Archives
6:30:00 PM EST
Homesland Security agents visit toy store
Maybe instead of being terrified of the possible bird flu epidemic I should be terrified of the "protection" Bush's Homeland Security is extending to us...
Homeland Security Agents Visit Toy Store
Associated Press | October 29 2004
ST. HELENS, Ore. - So far as she knows, Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox hasn't been passing any state secrets to sinister foreign governments, or violating obscure clauses in the Patriot Act.
So she was taken aback by a mysterious phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to her small store in this quiet Columbia River town just north of Portland.
"I was shaking in my shoes," Cox said of the September phone call. "My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I'm closed even for a day that would cause undue stress."
When the two agents arrived at the store, the lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube, which he said was an illegal copy of the Rubik's Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time.
He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.
After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that Rubik's Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on the rival toy's trademark.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency's intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.
"One of the things that our agency's responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation's financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications," she said.
Six weeks after her brush with Homeland Security, Cox told The Oregonian she is still bewildered by the experience.
"Aren't there any terrorists out there?" she said.
Written by hestiahomeschool Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
Yes, our government has nothing better to do than bother poor mom and pop store owners. I tell ya what...
Traci -
BIg Brother strikes again.
-
I guess the link ended up being the journal entry that has the link to the Miami Herald website for Mr Pitts. Good writer. Love his stuff.
Jackie -
I live in Oregon. Obviously all the container traffic coming through the Port of Portland has been checked etc. NOOOOOOOOT! This ranks right up with some HS guys showing up in a library in Maryland to announce that it was illegal to view porn on library computers. The librarian intervened, cops were called, the county Homeland Security guys left.
http://journals.aol.com/thesheatons/PixelsPoliticsPosiesand Pussycats/entries/2591
This is a link to Leonard Pitts full column on the incident. I think we have a bunch of little fascist wanna be's who are making problems for law abiding citizens on my nickle. Not a happy camper.
Jackie
http://journals.aol.com/thesheatons/PixelsPoliticsPosiesand Pussycats/entries/2592
3/18/06 1:13 AM