Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 21:12:36 -0600
From: "The Old Blue Howler" <[l--oa--l] at [ICSI.Net]>
To: [N--B--N] at [tomahawk.welch.jhu.edu]
Subject: All you ever wanted to know about Dominos but were afraid to ask

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THE WASHINGTON TIMES 
DATE: March 30, 1995
HEADLINE: Domino's defenseless drivers

EDITORIAL TEXT:

If you think crime is dangerous, you ought to see how risky defending yourself
is getting to be these days.

This week Domino's Pizza in Woodbridge fired one of its delivery drivers after
he scared off two attackers by showing them a .45 caliber handgun he keeps to
protect himself in just such cases.  Down in Richmond, a grocery store owner who
drove away robbers by firing shots into the air outside his store is scheduled
to appear in court today on misdemeanor charges of discharging a firearm into a
public place.  In neither case was anyone shot.  The only injury was to the
Domino's driver, who suffered a blow to the jaw from his attackers.
Anthony Leone, 34, said he was going about his deliveries near apartments in
Woodbridge when a man and woman approached him.  After the woman abruptly
punched him, Mr. Leone pulled his gun from the passenger seat to show her he was
prepared to defend himself.  She fled.  He then pointed the gun at the man, who
did likewise.

That more or less was the end of the matter until Domino's officials read a
police report that indicated Mr. Leone had used a gun to defend himself, a
violation of company policy.  Domino's feels "it is better to give up the pizza
and the change in their pockets and not create any aggressiveness," Domino's
official Scott Gates said of employees in a Washington Times news account.
Mr. Gates doesn't seem to realize that the gun didn't "create the
aggressiveness," which was already well under way by the time the gun came into
play.  It did, however, end the aggressiveness. Back in corporate offices,
Domino's officials have the luxury of believing the only thing at risk in such
attacks is pocket change.  But delivery drivers and cabbies and others have 
been killed over pocket change.  Pious corporate gun-control policies and a stack of
warm sausage mushroom pizzas don't offer much of a defense under the
circumstances.  Indeed, Domino's might as well change its corporate logo to a
bull's-eye, since thieves now know company drivers are not allowed to defend
themselves.

Meanwhile Richmond grocer Mark Hazelgrove must be wondering how he can protect
himself.  In January, he stopped teens who had robbed him at gunpoint by firing
into the engine of their car, wounding two of his assailants slightly.
Prosecutors dragged him into court on unlawful wounding charges, but a grand
jury refused to indict him. In March he chased a robber out of his store, but
given his previous problems, he simply fired his gun into the air.  For showing
such restraint, he is now charged with unlawful discharge.

"The city is sending a signal -- every time you rob Mark Hazelgrove, he will get
charged -- that he will eventually give up his right to defend himself," his
lawyer told the Richmond Times Dispatch.

A few weeks later, Mr. Hazelgrove thought he recognized the man who had robbed
him coming back into his store.  This time he didn't pull his gun.  He waited
for the man to leave the store, then called the police, hoping they would come
and catch the suspect.  Instead they simply referred him to the detective
division.  It wasn't until the grocer called his lawyer, who in turn called
police, that they finally showed up -- three hours after he first called.
Mr. Hazelgrove is hardly the first to suffer this kind of delayed response.
Earlier this month, D.C. Council Chairman David Clarke tried to get police to
remove demonstrators interrupting a meeting, only to find out the demonstrators
were police unhappy about city budget cuts.  So he called the police chief's
office and got the run-around from one of his aides.  Only after an hour did a
police unit arrive to remove the demonstrators. 

Reaction time like this simply reinforces the old joke about who you should call
in an emergency:  the police, 911 or Domino's.  The answer used to be Domino's,
because it would respond faster.  It may still be the right answer, as long as
you don't work for them.