A bad thing happened to a good place

Like most towns, GroveAtopia is dotted with various small grocery stores and mini marts. Some are of the chain variety and some are just a little corner grocery store owned by a real person.

That's what Diane's Market was. A little corner grocery store owned by a real person whose real name was Diane. That's Diane in the picture over there.

Diane's used to be Rita's. And yes there was a Rita too. In fact it's been a corner grocery store owned by a real person for a very long time.

Four years ago when Rita's became Diane's it took us all awhile to get used to it. We kept calling it Rita's for awhile until we finally got it through our heads that it was now Diane's.

There were a few changes too. Diane brought in little tables and chairs. She started a free lending library. She had a very large Pez collection on the wall. And she sold paraphernalia. She kept it in a little case behind the counter.

Lots of people went to Diane's. Usually they would run in, pick up something and run out. It was that kind of place. No lines, just that stuff you need at the last minute, or that one item you need and don't want to wade through the vastness of Safeway to get.

But others, those who had no place else to go, didn't run in and pick something up and run out. They walked in and stayed. They hung out there.

Diane tried to be tolerant, but sometimes people did bad things while they were hanging out and Diane had to call the police. But Diane said the police wouldn't help her. The bad people kept coming back. She wrote letters about it to the paper.

So when a disgruntled employee accused her and her husband Dave of selling marjuana at the store and accepting the Oregon Trail card for payment, the police arrested them. They searched Dave and Diane's house and found Dave was growing marjiuana there. He had a medical permit to do that, but he might have been growing more than was allowed. Both Dave and Diane's mug shots were in the paper.

The charges were dropped, but the accusation lingered. People stopped coming to Diane's. They stopped paying their debts.

So now she has to close the store and leave GroveAtopia to move back to where she came from.

As for the rest of us, now we have to worry. Was someone we know falsely accused? Did an injustice take place? Where will the elderly people who live across the street shop now? Who will buy the store? Will it even keep being a grocery store?

But our biggest worry is this: were we too quick to judge?