idiotrestauranteur; redhen; sarahsanders; stephaniewilkinson
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To: BenLurkin
Instead of reading the reviews, go to the pictures. Page 1 is normal restaurant pictures of food.

The fun begins on page 2. Have fun!

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/the-red-hen-lexington-3?start=0

141 posted on 06/23/2018 3:15:59 PM PDT by Sooth2222 (Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.")
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To: JMS
And targeted harassment.

She should be talking to lawyers.

Unfortunately our side tries to respect those who don't respect us.

142 posted on 06/23/2018 3:19:10 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: GnuThere

I believe it was more like,”Republicans but shows too.”


143 posted on 06/23/2018 3:19:50 PM PDT by Spacetrucker (George Washington didn't use his freedom of speech to defeat the British - HE SHOT THEM .. WITH GUNS)
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To: Simon Green

Let’s see.... a baker gets run into the ground for refusing to bake a wedding cake for two gay guys but a liberal restaurant owner can kick a conservative out of her (hopefully soon failing) establishment. Scratching my head on that.


144 posted on 06/23/2018 3:20:05 PM PDT by From The Deer Stand
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To: Clay Moore

Dream on.

The courts would rule that political affiliation rejection was a cover for homophobia.

We are never going to win in court on this crap. 40 years of Dems packing the courts with their activist toadies appointed for life. All confirmed with the collaboration of corrupt Republicans in the Senate.


145 posted on 06/23/2018 3:21:58 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60's....You weren't really there)
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To: silverleaf

The article mentioned that some of the staff were gay. The Supreme Court just overturned the bakery case. I am sure the level of anger was intense with the gay workers, and then the hated Trump spokeswoman came in. It’s for the best they didn’t eat anything chef cooked.


146 posted on 06/23/2018 3:23:16 PM PDT by Paperpusher
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To: madison10

This should cover it:

In addition, most courts don’t allow restaurants to refuse service to patrons based on extremely arbitrary conditions.

Do they have a notice that they deny service to anyone serving the President? Have they denied all people who have come in who serve the President?

Seems pretty arbitrary that they denied Sarah and her party service.


147 posted on 06/23/2018 3:27:18 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: RightGeek

Buh-Bye, Red Hen. Been nice knowing you. Too bad the sky will be falling on all your brainless Commie friends and the owner.


148 posted on 06/23/2018 3:28:30 PM PDT by miserare ( Indict Hillary!)
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To: Sooth2222

Judging from the real photos...it is the kind of place where you eat BEFORE you go so you won’t leave the restaurant hungry. I accidentally ate at a place like that once. $100 for my wife & I, without drinks. After the meal, we went to McDonalds so our stomachs would stop growling.

Tiny meals at inflated prices. The town MUST be liberal to keep a joint like this in business.


149 posted on 06/23/2018 3:29:10 PM PDT by Mr Rogers (Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools)
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To: Simon Green

Awesome - the precedent is set. Now any restaurant can refuse service to anyone that has political views different from the owners - not sure the leftists living in Red States are going to like the results.

Maybe if groceries can do the same thing, we can concentrate the libs into large cities, then force them to secede and form their own country - wouldn’t miss them at all.


150 posted on 06/23/2018 3:29:30 PM PDT by utford
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To: Catmom

Worse. I hope her business goes the way of Air America.


151 posted on 06/23/2018 3:31:21 PM PDT by sauropod (I am His and He is mine. #FreeTommy)
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To: Simon Green

Why have a confrontation that was not needed? Mrs. Wilkinson made it political when she intervened and asked Sanders to leave.

Money is Money, if I owned a restaurant and either Clinton and Obama came in I would serve them and let it go. These people on the left are in a rage over nothing.


152 posted on 06/23/2018 3:31:29 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: Doogle

Illegals working in the kitchen and homosexuals waiting on the tables.


153 posted on 06/23/2018 3:31:33 PM PDT by Godebert
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To: JMS

Wrong, she can ask anyone to leave, it is her choice. Why make a Federal Case out of it.


154 posted on 06/23/2018 3:32:36 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: C210N

Pardon my hypothetical, but is the owner saying she would not bake a cake for Sarah?

BOOM.
Let’s take it to the Supremes.


155 posted on 06/23/2018 3:33:40 PM PDT by DefeatCorruption
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To: Simon Green
And she knew — she believed — that Sarah Huckabee Sanders worked in the service of an “inhumane and unethical” administration

The only one being inhumane and unethical is the owner.

156 posted on 06/23/2018 3:35:09 PM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: miss marmelstein

They deserve to lose their jobs. Bunch of lib idiots.


157 posted on 06/23/2018 3:35:54 PM PDT by DefeatCorruption
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To: Sooth2222

With 26 seats?

It sounds like more of a hobby than a real business.


Maybe it’s a ‘front’. Hmmmm.....


158 posted on 06/23/2018 3:38:25 PM PDT by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: DefeatCorruption

She had ‘intention’ and ‘action’.


159 posted on 06/23/2018 3:39:46 PM PDT by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
"Making a reservation under someone else’s name makes perfectly good sense for someone who is in the public eye and wants to avoid publicity or a confrontation."

She used her own name - Sanders. As in Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

160 posted on 06/23/2018 3:40:01 PM PDT by Godebert
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