bigbaldirish
02-05-2004, 08:31 PM
this is really for anybody that lives on LI or knows about wyndanch. this is really kinda fucked up.
Bill renames Wyandanch `Crimedanch'
February 4, 2004
The first time it happened, Tanisha Torres thought it had to be some kind of a mistake.
But then it happened again, and again.
Torres, 26, had gone to the Radio Shack store in the Airport Plaza shopping mall in Farmingdale to to pay her cell phone bill. The computerized receipt of Oct. 15 printed out her name, and address. But instead of her hometown, Wyandanch, the sales slip said "Crimedanch."
"I was outraged. That's embarrassing," said Torres.
While she acknowledged she has heard her community referred to that way before, "It's like a joke, you know, 'Oh, you're from Wyandanch' and then they say that," Torres said. "I have to go through this every day. But then I go to make a payment on a bill and it was just the end."
She brought the receipts to attorney Andrew Siben, of Bay Shore, who filed suit this week against the store in State Supreme Court in Riverhead.
Asked by a Newsday reporter last week about the "Crimedanch" reference, store manager Bill Sullivan called up Torres' name in the computer and, indeed, her home community appeared as "Crimedanch." Sullivan then immediately corrected the name of the town to Wyandanch. He said he was unaware of the incorrect reference and said the employee who processed Torres' payment no longer worked there, for unrelated reasons.
Debbie Munir, a Radio Shack spokeswoman at corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, said, "As soon as we were alerted to the situation, we changed it in the system, and immediately rectified the situation."
Munir said, "It appears someone who is no longer a sales associate may have entered it incorrectly." She said she could not speculate on why it was done.
Torres' suit claims Radio Shack was negligent and reckless in its operation and maintenance of the store and the receipt system, and in the hiring, supervision and monitoring of employees. It asks for unspecified damages to compensate Torres for being "embarrassed, flustered and shamed" and for suffering emotional distress and mental anguish.
The wording on the receipt "implicitly or explicitly labeled her a criminal," according to court papers.
"Clearly, it is defamatory to Ms. Torres and the entire community, and it's a violation of civil rights to be characterized in a way that infers that everyone from Wyandanch is a criminal," Siben said.
Insp. James Rhoads, commanding officer of the Suffolk police's First Precinct, which covers Babylon town, including Wyandanch, said the community "is one of our busier areas" for crimes such as drug-dealing and prostitution. "It takes a lot of our attention," he said, but added that the crime rate there has been going down in recent years.
"I'm not a criminal," Torres said. "My son plays on the high school football team. I was raised there and I am proud of my community." story here (http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liradi0204,0,4537095.story?coll=ny-li-vertical-headlines)
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www.societyofmyera.50megs.com (http://www.societyofmyera.50megs.com)
Bill renames Wyandanch `Crimedanch'
February 4, 2004
The first time it happened, Tanisha Torres thought it had to be some kind of a mistake.
But then it happened again, and again.
Torres, 26, had gone to the Radio Shack store in the Airport Plaza shopping mall in Farmingdale to to pay her cell phone bill. The computerized receipt of Oct. 15 printed out her name, and address. But instead of her hometown, Wyandanch, the sales slip said "Crimedanch."
"I was outraged. That's embarrassing," said Torres.
While she acknowledged she has heard her community referred to that way before, "It's like a joke, you know, 'Oh, you're from Wyandanch' and then they say that," Torres said. "I have to go through this every day. But then I go to make a payment on a bill and it was just the end."
She brought the receipts to attorney Andrew Siben, of Bay Shore, who filed suit this week against the store in State Supreme Court in Riverhead.
Asked by a Newsday reporter last week about the "Crimedanch" reference, store manager Bill Sullivan called up Torres' name in the computer and, indeed, her home community appeared as "Crimedanch." Sullivan then immediately corrected the name of the town to Wyandanch. He said he was unaware of the incorrect reference and said the employee who processed Torres' payment no longer worked there, for unrelated reasons.
Debbie Munir, a Radio Shack spokeswoman at corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, said, "As soon as we were alerted to the situation, we changed it in the system, and immediately rectified the situation."
Munir said, "It appears someone who is no longer a sales associate may have entered it incorrectly." She said she could not speculate on why it was done.
Torres' suit claims Radio Shack was negligent and reckless in its operation and maintenance of the store and the receipt system, and in the hiring, supervision and monitoring of employees. It asks for unspecified damages to compensate Torres for being "embarrassed, flustered and shamed" and for suffering emotional distress and mental anguish.
The wording on the receipt "implicitly or explicitly labeled her a criminal," according to court papers.
"Clearly, it is defamatory to Ms. Torres and the entire community, and it's a violation of civil rights to be characterized in a way that infers that everyone from Wyandanch is a criminal," Siben said.
Insp. James Rhoads, commanding officer of the Suffolk police's First Precinct, which covers Babylon town, including Wyandanch, said the community "is one of our busier areas" for crimes such as drug-dealing and prostitution. "It takes a lot of our attention," he said, but added that the crime rate there has been going down in recent years.
"I'm not a criminal," Torres said. "My son plays on the high school football team. I was raised there and I am proud of my community." story here (http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liradi0204,0,4537095.story?coll=ny-li-vertical-headlines)
<img src="http://hometown.aol.com/societyofirish/images/bbisig3.jpg" width=300 height=100></htpdiv>
www.societyofmyera.50megs.com (http://www.societyofmyera.50megs.com)