SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - If a tent camp for homeless people is against the law in a southwest Missouri city, so is tenting by shoppers eager to be first in the stores on Black Friday.
KSPR-TV reports (http://bit.ly/u0p7Kc) the city of Springfield received a complaint Wednesday about tents outside stores planning to open early Friday.
Chris Straw, Springfield's director of building development services, says the complaining citizen pointed out that the city recently ordered the dismantling of a tent camp for homeless people. The Rev. Larry Rice, an advocate for the homeless, had allowed people to set up tents outside his Veterans Coming Home Center.
Straw says he called a Best Buy in Springfield on Wednesday to say tents outside the store had to come down. Straw says managers at the store agreed.
Information from: KSPR-TV, http://kspr.com