This first paragraph was added on day 3 of our petition:

In September 2021, a year and a half after Covid began, and after the mask mandate was lifted throughout the summer and then reintroduced, Matt and Maureen Marinkovich chose to shop at Marketplace without a mask. As a result, they were trespassed from all Valmark properties, and could not step onto the properties of Marketplace, King’s Market, King’s Marine, Joe Friday’s T-shirt shop, or Friday Harbor Brewery. The Marinkovich’s respected this order, and did not return to any of the above until after a discussion with Ashley, Valmark’s principal, in April 2023, where she granted them permission to return to all properties. Ashely said, “Of course you are welcome back. I will let the staff know.”  

Here's our original petition:

Matt and Maureen Marinkovich were invited back into all Valmark properties by Ashley Howard in April 2023. It was no problem at any of the businesses except Marketplace, where one of the cashiers refused to check them out. This action was supported by the rest of the staff. Matt and Maureen spoke with Ashley about this and she said she would take care of it. It obviously was not taken care of because by November the pattern continued to the point where a few particular employees were very unpleasant in their customer service to the Marinkovich's. Matt and Maureen brought this back to Ashley and after a two-month decision making process, it was decided that while Matt and Maureen are welcomed at King's Market, they are not allowed into Marketplace. The reason stated for this decision was the Marinkovich's are "threatening" to the Marketplace staff, who are "afraid" of them.

If this decision is allowed to stand, this would set precedence that any customer who is deemed to be unliked for any reason could potentially be banned from the grocery store on this island. This chain of command problem was too difficult for upper management to deal with so they chose to ban two perfectly nice and rational people who have never raised a voice in that store or been unpleasant in any way on a personal level to any employee.

Your support will help remind our community that despite being of different opinions, we can all live together and be accepting of one another in our community. Please sign this petition so the owners of Valmark can see this error in judgment should be corrected.

Please see our first update below, “Explanation of the back story” for more details of how this situation developed. Scroll down to UPDATES and then click MORE UPDATES.

Be afraid. Be very afraid...