Sunday September 25, 2016
The sign outside the Treats Family Restaurant in Lonsdale, Minn.
Muslim families won't be offered any treats at the Treats Family Restaurant in Lonsdale, southern Minnesota: Owner Dan Ruedinger has arranged the sign board outside to read "Muslims Get Out." The sign says it is in "suport" of St. Cloud, where a Somali-American man stabbed nine people in a mall last weekend. Despite what his sign says, Ruedinger says he's not against all Muslims, only extremists.
"It’s time that people started standing up, not worrying about the PC crowd and do what is right,” he tells CBS. "And I feel what we’re doing is right." Ruedinger, whose Yelp page has been inundated with negative reviews, says putting up the sign is his First Amendment right.
Ruedinger says Islam is a "religion of hatred that preaches violence"—and the Muslims who are "good people" should "hold the others accountable." The Lonsdale News-Review reports that Muslim leaders, including Jaylani Hussein of the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, met Ruedinger for what Hussein describes as a "short conversation." A witness says Ruedinger became agitated and started shouting about his son's service in Iraq. Hussein says thousands of Muslims were "shocked and appalled" by the St. Cloud attack and they will continue to try to reach out to Ruedinger.