LETTER: The Owner of Sam's Place Responds

I just read the column by Sarah Goldfine and Theresa Weir (DP 2/10/92) and I wanted to comment on it. It contained so many distortions and false statements that at first I didn't know where to begin. Then I realized that there was no need to. Don't get me wrong: I really believe that they are sincere in their efforts to help. But my heavens, what planet did those two grow up on to come up with such distortions and actually believe them? I do want to respond to some of the allegations that were made in the column. There are some innaccuracies that may not be perceived as such by the public that I'd like to set straight. You stated that there is no concrete evidence to support store clerk Kevin Dales story of what happened. I was there personally to watch about 15 detectives take my store apart while they examined every last detail. They even cut open the wall to retrieve the projectile, took blood samples and took fingerprints. Every last bit of this evidence fits with Dales' story. You stated that there were no witnesses. You forgot Andre McNatte's accomplice Antoine, who pleaded guilty to armed robbery in family court on the day your column was printed. He corroborated Dales' story completely. In case you were interested, the probability of his being sent to prision is very small: so much for your theory that the court is intent on railroading him into prison. You stated that Sam's is a "hip white" store. Kevin Dales, Daryl and Dave Willis, who all work at Sam's, would be quite suprised to hear that they are white. Together they make up about 40 percent of the hired man-hours put into this store. Why do you always forget to mention that Kevin Dales is a black man, anyway? You stated that Sam's was closed by a successful boycott. Actually, the more flyers that your organization handed out, the better business got. I closed Sam's temporarily -- two weeks is the plan -- in response to a fifth armed robbery. I will reopen as soon as I have installed security systems that will prevent a holdup from ever happening again at my store. You stated that Sam's is a Yuppie store. If by "yuppie" you mean "white," you are mistaken. Sam's clientele is approximately 50 percent black, 50 percent white, possibly leaning towards a greater percentage of blacks. You stated that we are part of a process of gentrification. Sam's has been in the neighborhood for at least 25 years. When I bought Sam's in 1986, the majority of business occurred during the school year. Now, five years later, business is best during the summer, when students and other "yuppies" have gone home. You stated that the blacks who come into my store can't afford it. Why then do they keep coming back, especially when Acme and Thriftway are much cheaper and only two blocks away. Why is 50 percent of my clientele black if I am such the evil oppressor that you make me out to be? Why do black persons continue to be employed at my store? Any who are you to make a statement telling the approximately 200 to 300 blacks a day who come into my store what they can afford and what they can't? You treat a whole race of persons like they can't make their own decisions and need you to look out for them. You are ethnocentrists of a most insidious type. You stated that I was a vigilante. That implies that I took the law into my own hands. You seem to forget that I wasn't even there the night of the incident. I don't want to imply that I wouldn't have done what Kevin did. Andre McNatte came in intending to do Kevin harm and Kevin did what any other being would have done and has a right to do: he protected himself. I would have done the same thing. And I dare say that you, Sarah Goldfine and Theresa Weir, would too. If someone came at you intending to hurt you badly, you cannot convince me that you would stand there and let them go about their business without attempting everything in your means to stop them. Andre McNatte was shot because he came at someone with a knife. He didn't get shot because he was black, and he wasn't force to rob Sam's because of his economic situation: he had food on his plate every day, new clothes on his back, and a beautiful row house on Larchwood Avenue to sleep in every night. It's true that he didn't have a father around, but that situation is by no means an limited to any race in our society. And it certainly is no excust to hold up the local grocery store. You stated that I care more about property than about life. The fact of the matter is I was so concerned that someone else was going to get shot at Sam's that I closed the store down until such time occured that I was sure that it can't happen again. Theresa, you are a homeowner. Since you decry the use of dogs in back yards and block watches, surely you don't have a lock on your front door do you? I also would like to print your address so that persons wanting to take your belongings know where you live. We all know that charity begins at home, right? Oh, about this gentrification thing: I know that you will be moving out of your house soon and donating it to a deserving person of the proper race. It's clear from what you say that it is wrong for you to own it since you are white. My point is that you two have spent an awful lot of time tearing down, working to divide and fostering hate when in fact you don't even practice what you preach. They made up a word just for you two and that word is hypocrite. In conclusion, I want to say that despite all of your divisiveness, you have not succeeded in turning this into a racial issue and you have not closed Sam's. People like you only remind us that we have a great thing here in University City and it will continue to be that way because of the people who make this place their home. Simpletons like you cannot even begin to touch it. So please take your hate and your desire to destroy somewhere else. There is no room for it here in University City. Sam's will be back with its multi-racial clientele and it's multi-racial staff and this neighborhood will be all that much stronger for it. DAVE GRAVES Owner Sam's Place

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