Posted on 03/27/2013 9:32:22 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Richmond County sheriff’s officers were called Tuesday to fend off crowds outside an Augusta grocery store hoping to make off with merchandise that had been set out during an eviction.
Officials estimated 200-300 people filled the parking lot at Laney Supermarket after word spread that the Richmond County Marshal’s Office was enforcing an eviction at the business.
Officials said onlookers became angry when they learned they would not be allowed to take away food and other sundries that were piled outside the grocery as “abandoned property.”
The crowd dissipated after a swarm of deputies arrived, along with Sheriff Richard Roundtree, to assist the three marshals who had been initailly assigned to the eviction.
“There is the potential to have people fighting and causing problems,” said Lt. Calvin Chew. “That’s not something we want.”
There were no arrests in the resulting confusion, but groups of people remained to watch the proceedings, many clutching empty bags and grumbling about the situation. Tiffany Serles said she heard about the eviction from her aunt who lives nearby.
“She said they evicting Gurley’s,” Serles said, referring to the former name of the neighborhood market. “So, I came down here to get some of the stuff.” Serles was watching with several friends while workers scooped up the food and other merchandise in trash cans which were in turn, dumped into two waiting garbage bins that officials said were destined for the Richmond County Landfill.
“It’s a shame that they are just throwing all this stuff away and not even donating it to a shelter or anything,” she said.
Her friend, Victoria Williams, said she heard about the eviction on Facebook, as did many others. Word spread fast and soon the parking lot was packed with people and cars waiting for a chance to take away the spoils. “There are people with babies who need diapers out here,” she said.
Teresa Russell, chief deputy with the Marshal’s Office, said the landlord, SunTrust Bank, was paying to have the displaced merchandise hauled away.
She said the tenant, Il Ki Choi, of Sun and Food LLC, could have avoided the commotion if he had moved out when notified by the court.
“They’ve known about this since Feb. 13,” Russell said. “They could have moved out anytime before today.” SunTrust notified the tenant on Jan. 1 that he had 30 days to vacate the property because the lease would not be renewed, according to court records.
A court ordered eviction notice was served Feb. 13. Russell said the tenant failed to file an answer, so a judge signed the final order Feb. 27. SunTrust delayed scheduling the eviction until Tuesday.
According to Russell, a final notice was posted on the grocery’s door on Friday. The tenant removed some goods from the store Tuesday morning before leaving, she said. When reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Choi said he was busy and could not answer questions.
Johanne Vargas, an agent for property manager FirstService Residential Realty based in Sandy Springs, Ga., said she was unable to discuss the matter when asked why the groceries were not donated.
Joseph Young, who helps run a youth mentoring program in the same shopping center as the supermarket, watched marshal’s stand guard as food was tossed into the trash. “We could have gotten some of this stuff and done something special for the kids this weekend,” Young said.
Feral animals . . . disgusting!
Obammie’s FSA on the march.
I can’t believe someone didn’t just buy the entire inventory at $.20/1.00 and both parties are better off.
What a waste, but I can understand the cops point of view. I could see a situation like this turning ugly in a heartbeat when greed sets in.
??? why
It is Illegal for Restaurants to give away Free Food, I bet it is also Illegal for Stores to do the same.
I believe that only counts with prepared food. Last week I walked into my local Kroger’s and there was a huge display of single serving bags of Doritos in their atrium, free to anyone with no limit apparently.
I saw kids running out with armfuls and they just kept stocking the shelves.
You maybe correct, but If I owned this business I would NOT take the Chance under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
It is too bad the food could not have been donated to a local shelter or food bank. Someone wasn’t thinking and/or didn’t care. The bank could have earned kudos in the community by arranging pickup of the food for delivery to the shelter. With landfill dumping fees and dumpster rental, delivery of the food might have been cheaper.
If a restaurant, a store, or some kind of business tries to do something to help the poor, they are likely to find out that there is some law somewhere that is being violated. The cops will show up, trash the food, admonish the citizens trying to help the poor, and then remind the crowd that real help can only be found from the government masters.
And if someone get sick or worse, the food producers would get sued if it was allowed to happen!!
“.....with Sheriff Richard Roundtree”
They called in “Shaft” to maintain order? He definitely kept the young chicks busy...
Why would you say such? There was nothing wrong with what they were doing. Much better than trashing it all. As late as the 1990's our grocery would set out old produce and past "sell by" dated items in the back of the store for people to come take for free. Everyone in town would pick up stuff. Of course, the store had to quit due to laws even though they'd place things on pallets and tables so it wasn't dirty. For a while after that, they'd send their old bread to the senior center and the center would put grocery baskets full out on the curb for anyone to take. Now, they can't even do that. Everything has to be trashed. You can't even ask for old produce for your livestock these days. It's a total waste.
i swear you could open an AYCE buffett that serves nothing but dogshit and if charging nothing, the lines would be around the block several times
Oddly enough, I don’t think the taxman would permit them to give away more than a small part of their inventory. This is because they see it as potentially taxable, unless it is destroyed and written off as a loss.
Probably the baseline legal case for this was of the owner of an apartment block, who wanted to retire and give the apartment block to his tenants. The IRS intervened and told him that if he did that, they would still tax him on the money he might have made had he sold the block on the open market.
The most egregious example of this is for successful artists. The famous artist Ted DeGrazia discovered that the IRS intended to list every bit of art he had created or anything he had signed, including drafts, sketches, his signature on bank checks, contracts, whatever, as highly valued art worth a million or more dollars, then slap his children with a huge inheritance tax bill when he died.
Using a backhoe, he dug a hole in his yard, put hundreds of artworks and sketches in it, and set it on fire as IRS agents watched. Then they advised him that it didn’t matter if those things had been destroyed, he still owed the tax on them.
In frustration, he set up a non-profit foundation, gave everything to it, then died to spite the IRS.
Maybe they went out of business because they tried to run a business in a black community... and the ‘shrinkage’ rate was so high they had to close. (people were stealing from them) They figured they would rather throw the food away...
There’s rational reasons business shy away from black communities. It’s because gang banger and crooks run the communities and the honest black citizens hide in their homes... wondering why they don’t have places close by to shop at...
They say he’s a bad......
Shut your mouth!
Was Laney Supermarket on or near the Martin Looter Blvd?
“i swear you could open an AYCE buffett that serves nothing but dogshit and if charging nothing, the lines would be around the block several times”
I think I went to that place once, only it wasn’t free.
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.