Home Depot is reaping a ton of negative publicity this week following (the now much publicized) firing of a clean-cut young male staffer wearing a button with the words “One nation under God, indivisible” over a U.S. flag background, observes Grumpy Editor.
The story, a case for free speech, broke in the Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Monday and was noted by Fox News on the same day.
It gained momentum yesterday when other TV coverage focused on the action.
Trevor Keezer, a 20-year-old Okeechobee, Fla. resident, a cashier for 19 months at the Home Depot in his home town, was terminated for wearing the button but only after bringing a Bible to work for reading during break time, he mentioned on TV interviews.
He had been wearing the button for more than a year.
With an older brother, Army Spc. Steven Keezer, Jr., slated in December to deploy to Iraq for a second tour of duty, the younger Keezer said the button was his way of supporting U.S. troops.
Keezer said he was a model employee at Home Depot and liked his job to earn money for college in hopes of becoming a nurse.
“I was cashier of the month and I’ve won six ‘Homer’ awards --- that’s the highest award you can get at Home Depot,” he told the Sun Sentinel.
A Home Depot spokesman said the company has a “proud history” of supporting the military and that it sanctions several of its own buttons for employees to wear, including one that reads, “United We Stand,” the newspaper reported.
Yes, Keezer now has an attorney.
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