reg@whuxl.UUCP (Gunderman) (06/04/85)
I have been ignoring the articles that have come by re this subject, but I read one today and felt the urge to make a comment or statement. To those who are opposed to Sunday closing laws, I say fine - as long as all those wonderful and exciting stores are in YOUR town and not mine. I live in Paramus, NJ, where we are crowded with those "wonderful" shopping centers, and we have plenty of reason to oppose Sunday shopping: packed highways and back roads, excess pollution from vehicles, more of the shoplifters that jam our Wednesday night court (after all, shoplifters may not be able to practice their trade during the weekdays), more traffic accidents, enlarged police and fire depts, enlarged road maintenance crews, increased sewage requirements, busy volunteer ambulance corps, etc. My suggestion is create a massive shopping area in some remote, wide open area (far from me) where all the "consumers" can shop to their heart's content and great excitement, gulping junk food and buying all those "necessary" articles, before they go out of style next week. Using caricatures of Sunday-shopping apponents as blue-nosed proponents of old-fashioned Blue laws who want to impose their (Christian) beliefs on everyone else is a lot of fertilizer. There are other reasons. Six days a week and 12 to 14 hours a day is ample time to shop - or gulp junk food, buy the style of the week article, "play", etc, at the shopping center in in ANOTHER TOWN, such as in Nanuet, NY, where they have what amounts to a parking lot on a portion of Route 59 on Sunday.
jj@alice.UUCP (06/04/85)
Note that since this is politics, I rm'ed religion and legal from the list of newsgroups. The gentleman at whuxl demonstrates two things: The first ( semi-reasonable comment) is that he suffers from Sunday shoppers, because he lives in an area with a lot of shopping centers. He argues that he should have one day a week that he doesn't have to fight the traffic on Rt. 17. I do wonder why this person lives in Paramus, and how much he or she participated in the legal and political mechanism when all those stores were built... The second thing demonstrated is that he thinks that people who shop on Sunday "guzzle down junk food and buy all those things that are necessary, until they're out of style next week". That's just bloody offensive. I'm a strong advocate of sunday sales, because I have to work 5 days a week, as does my SO. Ergo, places that are only open on Saturday (or worse, Mon - Fri) are difficult to get to, assuming that I'd like to do more with my Saturdays than go shopping for things like 2x4's, drywall, paint, landscape timbers, car parts, house parts, food, and so on. Places like legal offices (a passport office comes to mind) are even more discriminatory, because they REQUIRE me to take time off work to go to that office. Face it. Sunday sales laws assume that one adult in every family doesn't work in industry ( keeping a house is bloody well working, so I refuse to say "doesn't work") and cause much more than mere inconvenience for people who aren't in that catagory. Given that the percentage of such families is growing, it's clear that Sunday sales laws are now useless, counterproductive, and discriminate against thouse who contribute most to the economy. That, by itself, is a clear argument for the elimination of Sunday sales laws. If you want to close Paramus on Monday, Tuesday, or something like that, go ahead. I'm sorry you won't be home to enjoy it, but I'll be at work, too, and not out there being discriminated against by Sunday sales laws. (Of course, the moral and ethical arguments against such relics as Sunday sales laws are even more compelling, but ethics has certainly never had much effect on most of the contributors to net.politics. Notice that I said "most".) -- TEDDY BEARS HAVE LIMITED PATIENCE! THEY DO EVENTUALLY GET HUNGRY! "Let us remember my cat, Geoffrey, ..." (ihnp4/allegra)!alice!jj
wcs@ho95b.UUCP (Bill Stewart) (06/05/85)
In New Jersey, blue laws are (now, at least) local or county laws, and can only be repealed by referendum. When I moved here 7 years ago, the grocery stores could be open on Sundays, but there were large roped-off areas (you can buy food, but not light-bulbs or paint, but paper towels are ok, but ....). A couple years ago a referendum was held in most counties in the state; the main forces behind it were the big shopping malls (pro-repeal), and the small retailers (anti-repeal). The small retailers were concerned that they couldn't really afford to stay open on Sundays, and would lose out to the malls. Well, except for a few places up north, they got repealed, and the small retailers are still mostly closed on Sunday, losing business to the malls. (Who said that small businesses are in favor of free enterprise? :~)) In the mean time, I can now buy light bulbs if they burn out on Sunday. Liquor laws are irrational everywhere; in New Jersey the local governments have control over what hours Sunday sales are permitted; they're gradually loosening up.
mms1646@acf4.UUCP (Michael M. Sykora) (06/05/85)
I can't stand the crowds that come into Manhattan from New Jersey every weeekend, but I'm not going to blow up the Holland Tunnel. There is a simple way out of your predicament. Buy all the land in your town. Then it will really be YOUR town. Right now, it is not YOUR town, you just live there. Mike Sykora
todd@SCINEWS.UUCP (Todd Jones) (06/06/85)
> I have been ignoring the articles that have come by re this subject, but > I read one today and felt the urge to make a comment or statement. > > To those who are opposed to Sunday closing laws, I say fine - as long as all > those wonderful and exciting stores are in YOUR town and not mine. I live in > Paramus, NJ, where we are crowded with those "wonderful" shopping centers, and we > have plenty of reason to oppose Sunday shopping: packed highways and back > roads, excess pollution from vehicles, more of the shoplifters that jam our > Wednesday night court (after all, shoplifters may not be able to practice > their trade during the weekdays), more traffic accidents, enlarged police > and fire depts, enlarged road maintenance crews, increased sewage requirements, > busy volunteer ambulance corps, etc. My suggestion > is create a massive shopping area in some remote, wide open area (far from me) > where all the "consumers" can shop to their heart's content and great > excitement, gulping junk food and buying all those "necessary" articles, > before they go out of style next week. > > Using caricatures of Sunday-shopping apponents as blue-nosed proponents > of old-fashioned Blue laws who want to impose their (Christian) beliefs on > everyone else is a lot of fertilizer. There are other reasons. Six days a > week and 12 to 14 hours a day is ample time to shop - or gulp junk food, buy > the style of the week article, "play", etc, at the shopping center in > in ANOTHER TOWN, such as in Nanuet, NY, where they have what amounts to a > parking lot on a portion of Route 59 on Sunday. A. That's what you get for living in New Jersey. B. Why Sunday? Because its the designated *Christian* day of rest. What about Jewish people who have their day of rest on Saturday? -Todd Jones P.S. Move to North Carolina. It's not bad here, yet.
atkins@opus.UUCP (Brian Atkins) (06/08/85)
>From: reg@whuxl.UUCP (Gunderman) >Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Whippany >I have been ignoring the articles that have come by re this subject, but >I read one today and felt the urge to make a comment or statement. > >To those who are opposed to Sunday closing laws, I say fine - as long as all >those wonderful and exciting stores are in YOUR town and not mine. I live in >Paramus, NJ, where we are crowded with those "wonderful" shopping centers, and >we have plenty of reason to oppose Sunday shopping: packed highways and back >roads, excess pollution from vehicles, more of the shoplifters that jam our >Wednesday night court (after all, shoplifters may not be able to practice >their trade during the weekdays), more traffic accidents, enlarged police >and fire depts, enlarged road maintenance crews, increased sewage requirements, >busy volunteer ambulance corps, etc. My suggestion >is create a massive shopping area in some remote, wide open area (far from me) >where all the "consumers" can shop to their heart's content and great >excitement, gulping junk food and buying all those "necessary" articles, >before they go out of style next week. > >Using caricatures of Sunday-shopping apponents as blue-nosed proponents >of old-fashioned Blue laws who want to impose their (Christian) beliefs on >everyone else is a lot of fertilizer. There are other reasons. Six days a >week and 12 to 14 hours a day is ample time to shop - or gulp junk food, buy >the style of the week article, "play", etc, at the shopping center in >in ANOTHER TOWN, such as in Nanuet, NY, where they have what amounts to a >parking lot on a portion of Route 59 on Sunday. So what your saying is that I should not be allowed to shop on Sunday because YOU feel: "Six days a week and 12 to 14 hours a day is ample time to shop." I like the idea of reducing shoplifting by closing the stores, though, very clever. I don't know what I like less, living under laws based on other people's religious beliefs, or other people's stupid beliefs. This isn't a discussion by people who want to shop in Sunday, but rather by people that don't like other people telling them when they can shop, and what they can shop for, especially when, but not limited to when, it is based on the other people's religion. (phew) Brian Atkins ...{attunix, hao, allegra, ucbvax}!nbires!atkins NBI Inc., P.O. Box 9001, Boulder CO 80301 (303) 444-5710