Politics & Government
Laundromat Owners Offer Olive Branch to Obama Supporters
Owners at Rogers Linen Services on Douglas Avenue removed a controversial sign against President Barack Obama, and in its place, painted another message.
Victor and Karen Rogers don't want any hard feelings left over from their political statement in the 2012 election.
Their sentiment is painted on a storefront window at in the same place a controversial sign suggesting President Barack "Obama Can Kiss My Ass" for his July "You Didn't Build That" campaign speech in Roanoke, VA.
To get off on better footing in 2013, Victor Rogers had another message painted in his store window a week before the president's inauguration on Jan. 21:
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"The Election is over the talk is done. My Party lost, your Party Won. So let us be friends, let argument pass. I'll hug my elephant, You kiss your Ass."
It's a poem he found on Facebook, which is where he also found the "Kiss My Ass" sign hung during the election.
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Victor Rogers said that although it attracted a lot of support, picture-takers and hand-shakers from customers and strangers who thanked him for expressing what many others wished they had the "balls" to say (as well as one person who called to complain and 273 comments on Dunedin Patch), it was time for it to come down.
He wants his Douglas Avenue window front to stay fresh and remain a platform for political statements.
"I'm working to make this end of Dunedin red," Victor Rogers said with a smile inside the laundromat and linen rental service he's owned with his wife for 26 years.
A loyal patron named David interrupted.
"I don't agree with them ideologically," he said. "But I keep coming here. These are friendly folks. ... And I love our president."
Inside the couple's laundromat hangs a quilted Americana wall hanging, handmade by Victor's aunt who lives in the Midwest. Toward the back of the room is more red, white and blue decor.
And on the wall in the back hangs the sign that started it all.
Previous Coverage:
- Laundromat Owner Takes Stand Against Obama
- Comment of the Week: A Call for Civility
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