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.
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In New Jersey, blue laws are (now, at least) local or county laws, and can only be repealed by referendum.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 Well, except for a few places up north, they got repealed, and the small retailers are still mostly closed on Sunday, losing business to the malls.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.
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.