Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Arcadia is a town in and the parish seat of Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,041 at the 2000 census. Pilgrim's Pride, a poultry company, announced early in 2009 the closure of its feed mill in Arcadia as well as the ending of other operations in nearby Athens in Claiborne Parish, Choudrant in Lincoln Parish, and Farmerville in Union Parish. The impact cost North Louisiana a combined 1,300 jobs. Several weeks later, however, Pilgrim's Pride accepted an $80 million offer from Foster Farms of California to purchase the operations. In addition, to the 1,300 direct jobs, mostly in Farmerville, the purchase spares the small farms of some three hundred independent growers. Foster Farms put up $40 million and the State of Louisiana a matching $40 million. Foster Farms will further invest $10 million in capital improvements at the Farmerville plant, to be matched by the state, in an agreement announced by Governor Bobby Jindal. In 1934, the corpses of the young fugitives Bonnie and Clyde were brought for embalming to the former Conger Funeral Home in Arcadia, the couple having been shot to death in a volley of bullets from six law-enforcement officers from both Bienville Parish and Dallas County, Texas. The bodies were then sent to Dallas for separate funerals and interments. The ambush occurred southwest of Arcadia on Louisiana State Highway 154 between Gibsland and Sailes. The focus of tourism regarding Bonnie and Clyde has been at Gibsland, where L.J. "Boots" Hinton, son of posse member Ted Hinton, operates the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum.