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Stephanie Wilkinson Resigns: Red Hen Owner Quits Local Biz Group

Stephanie Wilkinson Resigns: Red Hen Owner Quits Local Biz Group

Passersby gather to take photos in front of the Red Hen Restaurant on Saturday in Lexington, Virginia, where White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave because she works for President Donald Trump. (Daniel Lin/AP)

By    |   Wednesday, 27 June 2018 07:01 AM EDT

Stephanie Wilkinson, owner of the Red Hen restaurant who continues to take heat for turning away White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family, has resigned from a local volunteer business group in Lexington, Virginia.

Elizabeth Branner, president of Main Street Lexington, confirmed Wilkinson's resignation as its executive director to WSLS-TV.

"Considering the events of the past weekend, Stephanie felt it best that for the continued success of Main Street Lexington, she should step aside," Branner told WSLS-TV in an email.

Main Street Lexington, established in 2013, is an affiliate of the Virginia Main Street Program, which works to promote "economic revitalization in the context of historic preservation," the Washington Times reported.

Wilkinson told The Washington Post she had no regrets asking Sanders and her family to leave last Friday, saying Sanders had publicly defended what Wilkinson believes is President Donald Trump's "inhumane and unethical" administration.

"I'm not a huge fan of confrontation," Wilkinson told the Post. "I have a business, and I want the business to thrive. This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals."

Since then, the restaurant has been picketed to the point where police shut down the street it is located on for two hours one day, the Roanoke Times reported. The establishment has also been targeted on social media, led by Trump himself.

The Republican Party of Virginia started petition to boycott the restaurant, the Roanoke Times added.

The newspaper described Lexington as a "politically blue spot surrounded by a sea of red," which voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 president election by a 2-1 margin.

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TheWire
Stephanie Wilkinson, owner of the Red Hen restaurant who continues to take heat for turning away White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family, has resigned from a local volunteer business group in Lexington, Virginia.
red hen, owner, stephanie wilkinson
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2018-01-27
Wednesday, 27 June 2018 07:01 AM
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