Safeway Weighs Continuing to Allow Congress on Your Corner Events on Its Property

Safeway is weighing whether to hold Congress on Your Corner events in the future following Tucson's tragic shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and 18 other people. "The security of our customers and anyone who comes to our store is always very important to us," says Safeway spokewoman Teena Massingill, at...

By Ray Stern

January 14, 2011

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Safeway is weighing whether to hold Congress on Your Corner events in the future following Tucson's tragic shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and 18 other people.

"The security of our customers and anyone who comes to our store is always very important to us," says Safeway spokewoman Teena Massingill, at the company's headquarters in Pleasanton, California. "In light of what happened ... we are reviewing whether to have Congress on Your Corner events going forward. The decision has not been made."

Thirteen people were wounded, including Giffords, and six died after 22-year-old Jared Loughner opened fire at a Congress on Your Corner event held in the parking lot of the Safeway near Oracle and Ina Road in Tucson.

Despite expecting up to 150 people, Giffords and her staff chose to have no police or security officers at the event.

Safeway doesn't have to stop all such events. The company should simply ensure that the people holding such events provide at least some security.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.