New Jersey and the Thanksgiving Grinch

And count me among the appalled (via USA Today):

For the first time in at least three decades, New Jersey will be one of 18 states open for business on the Friday after Thanksgiving, while state workers in Louisiana are under executive order to take a four-day weekend.

New Jersey government workers, a historically proud and rowdy bunch, are not taking this lying down (but actually standing up and using the phone):

New Jersey state employees have made more than 5,500 phone calls this month to Gov. Jon Corzine's office after protesting his executive order revoking the Friday after Thanksgiving as a state holiday. None of them has gotten the answer they wanted . . . .

Corzine, who, according to spokeswoman Lilo Stainton, received only a half-dozen calls in support of his decision, is not backing down. She said the governor, who will be working on Friday, warned state employees last year that the annual tradition of granting the extra paid holiday was ending.

I mean, c'mon, Texas made Thanksgiving Friday a holiday in 1991, in part because of the traditional University of Texas vs. Texas A&M University football game formerly scheduled on Thanksgiving.

How about starting a Rutgers-Princeton rivalry on Thanksgiving Friday for Garden State bragging rights?  Just a thought.

PS