A county legislator in the Hudson Valley wants store owners to keep certain merchandise off their shelves ahead of a mid-March holiday. He is holding a press conference Wednesday afternoon on the matter.
Republican Rockland County Legislator Patrick Moroney is calling for local merchants to refrain from the sale and display of St. Patrick’s Day merchandise that misrepresents or ridicules Irish heritage and culture. Moroney says elected officials and Irish community leaders will join him Wednesday afternoon in his call to keep demeaning t-shirts, hats, and novelty items off store shelves. Moroney, who notes he is the first Irish-born person elected to the Rockland County legislature, took issue last year as well, when he criticized the sale of St. Patrick’s Day-themed paraphernalia at the Palisades Mall, items that he said displayed vulgar and derogatory messages.