Vick's Use Of Omni Stationery Embarrasses Hotel Chain

James D. Caldwell, the successful CEO of Omni Hotels since 1996, has never had to contend with any "real" negative press. Of course there was one rumor that a handful of rooms at the Washington, D.C. Omni were serving as per diem brothels for politicians, and that the former manager of the Omni in Ann Arbor was reported to have regularly referred to his African-American employees as "darkies," but neither comes close to Caldwell's current situation.

On August 27th, moments after former celebrity dogfighting guru and NFL quarterback Michael Vick gave his "apology" speech before the media, a Humane Society employee who was present that day quickly retrieved a piece of paper that the disgraced Vick dropped to the floor as he bid adieu to the throng of reporters. On that paper were Vick's speaking notes, complete with poor penmanship, misspellings, improper punctuation, and numerous abbreviations. However, the Omni CEO's current woes are not a result of Vick's poor writing skills; rather, the notes were written on Omni stationery.

As a result, the Humane Society is asking Americans to boycott all of Omni's hotels "since the chain apparently allowed Vick to spend a night there," said Megan Collender, a spokesperson for the organization. "We animal lovers need to send them (Omni Hotels) a message. Before you know it, they'll let O.J. Simpson stay there!"

* Megan Collender of the Humane Society, pictured with her cat Mr. Sooty, would like Americans to not patronize Omni's chain of hotels.

In response to HS's boycott, Caldwell claims that Vick didn't even stay at their hotel. "He just used one of our hotel's ballrooms to give his apology, which is why his notes were penned on our stationery." Caldwell, a self-proclaimed animal lover who himself owns three French hens and two turtle doves, the latter which he purchased for his wife to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in 2004, maintains that he and his chain "in no way condone Vick's actions."
* Omni Hotels' CEO Caldwell is an animal lover who wants nothing to do with Michael Vick.


* Compare Michael Vick's speech (above) with his speaking notes (below). Did he keep to the script? You be the judge.
* Look closely to try and count Vick's spelling mistakes and punctuation errors.

The Humane Society plans on auctioning off Vick's notes on eBay in the hopes that they will fetch the foundation a sizeable sum of money. Meanwhile, James D. Caldwell and Omni Hotels are thinking of drawing up designs that will take 10% of their hotels' rooms, converting them into deluxe canine and feline rooms. As for Long John Silver's fastfood restaurant, which Vick reportedly dined at after the press conference, there has been no mention of whether the Humane Society is planning on boycotting them.