Arson is never the answer.

The softball and girls’ golf coach at Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana posted a tweet asking if anyone wanted to “burn down” Memories Pizza with her over its announcement that it would not cater gay weddings.

“Who’s going to Walkerton, IN to burn down #memoriespizza with me?” Jessica Dooley asked in the tweet, which has since been deleted. “Agree with #FreedomOfReligionBill? ‘That’s a lifestyle they CHOOSE’ Ignorant.”


Okay. For the record, I think that refusing to cater someone’s wedding based on their sexual orientation is the wrong thing to do — especially since I’m not familiar with any religion that forbids you from selling pizza to gay people. (I also highly doubt that Memories would ever even be asked to cater in this situation.)

Still, I stand firm in my belief that burning people’s property down when you disagree with them is never the answer, and that anyone who is influencing children should probably know better than to think that her tweet wouldn’t be a controversial approach to expressing her feelings about the issue.

UPDATE: Dooley has since been suspended, according to an article posted in The Elkhart Truth.


The newspaper also reported that the police department conducted an investigation and forwarded the case to the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office for possible charges, according to a statement.


“The Walkerton Police Department is committed to extending professional police services to all in need, regardless of said person’s sexual, religious, or political views,” the release stated. “We encourage all to follow Indiana Laws and Statutes. We ask that all frustrations and rebuttals with Memories Pizza’s recent media statements remain within the law.”

TMZ is reporting that Memories has been forced to close after being “flooded” with threats.

— Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review Online.