While returning home from our evacuation of Rita we came to a town that had posted police at the main intersection as well as the two stores/gas stations in town.
They had imposed a locals only policy on the sale of gas as well as use of the restrooms, food, and even water. :mad:
Is this legal?
I wanted to complain to the Attorney General but it’s not price gouging and any business does have the right to refuse service…so there may not actually be anything to complain about other them being the worst lot of jackasses we had the misfortune of meeting along the way.
I don’t know all the details, but does sound like other stuff I’ve heard upheld on this board as ‘jackassery, but legal.’ Right to refuse service is only compromised if they’re discriminating against a protected class, and AFAIK geographical residence is not a protected class.
I believe that it is legal also. People can refuse to sell what they have to anyone (as long as it isn’t systematic discrimination covered by laws). Towner vs Out of Towners isn’t a protected class.
Out of curiosity could there be an arguement made viz a viz ‘protected class’ if it could be shown that the locality would fall outwith the usual distribution of race, colour, religion or sex.
For example if 99% of the locals were White would there potentially be an issue of discrimination at that point?
I’d make it clear I’m from UK and not overly acquainted with US discrimination law. I’m just curious.
I don’t know but from the look/feel of it the town in general was imposing it.
The vibe was that they didn’t want a bunch of outsiders invading their town and using up all their stuff.
No problem with me I’ll never use any of their resources for as long as I live. The next town over Cuero…
"the Spanish word for “raw hide,” is a community with a unique, genuine charm. Proud old homes line the wide streets in this small, but spectacular town. Residential neighborhoods with well-maintained yards and stately oak trees, a commitment to progressive academic standards, and the desire for continued new economic expansion are part of its charm. "
Is where I will spend my money next time I’m in that neck of the woods.
Seems like it was legal so I can’t make any complaints other than “jackassery”.
John F, what’s the name of the town? Reluctance to name it, if that’s what it is, is out of place. Those xenephobic Texans obviously don’t care; walling off a town can hardly be secretive. I’d like to know so I can avoid it if I find myself in Texas on my next vacation.
What’s the point in slamming all of Texas? Those people were also USian and Earthian, but you didn’t call them xenophobic Americans. The OP is Texan (at least according to his location tag) and just evacuated inland from the coast. Since Cuero is in south Texas near San Antonio, I doubt they had a lot of non-Texan evacuees from Rita (though they may be housing some from Katrina since the outpouring of support from Texas to Louisiana has been huge). So obviously the situation described by the OP is primarily Texans restricting other Texans, and you really should get more specific in your charges of xenophobia. You’re obviously not on the ground in Texas during the last two hurricanes or you wouldn’t have the gall to denigrate Texas as a whole. I’m not defending the people the OP describes, but they’re a small minority and I’m sure we could find similar jerks in your hometown.
Personally, I’m in East Texas and got hit rather hard by Rita (though not as hard as many and I’m not complaining). Locally we are seeing a lot of locals-only restrictions on returning evacuees because many hard-hit places don’t want people wandering around siteseeing while they’re doing basic cleanup. The local officials are begging evacuees to give them time before they return, and it seems reasonable to block non-locals altogether (which doesn’t really apply to the town the OP describes since I don’t think they were hit hard in that area and seem to be just restricting use of the resources they have available). Also locally, we’re seeing that the evacuees are being treated to services unavailable to the locals. With much of the county’s power and water offline, there are food/water stations for evacuees from Louisiana and the coastline which are not (yet) available for locals in need.
On preview, this rant may be a bit non-GQ, but I thought it important to take issue with your wording. I’m just pointing out that Texas in general has responded very well to the last two hurricanes. There may have been government planning screwups that lead to dramatic news coverage, but at a personal level, people are caring, helpful and sharing everything they can with people in need. Having been in similar situations in other parts of the world, there’s no place I’d rather be than Texas if I was in need. We can ridicule the bubbas all you want (and I frequently do) but when times are hard, they step up to help without reservation.
No, I think “xenophobic people” or simply “xenophobes” is sufficiently vague that the meaning is clear in context. On the other hand, when you hear generalizations like “xenophobic Americans” which try to characterize all Americans in one stroke, it seems clear that the speaker is letting their own bias against the group show through. Do you think if the poster, who appears to be British from his location tag, had said “xenophobic Americans” or “xenophobic white folks” that a certain bias would not be apparent? I’m not trying to derail this thread on semantics and I apologize if I misinterpreted Foaming Cleanser. It just seemed that his comment displayed a (perhaps subconscious) opinion of all Texans and, the situation being what it is, I may have overreacted.
I’ve got to say that post #16 sums up a lot of important points and I find it to be dead on.
This is the only such situation we came across during this ordeal. The almost unbelievable kindness, poise, and generosity EVERYWHERE else we traveled in such a difficult time was amazing.
My intention with this thread was to find out if I could peruse some type of formal complaint so I won’t go into all the other info that does not belong in this forum…I’ll just close by saying Texas rocks*
*Excluding Nixon, a disgraceful town we should consider digging up and moving offshore somehow.
