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


THE WASHINGTON TIMES 
DATE: March 29, 1995
HEADLINE: Domino's fires man over pistol: Ex-worker assaulted during job
BYLINE: By Jim Keary

TEXT:
When Domino's Pizza delivery man Anthony Leone reached last week for the
.45-caliber handgun he keeps on his car seat, he thought he was just protecting
himself and foiling a robbery attempt by a couple who had hit him.

But Domino's officials said he was also violating company policy that prohibits
drivers from carrying weapons. They fired him Monday from the job he has held
for 2 l/2 years at one of their stores in Woodbridge.

"All the employees sign a statement that is spelled out when they are hired.
It's strictly for safety reasons we feel it is better to give up the pizza and
the change in their pockets and not create any aggressiveness" said Scott Gates,
Domino's area supervisor.

He said Mr. Leone was fired after the manager of the Wood-bridge Domino's read
the police report that said Mr. Leone pulled the gun Thursday after a couple
approached him during a delivery and hit him in the face.

Prince William County police said that the incident is under investigation but
that Mr. Leone did not appear to violate the law, since the gun was not
concealed.

But Mr. Gates said that while Mr. Leone will be missed, his firing will not be
reconsidered.

That puzzles Mr. Leone, 34, a marksman who is in training for US. Olympics
competition and who has competed for the Army Reserve and National Guard.
"I can see where they don't want all their drivers carrying guns, but maybe
Domino's needs to realize times have changed," Mr. Leone said.  "I know it's a
corporate decision, but they're gambling with my life."

He said he started carrying a gun after a co-worker was beaten during a 
robbery.

"Two years ago a friend of mine got clubbed in the head with a baseball bat, and
it took him a while to recuperate" Mr. Leone said.   "It got too close to home,
and we're required to go into some pretty bad neighborhoods."

He said he started working for Domino's because it gave him the flexibility to
go to school at Northern Virginia Community College and compete as a rifle
marksman.

"I'm going to school, and with all the traveling I do [for competitions],
Domino's was a good part time job that allowed me to go to school in the days"
said Mr. Leone, a National Guard staff sergeant.  "It's unfortunate I have to
deliver in some of these places. The odds are eventually you'll lose."

He didn't lose Thursday, when he was approached by a man and woman about 10 p.m.
in the 14000 block of Bellona Road in Woodbridge while on a delivery.  He said
the woman mumbled something and then hit him in the face.  He came back up with
the loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol he keeps on the passenger seat.  

"It surprised her when I didn't go down, and the .45 added to her surprise, and
she began back pedaling" Mr. Leone said.

"I saw she didn't have a weapon, or I would have acted differently.  She 
turned and ran," he said.

Mr. Leone said the woman's partner was on the other side of his truck on the
ground.  Mr. Leone went around the truck, pointed his gun at the man and told
him to "get the hell away from my truck.  He didn't need any more
encouragement."

"All the time I was looking for a weapon and, thank God, they didn't have one,
and I didn't have to shoot," he said.

Mr. Leone contends that robbers know about Domino's policy to prohibit employees
from carrying weapons and that makes delivery people easy prey.

"I think they've lost touch with what it's like being in the stores.  You
shouldn't be afraid of your job."

Despite the policy, he said, most delivery people carry some sort of weapon,
even if it's just a baseball bat or tire iron.

PHOTO
Caption: Fired driver Anthony Leone hopes to shoot in the Olympics.