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

Skip to comments.

Attorney general shuts down Whole Foods holiday opening
boston.com ^ | Nov. 19, 2005 | Boston Globe

Posted on 11/19/2005 12:56:05 PM PST by sarkozy

Attorney general shuts down Whole Foods holiday opening November 19, 2005

BOSTON --An attempt by the Whole Foods supermarket chain to defy the state's centuries-old "blue laws" and open on Thanksgiving has been shut down by the state attorney general, who told the upscale chain to stay closed for the holiday or risk criminal charges. The office of Attorney General Thomas Reilly issued a legal opinion after officials at a Whole Foods competitor, Shaw's Supermarkets, wrote him a letter asking him to block the opening, The Boston Globe reported.

David Lannon, president of Whole Foods Market's North Atlantic Region, said the chain has scrapped the Thanksgiving openings at its 14 state stores.

"We're not going to break the law, he said. "If the blue law says we'll have to be closed, we have to be closed."

Many of the state's Puritan-era blue laws, passed in the 1600s to keep colonists at home or in church on Sundays, have been repealed, such as a ban of liquor sales on Sundays. But one that remains in effect requires all stores, except convenience stores and gas stations, to close on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bluelaws; christmas; wholefoods
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-57 next last
Despite all the "war on Christmas" postings I find here, this is the only real case going on right now. Check your Google News. Should the state of Massachusetts really be able to shut Whole Foods down on Christmas? John Gibson and the ADF are following the lead of retailers by whipping up Christmas hysteria earlier and earlier every year. But the fact remains that creches and Chirstian symbols still decorate spaces across the U.S. (with the inevitable menorah and Santa of course). The war on Christmas is just another marketing campaign.

Happy Thanksgiving.

1 posted on 11/19/2005 12:56:06 PM PST by sarkozy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: cyborg

Evildoers ping.






;OP


2 posted on 11/19/2005 12:57:34 PM PST by Petronski (Cyborg is the greatest blessing I have ever known.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy
The war on Christmas is just another marketing campaign.

Like hell, n00b.

3 posted on 11/19/2005 12:58:34 PM PST by Petronski (Cyborg is the greatest blessing I have ever known.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy
More here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1525264/posts
4 posted on 11/19/2005 1:02:07 PM PST by SmithL (There are a lot of people that hate Bush more than they hate terrorists)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy
Many of the state's Puritan-era blue laws, passed in the 1600s to keep colonists at home or in church on Sundays, have been repealed, such as a ban of liquor sales on Sundays.

Really? Are the hours of sale the same as other days of the week? Or is it only a partial lifting of the ban?

5 posted on 11/19/2005 1:02:18 PM PST by weegee (To understand the left is to rationalize how abortion can be a birthright.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy
"But the fact remains that creches and Chirstian symbols still decorate spaces across the U.S."

Define "spaces".....NOT PUBLIC SPACES! Oh, my....that could INJURE someone for life!

6 posted on 11/19/2005 1:03:47 PM PST by goodnesswins (DEMS....40 yrs and $$$dollars for the War on Poverty, but NOT a $$ or minute for the WAR on Terror!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy

I love this part:

WF's comopetitor said "Besides disadvantaging competitors, a Whole Foods opening would harm consumers, due to lack of choice in the marketplace for consumers to shop and compare prices for the best deal."

So according to them, No Choice is better than a Limited Choice?


7 posted on 11/19/2005 1:05:00 PM PST by chaosagent (Remember, no matter how you slice it, forbidden fruit still tastes the sweetest!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy; Petronski

Somethin' neat, that I try to do, and many others here do, is actually read an article before we post it.  The MA AG is telling Whole Foods to stay closed on THANKSGIVING, not CHRISTMAS.

Owl_Eagle

"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in.  I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"

-Hillary Clinton
(Yes, she really said that
Peggy Noonan
The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)

8 posted on 11/19/2005 1:08:58 PM PST by End Times Sentinel (In Memory of my Dear Friend Henry Lee II)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy; Lead Moderator
I think you are a troll.

Mod, check this guy's history.

9 posted on 11/19/2005 1:10:40 PM PST by teenyelliott (Soylent green should be made outta liberals...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy

Since when are Thanksgiving and New Years 'religious' holidays ?


10 posted on 11/19/2005 1:10:54 PM PST by Mr_Moonlight
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy
An attempt by the Whole Foods supermarket chain to defy the state's centuries-old "blue laws" and open on Thanksgiving has been shut down by the state attorney general, who told the upscale chain to stay closed for the holiday or risk criminal charges.

What's the penalty? Stocks or the dunking chair?

11 posted on 11/19/2005 1:10:59 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Mesocons for Rice '08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy

Moronic Massachusetts keeps re-electing Kennedy and Kerry, promotes gay and lesbian "marriages", but thinks it's evil to sell groceries on Thanksgiving. The lunatics are alive and well in Baahstin.


12 posted on 11/19/2005 1:11:22 PM PST by pleikumud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy

Folks in Massachusetts really enjoy the POP displays of 'Bitch' magazine at the registers...shame they'll have to 'go without' on Thanksgiving Day.


13 posted on 11/19/2005 1:11:42 PM PST by who knows what evil? (New England...the Sodom and Gomorrah of the 21st Century, and they're proud of it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy

""We're not going to break the law, he said. "If the blue law says we'll have to be closed, we have to be closed.""

I'm a Christian. And I'm law abiding. But the law should not be about enforcing Christian rules... I feel the same about liquor sales on Sunday, limits on cursing and a bunch of other blue laws.

I remember in 1982 or 1983 when I was co-opping in Greenville South Carolina and the local Kroger was raided and the manager and teenage checkout girl arrested. Their crime - she had sold an undercover officer a quart of motor oil on Sunday and the manager was also responsible under the law.


14 posted on 11/19/2005 1:12:31 PM PST by gondramB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy
An attempt by the Whole Foods supermarket chain to defy the state's centuries-old "blue laws" and open on Thanksgiving has been shut down by the state attorney general, who told the upscale chain to stay closed for the holiday or risk criminal charges.

You've got to be kidding me

What do these people do when they forget something important for dinner and have to run to the store real quick?

15 posted on 11/19/2005 1:13:00 PM PST by Mo1 (Message to Democrats .... We do not surrender and run from a fight !!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy

Sniff... sniff... phew.


16 posted on 11/19/2005 1:16:18 PM PST by johnny7 (“What now? Let me tell you what now.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mike Darancette

They throw them in a pond. If they surface they were guilty, but if they don't they were innocent.


17 posted on 11/19/2005 1:19:14 PM PST by DoughtyOne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Owl_Eagle

"Many of the state's Puritan-era blue laws, passed in the 1600s to keep colonists at home or in church on Sundays, have been repealed, such as a ban of liquor sales on Sundays. But one that remains in effect requires all stores, except convenience stores and gas stations, to close on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day."


Presently, the AG is demanding TG closing, but it will obviously be followed by Christmans and New Years day closing also.

Dont shoot the messenger. Indignant arguing in this forum wont change anything. Contact a Massachusetts senator or representative. That is the only way to change the outdated laws to prevent this sort of nonsense in the future.


18 posted on 11/19/2005 1:23:25 PM PST by Concho
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Concho

Christmans=Christmas


19 posted on 11/19/2005 1:25:19 PM PST by Concho
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: sarkozy

Why not? This tyrannical *ssh*le banned the sale of all new handguns as "defective consumer products."


20 posted on 11/19/2005 1:25:23 PM PST by pabianice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-57 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