Free Republic

LEBANON, TENNESSEE - The former treasurer of a political action committee operated by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Incorporated has been arraigned on charges of stealing more than $70,000 from the organization...... "Forth was manager of political affairs for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 until April 1998."

A Jonesboro woman who was the victim of a 2009 attack at a Morrow Cracker Barrel restaurant was sentenced Friday in a June disorderly conduct case. Tashawnea Yeasha Hill, 37, pleaded no contest to the charge and was sentenced to 12 months probation, 64 hours of community service and was ordered to enroll in anger management classes, according to Clayton County State Court records. Hill, an Army reservist, was arrested on June 20 after she and Janise Roebuck, a nurse, were arguing and fighting in Roebuck's front yard in Hampton, Ga., according to police. Roebuck told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that...

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. -- No more Cracker Barrel restaurants ever for one Georgia man. The company has banned the man accused of beating a mother at one of its restaurants from all of its locations for life. Investigators in Clayton County said Troy West beat Tasha Hill at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Morrow while yelling racial slurs after he nearly hit her 7-year-old daughter while opening the restaurant's door. Cracker Barrel Bans Suspect From Restaurant For Life The beating is leading some state lawmakers to consider pushing for a Georgia Hate Crime Law. "It's past time, but there again,...

RENO, Nev — Federal agents raided 11 McDonald's restaurants in northern Nevada and made dozens of arrests Thursday as part of an investigation into illegal immigration. Agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made at least 56 arrests in Reno, Sparks and Fernley after raids at the restaurants and a franchise corporate headquarters in Reno, agency spokesman Richard Rocha said. "They are people suspected of being in the country illegally. As far as I know, they were all McDonald's employees," he told The Associated Press. The investigation began five months ago and was sparked by an identity theft complaint, Rocha...

Rose Rock, the mother of comedian Chris Rock, claims she was racially discriminated against when she was seated but ignored for more than a half hour at a Cracker Barrel restaurant along the South Carolina coast. Rock said Tuesday she planned to sue the Lebanon, Tenn.-based company. A Cracker Barrel spokeswoman said the restaurant chain was investigating and taking the complaint "very seriously." Cracker Barrel has in the past faced numerous lawsuits and a federal inquiry over complaints of refusing to serve black customers, discriminating against minority workers and firing gay employees. The company has taken steps to rebuild its...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A man who tried to extort $500,000 from a Cracker Barrel restaurant by claiming he found a mouse in a bowl of soup was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail. ADVERTISEMENT Ricky Lee Patterson, 23, was also fined $2,500. A jury in April convicted Patterson of conspiracy to commit extortion. His mother, Carla Patterson, was found guilty as well and received the same sentence in July. The Pattersons claimed they found the rodent in soup that Carla Patterson ordered at a Newport News restaurant in 2004 during a Mother's Day meal. Prosecutors brought charges after...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A woman and her adult son have been convicted of trying to extort money from the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain by claiming they found a dead mouse in a bowl of soup while celebrating Mother's Day in 2004. Jurors deliberated nearly four hours Friday before convicting Carla Patterson, 38, and Ricky Patterson, 22, of conspiracy to commit extortion.

Brooklyn has yanked the welcome mat out from under Southern food chain Cracker Barrel Old Country Store due to accusations of discrimination.Borough President Marty Markowitz, who invited the company to check out Brooklyn, dropped his Southern hospitality following outrage among black and gay leaders over a history of discrimination claims against the chain."I do not believe they are ready for Brooklyn," Markowitz said yesterday."It is our greatest source of pride that Brooklyn's diversity of races, faiths and ethnicities is unrivaled anywhere in the world, and any company that is interested in doing business in Brooklyn must respect and celebrate diversity....

AUSTIN, Texas - Three people and eight corporations — including Sears and Cracker Barrel — were indicted Tuesday on charges of making illegal campaign contributions through a political action committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay, a Texas Republican, was not charged. The grand jury has been investigating whether $2.5 million in corporate funds were used illegally to help Republican candidates win elections in 2002 that gave the GOP a majority in the Texas House for the first time since Reconstruction. The GOP later used its majority to redraw Texas' congressional districts to favor Republican candidates. Those...

Woman finds mouse in vegetable soup A woman is startled to find a mouse in her soup at Cracker Barrel. How it got there remains a mystery. By Peter Dujardin Daily Press May 10 2004, 6:36 PM EDT A woman enjoying an early Mother's Day lunch at a Newport News restaurant Saturday discovered a mouse in a bowl of vegetable soup. Carla Patterson was eating with her two sons and her godson at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant, on Jefferson Avenue across from the Patrick Henry Mall, when she scooped up a small, black mouse, about an inch...

Washington: The country-wide Cracker Barrel restaurant chain has agreed to overhaul its training and management practices after the US Justice Department accused it of discriminating against black diners at about 50 restaurants. A civil rights investigation found that black diners at Cracker Barrel restaurants in seven southern states were routinely given tables apart from whites, seated after white customers who arrived later, and given inferior service, the department said. Managers allowed white servers to refuse to wait on black patrons, and blacks were given less favourable treatment than whites when they complained about service, investigators found. Interviews with dozens of...

Dow Jones News Wire via Yahoo! DES MOINES, Iowa (Dow Jones)--A U.S. magistrate has denied class-action status to a racial-discrimination lawsuit by some black employees of Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores. The restaurant chain's parent company, CBRL Group Inc. (NasdaqNM:CBRL - News) , Tuesday confirmed the Dec. 31 ruling by federal magistrate Walter E. Johnson in a case brought by seven African-American employees in 1999. Their suit contended that the chain had denied blacks advancement opportunities and hadn't properly evaluated and trained them. "In most stores over most years, there was no difference in pass rates between the races,"...

Cracker Barrel Taken to Task for Pro-Homosexual Policy Change (AgapePress) - A pro-family activist says a major restaurant chain has caved in to political correctness and will now grant special status to employees based on their bedroom behavior. The board of directors of Cracker Barrel has voted to add the term "sexual orientation" to the company's anti-discrimination policy. The unanimous vote occurred late last month following a shareholder meeting. In a report from the American Family Association, Cracker Barrel spokeswoman Julie Davis is quoted as saying she expects no impact on the day-to-day business -- because the company already has...

blacks claiming racism due to poor service