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Obama rally angers Union shopkeepers: At least some of the store owners along Union Avenue are unhappy that the 3 p.m. Obama rally will hurt business.(Pueblo Chieftain, The (CO) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 1--Hank Cervantes, owner of the Military Surplus store on Union Avenue, isn't going to open his store today. He said the Secret Service has made it almost impossible to stay open for business during the hours before and during the Sen. Barack Obama campaign rally being held today at 3 p.m. at Union Avenue and D Street. Cervantes' store sits just a few doors down from where the stage is located, he said, and the Secret Service told him that he won't be able to use his front door Saturday. If he were to stay open, customers could only reach his store by driving or walking up the alley and coming in the back door, he said. "They're making it pretty much impossible for me to run a business," Cervantes said. Cervantes said he had problems with access Friday too because Union Avenue was closed near his shop while Obama's stage was being built. Cervantes said he didn't see why the stage couldn't have been built Friday night and not forced his customers to park farther away and search him out. "That's a crock," he said Friday. "And today's one of my busiest days of the year, with Halloween coming." Sheila Glanville-Conlee, owner of Amore Antiques on the same street, said Thursday that the Secret Service had forced her to close her store today. A supporter of Sen. John McCain, she took her unhappiness to the McCain campaign as well as the media. She said a Secret Service agent told her Thursday that she had to close her shop's front door from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday for security reasons, even though the rally doesn't start till 3 p.m. She can have customers use the back door, Glanville-Conlee said. But she said she was told to be careful what she or her customers did by the front door or windows. "He (the Secret Service agent) said if anyone in store makes a fast move or gets in the windows, they could be shot," Glanville-Conlee said. "He told me, 'Don't bring a camera with a zoom lens, don't make any fast moves' " near the windows. "That doesn't make me want to have my customers here," she said. Neither store owner was an Obama supporter in the first place. Glanville-Conlee said she is a Democrat but is voting for McCain because her party chose Obama instead of Sen. Hillary Clinton. Glanville-Conlee said Obama's decision to hold the rally in a business was "arrogant," considering the loss of business it will cause. She said she was told by an Obama campaign manager that she can't be compensated for the lost business, although she was offered the chance to attend the rally and meet Obama. "I declined," she said. Terre Heath, co-owner of the Studio 127 Salon and Day Spa, told the McCain campaign "the closure is costing her 10 employees on average $200 a piece, depending on how many clients each had booked for Saturday. She said they lost 30 clients on what is typically their busiest day of the week." "We rely on the loyalty of our customers," said Heath. "I didn't care to make a $400 donation, but now I've just been forced to." Heath also said an Obama representative said the campaign would like to reimburse her employees but couldn't because it would be illegal to do so under federal campaign finance law. Pueblo Police Chief Jim Billings told The Pueblo Chieftain that he wasn't aware of businesses on Union Avenue being forced to close. But he confirmed that they will have to use back doors for customers because of the fencing and security set up for the Obama event. Union is to be closed from the Robert Hoag Rawlings Public Library at Abriendo Avenue down to City Hall by Grand Avenue. To see more of The Pueblo Chieftain, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.chieftain.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |