been around and you
marika
From The Associated Press, 6/22/06:
http://rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.showmenews.c...
Bandana banned in Springfield mall
Officials won t explain how headgear is offensive.
SPRINGFIELD (AP) -
A southwest Missouri mall defended its dress code after a security
guard told a 10-year-old girl her bandana decorated with peace signs,
smiley faces and flowers violated the mall s code of conduct.
Lydia Smith, who was shopping with her mother at Battlefield Mall for
new church clothes when the incident happened Saturday, said she wore
the orange and yellow bandana to give her outfit some color.
Lydia and her mom, Susan Smith, were eating lunch when the girl saw a
mall security officer ask a nearby teenager to remove a bandana.
Then the officer approached her.
"(The officer) asked me to take it off and said there s this new rule
we have or something like that," Lydia said.
The officer handed Lydia s mother a printed copy of the Battlefield
Mall Code of Conduct, which prohibits patrons from engaging in certain
activities while on mall property.
Lydia had violated No. 10 on the list of 17 offenses:
"failing to be fully clothed or wearing apparel which is likely to
provide a disturbance or embroil other groups or the general public in
open conflict."
Mall officials won t clarify what clothing and accessories are
prohibited.
"The code of conduct is pretty clear, and, you know, I think common
sense should prevail," said Les Morris, spokesman for Simon Property
Group Inc., which owns the mall.
Under the code, people who don t comply with the code can be asked to
leave.
If they don t leave, they can be arrested for trespassing.
Christine Moses, director of mall marketing, noted the mall is
privately owned and behavior on its premises can be regulated.
"The bottom line is we want to have an environment (conducive) to
shopping. Offensive apparel does not fit in with that environment,"
she said, although she could not say how the bandana was offensive.
Similar policies are in place at 285 Simon properties in 39 states and
Puerto Rico.
At least one Battlefield Mall retailer, JCPenney, sells bandanas.
They come in black, white, blue and red and sell for $4.50.
"There are things we sell that it s OK to own them, but to use them in
the mall setting is inappropriate," Morris said.
marika
"marika" <mce...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:op.tmi01...@dialup-4.249.18.238.dial1.washington2.level3.net...