"THAT'S SPECIEST!!!"
Posted on 12/04/2009 2:59:35 AM PST by Daffynition
Cody, a chocolate Labrador, has for months greeted customers at the Clearwater BP gas station and convenience store at U.S. 19 and Nursery Road. A St. Petersburg Times story introduced thousands more to the jovial pup.
But Thursday morning, a state health inspector stopped by and issued a warning to Karim Mansour, the store's owner: Remove the dog or the Health Department would declare all of Mansour's food products — mostly bottled sodas, Slim Jims and candy bars — unfit for consumption.
Mansour, who adopted 6-year-old Cody three years ago, had no choice but sign the warning. His primary violation: "prohibited animals present in a food establishment."
Mansour said he will leave Cody at home by Friday, but will try to find a way for his companion to stay.
"There's no way one of my dog's hairs are going to get into a bag of Doritos," he said.
The state's move against Cody disappointed his customers.
"People in the store hearing what was going on kind of made a little protest," Mansour said.
Readers commenting on the original Times story had predicted the authorities might act.
"The Health Department will be all over this soon, watch," wrote one reader.
Another responded: "I don't think the Health Dept. is worried about a Dog in A Gas Station (The WORD IS GAS STATION), It's not like the dog is serving fresh salad."
Unfortunately for Mansour and Cody, the Health Department did show up — although it wasn't the first time.
Mansour said that in November, his usual health inspector stopped by and gave the dog a pass, as the store serves only prepackaged food.
But this time, the health inspector's supervisor accompanied him and laid down the law.
"It was a nice gimmick. I like dogs, too, but it's not up to me. You're not allowed to have the dog here," Mansour recalled the supervisor telling him.
According to the Food and Drug Administration's food code, live animals may be allowed in stores in certain situations, provided that food contamination cannot result.
One such circumstance: "In areas that are not used for food preparation, storage, sales, display or dining, in which there are caged animals or animals that are similarly confined."
Whether that means a dog is allowed to sit with cigarette cartons behind a convenience store counter is something Mansour said he plans to sort out.
Hey now, you are forgetting the poor elderly who eat dog food. He might contaminate it.
"THAT'S SPECIEST!!!"
The government has a lot of employees who have to justify their jobs. Revenue tickets are one of them.
You’ve been to Wal-Mart recently, I see....:)
He’s got no thumbs!
What’s he gonna do?
Make their food, spit in it and then sell it to them?
[oh, wait...Jesse Jackson pulled that crap on people, not Cody the “unclean” dog]
Solution: go to a shrink and tell him you’ve got separation anxiety issues, on your end, with the dog. Have the shrink write up a letter stating such. Dog immediately becomes a “service animal” and is allowed to stay in the store under the terms of the ADA.
THEN ... file a civil rights/discrimination complaint against the bureaucrats who tried to kick the dog out.
Yeah, probably some of the customers.
The scary thing is, that'd probably work.
That’s a fetching picture you found there.
If the health inspector is so worried about hair getting into food products, why isn’t the store owner wearing a hairnet?
And government bureaucrats want to run our health care?
I’m a lot more worried about some of the human customers contaminating things.
Too late, she got a job at the Del Taco down the street.
Some people might get the runs once in a while. Oh wait. That happens now.
A tray is about the only thing a TV is good for these days. It's a bit heavy though.
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