Patriotic Student Singers Rebuffed

Wal-mart says it was a miscommunication, while the singers from Coconut Palm Elementary School just wanted to sing "God Bless America".  CBS Miami reported earlier this week that principal Terri Thelmas and 75 of her students, some of them with their parents, went to the Wal-Mart in Pembroke Pines, Florida to sing as a way to honor the people who died on September 11th.

Thelmas says the store manager gave her permission to bring the kids to sing "God Bless America", but when they got there the manager on duty had them removed from the property and even called the police.  What?  What is wrong with that manager?  How mean!  I know they have a no soliciting policy, but seriously?  It would have taken about two minutes to let them sing, but the manager called the cops.  What has come of this country?  People are just so stupid.  No one thinks anymore.

The manager would not let the kids sing when they showed up because she said it would be a "liability"!  What?  How about they were just some kids and parents wanting to honor people who died in a terrorist attack.  Again, what was this manager thinking?  The manager obviously was not!

The kids went outside the store, and they tried to sing, but guess what?  Crazy manager person called the police, and the kids and parents were removed from the property!  Really????  What a waste for these kids.  This manager was not thinking.

According to the CBS report, Wal-Mart issued the following apology on Thursday:

“We regret this happened and apologize to the students, parents and the school for this experience. Unfortunately, this is a situation of miscommunication and should have been handled differently. We are inviting the kids back to the store to honor the victims and fallen heroes.”

Thankfully, this story is going to have a happy ending, but it took a report from the media to bring out all this silliness. I say sing "God Bless America" anywhere you want.  I know you can be removed from private property, but it would be better for some company's marketing to let people sing!