WINN DIXIE tows cars of store patrons who protested for Schiavo

The crowds outside Terri's hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, are all going home, weary from the battle. While Terri is gone now, we still live to fight another day -- and we WILL fight the judicial tyrants, to honor the memory of Terri. We're already formulating battle plans to move
ahead in the War on Judicial Tyranny.

But there's one more battle in Pinellas Park that needs to be fought... one more injustice that needs to be righted, on behalf of so many people that sacrificed so much to come and support Terri.

Supporters of Terri Schiavo have been RIPPED OFF
of over $20,000 -- and we need to STOP this financial assault on free speech, NOW.

Thousands of Terri Schiavo supporters have made their pilgrimage to Pinellas Park, Florida over the past few weeks to peacefully assemble and pray. Local police frequently directed them to park in the large Winn-Dixie Supermarket parking lot across the street from the Woodside
Hospice. It was literally a "Winn-win" situation.
Demonstrators, thirsty from the hot Florida sun, purchased water and Gatoraid by the truckloads from Winn-Dixie and surrounding retailers. The economy in Woodside Hospice enclave never looked so good. That was until TODAY, when dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Schiavo supporters walked out of Winn-Dixie to their cars, only to find that their cars had VANISHED.

Why? Because EVK Enterprises, Inc., the property management company renting space to Winn-Dixie, began towing cars with a redemption fee of $161 PER CAR. An estimated 150 cars were towed, for fees in excess of $20,000 -- ALL IN CASH!

One Terri supporter, Jerry McGlothlin, purchased retail products at the Winn-Dixie shopping center, from the CVS Pharmacy and the auto parts store, and left two shopping bags in his front seat in plain sight before he walked across the street briefly to the front of the Woodside
Hospice, out of respect to Terri Schiavo. Then he walked back across the street and purchased $148.13 in groceries at Winn-Dixie, since he had a scheduled 8 day stay in St. Petersburg, visiting his nephew. Jerry then returned to an
empty space where his car had been. After five hours of wrangling with the Winn-Dixie store manager, the management company and several people in Winn-Dixie's corporate headquarters to help him get his car returned, not a single
person lifted so much as a finger to help. He eventually had no choice but to pay to retrieve his car.

Said McGlothlin, "When I showed Winn-Dixie's store manager, John Brengle, my receipt for over $140 in groceries, and asked for my car back, he outright refused to help and shifted blame to the management company. I asked him politely four separate times during various stages of my
five hour ordeal of being stranded without a car, only to have Manager Brengle refuse all four times. The management company needed just one single call from Brengle to stop the towing, but Brengle insisted on being complicit and doing nothing. I tried going over his head, calling several people at Winn-Dixie's regional and national headquarters, and got no help whatsoever. It seemed that top management
had already taken sides on the Schiavo matter, regardless of how much money people spent with Winn-Dixie."

Selective enforcement was the order of the day in the Winn-Dixie parking lot. Regardless of the size of a purchase (in McGlothlin's case he made 3 purchases in three of the stores in the shopping center, totaling over $200), as long
as anyone crossed the street to show support of Terri Schiavo, even for 10 minutes, they got towed by "security" forces who monitored who crossed the street. Emotions apparently ran so high from the anti-Schiavo camp that there
appeared to be no consideration whatsoever made to the fact that they were towing patrons of Winn-Dixie.

(NOTE: At the main entrance to the Winn-Dixie on the 66th Street side, there was a "No protest parking please" sign that covered a second sign stating that "unauthorized" vehicles will be towed at owner's expense by Yoho's Towing.
Ordinarily a reasonable observer would not consider actual PATRONS of Winn-Dixie as being "unauthorized," but then again, this is the heated Schiavo debate, and nothing about it seems ordinary.)

One woman was crying hysterically at the car pound, Yoho's Towing; another man was from Canada without enough American money. But the pattern was always the same: No mercy from the a foul-mouthed woman working there named Danielle, who
incessantly used the "F" word to complaining "customers," even when young children were present.

One man was so incensed over having his car towed after purchasing water at Winn-Dixie that he spent hours telling his plight in front of the store to anyone who would listen. Eventually police either arrested him or convinced him to
leave.

TAKE ACTION: This is OUTRAGEOUS. It's one thing for owners of private property to post towing notices for unauthorized vehicles; it's another thing to deliberately TARGET protesters, EVEN THOUGH they're patrons of the stores on that property.

These people need to "feel the heat" in order to "see the light". So it's up to US to apply that heat. There's several ways you can complain about this outrageous behavior -- but keep one thing in mind... BE VERY POLITE. Do NOT give them
any excuse to file complaints against YOU!

1) Call Winn-Dixie's store #681 manager, John Brengle, at 727-541-2070. Inform him of your feelings about allowing the towing of the cars of Terri Schiavo supporters, even though they were obviously patrons of the Winn-Dixie and other
stores on that property. You can also call Winn-Dixie corporate headquarters to complain at 866-946-6349, or send a message at http://www.winndixie.com/comments/main.asp .

2) Call EVK Enterprises, Inc., the property management company renting space to Winn-Dixie, at 727-821-4989. Inform them of your feelings about their new decision to tow the cars of Terri Schiavo's supporters, even though they were
obviously patrons of the Winn-Dixie and other stores on that property. You can also send an e-mail to them at evkinc@evk-lease.com .

3) Call Robert Yoho Towing at 727-545-3596, and inform them of your feelings about towing the cars of Terri Schiavo supporters that were in the Winn-Dixie parking lot, even though they were obviously patrons of the stores on that
property. Also let them know how you feel about their employees cursing at people with small children.

4) One observer commented that it would be interesting to know if the IRS would ever see this spike in sales on the tax returns of the small towing business, and whether there
might be some "kick-back" funds for stores or property owners. The IRS offers a 10% finder's fee reward to citizens who give anonymous tips of likely tax fraud -- their number is
800-829-0433.

Once more, let me remind you: BE VERY POLITE. Do NOT give them any excuse to file complaints against YOU!

NOTE: Be sure to send this Alert to everyone you know who would be outraged at this deliberate targeting of supporters of Terri Schiavo. Thank you!

Sincerely,

William Greene, President
RightMarch.com

 

I can't believe the 'tee hee Poor Terri died' remarks on that link, Joseph, from people who are members here.