Posted on 09/21/2010 7:37:59 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
The owner of Antietam Gallery is fighting back after the management of Francis Scott Key Mall asked him to stop selling "Maryland stands with Arizona" T-shirts, he said.
The shirts have been on sale at James Kehoe's custom framing gallery for about three weeks in support of a new law in Arizona aimed at enforcing federal immigration law. Below the slogan, an illustration shows the Maryland and Arizona state flags crossing.
In a letter dated Sept. 2, mall management asked Kehoe to immediately remove the T-shirts from the shopping center, saying they constitute a nuisance or project an unwholesome image on the shopping center.
"The fact they had considered this patriotic T-shirt to be inflammatory and racist, it hit me the wrong way," Kehoe said.
He is not removing the T-shirts. Instead, he sent a letter of reply to the mall's management, copying The Frederick News-Post, several local officials and two national conservative commentators.
The letter from the management states that the tenant's actions violate specific terms of the lease, including sections limited his store to the retail sale of prints, framing and directly related items, and another saying he was operating in a manner inconsistent with the general standards of merchandising in the shopping center.
"Sale and display of said goods with derogatory or offensive political messages also violates Section 5.01(c) in which Tenant agrees to operate in a respectable manner," the letter states.
But Kehoe countered that several years ago he complained in writing about the sale of offensive materials at the store located right next door to his. Management did not reply, he said.
He listed 12 examples of products sold at Spencer Gifts as of Sept. 13 that contained profane language and sexually oriented messages. He also gave an example of a T-shirt sold at Spencer Gifts with a derogatory message aimed specifically at illegal immigrants.
Kehoe asks how those products better represent the mall.
"It's not about the T-shirt, it's about people being victimized by political correctness and people feeling they are not able to speak the truth about things," Kehoe said.
The mall's management responded with the following statement:
"Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), owner and manager of Francis Scott Key Mall, considers tenant-landlord relationships private," the company said. "As an industry standard, leases and any business or legal matters related to leases, are only discussed with the parties involved. PREIT adheres to this standard."
Kehoe said he has not heard back from the mall after sending his letter, and does not believe the T-shirts violate his lease. He is allowed to sell art and art-related products, and he designed the T-shirt himself, he said. He also sells the same artwork in a framed print at his store.
His customers tend to be conservative, so he thought they would like the T-shirt. Kehoe himself is concerned about illegal immigration and supports the program by Sheriff Chuck Jenkins under which local law enforcement check the immigration status of those arrested.
Kehoe copied Jenkins on his letter to mall management, although he doesn't know the sheriff personally.
Jenkins said he believes Kehoe should have the right to express his viewpoint. He said Kehoe made a valid point about the offensive content of other vendors at the mall being much worse.
"I think there's nothing wrong with that T-shirt being displayed in the window or sold in the store," Jenkins said. "I think the complaint against him is ludicrous."
Mall: Letter was a mistake
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyid=110163&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fredericknewspost%2FdCPX+%28The+Frederick+News-Post+%3A+Local+News%29
I go through Frederick, Maryland everyday, and it is thoroughly infested with illegal aliens. You can walk into the local Walmart there and not hear a word of English the entire time you are there.
Any mall with a Spencers’ gifts has absolutely no room to complain about what other stores sell.
Absolutely.
R. Scott Petrie, vice president of retail management, called Kehoe and “delivered a sincere apology for what happened,” Kehoe said. “He said the letter didn’t follow their normal vetting process, and he thought I had every right in the world to sell the T-shirt.”
PREIT officials were not aware of the Sept. 2 letter until receiving Kehoe’s written response late last week, PREIT Vice President of Retail Marketing Judy Trias said.
“It’s not our company’s policy,” to censor what material is sold based on its political message, she said, “and this isn’t how we handle our business.”
******
In other words they caught hell for it!
He did well to go public.
That's exactly how my mom felt in 1977 as she watched me buy my Farrah Fawcett red swim suit poster ;-)
But if the same retailer had t-shirts with homosexuals “doing their perverted thing” - they would have been welcomed with open arms....
I was ready to buy a shirt like that... until the idiots of that state decided to vote for Juan Amnesty McCain....again.... Now - I really don’t care... the illegals can HAVE Arizona for all I care.
Don’t confuse the Frederick area with the rest of Maryland.
There is a reason some still refer to Frederick as “Fredneck.”
It is the land of great, conservative folks. Including all of Frederick Co. into Western Maryland.
“...remove the T-shirts from the shopping center, saying they constitute a nuisance or project an unwholesome image on the shopping center.”
And does this clown outfit of a mall have a Spencers gifts store?
‘cmon, didn’t every teenage boy have one? :-)
23 bucks for a t-shirt?
kma
They have most or all styles in a $15 "value" shirt as well. Keep in mind also that all proceeds go the Arizona Legal Defense Fund, which funds the appeal of Judge Bolton's ruling against SB1070 first to the 9th Circuit and then ultimately to the Supreme Court.
We all hate McLame. However there is also a big picture. The appeal of the judge's ruling against SB1070 affects ALL states. These shirts don't benefit McCain campaign, they fund the judicial appeal. Also, illegals don't exactly stay in AZ, as you well know. It's a "gateway" state, which is why Obama is suing it, and not say Missouri, which has a similar law. If illegals flee MO or OK, they can always go to IL, or other sanctuaries. But if AZ keeps them out of the U.S., then the illegals will never be future Democrat voters.
That’s quite the comment from the land of Bill and Hillary Clinton...
But I still won’t support giving Arkansas to the Democrats, much less to illegals.
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.