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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Be Careful Out There

In this Nov. 28, 2008, file photo, Nassau County Police examine the front of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., where a temporary Wal-Mart worker died after  shoppers broke down the doors and trampled him.   (File Associated Press)
In this Nov. 28, 2008, file photo, Nassau County Police examine the front of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., where a temporary Wal-Mart worker died after shoppers broke down the doors and trampled him. (File Associated Press)

In this Nov. 28, 2008, file photo, Nassau County Police examine the front of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., where a temporary Wal-Mart worker died after  shoppers broke down the doors and trampled him. 

Folks take their Black Friday shopping seriously, and there are some good deals to be found.

But stories like the one below give me pause.

VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. – Victoria Rogers had originally planned to make an early stop the day after Thanksgiving last year at the Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream on Long Island. Her last-minute decision against it might have saved her life.

“We saw the mob, and we said no,” she said. “Wal-Mart’s not the store.”

What she saw that day was no ordinary crowd of shoppers, but a throng police say jammed through the doors upon the store’s opening in a mad dash for holiday savings, trampling a guard to death. More here.

Can you think of any bargain worth waiting in line for hours, and risking life and limb to obtain?



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.