Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260261-274 next last
To: Okeydoker

Right! 60 bucks for a chicken dinner for two! I could make that at home for that amount for twenty people! Oh, right...they call it “coq au vin” which translated means “chicken stew with a cup of sherry thrown in!” And at home, I wouldn’t have to worry about how many STDs the chef had, and if he was picking hos nose while cooking it!


241 posted on 06/23/2018 7:20:47 PM PDT by miserare ( Indict Hillary!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 176 | View Replies]

To: Governor Dinwiddie; Rebelbase

It’s “Singing Earth Produce: Rancho Calixto,” and Spanish is spoken there. I don’t know about their immigration status.


242 posted on 06/23/2018 7:28:01 PM PDT by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: sdthree
Her husband is a professor at VMI

In effect, the restaurant is a hobby subsidized by VMI tuition.

243 posted on 06/23/2018 7:33:36 PM PDT by Sooth2222 (Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 209 | View Replies]

To: miserare
😂
244 posted on 06/23/2018 7:35:51 PM PDT by Okeydoker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 241 | View Replies]

To: redcatcherb412
If this is adjudicated and the court buys this as a valid defense, the precedent will be earth shattering.

Good point. So far I have not located the original source for that quote from #41.

I should not have included it in my post.

245 posted on 06/23/2018 7:35:57 PM PDT by TChad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 222 | View Replies]

To: tiki
she has the right to refuse service

Which she should have done before admitting them. Once they are seated, and food and drink forthcoming I think you can argue that a contract is in place - offer and acceptance - and you cannot just rescind the contract and boot someone out mid-meal for the helluvit.

246 posted on 06/23/2018 7:37:14 PM PDT by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 205 | View Replies]

To: JMS

If she wants to protest Trump, she should not pay her taxes rather than kick out customers.


247 posted on 06/23/2018 7:44:27 PM PDT by depressed in 06 (60 in '18.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: 50sDad
Remember that the next time a wedding caterer or photographer is hung out to dry for doing the same thing

Of course, you realize this woman's decision had nothing to do with her religious convictions.

248 posted on 06/23/2018 7:51:29 PM PDT by ladyjane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies]

To: allendale

Same here, although I am not a business and my home is not public. Kicked out a pharmacy technician last week because she dispenses Plan B.


249 posted on 06/23/2018 7:54:27 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Simon Green

“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.”

If the owner truly believe her statement, there was only one possible course of action. Serve the paying customer just as she would serve any other customer. Keeping politics off the table means not discriminating based on politics.

Sanders was a paying customer who was not engaged in political activity or carrying out the responsibilities of her job. She, like any other citizen, deserves to be able to dine in public without harassment or embarrassment, particularly from the owners of the public establishment.

It was the owner who brought politics into this situation, not Ms. Sanders.


250 posted on 06/23/2018 7:58:07 PM PDT by Soul of the South (The past is gone and cannot be changed. Tomorrow can be a better day if we work on it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moonman62

“I’d settle for her putting a big sign out front saying Trump supporters aren’t welcome.”

The CEO of Camping World, Marcus Lemonis, publicly stated he did not want Trump supporters patronizing his stores. Since that time I have complied with his wishes as have many of my friends who own RV’s.


251 posted on 06/23/2018 8:01:49 PM PDT by Soul of the South (The past is gone and cannot be changed. Tomorrow can be a better day if we work on it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: bigbob

if you believe bakery owners have the right to not bake cakes for fags, you also have to believe in the right of this owner to refuse service to SHS.

Anything else is hypocrisy.
//////////////////

Actually, the bakers were obligated to sell a cake to any customer that came into their store. That is exactly what they did. What they refused to do was to make a special cake that accepted “gay ,marriage” which violated their religious beliefs. Of course the ‘gays ‘ sued to force them to violate their religious beliefs.
In this case Sanders was merely asking to be served, like any other customer. Of course the bigoted marxist refused to serve her the same food she would serve any other customer. Now if Sanders had demanded the woman serve her a ‘special” item . not on the menu or stay open past posted closing hours, she would be legally within her rights to refuse.


252 posted on 06/23/2018 8:10:31 PM PDT by photodawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Simon Green

Could have just asked Sarah to eat at the Negro counter. I’m sure they have one.


253 posted on 06/23/2018 8:37:21 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Simon Green
A sign soon to be outside the "Red Hen"


254 posted on 06/23/2018 8:41:13 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici ("Defeat David Trone")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Simon Green

And for anyone that hasn’t researched it, this Wilkinson biotch is heavy into Democrat politics in Rockbridge County, VA.


255 posted on 06/23/2018 8:43:33 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici ("Defeat David Trone")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sooth2222
Found this on page 14:


256 posted on 06/23/2018 8:44:32 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 141 | View Replies]

To: Simon Green

So she is on board with bakers and florists standing up for their morals as well? I totally defend her right to ask anyone to leave her establishment as much as I disagree with her choice. I also fully support the right of a baker or florist not to participate in a gay “wedding” I doubt our fine proprieter would allow other business owners the choice she seems so proud of making


257 posted on 06/23/2018 8:45:48 PM PDT by Mom MD ( .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CopperTop

Yes. Like bakers and florists. However I suspect this woman does not see the irony in her statement


258 posted on 06/23/2018 8:48:04 PM PDT by Mom MD ( .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Sooth2222

She also owns a yarn shop in Lexington

https://www.housemountainyarnco.com/about-us/


259 posted on 06/23/2018 8:49:53 PM PDT by sdthree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 243 | View Replies]

To: Simon Green

A true liberal should feel uncomfortable eating in her restaurant just as I would not seek to frequent a business that ejected a liberal, as she did Sarah Sanders.


260 posted on 06/23/2018 9:09:11 PM PDT by mom.mom (...our flag was still there.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260261-274 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson